Ahmed Kuftaro

Ahmed Muhammad Amin Kuftaro (died 1 September 2004) was a Syrian scholar of Kurdish origin, shaykh of the Naqshbandi Sufi order in Syria, and Grand Mufti of the Syrian Arab Republic from 1964 until his death — forty years in the country's highest official fatwa office. ^{1 2}

The sources disagree on his birth year: the English article gives December 1915 and Wikidata gives 1915, while the Arabic article gives 1912 throughout. The record follows the English article and Wikidata and flags the disagreement. ^{1 2 3}

He was known for advocating interreligious dialogue and for building educational and charitable institutions. His followers regard him as a renewer of Islamic thought, while his opponents accused him of loyalty to the Assad regime and of legitimising its rule; the Arabic article calls him "a highly controversial figure about whom opinion differed greatly". ²

His family came from the village of Karma in Ömerli District, Mardin Province, Turkey, and moved to Damascus in 1878, settling near the Abu al-Nur mosque in the Kurdish quarter. ¹

He was born in the Rukn al-Din quarter of Damascus. His father, Muhammad Amin Kuftaro, was a scholar who worked at the Sa'id Pasha mosque. ^{2 1}

His father insisted that he first receive a classical education in Qur'an, tafsir, hadith and Shafi'i jurisprudence with the scholars of Damascus. ¹

The Arabic article names among his teachers Abu al-Khayr al-Maydani, Ibrahim al-Ghalayini, Muhammad Salim al-Halwani, Muhammad al-Malkani, his father Muhammad Amin Kuftaro and his uncle Muhammad Salih Kuftaro, and says his teachers licensed him to teach the sharia sciences, spiritual discipline, preaching and guidance. ²

After his father's death in 1938 he took over guidance, teaching, preaching and spiritual training in his father's circle. ²

He was appointed a religious teacher at the fatwa house in Quneitra in 1948, moved to Damascus in 1950, and helped found the League of Scholars in Syria in 1949. ^{1 2}

He became Mufti of Damascus in 1951 — the English article says he became Mufti of the Shafi'i school in Damascus in 1952 and a member of the Higher Ifta Council — and in 1964 he was elected Grand Mufti of the Syrian Arab Republic and head of the Higher Ifta Council, remaining in office until his death. ^{2 1}

The English article reports that his political instinct aligned him with the Syrian Ba'ath Party in 1955 and that he supported the party's candidate in that year's election. ¹

His movement, known as the Kuftariyya, is an Islamic Sufi movement rooted in the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandi order, named after Khalid al-Baghdadi; the Arabic article describes it, citing some experts, as secular in its organisational form. ²

He founded the al-Ansar secondary school for boys in 1949, the al-Ansar charitable association in 1952 (the achievements section of the Arabic article gives 1951), and the Badr institute for girls in 1964. ²

The Abu al-Nur complex was built on the foundations of the old mosque where his father had taught and opened in 1974; renamed the Shaykh Ahmad Kuftaro Islamic Complex, its eight floors came to house a mosque, sharia schools, an institute teaching Arabic to foreigners, and faculties of da'wa, theology, sharia and law, and the al-Awza'i faculty. ²

In 1999 he founded a project for a complex caring for orphans from stricken Muslim regions, attached to the al-Ansar association and his complex. ²

Among the ideas the Arabic article attributes to him: returning the rules of Sufism to the Qur'an and the Sunna in a "charter of Sufi work"; moderation (wasatiyya); reviving disciplined ijtihad; fighting sectarian fanaticism; and care for Islamic media, including encouraging Islamic satellite channels. ²

He advocated interreligious dialogue and the development of coexistence among the faiths within one society, and visited many countries as a representative of Syrian state Islam, including a 1985 visit in which he met the Pope in Rome. ^{1 2}

He taught the Qur'an's exegesis four times over half a century of teaching, and hundreds of scholars, preachers and thinkers graduated at his hands. ²

He received honorary doctorates from the State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah in Jakarta in 1968, from Omar Farooq University in Pakistan in 1984 and from Omdurman Islamic University in Sudan in 1994, and decorations including Egypt's Order of Sciences and Arts, first class, in 1998. ²

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

As his supporters see him: The Arabic article reports that his followers count him among the renewers of Islamic thought and the pioneers of revival and of rapprochement between religions and schools, and that he gave counsel to every class of the community, from the ruled to the rulers. ²

As his opponents see him: The Arabic article reports that opponents accuse him of belonging to Freemasonry, regard him as a leading advocate of the "unity of religions", call him the religious arm of Hafez al-Assad and the legitimiser of his rule and of absolute loyalty to the ruler, and fault him for instructing his students and followers before his death to give Bashar al-Assad their complete loyalty. ²

In the events of 1979–1982: His stance towards the Muslim Brotherhood's uprising against the Assad regime was among the decisions that shaped his movement's identity: he held, according to the article, that scholars had to endure everything to protect the movement's organisational framework and institutions, since confrontation with the government would mean the complete marginalisation of the scholars. ²

He died on Wednesday 17 Rajab 1425 AH, corresponding to 1 September 2004. His funeral prayer was held the next day after the noon prayer at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, and he was carried on foot to the Shaykh Ahmad Kuftaro Complex, where he was buried. ²

The Arabic article quotes Abu al-Hasan al-Nadwi's description of him in his book "Memoirs of a Traveller in the Arab East" as "a cultured scholar, well-informed, mature of mind, broad in outlook and energetic in his work". ²

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
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