Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi
Shaykh Muhammad descends from a scholarly family whose lineage goes back to the
Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi sallam, through his grandson Sayyiduna al-Hasan,
radiya Allahu 'anhu. His lineage goes back to Mawlay Idris al-Anwar who built
the city of Fes. Mawlay Idris' lineage is as follows: he is the son of Mawlay
Idris the Great; who is the son of Sayyiduna Abdullah al-Kamil; who is the son
of Sayyiduna al-Hasan, the Second; who is the son of Sayyiduna al-Hasan, radiya
Allah 'anhu; who is the grandson of the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa
sallam.
Shaykh Muhammad was born in Damascus on the 13th of DhulHijja in 1382 H. As a
little boy, he crawled in the Grand Omayyad Mosque and the Darwishiyya Mosque,
where his father was an instructor for 40 years, and sat in the laps of some of
the greatest scholars. Since he was four-years-old, Shaykh Muhammad accompanied
his father in all of his visits, gatherings, and classes, both public and
private, as well as at home and outside. His father took care of him and was
both his teacher and spiritual master. Under his tutelage, Shaykh Muhammad
followed a solid traditional curriculum since the age of four, studying,
step-by-step, the major classical works on the various disciplines of the
Shari'ah as well as the instrumental disciplines. Shaykh Muhammad dutifully
studied with his father over 500 books in the course of 20 years, some of them
from cover-to-cover and others in portions; some are multi-volumes, and others
are small concise works.