Hellyer in Muslim 500: Justice, Society and Islam

The 20th century polymath of Makkah, Sayyid Muhammad bin ‘Alawi al-Maliki, who was known as the muhaddith al-hijaz (traditionist of the Hijaz) for his proficiency in ahadith (Prophetic narrations), suffered tremendously during his lifetime for his commitment to what he considered to be the normative Islamic tradition. One of his most senior students, and later khalifah in the ‘tariqa ‘ulama Makka’ (‘the [Sufi] Way of the Scholars of Makkah’), Shaykh Seraj Hasan Hendricks, was himself arrested for protesting against apartheid in his native South Africa.

The opening of the article. The full text is at The Muslim 500.