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He began as a member of a Sufi order and ended as the man who wrote the standard Arabic refutation of it. Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali (تقي الدين الهلالي, Abu Shakib, 1893–1987 CE / 1311–1408 AH) was born in an oasis on the edge of the Sahara, memorised the Qur’an at twelve, and studied and taught across Morocco, Egypt, India, Iraq, the Hijaz and Germany. With Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan he produced the English translation of the Qur’an that has been read by more people than any other.
Origins
He was born in 1311 AH (1893 CE) at Rissani, in the Tafilalt oasis of south-eastern Morocco, in the valley of old Sijilmasa — once the northern terminus of the trans-Saharan caravan routes, and by his day a remote settlement on the desert’s edge. He was raised in a household of learning, took his kunyah Abu Shakib, and completed the memorisation of the Qur’an by about the age of twelve, studying recitation and tajwid with his father and with Shaykh Ahmad ibn Salih.
He then read Maliki fiqh and Arabic grammar with Shaykh Muhammad Sayyidi ibn Habib Allah ash-Shinqiti, reaching a level at which he was permitted to teach in his shaykh’s place, and continued at al-Qarawiyyin in Fez.
The Turning Point
This is the part of his life that is usually left out, and it is the part that explains everything else.
In his youth al-Hilali belonged to the Tijaniyyah, one of the most influential Sufi orders in North and West Africa, and held the views current among its members — including seeking help at the tombs of the righteous. The order rests on a foundational claim: that its founder, Ahmad at-Tijani, met the Prophet ﷺ in a waking state and received his litanies directly from him.
The Moroccan scholar Muhammad ibn al-‘Arabi al-‘Alawi (d. 1964) challenged him to defend that claim. He could not. The exchange convinced him that the doctrinal foundation of the order was false, and he left it.
He did not leave quietly. Years later, teaching at the Islamic University of Al-Madinah, he wrote Al-Hadiyyah al-Hadiyah ila at-Ta’ifah at-Tijaniyyah — “The Guiding Gift to the Tijani Group” — which remains the reference Arabic refutation of the order, and in which he sets out his own story. To break publicly with the dominant tariqah of your own country, having been inside it, is not a small thing. It cost him, and he did it anyway.
“Say: This is my way; I call to Allah upon clear insight, I and those who follow me.”
Surah Yusuf 12:108
Travels for Knowledge
In Cairo he studied at al-Azhar and entered the circle of Shaykh Muhammad Rashid Rida, alongside Shaykh ‘Abd az-Zahir Abu as-Samh. It was at Rashid Rida’s request that he published, in Cairo in 1927, his treatise Al-Qadi al-‘Adl fi Hukm al-Bina’ ‘ala al-Qubur — on the ruling concerning building over graves.
He travelled onward:
- India — Hyderabad and Lucknow, studying hadith with Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, author of Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi, and with Shaykh Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Hudaydi al-Ansari al-Yamani, taking ijazahs in Sahih al-Bukhari and the Six Books. He taught Arabic and worked on the journal Ad-Diya’ at the invitation of Mawlana Sulayman an-Nadwi.
- Iraq — Basra, studying hadith and fiqh with Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin ash-Shinqiti.
- The Hijaz — carrying a letter of recommendation from Rashid Rida to King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, he was appointed supervisor of lessons at the Prophet’s Mosque in Al-Madinah, and later taught at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and at the Saudi Educational Institute.
- Germany — he began teaching Arabic at the University of Bonn in 1936, later moving to Berlin, where he completed a doctorate in Arabic language and literature in 1940.
After the Second World War he returned to Morocco, then to Baghdad in 1947 to teach at the university there. Following the upheaval of 1958 he came home for good, taking a chair in Arabic literature at Mohammed V University in Rabat and later Fez.
In 1968, at the invitation of Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz, he joined the Islamic University of Al-Madinah as professor of comparative fiqh, serving until 1974. He then returned to Meknes and gave the rest of his life to teaching and da‘wah.
The Noble Qur’an
It was during the Al-Madinah years that the work he is best known for began. He and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan — a Moroccan scholar of Arabic and an Afghan-Pakistani physician — set out to render the meanings of the Qur’an into English with the interpretation drawn from tafsir rather than from the translator’s own reading.
The result explains the Qur’an through at-Tabari, al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir, with the relevant ahadith from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim reproduced alongside the verses. Published in nine volumes with full commentary, it proved popular enough that the two translators asked Darussalam to prepare the summarised single-volume edition that most readers now own.
It carries the approval of the Islamic University of Al-Madinah and the Saudi Dar al-Ifta’, is printed at the King Fahd Complex, and has been distributed free to Hajj pilgrims for decades. It is, by circulation, the most widely disseminated English Qur’an in the world.
Who did what. The two men’s work is often blurred together — some reference sources even credit al-Hilali with the English Sahih al-Bukhari. The division is: The Noble Qur’an was the joint work of al-Hilali and Muhsin Khan, while the nine-volume Sahih al-Bukhari and Al-Lu’lu’ wal-Marjan were Dr. Muhsin Khan’s own translations.
His Writings
| Work | Note |
|---|---|
| The Noble Qur’an (with Dr. Muhsin Khan) | Interpretation of the meanings in English, in nine volumes with commentary and in a summarised single volume. |
| Al-Hadiyyah al-Hadiyah ila at-Ta’ifah at-Tijaniyyah | His refutation of the Tijani order, written at the Islamic University of Al-Madinah, and the account of his own break with it. |
| Al-Qadi al-‘Adl fi Hukm al-Bina’ ‘ala al-Qubur | On the ruling concerning structures built over graves. Published in Cairo, 1927, at the request of Rashid Rida. |
| His Diwan | He was a poet, and used verse deliberately as an instrument of da‘wah against shirk and innovation — an old Arab weapon turned to a scholarly purpose. |
| Treatises, editions and fatawa | Works on tawhid, the Sunnah and the refutation of bid‘ah; editions of earlier Sunni texts; and a substantial body of fatawa and articles published in the Arabic journals of his day. |
Creed and Standing
Al-Hilali was Salafi (Athari) in creed: affirming the Divine Names and Attributes as they came, insisting on tawhid, opposing what leads to shirk, and calling for the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf. Unlike some of the great imams whose books we sell — An-Nawawi and Ibn Hajar among them — he requires no caveat on the question of the Attributes.
What is distinctive about him is that he arrived at this position rather than inheriting it, and could therefore argue it from inside. He knew the Tijaniyyah as a member, the Azhar as a student, and the European university as a doctoral candidate, and he answered each in its own language.
His Death
He died on 25 Shawwal 1407 AH (22 June 1987 CE) in Casablanca, Morocco, at the age of ninety-four.
He was born where the caravan roads ended and the desert began. He died having put the meanings of the Book of Allah into the language of the world.
May Allah have mercy on Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali, forgive him, and reward him on behalf of everyone who has read the Qur’an in English because of his work.
Translated by Dr. Al-Hilali at Dar-us-Salam
- The Noble Qur’an, Arabic/English (9 Vol. Set with Full Tafsir)
The full edition. Arabic text from the Mushaf al-Madinah, commentary summarised from at-Tabari, al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir, and the relevant ahadith from the Sahihayn given in full beside the verses. A study reference rather than a reading copy. - The Noble Qur’an, Arabic/English — Juz’ ‘Amma (Part 30)
The final juz’ with translation and tafsir, in full colour and four sizes from large hardback to pocket. The natural starting point for a new Muslim or a child memorising. - All Noble Qur’an editions
The summarised one-volume edition, English-only printings, word-for-word study sets and multi-language editions — every Noble Qur’an in our catalogue is the Hilali & Khan translation.
