Question

Salamullahi 'alaykum wa rahmatuhu wa barakaatuh,

     May Allah have mercy on you, I love to know more about the noble Shaykh Rushdi Swayd, his life, how he became so known as respected in qiraa'ah and tajweed. I believe such information will motivate myself and other youth like myself to become versed in the book of Allah and its sciences. Shakrallahu lakum!

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.

Baarak Allah feek and grant you your desire to being well versed the Qur'an and its sciences.   

The honorable Dr. Sheikh Ayman bin Rushdi Swayd, may Allah protect him, was born in 1374 Hajari, 1955 of the Gregorian calander in Damacus , Syria .

He completed memorization of the Glorious Qur’an when he was 15 years old.

Academic history

He studied in the Damascus school system and graduated from high school in the science division in 1974 Gregorian.  He then undertook studying at Damascus University in the college of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.  He studied there for three years, and then left the university to free himself to take from and recite to the Sheikh Abdulazeez ‘Uyoon As-Sood, may Allah be merciful to him, the 10 qira’aat al-kubraa [grand].  In that time he entered the Furqan Institute in Damascus and received a diploma in Shar’eeyah sciences.  He then entered Al-Azhar University in Cairo with a major in Arabic language, and graduated from there in 1982. 

While he was in Egypt he obtained an ijaazah in tajweed from the Qira’aat Institute in Cairo .

He then entered graduate school at Umm Al-Quraa University in Makkah , Saudi Arabia and obtained his masters degree with an excellent grade [as in an “A” average] in 1411 Hijari [1991]. His graduate project was verification of the book “At-Tathkirah fi-l-qira’aat Ath-thamaan,” by Taahir bin Ghalboon Al-Halabiyy [died 399 Hijari).  He then went on to obtain a PhD from the same University again with an excellent grade in 1419 h. [1998].  The subject of his thesis was the study of the book “Al-‘Iqd An-Nadheed fee Sahrh Al-Qaseed,” by As-Sameen Al-Halabiyy, [died 756 h], and he undertook verification from the beginning of the book until the chapter on al-fat-h wa-l-imaalah.   He also obtained a PhD with top honors from the Islamic and Arabic studies college of Al-Azhar University in 1420 h [1999], with an excellent grade [A average].

 Studying the Qur’an under Shuyookh

1. He received an ijaazah in the recitation of Hafs ‘an ‘Aasim by the way of Ash-Shaatibiyyah, and then the ten qira’aat together by way of Ash-Shaatibiyyah and Ad-Durrah, from the honorable Sheikh Abu Al-Hasan Muhyee Al-Kurdee Ad-Damascee, may Allah protect him in 1399 h. He also recited to him the two poems completely.

2.He read to and received an ijaazah from Ash-Sheikh Muhammed Taha Sukkar Ad-Damascee, may Allah protect him, the complete Qur’an with the recitation of Hafs ‘An ‘Aasim by the way of Ash-Shaatibiyyah, and completed this in 1973 Gregorian.

3. He then read the complete Qur’an to Ash-Sheikh Abdulazeez ‘Uyoon As-Sood, may Allah be merciful to him,  who was the Sheikh of the Qurraa’ in the city of Hams, Syria, the recitation of Hafs ‘an ‘Aasim by the way of At-Tayyibah, then recited the complete Qur’an in the ten qira’aat by the way of Tayyibah An-Nashr all together (simultaneously) in 1398h [1978 Greg.].  The honorable Sheikh Ayman received an ijaazah in all of these different qira’aat and ways from Sheikh Abdulazeez ‘Uyoon As-Sood, may Allah be merciful to him.

He also recited to Sheikh Abdulazeez ‘Uyoon As-Sood many different manthoomaat (poems) including manthoomah Hirz Al-Amaani wa wajha At-tahaanee, by Imam Ash-Shaatibiyy, AdDurrah Al-Mudhiyyah fi-l-qira’aat ath-thalaath al-mardhiyyah by Imam Ibn Al-Jazaree, and manthoomah Tayyibah An-Nashr, also written by Imam Ibn Al-Jazaree.  These are poems that Sheikh Abdulazeez recited to and was given ijaazah in from his sheikh, the honorable Ali Muhammed Adh-Dhabbaa’ the head of Egyptian reciters (died 1961 g), who had a sanad, or chain, going back to the authors of these poems.

4. Sheikh Ayman also read the complete Qur’an in the ten qira’aat together at the same time by way of Tayyibah An-Nashr to Ash-Sheikh Ibrahim Ali Shahaatah As-Samanodee, may Allah protect him, and was given an ijaazah in them.  He also recited to him the three poems, Ash-Shaatibiyyah, Ad-Durrah, and At-Tayyibah, and some other manthoomaat pertaining to tajweed that the Sheikh As-Samanodee authored himself.  The completion of this ijaazah was in Ramadhan 1400 h.
He later went to the honorable Sheikh As-Samanodee again in 1406 and took from him the four qira’aat above the ten by the way of the manthoomah [poem] Al-Fuwaa’id al-mu’tabarah, by the Imam Muhammed Al-Mutawalli, and learned and recited to him the same poem with the modifications of Ash-Sheikh As-Samanodee.

5. Ash-Sheikh Dr. Ayman Swayd recited surah Al-Faatihah and surah Al-Baqarah in the ten qira’aat together by the way of At-Tayyibah to Ash-Sheikh ‘Aamir As-Sayyid ‘Uthmaan [died 1408 in Al-Medinah Al-Munawwarah], the previous head sheikh of the qurraa’ of Egypt, may Allah be merciful to him, and he gave him an ijaazah in them in the complete Qur’an. He also recited to him the three poems: Ash-Shaatibiyyah, Ad-Durrah, and At-Tayyibah. 

 Ash-Sheikh Dr. Ayman also studied different Shari’ah sciences under a number of different shuyookh.

 Students of the Honorable Dr. Sheikh Ayman

There are 37 students of the Qur’an that have received an ijaazah in reciting in the recitation of Hafs ‘an ‘Aasim by the way of Ash-Shaatibiyyah from Ash-sheikh Ayman; among them are Sheikh Abdullah Basfar, Sheikh Abu Bakr Ash-Shaatree, and Sheikh Sahal Yaseen, may Allah protect them all.  One has received an ijaazah in the recitation of Warsh ‘an Naafi’ by the way of Ash-Shaatibiyyah, Sheikh Sa’eed Buhdeefee. 

Seven have receive ijaazah in Hafs ‘an ‘Aasim by the way of Tayyibah An-Nashr from the honorable Sheikh Ayman.

One has received an ijaazah in the ten qira’aat by the way of Ash-Shaatibiyyah and Ad-Durrah, the honorable Sheikhah Rehab bint Muhammed Mufeed Shaqaqee, may Allah protect her. 

 Research and work of the Honorable Sheikh

• He wrote a treatise called: Al-Bayaan lihukm qira’ah Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem bi-l-alHaan [The declaration on the rule of reading the Glorious Qur’an with tunes}.

• He also wrote a paper on: qaa’idah aqwaa as-sababyn fi-l-medd li-l-qurraa’ al-‘ashr [the rule of the stronger of two reasons in a medd for the ten reciters].

• Ash-Sheikh Ayman also wrote a paper on the rule of stopping on a hamzah that became middle placed due to an extra letter for the recitation of Hamzah by the way of Ash-Shaatibiyyah.

• The honorable Sheikh also wrote research on the subject of “An-Nabr,” or accent, in the tilaawah of the Glorious Qur’an.

• Dr. Ayman Swayd wrote research entitled: Sabab ikhtilaaf ‘adad al-qira’aat bayn muSannif wa aakhar wa maa yuqra’ bih al-yawm min dhaalik [the reason for difference a number of the qira’aat between one categorizer and another and what is recited of it this day].

• Another research done by the sheikh that was published was entitled: Laysa kullu maa yunsab ilaa waaHah min al-qurraa’ as-sab’ah aw al-‘ashrah mutawaatiran [Not all that is attributed to one of the seven or ten [famous] reciters is mutawaatir].

• He did two researches entitled “Jaam’a  abee ma’shar, and they have not been through tahqeeq, or verification.

• The explanation of the manthoomah “TalkheeS SareeH An-NaSS fil-kilimaat al-mukhtalaf feehaa ‘an Hafs was written by the Sheikh Dr.Ayman Swayd.

• The honorable sheikh did verification work on several important poems (manthoomaat), including the explanation of the tajweed poem, Al-Jazariyyah, by Ash-Sheikh Zakariyyaa Al-AnSaaree. 

• Also published is the research the honorable sheikh did for his masters degree and two doctorate degrees.

• The sheikh is putting great effort and research into what is called the “origins of An-Nashr” which is more than sixty books, on the important reference in the ten qira’aat by Imam Al-Jazaree entitled: An-Nash fi-l-qira’aat al-‘ashr. Most of these books are in manuscripts.  The honorable Sheikh Ayman under direction from his sheikh, Abdulazeez ‘Uyoon As-Sood, underwent searching for these different manuscripts in different international libraries, then went out to obtain photocopies of them. He further took the required steps to compare different copies of the books to obtain the confirmed copy of each the individual book.  This is all to correct many questions mentioned in An-Nashr, that are integrated or unclear, by using the original sources of An-Nashr.  This is a very long, tedious task, and the Sheikh Dr. Ayman has spent the last 20 years working on it, and it still needs more work.  May Allah help him finish this and make useful for the Muslims, Ameen.

• The honorable Sheikh Ayman also participates in the weekly television program “kayfa naqra’ al-Qur’an,” on the Iqra’ satellite channel.

 

May Allah bless the Sheikh, grant him good health, assist him in all khair, accept his righteous deeds, continue to keep him a great source of knowledge for students of the Qur’an and qira’aat, and protect him from all harm.  Ameen.