DUBAI, 29 September 2007 — The Dubai International Holy Qur’an Award has chosen Sheikh Muhammad Ali Al-Sabouny to be the Islamic Personality of the year.
The renowned Saudi-based scholar is famous for his many works that have educated millions of Muslims about their religion. He is also credited with saving an ancient tafseer book that would have been lost to humanity if not for his dedicated work in investigating it. Sheikh Muhammed will be honored at final ceremony of the award on Tuesday. The ceremony will be attended by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE vice president, prime minister and ruler of Dubai.
Born to a family of scholars in Aleppo, Syria in 1930, Sheikh Muhammad memorized the Qur’an and many hadiths at an early age. He was then sent on a scholarship to study at Al-Azhar University where he studied Islamic Shariah.
He went back to Syria where he worked as a teacher for eight years. In the early sixties he joined the Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah where he taught for 28 years. The university assigned to him the task of verifying ancient manuscripts before they were published. He worked for years investigating the Tafseer of Abu Jaafar Al-Nahas who died in 338 AH. The manuscript was the only existing copy and was published in six volumes by the university. The scholar has got many published works and books in Qur’anic studies, Shariah and other Islamic sciences.
