Sheikh Muhammad Zahid Al-Kawthari

He is Muhammed Zahid bin Hasan al-Hilmi al-Kawthari – al-Kawthari tracing back to the village of al-Kawthari on the banks of the River Shiz in the Caucasus region. It is also said that al-Kawthari is the name attributed to one of his grandfathers. He is of Circassian origin from the ancient Shapsug tribe. He was born in the village of Haj Hassan Qureisi, near Düzce, which is about three miles east of Astana in Turkey, on Tuesday 27 or 28 of Shawwal 1296 AH / October 14, 1878.

He studied jurisprudence in the Fatih Mosque in Astana, taught there, and became head of the teaching council. He was persecuted by the Unionists during the First World War for opposing their plan to replace religious sciences with modern ones in most study sessions. When the Kemalists came to power and publicly professed atheism, they wanted to arrest him, so he took a ship to Alexandria in 1341 AH / 1922. He moved between Egypt and Shaam for a while, then settled in Cairo, employed in the Archives House to translate Turkish documents into Arabic. He was proficient in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Circassian.

He has numerous religious works, more than fifty in number. He passed away on the 19th of Dhu al-Qi'dah 1371 AH / August 11, 1952, at the age of seventy-five. Shaykh Abdul Jalil Isa, the Shaykh of the Arabic language, led the funeral prayer, and he was buried near the tomb of Abul-Abbas at-Tusi in the Shafi'i cemetery.