Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi (Arabic: عبد الزراق المهدي), is a Syrian Islamist cleric who is actively involved fighting in the Syrian Civil War against the Syrian government. He originates from Damascus's Al-Salihiyah district and was born in 1961.
He began studying Islamic Sciences in 1977 in the al-Fathu’l Islami institution in Damascus, where his teachers included Abdur Razzaq al-Halabi, the mufti of Hanafis. He also studied under Abdul Qader Arnaout.
He briefly left Syria for Tunisia, where he preached and taught. After the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War he returned to Syria to support fighters opposing the government.
A fatwa allowing abandoned homes to be seized was withdrawn by Abdulrazzaq al Mahdi.[2] A video was posted of Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi pleading for Muslims to intervene against what he called were "cursed Shiiterafidha" in December 2016 during the Battle of Aleppo.[3]
After the death of Muhammad Surur, Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi released condolences upon him and commented on his impact.[4] Al Mahdi posted a video calling for unity under the leadership of Islamic clerics.[5]
The Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria released "Blessed Are the Strangers #6" featuring a speech by Hasan Mahsum, as well as by Army of Conquest leader Abdullah al-Muhaysini and fellow Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi.[8]
Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı reported that the Turkistan Islamic Party was praised by Abu Qatada along with Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi, Maqdisi, Muhaysini and Zawahiri.[9]
Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi and Abdullah al-Muhaysini asked Muslims with money to aid the cause of the Uyghur Turkistan Islamic Party and praised the Uyghur foreign fighters for their role in the Syrian Civil War fighting against the Syrian government.[10][11]
Muhaysini, Abu Taher Al Hamawi, and Abdelrazzak Mehdi worked on the formation of the group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham.[12]
They are members of the group and appeared in its founding declaration.[13][14] However some months later on 8 March 2017 Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi announced his split from the group in his official Telegram channel as he had not been able to hinder some injustices and did thus not wish to take share in the responsibility. This came in the wake of the Rebel infighting in South Idlib and Northern Hama between Tahrir al-Sham and Liwa al-Aqsa, an ISIS affiliate left over from the late Jund al-Aqsa movement after its fusion. Liwa al-Aqsa had been accused of harassing other groups and kidnapping people as they considered most groups to be apostates, which emanated from their extreme views in takfir. Since his split from the group, al-Mahdi continues his Islamic preaching activities independently and hosts some programs along with answering jurisprudential (relating fiqh - the permissibility or prohibition of actions) questions of his followers online through Telegram.
Activities of the Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdı in revising books were concentrated on the subject of Hadith, particularly the fields of Takhrij (researching variants of the hadith), Tashih (authentifying hadiths) and Tadyif (classifying to be “weak”).
Tafsiru’l Kashaf by Zamahshari; 5 volumes, including an Appendix
al-Bahru’l Muhit by Abu Hayyan; 8 volumes
at-Tashīl by Ibn Juzayy; 2 volumes
Adwau’l Bayan by al Shanqiti
Fathul Bayan by Sadiq Hasan Khan
Islamic sciences
at-Tamhid by Ibn Abdilbarr
Fathul Qadir by Ibn Humām; 5 volumes [Hanafi fiqh]
al-Lubāb; 3 volumes [Hanafi fiqh]
al-Uddah Sharhul 'Umdah
ar-Rawdul Murabba’
Bidāyatul Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
al-I’tisam by al-Shātibi
Fathul Majid
Shariah by Ajuri
Tarikhul Madina by Ibn an-Najjar
Zadul Ma’ad by Ibn Qayyim
Talbisu Iblis by Ibn Jawzi
Mukthasar Zadul Ma’ād and Mukhtasar as-Sīrah by Muhammad ibn Abdulwahhab
Miscellaneous
Kitabu'l Adhkar by an-Nawawī
ar-Rihlatu fi talabil hadith by al-Khatīb al-Baghdadi
al-Khatim by al-Bayhaqī with an introduction
Muwatta; 4 volumes revision with a lengthy and detailed takhrij of the hadiths, especially those concerning balaaghah, mursal ones and mawquf hadiths considered marfu' along with a beneficent commentary. It has not been printed later.
^عبد الرزاق المهدي الدمشقي (April 2016). "ساندوا الشعب التركستاني"(PDF). تركستان الإسلامية. No. العدد 19. p. 31. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 September 2016.
