Umdat al-Fiqh Explained: Commentary on Ibn Qudamah’s The Reliable Manual of Fiqh 2 Volumes

Dr. Hatem al-Haj is an Egyptian-American scholar, pediatrician, and one of the most active English-language voices in Hanbali jurisprudence in North America. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, he completed his medical training at the Alexandria University Medical School with honors before emigrating to the United States, where he undertook his pediatric residency and went on to become board-certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hospital Medicine. He continues to practice as an attending pediatrician alongside his scholarly work.

In parallel with his medical career, Dr. al-Haj pursued formal Islamic studies, earning a Master's degree in Islamic Law from the American Open University and a PhD in Comparative Fiqh from al-Jinan University in Tripoli, Lebanon. He served for many years as Dean of the College of Islamic Studies at Mishkah University, an online institution providing rigorous Islamic education in English, and is a senior member of the Permanent Fatwa Committee of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA), where he contributes to fatwas addressing contemporary questions facing Muslims in the West. His major publications include Umdat al-Fiqh Explained — a multi-volume English commentary on Ibn Qudamah's foundational Hanbali manual — A Guide to Male-Female Interaction in Islam, and Between the God of the Prophets and the God of the Philosophers: Reflections of an Athari on the Divine Attributes.

Dr. al-Haj's scholarship is distinctive in its sustained engagement with questions at the intersection of classical fiqh, medical ethics, and the lived realities of Muslims navigating Western contexts. He writes regularly on issues ranging from end-of-life decisions and medical jurisprudence to family life, creed, and the methodology of fatwa, and has emerged as one of the leading Hanbali voices accessible to English-speaking audiences.