Muhammad Abdulkareem

Education

Born in the village of Mashu, near Dongola, into the Al Abd al-Rahim family, he went through school in Mecca, completing the science track of secondary school. He memorised the Quran in 1983 (1403 AH) at the Grand Mosque under Sheikhs Muhammad al-Sisi and Ahmad Sabri, earned the certificate of the al-Arqam Institute for Quran Memorisation, and in 1985 received an ijaza in the seven readings from Sheikh Muhammad Nabhan Misri. He also studied Quranic orthography, inheritance law, grammar, creed and legal theory with teachers such as Muhammad al-Habib al-Shinqiti, Safar al-Hawali and Abdullah bin Bayyah, and spent time studying with Sheikh Ibn Uthaymin in Unaizah. After a BA in Islamic studies from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, he earned a master's and a doctorate from the University of Khartoum.

Career

In Mecca and Jeddah he taught in the Grand Mosque's charitable Quran memorisation programme and supervised memorisation circles. Back in Sudan he became an assistant lecturer at the Holy Quran University in Omdurman, then head of the Islamic culture department at the University of Khartoum. He has served on the advisory committee of Sudan's Ministry of Religious Affairs and Awqaf, as secretary-general of the Muslim Scholars' League (Rabitat 'Ulama' al-Muslimin) and as head of the Nusrat al-Shari'a wa Dawlat al-Qanun (Support for Sharia and the Rule of Law) movement.

Recordings and writings

His voice has made him one of Sudan's most listened-to reciters. He has recorded the Quran in the Hafs 'an 'Asim transmission, and also in those of Warsh, al-Bazzi and Qunbul and al-Duri 'an Abi 'Amr. His writings include his two theses, Ma'alim al-Istiqama fi al-Kitab wa al-Sunna and Ahl al-Qibla wa Huququhum al-Shar'iyya, and works on al-Aqsa Mosque, the prostration of recitation and the treatment of obsessive doubts (waswasa) about faith.