Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahim ibn ʿAbdullah Dibs wa Zayt was one of the leading Damascene masters of Qur’anic recitation. Born in the al-ʿUqaybah quarter in 1286…
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahim ibn ʿAbdullah Dibs wa Zayt was one of the leading Damascene masters of Qur’anic recitation. Born in the al-ʿUqaybah quarter in 1286 AH/1869 CE, he studied the Qur’an and its recitations under leading scholars, including Shaykh Ahmad al-Halwani, and later taught at al-Madrasah al-Kamiliyyah. Many distinguished Syrian scholars studied the Qur’an under him. He died in 1345 AH/1926 CE and was buried in al-Dahdah Graveyard near the grave of his teacher. His son, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Wahhab ibn ʿAbd al-Rahim Dibs wa Zayt, was a renowned Hanafi jurist, Qur’an reciter and teacher. Born in Damascus around 1311 AH/1893 CE, he memorised the Qur’an under his father and studied Islamic law, hadith, Arabic and spirituality with many of the leading scholars of Damascus. He became celebrated for the precision of his recitation, which developed a distinctive style remembered as al-qirāʾah al-dibsiyyah, and taught in several prominent mosques, including the Umayyad Mosque and Jamiʿ al-Tawbah. Both father and son were remembered for their devotion to the Qur’an, scholarship, humility and service to the people of Damascus. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Wahhab died in 1389 AH/1969 CE and was also buried in al-Dahdah Graveyard, where their graves preserve the memory of an important Damascene family of Qur’anic scholars.