STERLING, Virginia – American Muslims mourned the death of renowned Muslim scholar and leader Dr. Taha Jabir Al Alwani who passed away on Saturday after a long illness.

“On behalf of CAIR’s board and staff, we offer sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Dr. Taha Jabir Al Alwani, whose work – including the students he taught, the books he wrote and the institutions he helped establish – will benefit Muslims around the world for generations to come,” Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement.

“To God we belong and to Him we return.”

Awad added: “Dr. Taha Jabir Al Alwani was an internationally-recognized pioneering leader and reformist thinker who founded institutions and helped to advance beneficial knowledge in the US and around the world.

CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, offered condolences to the family and loved ones of Muslim scholar who passed away in America.

The family of the scholar said he will be buried after Sunday Duhr prayer in Sterling Cemetery after funeral prayer at the Sterling ADAMS Center.

“The family will be accepting condolences on the following days and times: – Sunday night between Maghrib and Isha at the ADAMS Main Center, Monday and Tuesday at 1105 Safa St, Herndon, VA 20170, from 5:30pm to 8pm,” the family added in a statement on Facebook.

Al Alwani was one of the top Islamic ideologue of modern times who will be known for his contribution on burning issues like reform in jurisprudence of Muslim minorities.

He received his primary and secondary education in Egypt and then graduated with an Honors Degree from the College of Shari`ah and Law at Al Azhar University in Cairo in 1378/1959.

From the same university he was awarded his master’s degree in 1388/1968 and a Doctorate in Usul al Fiqh in 1392/1973.

He was one of the founders of International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).

For ten years (from 1395/1975 to 1405/1985) Dr al ‘Alwani was a Professor of jurisprudence and principles of jurisprudence at Imam Muhammad b. Sa’ud University in Riyadh.

Leader & Scholar

Dr. Al Alwani participated in the founding of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) in the USA in 1401/1981.

He was a founder-member of the Council of the Muslim World League in Makkah, a member of the OIC Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah since 1407/1987 and the president of the Fiqh Council of North America 1408/1988.

A press release on IIT website said, “With immense grief, we announce the passing of Dr. Taha Jabir Al-Alwani, one of IIIT founders, past presidents, and great leaders.”

“May Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, forgive him and grant him a place in Paradise. Ameen…Sheikh Taha’s demise is an enormous loss not only for his immediate family but for the larger IIIT family around the world, for the American Muslim community, and the Muslim Ummah.”

The statement went on to add, “His remarkable intellectual contributions to the reform and revival of Islamic Thought are an enduring legacy he leaves behind in the form of many books that he wrote, including Islamic Thought: An Approach to Reform, Source Methodology in Islamic Jurisprudence, The Ethics of Disagreement in Islam, and The Qur’an and the Sunnah: The Time-Space Factor.

“His intellectual contributions will continue to guide our work at IIIT and that of generations of Muslim scholars and intellectuals throughout the world…We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, for sabr and strength in this time of grief for his family, friends, and his IIIT colleagues. Please remember him in your du’as”.