Ahmad Khatib

Shaikh Ahmad Khatib al-Minangkabawi (26 June 1860 – 9 October 1915) was a Minangkabau Islamic teacher. He was born in Koto Tuo, Dutch East Indies, and died in Mecca, Ottoman Empire. He served as the head (imam) of the Shafi'i school of law at the mosque of Mecca (Masjid al-Haram). He was known for being a teacher of Islamic reformist leader Ahmad Dahlan, who founded Muhammadiyah Society and Hasyim Asyari, who founded Nahdlatul Ulama in the early 20th century.

Although Ahmad Khatib was an orthodox Sunni Muslim, he still hoped to reconcile the matrilineal system in Minangkabau with the laws of inheritance prescribed in the Quran. Through his Minangkabau students who studied in Mecca as well as those he taught in Indonesia, he encouraged a modified Minangkabau culture based on al-Quran and the Sunnah.

Biography and family Khatib was born on 26 June 1860 in Koto Tuo, Ampek Angkek, Agam Division, West Sumatra in the then Dutch East Indies.

His parents were Abdullatief Khatib and Limbak Urai. In 1870 he attended a Dutch school and then continued his studies at Kweekschool in Bukittinggi, Sumatra. Later, he moved to the Ottoman Empire to receive a nominal Islamic education under the guidance of the local jurists and settled in Mecca for the rest of his life.

His eldest son Abdulkareem owned a bookstore in Makkah. While his other son Abdulmalik Alkhatib was an ambassador of the Ashraf to Egypt. Another of his sons, Sheikh Abdulhameed Alkhateeb, was the first Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. His grandson, Fouad Abdulhameed Alkhateeb, was a Saudi Arabian ambassador, humanitarian, author, and businessman. In his capacity as a diplomat, he represented his homeland in Pakistan, Iraq, the United States of America, Nigeria, Turkey, Bangladesh, Nepal, and finally as Saudi ambassador to Malaysia.

Books Arabic language:

Indonesian language: