Khalīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Mullā Khāṭir ibn Muḥammad al-Khiḍr was born in the city of Dayr Zor in Syria in 1938 into a family of scholarship. His grandfather, Mullā Khāṭir spent about 40 years teaching the Qurān and he was a righteous man who was willing to assist the people in their needs. His maternal grandfather was Shaykh Aḥmad who was a popular scholar in the area.

He acquired his secular education in the local schools in his city and eventually completed his secondary education. He then enrolled at the Faculty of Sharī’ah at the University of Damascus where he obtained his BA degree in Sharī’ah. Thereafter, he joined the Faculty of Uṣūl al-Dīn at the al-Azhar University in Cairo where he obtained a MA and a doctorate, specializing in Ḥadīth and its sciences.

He received ijazah from Shaykh Ibrahim al-Ya’qubi in Damascus in 1978. He narrated and benefited from prominent scholars in Syria who included:

• Shaykh Abdul Wahhab dibs wa zayt
• Shaykh Muhammad al-Hashimi
• Shaykh Sa’id al-Burhani
• Shaykh Salih al-Aqqad

He narrated al-Hadith al-Musalsal bi al-Awaliyah from scholars like: Shaykh Muhammad Yasin al-Fadani (Makkah), Shaykh Muhammad Zakariya Khandehlawi (India/Madinah), Shaykh Muhammad Hayat al-Sunbuhli (India), Shaykh al-Shadhli al-Nayfar (Tunisia), Shaykh Muhammad al-Iraqi (Morocco), Shaykh Abdullah al-Ghuumari (Morocco) and Shaykh Makki al-Kettani (Syria).

He also narrated from the muhaddith, Shaykh Muhammad al-Muntasir al-Kettani after reading a volume and a half of Musnad Ahmad to him in the Haram of Makkah. In Egypt, he benefite from: Shaykh Muhammad Ali Ahmadin and Shaykh Muhammad al-Samahi.

He arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1966 (1386) to teach at the Imām Muḥammad ibn Saūd Islamic University in Riyadh and he moved to Madinah (in 1399) to resume teaching at the Higher Institution for the Islamic Call, which is presently known as the Faculty of Da’wah. He returned to Riyadh for a short period where he taught at the post-graduate level at the Faculty of Uṣūl al-Dīn. He returned to Madinah (in 1405) to teach at the Faculty of Education, an affiliate of the King ‘Abd al-‘Azīz University where he is, to this  day, teaching Ḥadīth and its sciences.

He has supervised numerous masters and doctoral theses and various other research that scholars submit in order to progress to higher academic positions. In addition, he has authored about 60 books along with a large number of articles and research papers that have been widely published. He participated in numerous conferences and seminars and has valuable contributions on the topic dealing with ‘the miraculous nature of the Sunnah’. With the result, the Muslim World League appointed him as an advisor for the founding committee on the topic. One of the most significant conferences he attended was the one in Algeria in the 1980’s where he contributed on the topic defending the Companion, Abū Hurayrah.

Some of the titles of his books are:

• Zawaj al-Sayyidah Aishah (The Marriage of Sayyidah Aishah)
• Imam al-Shafi wa Ilm Mukhtalif al-Hadith
• Makanat al-Sahihayn
• Al-Isabah fi Sihhat Hadith al-Dhubabah
• Hadith al-Ahad
• Bid’at Da’wa al-I’timad ala al-Kitab Dun al-Sunnah
• Fada’il al-Madinah al-Munawwarah
• Birr al-Walidayn
• Mukhtasar Ashrat al-Sa’at
• Al-Rahmat al-Muhdat
• Khuturat Musawat al-Hadith al-Da’if bi al-Mawdu’
• Dala’il al-Nubuwat fi ghazwat Khandaq
• Rahmat al-Nabi al-Karim bi al-Kuffar
• Azhim Qadrihi Sallalhu alayhi wa Salam
• Manaqib al-Imam al-Shafi
• Wajib al-Ummah nahw Nabi al-Rahmat

He is involved in three huge academic projects which have not yet been completed. These are:

1. Editing and annotating the book entitled: al-Shāfī fī Sharḥ Musnad al-Shāf’ī by Ibn Athīr al-Jazarī which will encompass 20 volumes.
2. A compilation and collection of the Ḥadīth of Imām al-Shāf’ī. This work commenced in 1387.
3. A collection of the most authentic Ḥadīth as per the classification of the ‘ulamā.

At the Ithnayniyah function held in Jeddah in his honour to acknowledge the wonderful work that he has done, many scholars praised him and his efforts.

Dr. Muḥammad ‘Abduh Yamānī (d. 2010) said that among other qualities he observed is that Shaykh Khalīl is a man of excellent character with an exceptional ability and skill at dialogue. At the same time, he is a person who will display anger for the sake of the Prophet Muḥammad and his Hadīth. He asserted that Shaykh Khalīl’s contribution is indeed a realization of the Prophet’s words when he said: “May Allah brighten the face of a person who heard my words and then comprehended it and conveyed it in the manner he heard it. Because it is very likely that one who hears is more profound in understanding than the who conveys.”

Shaykh Muḥammad Nimr al-Khaṭīb (d. 2010) was also present at the above-mentioned function and he too addressed the audience. Among the things that he said was that Shaykh Khalīl was a man who had dedicated his life for the Prophet Muḥammad and he therefore commended him from the bottom of his heart and supplicated to Allah to grant him a long life so that the Ummah could continue to benefit. He also mentioned that on account of the large number of books that Shaykh Khalīl authored about Ḥadīth and Sīrah, he was an embodiment of the noble character of the Prophet Muḥammad. He referred to Shaykh Khalīl’s impeccable conduct even when faced with opposition and he recalled a debate in his home between Shaykh Khalīl and a young man who behaved in an unruly manner. Despite this, Shaykh Khalīl remained calm and even went ahead to embrace the person and thereafter left by greeting him affectionately with the Islamic greeting. Shaykh Nimr reiterated his amazement with the Shaykh’s conduct.

Shaykh Khalīl also addressed the audience and he shared some valuable advices. Among the things he mentioned was that, as a result of the care and caution the Ṣaḥābah displayed with regard to the Ḥadīth which was followed by the subsequent generations, we find that seven sciences have developed:

1. The science dealing with the chain of transmission which is unparalleled in the Jewish and Christian traditions.
2. The science which involves an in-depth study of the narrators.
3. The subject dealing with flaws and defects in the Ḥadīth.
4. Formulating the principles and rules through which an authentic and weak narration may be identified.
5. The subject that deals with the criticism of narrators also known as al-Jarḥ wa al-Ta’dīl.
6. Compiling the Ḥadīth in specific books and thereafter isolating authentic narrations from weak ones.
7. Collecting and gathering fabricated narrations.

Shaykh Khalīl also mentioned that the ‘ulamā may be classified into three categories; the first group is known as the ‘doctors’ and they are the people who excelled in Fiqh and do not possess any vast knowledge of Ḥadīth. The second group are those who memorized the texts of Ḥadīth and are familiar with the chains of transmission and they have no knowledge of Fiqh. They are the pharmacists. The third group are those who combine knowledge of Fiqh and Ḥadīth and these are the Imāms and the erudite scholars.

Correct and sound understanding of the Ḥadīth requires three things:

• Gathering the Ḥadīth with its variations related to a single topic. A person cannot suffice with a single narration because very often, one narration is clarified by another.
• Fiqh is the next requirement. Ḥadīth cannot be understood without Fiqh.
• The gift and talent bestowed to a person by Allah.

Shaykh Khalil was a close friend of Shaykh Muhammad Ashiq Ilahi al-Barni al-Madani. Shaykh Ashiq Ilahi regarded him as a Hujjat (proof/authority) in the science of Hadith.

Shaykh Khalil passed away in Madinah on Friday, 4 August 2023 (Muharram 1445). The Janazah was performed in the Haram and he was buried in al-Baqi’. For 12 years prior to his death, he never left Madinah because of the fear that he would die out of the city.

A photo of Shaykh Khalil in al-Masjid al-Nabawi a few weeks before his passing.