Abu al-Huda al-Sayyadi

Abu al-Huda al-Sayyadi (Arabic: أبو الهدى الصيادي), full name Muhammad bin Hassan Wadi bin Ali bin Khuzam al-Sayyadi, was a Syrian Islamic scholar and poet, who held the title Sheikh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century.^[1][2][3] He is the father of Hasan Abu Al-Huda, the fourth Prime Minister of Transjordan (r. 1923–1931).^[2]

Sayyadi was born in 1849 in Khan Shaykhun, now modern day Syria.^[4] His lineage goes back to both Ahmad al-Rifa'i and even further back to Muhammad, hence making him a Sayyid.^[1][3] Due to his ancestry, he was put in charge of the Naqib al-Ashraf Association, which consisted of other Sayyids.^[1][3][5]

Sayyadi met with prominent reformists like Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. In 1895, he established a library next to the Eyüp Sultan Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.^[3]

The Ottoman Sultan of the time, Abdul Hamid II, met Sayyadi^[3][2] and made him Sheikh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire.^[1][6][3] After Abdul Hamid II was deposed, Sayyadi was exiled to Büyükada where he died in 1909.^[6][7] He is buried next to his father in Aleppo.^[3][4]

Sayyadi was a supporter of Sufism. He was part of the Rifa'i tariqa, and wrote poems and books with Sufi themes.^[8][9] Sayyadi was also very anti-Salafi in his views.^[8] He encouraged the Ottoman Empire to issue a crackdown on Wahhabism. This resulted in Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi, a Sufi scholar with Salafist-influenced beliefs to be sent into exile.^[10][11]

• Khizanat al-Amdad fi Akhbar al-Ghawth al-Kabir al-Sajad Mawlana al-Sayyid 'Izz al-Din 'Ahmad al-Sayaad
• Buni al-Islam 'iya la Khamsat Ma'badi

• Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi
• Jamal al-Din al-Afghani