Abd al-Aziz al-Ghumari

Abd al-Aziz bin Muhammad al-Ghumari (Arabic: عبد العزيز بن محمد الغماري; November 1920 in Tangier – November 6, 1997, in Tangier) was a Muslim scholar from Morocco.^[5][6]

Abd al-Aziz al-Ghumari
Personal life
Born	November 1920 Tangier, Morocco
Died	November 6, 1997 (aged 76–77) Tangier
Nationality	Moroccan
Religious life
Religion	Islam
Movement	Ghumari[1][2][3][4]
Muslim leader
Influenced by Mahmoud Imam, Abdul Muti Sharshimi, Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani
Influenced Hassan al-Kattani

Career

He started his early education in Tangier and traveled to Cairo and was a student of Azhari scholars such as Mahmoud Imam and Abdul Muti Sharshimi.^{[citation needed]} Among his works, the is the book Mujam al-Shuyukh and Fath al Aziz Bi Asanid Sayyid Abd al-Aziz, and more.^[7] He wrote several articles in the Khadra and al-Balagh newspaper in Tangier and al-Islam magazine in Cairo.^[8] al-Ghumari was famous for his intellectual sparring with fellow hadith scholar Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani.^[9]

al-Ghumari used to teach the works of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani and the book Sahih al-Bukhari, and he also has a biography in the Moroccan scholars' encyclopaedia.^[10] After a life of research on Hadith, al-Ghumari died in Tangier on Friday November 6, 1997, and was buried after a funeral in which he was mourned by many.^[10]

Views

Although al-Ghumari studied in a Sunni Islamic School, he was highly skeptical about accepted Sunni positions and came up with views that were unpopular with his teachers in the al-Azhar University and he used to adopt views based on his research even if they were outside the fold of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamah.^[1][2][3][4] He despised many esteemed individuals, including Khatib al-Baghdadi, Abu Nuaym, ibn Khuzayma, ibn Hajar al-Haytami, and especially ibn al-Jawzi, who he declared a non-person who's writings deserve to be trashed as they are worthless.^[1][2][3][4] He sharply criticised and slandered those who had views that were different to his.^[1][2][3][4]

Among such views are the following:

• Unlike in the Sunni-accepted position where all the companions of Muhammad are venerated, Ghumari used to mention 6 of the companions without venerating them because they fought against Ali.^[11]
• The celebration of Mawlid an-Nabi is, according to al-Ghumari, an obligation even though the Islamic society customs nor the religion of Islam do not recognize celebrating Mawlid an-Nabi as an obligation.^[12]
• He disagreed with the Sunni position on the supremacy of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq over all people who came after Muhammad, and held Ali to be superior to Uthman ibn Affan, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq.^[1][2]
• The Ash'aris are ignoramuses, and the opposition and condemnation of the Mu'tazila, Islamic philosophers and other rational Islamic theologians by the Salaf al-Salihin included the Ash'aris as well.^{[1][2][4][13]} al-Ghumari labelled the prominent Ashari scholar al-Subki as mentally ill, and another, ibn Hajar al-Haytami, as an ignoramus and a hypocrite.^{[1][2][4][13]}
• Imam Zahid al-Kawthari was a fanatic and an enemy of the scholars of Islam, except for those who followed his group of Hanafis.^{[1][2][4][14]} He derogatorily labelled the aforementioned group of Hanafis as the worshippers of Abu Hanifa.^[15]
• Shah Waliullah Dehlavi, an ardent opposer of the view of the supremacy of Ali over Uthman ibn Affan, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, was a "Walialshaytan" (friend of the Devil).^{[1][2][4][16]}
• Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani was not an Islamic Saint, rather he was not even a Muslim, and al-Ghumari went on as far to declare that he was worse than the Dajjal (Antichirst).^{[1][2][4][17]}