Abu Ishaq Al-Heweny

Abu Ishaq al-Heweny (also spelled al-Huwayni), born Hijazi Muhammad Yusuf Sharif, was an Egyptian hadith scholar and preacher, born in the village of Huwayn in Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate on 1 Dhu al-Qa'da 1375 AH / 10 June 1956, and died in Doha on 17 Ramadan 1446 AH / 17 March 2025. ^{1 2}

He is regarded as one of Egypt's most prominent contemporary hadith scholars. He studied with Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani and was shaped by his books and editions; he wrote and edited works on hadith science and gave widely followed lessons and television programmes. ^{1 3}

He was born in the village of Huwayn, about thirteen kilometres from the capital of Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate, into a middle-class farming family; his father named him Hijazi on returning from the Hajj. ¹

He began seeking knowledge young: he took the Qur'an from his uncle Abd al-Hay Zayyan and attended the lessons of Shaykh Muhammad Najib al-Muti'i in Shafi'i jurisprudence, the principles of jurisprudence and the principles of hadith. For his final school year he moved to Cairo, stayed with his brother, and attended the lectures of Abd al-Hamid Kishk. ^{1 3}

He joined the Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University, in the Spanish department, ranking first in his class every year except the last, graduated with excellence and won a scholarship to continue in Spain, where he did not stay long. He worked in a small grocery by day and spent his nights reading al-Albani's books, and he said that studying al-Albani's «Al-Silsila al-Da'ifa» for two years at university benefited him more than all his other years of study. ^{1 3}

As a boy he loved Arabic language and literature, reading al-Manfaluti, al-Rafi'i, Mahmud Shakir and others, before turning to the religious sciences and to hadith and the Sunna collections in particular. ¹

His teachers included Muhammad Najib al-Muti'i, from whom he took the principles of jurisprudence and of hadith and part of «Sahih al-Bukhari» and al-Nawawi's «Al-Majmu'» in Shafi'i law; Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, the teacher closest to his heart, to whom he made two famous journeys in Jordan, in Muharram 1407 AH and Dhu al-Hijja 1410 AH, asking him some two hundred questions on the hidden defects of hadith alone; Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, whose lessons he attended in Jeddah; Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin, whose lessons he attended at the Sacred Mosque; Ibn Jibrin; Abd Allah ibn Qa'ud; and his uncle Abd al-Hay Zayyan for the Qur'an and its recitation. ¹

He preached two Fridays in each Hijri month at the Shaykh al-Islam Mosque in his home town and gave a weekly lecture at the Ibn Taymiyya Mosque in Kafr el-Sheikh city. He presented a weekly live programme, «Fadfada», on the Al-Nas channel, appeared on Al-Hekma and Al-Rahma, and supervised the Al-Nada channel, where he presented «Asdaf al-Lu'lu'». ^{1 3}

This section should be read as a presentation of differing positions reported from the sources, not as the museum's verdict on them.

The sources describe him as one of the most prominent Salafi shaykhs in Egypt; the Arabic article describes his creed as Athari and records his work of criticising weak and fabricated hadiths and answering opponents, including his book «Tali'at Samt al-La'ali'», a reply to Muhammad al-Ghazali. ¹

The English article reports that some claimed he said "a woman's face is like her genitals", and that the words were taken out of context, as he was speaking about hijab and what should be covered. ³

The Arabic article records praise from a number of scholars: his teacher al-Albani told him "What has been authenticated for you has not been authenticated for another" and called him "our virtuous friend" in his books; Abd al-Aziz al-Rajihi recommended him to a questioner asking where to study in Egypt; and Mashhur Hasan Al Salman testified that he was among the firmly grounded scholars of hadith. ¹

He wrote and edited many works, some printed and some still in manuscript. The best known include «Fasl al-Khitab bi-Naqd al-Mughni 'an al-Hifz wa'l-Kitab» (Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1405 AH/1985), «Al-Inshirah fi Adab al-Nikah» (1407 AH/1987), «Al-Nafila fi'l-Ahadith al-Da'ifa wa'l-Batila» (1408 AH/1988), «Kashf al-Makhbu' bi-Thubut Hadith al-Tasmiya 'ind al-Wudu'», «Nahi al-Suhba 'an al-Nuzul bi'l-Rukba», «Ghawth al-Makdud bi-Takhrij Muntaqa Ibn al-Jarud», «Badhl al-Ihsan bi-Taqrib Sunan al-Nasa'i», «Tali'at Samt al-La'ali' fi'l-Radd 'ala Muhammad al-Ghazali», and editions of «Al-Ba'th» by Abd Allah ibn Abi Dawud, «Al-Arba'un al-Sughra» by al-Bayhaqi, and «Kitab al-Samt wa Adab al-Lisan» by Ibn Abi'l-Dunya. ¹

He married twice and had twelve sons; among his known sons is Hatem, who announced his death. The museum publishes no family detail beyond what understanding his work requires. ¹

He died in Doha on the evening of Monday 17 Ramadan 1446 AH / 17 March 2025, after a health crisis that took him to hospital; Wikidata gives the cause of death as cerebral haemorrhage. Ahmad Isa al-Ma'sarawi led his funeral prayer after the afternoon prayer the next day at the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque in Doha, and he was buried at Mesaimeer Cemetery. ^{1 2}

Wikidata records 731,000 subscribers for his YouTube channel on 7 March 2021 — a dated platform figure the museum records only with its date. His lessons and books continue to circulate through his official website and the platforms after his death. ² The channel is published under the handle @alhuwayni; its own description names it his official channel, and it was verified in a channel harvest checked on 25 October 2026. ⁴

• The defined sources cited above, registered in data/source/.
• Later translations and edits of this article need periodic review with clear update dates.