Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi

rdf:langString Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi

rdf:langString Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi (1881-1920) was an Egyptian Muslim and physician who argued against the authenticity of hadith (the record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) and its application to modern life. He is remembered today for his argument "that nothing of the Hadith was recorded until after enough time had elapsed to allow the infiltration of numerous absurd or corrupt traditions"; and that God had allowed this to happen because the Sunnah of Muhammad as a whole "was only ever meant for the Arabs of the Prophet's time", as only the Quran was necessary for Islam, (a position held by a small number of Muslims and known as Quranism). Sidqi recanted his position after Rashid Rida opposed his position. Sidqi was a hafiz who had memorized the Quran as a young boy, and "during the 1890s and early 1900s" had written articles in Egyptian journals defending Islam against Christian missionary criticisms of his religion. He was an "associate" or "protege" of the well known Islamic revivalist Rashid Rida. He attended Qasr Al-Ayni Medical School, and worked as a physician at the prison of Turra. He died of typhus in 1920.