Mohammad Idrissi Alcaraz
Mohammad Idrissi Alcaraz, also known as Sheikh Mohammad Idrissi Al-Qurtubi, is an Islamic scholar, academic, and Muslim educational figure from Spain who served as founder and Chancellor of the Al-Andalusía Islamic University of Spain (Universidad Islámica de España Al-Andalusía). He is internationally recognized for his dedication to developing formal Islamic education curricula and da'wah activities, especially for Muslim communities in the Spanish-speaking (Hispanophone) parts of the world.
Early life
Mohammad Idrissi Alcaraz was born in Córdoba and spent his growing up years in Sevilla.
Personal life and education
As a polyglot academic, Mohammad Idrissi Alcaraz actively speaks four languages, namely Spanish, English, Arabic, and Urdu, which helped him in spreading the message of Islam in immigrant communities and native Western Europeans.
His journey of Islamic studies began in Meknes, Morocco, where he memorized the Quran under the guidance of Sheikh Al-Nasiri as well as deepening the knowledge of Fiqh with Sheikh Al-Gimawi and Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hasani.
He then continued his higher religious education in the United Kingdom and completed a formal program at the Institute of Islamic Education UK (Jami'ah Ta'lim al-Islam) in 2013 with specialization in the field of Fiqh and Arab-Islamic Studies through the traditional method of Dars Nizami. During his studies, Idrissi managed to obtain a ijazah of teaching in Qira'at Ten Casting Patterns from Sheikh Imtiaz, as well as the transmission of authoritative hadith books (Kutub al-Sittah), including from world-renowned scholars such as Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani.
In order to balance religious understanding with the modern legal system in Europe, he undertook a series of secular specialist education in Spain, including:
- Diploma in Law and Religion in Democratic Societies (2021–2022) from University of Zaragoza.
- Diploma in Management and Administration of Religious Organizations (2022–2023) from Autonomous University of Madrid.
- Inter-University Master in Continuing Training on Religious Pluralism, Law and Society from the University of Zaragoza.
Academic career and the founding of Al-Andalusía
Upon his return to Spain, Mohammad Idrissi focused his activities on reviving the classical Andalusian Islamic scholarship that had been lost in the Iberian Peninsula. He founded and led the Al-Andalusía Islamic University of Spain and its Higher Institute based in Seville. Through this institution, he developed a comprehensive, tiered Islamic education curriculum for all academic levels, facilitating access to structured Islamic science for Muslim teachers, imams, and the general public in Spanish and Arabic.
In addition, he also founded the Center for Andalusian Studies and formulated a system of romanizing Arabic into Spanish called the Andalusian Algarabiado System. Idrissi is actively involved as a regular instructor at global think tanks such as the Sapience Institute as well as being a speaker at scientific symposiums held by the University of Sevilla and national media such as Televisión Española.
Activist career
Outside the purely academic realm, Mohammad Idrissi Alcaraz held several strategic positions in social movements in Western Europe, including:
- Founder and Chair of the Council for the Prevention of Violent Religious Extremism and Institutional Advisory (COPERVAI).
- Founder and President of the non-governmental organization Al-Andalusía for Humanity.
- Editor-in-Chief of the cultural magazine El Alminar Andalusí.
Idrissi also built close relations with various Muslim communities across continents. He is recorded as having visited Indonesia to provide preaching advice, strengthening spiritual values (nafsiyya), and examine the contemporary challenges of regional da'wah with Islamic students (santri) and Islamic educational institutions in Indonesia.
See also
- Islam in Spain
- Al-Andalusía Islamic University of Spain