Shaykh Sa’ad Al-Attas

Shaykh Sa’ad al-’Attas, a South African Scholar with roots extending to Yemen and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, completed his education at the Shari’a Institute in Damascus, Syria, under the Tahdib wa Ta’lim endowment. His studies encompassed a broad range of subjects, including Arabic, Ulum-ul-Quran, Usul al-Tafsir, Hadith, Aqidah, Fiqh (Shafi’i and comparative), Usul al-Fiqh, Sira, Mantiqu, and Khitaba. Noteworthy texts he studied include works by Ibn Hisham, Zakiriya al-Ansari, al-Nawawi, al-Sawi, and others, covering various aspects of Islamic scholarship.

Additionally, Shaykh Sa’ad focused on Shafi’i fiqh, studying extensively with Shaykh Hussayn Darawish for three years. His curriculum included in-depth exploration of texts like Tuhfat al-Tulab, Fath al-Wahhab, al-Tanbih, I’yanat al-Talibin, and more, supplemented by commentaries and marginal notes.

He has been actively involved in education, founding the Ark Academy in Bradford, where he has been teaching Arabic and Islamic Studies for over a decade, contributing significantly to the dissemination of Islamic knowledge and scholarship.