Ummayad Mosque, Damascus, Syria

The people of Greater Syria have a beautiful quality, namely that they love the men and women of sacred knowledge.  With this merit also comes a shortcoming in that many of them do not become aware of their scholars until after they have passed.  Before our tears had yet to dry for our dear brother and teacher, al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Ustādh ʿAbd al-Hādī al-Ṭabbāʿ, God willed that another great and noble scholar, whose likeness is rare to find, be taken to the eternal abode.  The scholars of Damascus and the carriers of God’s book submitted their affairs to His divine will with the death of Dr. Daʿad al-Ḥusaynī (may God have mercy on her).

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Dr. Daʿad earned her PhD in mathematics from the Soviet Union and was one the oldest professors of mathematics in the Department of Science at the University of Damascus.  She was born in 1938 and her father was the late teacher and guide Muhammad ʿAlī Ḥusaynī al-Jazāʾirī.  She was an individual of many talents. During her youth she studied in Moscow and taught in Algeria before settling at the University of Damascus.

She became devoted to her faith and transformed both in heart and action.  She was a leader of the Islamic women’s movement in Syria and one of its most senior teachers.  She was certified (mujāza) in all ten recitations of the Qurʾān (acquiring the station of al-ḥafiẓā al-jāmiʿa li-l-qirāʾāt) at the hands of the blessed scholar of Syria, Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan al-Kurdī—may God preserve him and continue to benefit the Muslims from him.

Hundreds of women graduated under her tutelage as certified reciters of the Qurʾān.  The students of these reciters then produced thousands of other women reciters of the Qurʾān.  She was rigorous in her precision and exactitude in Qurʾānic recitation.

She spent her life as an upright spiritual guide, a devoted wife, a dedicated mother, and a great scholar.  This is attested to by all who interacted with her and witnessed her qualities of distinction and leadership.  I was privileged to have been her student in mathematics at the university during the late seventies.  Later, I was honored to have met with her many times at the meetings of the board of directors of the Badr al-Dīn al-Ḥasanī Foundation for Sacred Sciences.  She was an individual who possessed strength of character while maintaining a balance in her life that was further exemplified by her farsightedness.  Until now, I recall her firm command over a college lecture hall of hundreds of students whose eyes had never been exposed to a woman in a headscarf who was capable of instructing them in mathematics (keeping in mind that she was one of the rare women in the universities at that time who practiced Islam to this level).  I can also testify with all honesty that she was one of the most proficient professors with whom I had studied mathematics and to this day, I possess in my heart the greatest of respect and gratitude towards her.

While she published only a small booklet on the science of tajwīd, she engraved the Book of God on the hearts of thousands of our mothers, sisters, and daughters.  She also published books on mathematics, problem solving, and numbers.  She possessed—may God have mercy on her—the most lofty of good character, exceeding benevolence and had a luminous smile that encompassed both resolution and kindheartedness.

She is survived by her husband, Muḥammad Nadhīr al-Māliḥ, as well as a son and daughter.  Her funeral prayer was held on Thursday the 23rd of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 1430 AH or March 19, 2009 CE at the Shāfiʿī mosque in West Mezze Damascus.  She was buried in the Najhā cemetery.  Her funeral was attended by an abundance of scholars of sacred knowledge and people of spiritual excellence.  It was also witnessed by thousands of men and women who are carriers of the Book of God in their hearts.

O Allah, have mercy on her in the grave and soothe her loneliness by the truth of Your Book that was her best companion, and make her and our brother ʿAbd al-Hādī al-Ṭabbāʿ of those who intercede on our behalf. O Allah, make those whom she has left behind from among her children, homeland, and students to receive the utmost of goodness and exchange this loss to the Muslim community with another bounty.  Indeed, God does not take or give except that everything is set in a balance. Innā lillāh wa innā ilayhi rājiʿūn.

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Composed by one of her students and sons in knowledge, upbringing, and virtue: Aḥmad Muʿādh al-Khaṭīb al-Ḥasanī.

Taken from: Nur Foundation website

Originally translated to English from the original Arabic version found in the following website: http://www.darbuna.net/beacons/text.php?CID=3&ID=1248