وهبة الزحيلي
وهبة بن مصطفى الزحيلي، أحد أبرز علماء أهل السنة والجماعة من سوريا في العصر الحديث، عضو المجامع الفقهية بصفة خبير في مكة وجدة والهند وأمريكا والسودان. ورئيس قسم الفقه الإسلامي ومذاهبه بجامعة دمشق، كلية الشريعة. حصل على جائزة أفضل شخصية إسلامية في حفل استقبال السنة الهجرية التي أقامته الحكومة الماليزية سنة 2008 في مدينة بوتراجايا.
ولد في مدينة بصرى الشام من نواحي دمشق عام 1932، وكان والده حافظاً للقرآن الكريم عاملاً بحزم به، محباً للسنة النبوية، مزارعاً تاجراً. درس الابتدائية في بلد الميلاد في سوريا، ثم المرحلة الثانوية في الكلية الشرعية في دمشق مدة ست سنوات وكان ترتيبه الامتياز والأول على جميع حملة الثانوية الشرعية عام 1952 وحصل فيها على الثانوية العامة الفرع الأدبي أيضاً.
تابع تحصيله العلمي في كلية الشريعة بالأزهر الشريف، فحصل على الشهادة العالية وكان ترتيبه فيها الأول عام 1956 ثم حصل على إجازة تخصص التدريس من كلية اللغة العربية بالأزهر، وصارت شهادته العالمية مع إجازة التدريس. درس أثناء ذلك علوم الحقوق وحصل على ليسانس الحقوق من جامعة عين شمس بتقدير جيد عام 1957. نال دبلوم معهد الشريعة الماجستير عام 1959 من كلية الحقوق بجامعة القاهرة.
حصل على شهادة الدكتوراة في الحقوق (الشريعة الإسلامية) عام 1963 بمرتبة الشرف الأولى مع توصية بتبادل الرسالة مع الجامعات الأجنبية، وموضوع الأطروحة آثار الحرب في الفقه الإسلامي ـ دراسة مقارنة بين المذاهب الثمانية والقانون الدولي العام
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Dr. Zuhayli was born in the Syrian town of Dair Atiah, north of Damascus, to a father who was a farmer by occupation. Zuhayli studied sharia in the University of Damascus for six years, graduating in 1952 at the top of his class. Zuhayli furthered his Islamic education at the prestigious Al-Azhar University where he again graduated at the top of his class in 1956. After graduating in 1956, Dr. Zuhayli also received an ijaza in teaching Arabic from Al-Azhar.
While studying in al-Azhar, Dr. Zuhayli studied law in Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt where he received a bachelors degree magna cum laude in 1957. In 1959, he received a masters degree in law from Cairo University's College of Law. In 1963, he received his doctorate with honors in law with a major in Islamic sharia, his thesis was "The Influences of War on Islamic Jurisprudence: A comparative study including the eight schools of Islamic law and secular international law."
Since 1963 he has taught at Damascus University where he has been professor since 1975. He lectures in both the colleges of sharia and law and he specializes in Islamic law, Islamic legal philosophy, and comparative legal systems. He has also taught as a visiting professor at the faculty of law at University of Benghazi in Libya (1972–1974), the faculty of sharia law at the University of the United Arab Emirates (1984–1989), the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and the Islamic University of Riyadh. Dr. Zuhayli has also taught the principles of Islamic legal writing and evidence for graduate students in Sudan, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Dr. Zuhayli's erudite understanding of Islamic law caused him to be chosen to design the curriculum of Damascus University's College of Sharia in the late 1960s.
He is a member of the Royal Society for Research on Islamic Civilization of the Aal al-Bayt Foundation in Amman Jordan as well as many other worldwide Islamic legal bodies including the Syrian Majis al-Ifta, Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Fiqh Academies of the United States, India, and Sudan. He is also Chairman of the Research Institute for Islamic Financial Institutions. Many of his books and writings also concern secular legal systems, such as international law or the law of the United Arab Emirates.
He also serves as Islamic legal consultant to Islamic financial companies and institutions including the International Islamic Bank. He is also a well known religious preacher in the Islamic world, appearing frequently on television and radio programs; he also frequently appears in the Arab press. He was a former imam and preacher at the Othman Mosque in Damascus and currently is summer preacher a