Introduction
Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf Al-Harariyy (Arabic: عبد الله بن محمَّد بن يوسف بن عبد الله بن جامع الشَّيبي العبدري الهرري ) (b. 1910 – d. September 2, 2008) was a Harari muhaddith and scholar of Islamic jurisprudence. Living and teaching in Beirut, Lebanon, he is noted as the founder of Al-Ahbash.
History
Al-Harariyy was born in 1910 in Harar, Ethiopia.
In 1983, he founded Al-Ahbash, a Beirut-based organization also known as the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects (AICP). Al-Ahbash is a Sufi religious movement which claims to run its schools affiliated with Cairo's Al-Azhar University, a claim which has been denied by Al-Azhar. Due to the group's origins and activity in Lebanon, the Ahbash have been described as the "activist expression of Lebanese Sufism."
Al-Harariyy was one of the Ulama signatories of the Amman Message. Issued in 2004, the statement gives a broad foundation for defining Muslim orthodoxy.
In terms of tariqa, Al-Harariyy was affiliated with Qadiriyya orders in Jerusalem, Damascus and Beirut. He was also licensed as a Shaykh by Al-Azhar University's branch in Lebanon.
Al-Harariyy died of natural causes on September 2, 2008, aged 98.