Shaykh Muhammad Effendi al-Riḍwānī, also known as Muhyi al-Din, was one of the foremost scholars, teachers and spiritual guides of early twentieth-century…
Shaykh Muhammad Effendi al-Riḍwānī, also known as Muhyi al-Din, was one of the foremost scholars, teachers and spiritual guides of early twentieth-century Mosul. He was renowned for his knowledge, humility, asceticism and dedication to serving students of sacred knowledge. In 1921, he personally financed the renovation and expansion of his family’s historic al-Riḍwānī Mosque and established the al-Riḍwāniyyah School within the complex. He taught there every morning after the Fajr prayer for several hours, without accepting payment, and attracted students from Mosul and other parts of Iraq, as well as Syria, Palestine, Egypt and neighbouring regions. The school became one of Mosul’s most respected centres of Islamic learning. Shaykh Muhammad taught both the transmitted and rational sciences and granted scholarly authorisation to many prominent scholars. He also established an extensive library containing rare manuscripts and printed works in Qur’anic studies, hadith, jurisprudence, theology, Arabic language and other fields. After his death, Shaykh Muhammad Effendi was buried in the al-Riḍwānī family section of the former al-ʿAnnāz Graveyard. The newer Jāmiʿ al-Riḍwānī was later built over this graveyard around the year 2000. His burial site should not be confused with the older al-Riḍwānī Mosque and School, which contains the shrine of his ancestor, Sayyid ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Riḍwānī.