Ahmed Muhammad Amin Kuftaro (Arabic: أحمد كفتارو; December 1915 – 1 September 2004) was the Grand Mufti of Syria, the highest officially appointed Sunni Muslim representative of the Fatwa-Administration in the Syrian Ministry of Auqaf in Syria. Kaftaro was a Sunni Muslim of the Naqshbandi Sufi order.Annabelle Boettcher, Syria's Sunni Islam under Hafiz al-Asad. E-book, Amazon-Kindle, 2015
Biography The family of Kuftaro is Kurdish who have their origins in the village of Karma in Ömerli District of Mardin Province, Turkey.Raphael Lefevre, Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, Oxford University Press (2013), p. 155Line Khatib, Islamic Revivalism in Syria: The Rise and Fall of Ba'thist Secularism, Routledge (2012), p. 187Leon T. Goldsmith, Cycle of Fear: Syria's Alawites in War and Peace, Oxford University (2015), p. 122 In 1878, the Kuftaro family moved to Damascus and settled near the Abu al-Nur mosque in the Kurdish quarter. Kuftaro's father, Amin Kuftaro, received a traditional education and started working at the Sa'id Pasha mosque. His first wife was Najiya Sinjabi and he had four sons and two daughters with her: Musa, Taufiq, Ahmad, Ibrahim, Zaynab and Fatima. With his second wife, Is'af Badir, he had three children, Rabi', 'Abd al-Qadir and Rabi'a.Muhammad Bashir al-Bani, Al-Murshid al-Mujaddid, Damascus, private edition 1979, pp. 57–69.
Classic education in Damascus Kuftaro's father insisted that he first receive a classical education in Quran, Tafsir, Hadith and Islamic jurisprudence, namely Shafi'i Madhhab with Muslim scholars in Damascus.Muhammad Bashir al-Bani, Al-Murshid al-Mujaddid, Damascus, private edition 1979, pp. 95–97
Career in the Ifta' Administration In 1948, Kuftaro worked as a mosque teacher in Quneitra before moving to Damascus in 1950. Two years later, he became Mufti of the Shafi'i Madhhab in Damascus and a member of the Higher Ifta Council under Colonel Adib al-Shishakli.Muhammad al-Habash, al-Shaikh Ahmad Kaftaru wa-manhajuhu fi al-tajdid wa-l-islah. 2nd ed. Damascus: Dar al-Shaikh Amin Kaftaru, 1996, p. 77 Kuftaro's political instinct aligned him with the Syrian Ba'ath Party in 1955. He reportedly supported the Baath Party candidate in the 1955 election for an open seat in parliament.
Advocacy of interreligious dialogue Ahmad Kuftaro advocated interreligious dialogue. He visited many countries as a representative of Syrian state Islam, including a 1985 visit with the Pope in Rome. He signed the Amman Message, a statement calling for tolerance and unity in the Muslim world that was issued on 9 November 2004 (27 Ramadan 1425 AH) by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan."Jordan's 9/11: Dealing With Jihadi Islamism", Crisis Group Middle East Report N°47, 23 November 2005
See also Nuh al-Qudah List of Ash'aris and Maturidis
References
External links Kaftaru Homepage Obituary for Kuftaro in Islamica Magazine Homepage of Shaikh Ahmad Kaftaru Center, former Abu al-Nur Center