Abu al-Mawahib al-Hanbali

Born in Damascus to a scholarly Lebanese family from Baalbek, Abu al-Mawahib spent his early life in the care of his father Abd al-Baqi al-Hanbali who taught him the Qur'an and religious etiquettes.^[1][2][3] In 1645, he accompanied his father on the Hajj pilgrimage, where he met the Islamic scholars of Mecca.^[1][2][3] In his adulthood, he went to Egypt to seek knowledge and study there, but his father (who was in Damascus at the time) passed away between 1660 and 1661; after his father's death he became the sole heir of the leadership of the Hanbali community of Damascus.^[1][2][3]

During his time as a mufti for the Hanbalis, he led the Rain prayer in the late 1690s.^[2] He also advised the Ottoman provincial governor of Damascus, Mehmed Pasha Kurd Bayram when the latter intended to place expensive taxes on merchants from Baalbek; the Pasha would accept the scholar's advice and quit the injustice.^[2] Aside from his career as a mufti, Abu al-Mawahib made a living out of trading and raising livestock until his death in 1714.^[2]

Abu al-Mawahib had numerous teachers throughout his academic career, amongst them;^[3]

• His father Abd al-Baqi al-Hanbali
• Khayr al-Din al-Ramli
• Ahmad al-Qushashi
• Ibrahim al-Kurani

Abu al-Mawahib was a supporter of Islamic mysticism and transmitted writings from the famed Sufi philosopher and mystic Ibn Arabi.^[3]