Thaika Shuaib


Thaika Shuaib is a South Indian Sufi Islamic scholar, spiritual guide, and author.In May 1994, he developed into  the first Tamil Muslim to be a recipient of the National Award for being an "Outstanding Arabic Scholar".He was ranked as one of "The 500 Most Influential Muslims" in the 2013 to 2020 consecutively.

Background

Shuaib was born in Kilakarai, South India. He comes from a family of Islamic scholars who have taught the Islamic sciences for centuries. His father, Thaika Ahmad Abdul Qadir was a scholar and spiritual guide. His grandfather, Shahul Hamid was a scholar and missionary. His granduncle was the ascetic and poet Abdul Qadir, and his great-grandfather was the renewer Sayyid Muhammad, widely known as "Imam al-‘Arus" or "Mappillai Lebbai Alim". Amongst Shuaib's predecessors is the founder of the Arusiyyah Seminary, Sadaqatullah al-Qahiri.
He is a descendant of the Caliph Abu Bakr, tracing his lineage through Sadaq Maraikkayar,, who was a descendant of Muhammad Khilji.

Education

Shuaib's father took care of his upbringing at the Arusiyyah Seminary, and he was both his teacher and spiritual master. His father gave him several ijazah, or certificates of authority to teach Islamic law. After completing the traditional curriculum, he sat with the scholars of Al-Baqiyat As-Salihat Seminary and Jamalia Arabic College in South India, and Darul Uloom Deoband and Jamia Millia Islamia in North India.
He read Arabic and Persian at the University of Ceylon. His research of the Arwi region earned him a M. A. and then a PhD from the Columbia Pacific University.

Initiation

Shuaib received training from his father in Sufism, until he attained qualification as a murshid and the rank of a spiritual master in the Sufi tradition. He inherited the mantle of the Arusiyya branch of the Qadiriyya tariqa. He further received authorisation from Abdul Karim al-Kasnazani.

Career

Shuaib started teaching Arabic language and Qur'an studies at the Arusiyyah Seminary whilst still at high school. He entered the teaching profession full-time after graduation.
Shuaib is a part of the traditional family business of trading in precious gems and stones.

Research

Shuaib's main analysis focused on the beginning of Islam and origin of Mohammadan in the Arwi region. His convictions were the foundation for his master's opinion and analysis doctorate which finished up in the publicizing of the 880-page carry out, “Arabic, Persian and Arwi in Sarandib and Tamil Nadu – An examination of the Donations of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu to Arabic, Persian,Arwi and Urdu Languages, Literature and Education”. The presidents of 3 Nations belonging to SAARC region released this record in their various official residences viz. India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives.
The publication illustrated the past and appropriations of Arwi  Muslims to Islamic literature, discipline, propagation and religiousness through Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Arwi. It is mentioned on their cultural, political and communal schemes and attainments in their various countries and overseas. It too featured a strategic explanation of the Mawlid composition of Imam al-‘Arus Sayyid Muhammad b. Ahmad Lebbai designated, “Minhat al-Sarandīb fī Madh al-Habīb”.

Publications

Shuaib has authored 4 major works and 7 minor treatises. He has published 11 bilingual articles addressing polemical issues that engulfed the Tamil Muslim community in the 80's and 90's. His arrangement of the Arusi-Qadiri liturgy "Ratib Jalaliyya" has more than 500,000 copies in circulation while his prayer book "Al Munjiyath" has had 6 prints of 37,000 copies since 2006.

Major works

On 7 May 1994, Shuaib was awarded with the “National Award for Outstanding Arabic Scholar” – an initial for a Tamil Muslim Islamic scholar By the Former President of India.Shankar Dayal Sharma
In 2013, Shuaib was spelled out for the initial year in ‘’The 500 Most Influential Muslims’’ by Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Bin-Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan.
On 27 April 2016, Shuaib was felicitated by 7th President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena for his outstanding works provided to Islam and for promotion of religious integration.