Shaikh Mustafa Al Zarka’a
King Faisal Prize in Islamic Studies 1984 Laureate
Topic: "General Theory in Islamic Jurisprudence"
Mustafa Al-Zarka’a received a formal education, alongside private tutelage in Islamic Sharia and Fiqh under prominent Syrian religious scholars, including his father. He obtained two high school certificates, one in mathematics and philosophy, and the other in Arts, and attained first place in both, countrywide. Thereafter, he received a bachelor’s of Law and a bachelor’s of Arts degrees at Damascus University, with distinction in both, and a Diploma in Islamic Sharia from Fuad Al-Awal University in Egypt.
As a youth, Al-Zarka’a taught in his father’s place at local mosques and schools, then practiced law for 10 years in Aleppo, before joining Damascus University where he taught civil law at the College of Law, Sharia law at the College of Sharia and Arabic language at the College of Arts for over 20 years. He also held several other important positions including: a member of the Syrian parliament, a Minister of Justice and Endowment in Syria, a Chairman of the Fiqh Encyclopedia project in the College of Sharia in Damascus, an advisor to the Fiqh Encyclopedia in Kuwait, a professor at Sharia College in Amman and the Institute of Arabic studies in Cairo, and a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Makkah. He also assisted in developing family laws in Syria and Sharia curricula in many Arab universities.
Shaikh Al-Zarka’a was one of the foremost scholars of Islamic jurisprudence and comparative law in the Islamic world. He authored 12 seminal books as well as numerous articles dealing with both general and specific issues of Islamic jurisprudence, such as Laws of Endowments, Insurance Contracts, Trading, and Bartering etc. He also published a series of comparative studies of Islamic versus civil laws. His ground-breaking book Madakhil Ila Nazariy’yat Al-Iltizam Fi Al-Fiqh Al-Islami (Introduction to the Theory of Liability in Islamic Law) is one of the most important references on this subject in modern times.
This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.
- He published many books including:
- Al-Fi’al Al-Dhar Wa Al-Dhaman Feeh (Dar Al-Qalam), (1988).
- Al-Fiqh Al-Islami Wa Madarisuh (Dar Al-Qalam), (1995).
- Al-Aql Wa Al-Fiqh Fi Fahm Al-Hadith Al-Nabawi (Al-Dar Al-Shamiyah), (2002), (Published after death).
- Athamat Muhammed Khatam Rusul Allah (Dar Al-Qalam), (2008), (Published after death).
- Shaikh Mustafa Al-Zarka’a passed away in Riyadh on July 3, 1999.