Ahmed Kuftaro
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox religious biography Ahmed Kuftaro (Arabic: أحمد كفتارو; December 1915 – 1 September 2004) was the Grand Mufti of Syria, the highest officially appointed Sunni Muslim representative of the Fatwa-Administration in the Syrian Ministry of Auqaf in Syria. Kaftaro was a Sunni Muslim of the Naqshbandi Sufi order.<ref>Annabelle Boettcher, Syria's Sunni Islam under Hafiz al-Asad. E-book, Amazon-Kindle, 2015</ref>
BiographyEdit
The family of Kuftaro is Kurdish who have their origins in the village of Karma in Ömerli District of Mardin Province, Turkey.<ref>Raphael Lefevre, Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, Oxford University Press (2013), p. 155</ref><ref>Line Khatib, Islamic Revivalism in Syria: The Rise and Fall of Ba'thist Secularism, Routledge (2012), p. 187</ref><ref>Leon T. Goldsmith, Cycle of Fear: Syria's Alawites in War and Peace, Oxford University (2015), p. 122</ref> In 1878, the Kuftaro family moved to Damascus and settled near the Abu al-Nur mosque in the Kurdish quarter. Kuftaro's father, Amin Kuftaro, received a traditional education and started working at the Sa'id Pasha mosque. His first wife was Najiya Sinjabi and he had four sons and two daughters with her: Musa, Taufiq, Ahmad, Ibrahim, Zaynab and Fatima. With his second wife, Is'af Badir, he had three children, Rabi', 'Abd al-Qadir and Rabi'a.<ref>Muhammad Bashir al-Bani, Al-Murshid al-Mujaddid, Damascus, private edition 1979, pp. 57–69.</ref>
Classic education in DamascusEdit
Kuftaro's father insisted that he first receive a classical education in Quran, Tafsir, Hadith and Islamic jurisprudence, namely Shafi'i Madhhab with Muslim scholars in Damascus.<ref>Muhammad Bashir al-Bani, Al-Murshid al-Mujaddid, Damascus, private edition 1979, pp. 95–97</ref>
Career in the Ifta' AdministrationEdit
In 1948, Kuftaro worked as a mosque teacher in Quneitra before moving to Damascus in 1950.Template:Citation needed Two years later, he became Mufti of the Shafi'i Madhhab in Damascus and a member of the Higher Ifta Council under Colonel Adib al-Shishakli.<ref>Muhammad al-Habash, al-Shaikh Ahmad Kaftaru wa-manhajuhu fi al-tajdid wa-l-islah. 2nd ed. Damascus: Dar al-Shaikh Amin Kaftaru, 1996, p. 77</ref> Kuftaro's political instinct aligned him with the Syrian Ba'ath Party in 1955. He reportedly supported the Baath Party candidate in the 1955 election for an open seat in parliament.Template:Citation needed
Advocacy of interreligious dialogueEdit
Ahmad Kuftaro advocated interreligious dialogue. He visited many countries as a representative of Syrian state Islam, including a 1985 visit with the Pope in Rome.Template:Citation needed He signed the Amman Message, a statement calling for tolerance and unity in the Muslim world that was issued on 9 November 2004 (27 Ramadan 1425 AH) by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan.<ref name="J47">"Jordan's 9/11: Dealing With Jihadi Islamism", Crisis Group Middle East Report N°47, 23 November 2005</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Kaftaru Homepage Template:Webarchive
- Obituary for Kuftaro in Islamica Magazine
- Homepage of Shaikh Ahmad Kaftaru Center, former Abu al-Nur Center
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