Idris Watts

Shaykh Idris Watts hafidhahullah was born and raised in Kent, England. He accepted Islam in 1998 during his first year of an Arabic Language Degree at the University of Leeds. In his second year, he relocated to the ancient city of Fez, Morocco to further his Arabic studies, where he attended circles of knowledge and visited zawiyahs across the city. He also sat with notable figures of Fez, including the distinguished singer Sidi Muhammad Bennis. He graduated in 2002 from the University of Leeds with First Class Honours and received an award of excellence for his language skills. He then returned to Fez to undertake an intensive period of formal study at the Qarawiyeen University in the Old City, where he spent four years studying classical texts in grammar and morphology - including the Ajrumiyya, Lamiyyat al-Af'al, Matn al-Zanjani, and the Alfiyya - with scholars such as the adept grammarian Shaykh Abdel-Hayy al-'Amrawi.