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His articles are mostly on Shafii fiqh and very detailed, useful and practical as a learning method, and he is one of those scholars of Islam, who can combine the sciences of Fiqh and Tasawwuf, just as Imam al-Malik (may Allah be well pleased with him!) said:
“man taSawwafa wa lam yatafaqqah fa-qad tazandaqa
wa man tafaqqaha wa lam yataSawwaf fa-qad tafassaqa
wa man jama'a bayna-humA fa-qad taHaqqaqa.”Whoever studies Tasawwuf and does not study Fiqh will be a heretic. Whoever studies Fiqh and does not study Tasawwuf will be corrupted. Whoever combines the two will attain to the truth.
Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti is a Research Fellow in Islamic Philosophy and Theology at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He is presently completing his doctoral thesis at Oxford University, on a newly discovered Arabic manuscript of a previously unknown theological work by Imam al-Ghazali. He was born in Malaysia and educated in various madrasas with a long tradition in Shafii fiqh in East Java.
Among his most well known teachers are:
Shaykh Muhammad Yasin al-Fadani,
Shaykh Ibn Mahfuz al-Hajini,
Shaykh Ibn Ashmuni al-Jaruni
and Habib
'Aydarus al-Habshi.
He has translated various works in Malay as well as English; mostly
textbooks that make up the curriculum of a Classical Islamic education,
including Imam al-Bajuri's commentary on the Jawhara, Imam Nawawi
al-Bantani on the Jami'a and his commentary on the Bidaya of Imam
al-Ghazali. He has travelled widely, and notwithstanding the specific
ijazas from his training, has also received general ijazas (for tabarrukan)
from teachers beyond his homeland.
2010-07-02:
Dr Afifi al-Akiti, Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology and Fellow of Worcester, was appointed as a Privy Councillor to the State of Perak, Malaysia. He received the instrument of appointment (watikah) from the Crown Prince of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, at the 171st Conference of the Privy Council on 22 April 2010. One of the main duties of the Council is to advise on the exercise of prerogative powers assigned to its constitutional monarch, the Sultan of Perak, in matters pertaining to the Islamic religion and Malay custom, in one of the oldest royal states of Malaysia.
[L1] theology.ox.ac.uk/news
[L2] Syed Jaafar, Muhammad Afifi dilantik ahli majlis MAAIAMP
• Al-Maqal al-Ma'thur fi al-Qawl al-Mashhur
• Contaminated Animal Feed
• Defending the Transgressed: Mudafi' al-Mazlum
• Hisab & Ru'ya or Matla' al-Budur (moonsighting)
• `Inan al-Bayan fi Nisf Sha'ban
• Kissing the Thumbs, etc. during Adhan?
• Lobsters and "Sea" Crabs
• Man Eating Man-Eating Sharks?
• On the Risala and the Appendices of al-Umm
• Placenta and Umbilical Cord Tahiratun
• Riba & Investing in Shares
• Taghyir al-Niyya from Fasting
• Tajaddud Nikah on account of Wali Hakim?
• Tartib al-Nawafil wa-l-Rawatib
• The Meaning of Nafs
• The `Amal of the Living for the Dead
• Tuhfat al-Hidaya fi Takmil al-Tahara
• Zakat al-Fitr II: Potato?
• Abstract: The Madnûn of al-Ghazâlî:
A Critical Edition of the Unpublished Major Madnûn
with Discussion of His Restricted, Philosophical Corpus ( pdf )
video @ youtube:
• The Hidden Treasure of Imam al-Ghazali (several parts)
• Shaykh Afifi at a recent interview on Malaysian TV
audio - mp3:
• Shaykh Afifi Al-Akiti Ash-Shafi'i's Talk on Ikhtilaf Al-Ummah
to be updated, in sha-Allah.
NB.
There are also two important texts elucidating
and commenting on the above fatwa (Defending the Transgressed):
vs.3.5