Shaykh Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur محمد الطاهر بن عاشور

Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur (1296-1393 AH / 1879-1973 CE) rahimahullah was the foremost Tunisian Maliki scholar of the twentieth century, serving for many years as Shaykh of Zaytuna University in Tunis, one of the oldest and most distinguished institutions of Islamic learning in the Muslim world. He is celebrated as the author of al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir, a monumental 30-volume Quranic exegesis recognized as one of the great works of modern Sunni tafsir, distinguished by its rigorous attention to Arabic linguistics, textual structure, and the Maliki scholarly tradition. His 'Maqasid al-Shari'a al-Islamiyya' is counted among the foundational modern texts on the higher objectives of Islamic law. He also authored a commentary on the celebrated Burda of al-Busiri, 'Shifa al-Qalb al-Jarih bi-Sharh Burdat al-Madih,' bringing the same linguistic precision that characterizes his tafsir to the devotional poetry tradition.