Allah's Beloved, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, informed us that scholars are the heirs to the Prophets. True scholars are thus no less than inheritors of the most elect of Allah's creation, and their lineage to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ bequeaths upon them the most prized endowment of Divine grace: knowledge of Allah that is experiential, illuminating and beneficial to all those it touches.
Each one of such scholars is a radiating lantern of light. Their lives and teachings are both a testament to the unicity of the Divine, and a path to Him that resuscitates our faith, enlivens our hearts and invigorates our will and longing to seek Divine nearness.
Such lives must be documented and detailed - if only concisely. Such lives and their works must be remembered, recollected, and relived. Muslim Scholars of the 21st Century, 2000-2013 is such an attempt.
Shoayb Ahmed is a student and teacher of the Islamic sciences in Pretoria, South Africa. He is the author of Muslim Scholars of the Twentieth Century: 1900-2000.
