Islamic Studies

An Amazing Brother: Abu Majeed al-Oklahomi

by Suhaib Webb
December 24, 2007
2 min read

Asalamu alaykum,

Abu Majeed (Yahya Ederer) has been a dear friend for a number of years. He is truly a hard worker and I have a lot of love for him. We are both from the wonderful state [just ask Texas football fans] of Oklahoma. Yes, everyone thinks we ride horses to work, drink from our hats and have a special place for our boots, but that is not the truth just ask Abu Majeed. Anyways, he is currently in the Gulf seeking sacred knowledge and studying with the famous Jarah familie’s students.

I meet Sh. Ibrahim Jarah, the standard of the Hanabli school in the gulf, when he was well over a hundred years old. He was worth well over a billion Kuwait Dinar, but he sat in the Masjid and read from Fajir till ‘Eisha until he was unable to go to the mosque anymore. He told me, “Be a zahid! This life is short! Focus on the Hereafter and know that there is none worthy of worship but Allah with no partners!” His family held onto the Hanbali school with sanad and passed it down to their students and now, mashallah, Abu Majeed is planning to bring that back to the West and teach the school with sanad. In addition, Sh. Abu Majeed is working on his 10 qirat and finishing many other important subjects. Recently he recorded, in Arabic, a series of T.V shows where he interviewed the scholars of Kuwait.

I hope that students of knowledge in the West will take Abu Majeed, as a reference for studying the Hanbali school with sanad and encourage everyone to invite him to their conferences and programs. I’m not writing this to put dirt in his face, but to encourage him and his wife to continue on the way of seeking knowledge. I pray that Allah will bless all of us in our studies, raise our ranks and increase us in goodness.

You may also like

About the author

Suhaib Webb

Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.

From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.

Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.

View all posts

1 Comment

  • AlSalaamu 3laikum,

    His site is down! can you post any details through which I can contact him?

    I googled his name but coudln’t come up with anything.

    Reply

Leave a Comment