THE
CHAIN OF CREDENTIALS OF THE GREAT SAVANTS OF DARUL ULOOM
In connection with the great ones of Darul Uloom the personality who tops the
list is the same Shah Waliullah Dehelwi. Almost all the systems of the religious
sciences in general and of the science of Hadith in particular that are current
and extant in the sub-continent have originated from him. Whatever zest for
theological sciences that exists from Peshawar to Ras Kumari is due to the grace
of this hose hold. It is the statement of a non-Indian religious divine that
during his tour of India he did not meet any scholar of the science of Hadith
who was not a disciple of Hadhrat Shah Waliullah through the medium of Hadhrat
Shah Abdul Aziz.
Shah
Sahib's family, by virtue of its knowledge and learning, abstinence and piety,
was considered very distinguished in Delhi. His father, Shah Abdur Raheem was
one of the compilers of the Fatawa Alamgiri. As already stated in the foregone,
he acquired knowledge from his father. At the age of 15 he had completed the
course of the current sciences. Shah Sahib's chain of authority, through his
august father, reaches back to Allamah Jalaluddin Muhaqqiq Dawwani (d.
928/1521). In those days the element of rationalistic sciences was dominant in
the syllabi in India. Hence to complete the study of the science of Hadith and
to obtain the Sanad of
authority Shah Sahib undertook a journey to the holy cities (Mecca and Madina),
and there he acquired the Sanad for
the correct recitation of the Sihah and narration of Hadith from Shaikh Abu
Tahir Madani and other illustrious Shaikhs. As regards Shah Sahib's inherent
geist and capability, his teacher of Hadith, Shaikh Abu Tahir Madani's statement
has been quoted supra that "Waliullah obtains the Sanad
for the wordings of narration from me while I correct (my understanding
of) the meanings of Hadiths through him".
It was that period when the science of Hadith was
passing through the last stage of enervation and deterioration. To propagate and
to make current the science, of Hadith in such a predicament is indeed a
stupendous achievement of Shah Sahib which, a glorious divine of Egypt. Syed
Rasheed Reza, had to acknowledge in the following words:
"If the attention of our Indian divines had not been lavished on
the science of Hadith in that period, then this science would have faded out of
existence from the eastern countries, because from the 10th to the beginning of
the 14th century Hijri, this science had reached the lost stage of decoy in
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Hejaz."
Then, describing
the condition of Egypt, he has stated:
"When I migrated to
Egypt in 1315/1897, 1 saw the khatibs of Jamai Azhar and other mosques that they
recite in their khutbas (sermons) such Hadiths, which are nowhere to be found in
the tomes of Hadith. Among those Hadiths (which they recite) there are 'weak',
'disavowed' (Munkar), fabricated and counterfeit Hadiths also. The same was the
condition of the preachers, muftis and teachers".
Shah Sahib's educational services are not continued to teaching only; he rather
wrote such glorious books in different sciences the examples whereof are rarely
found after the 8th century Hijri. Besides this, of Shah Sahib's
academic life there are many more momentous achievements; to mention them here
even briefly is not easy, for it is a separate topic.
Shah Sahib
had four sons each one of whom was a bright star in the firmament of knowledge.
The eldest amongst them was Shah Abdul Aziz.
HADHRAT SHAH ABDUL AZIZ
Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz (1159/1746--1239/1823) was the most erudite and glorious
divine of his time. The dissemination of the sciences of the Quran and the
Hadith that took place in his time of course, through him has had no precedent
in the annals of Islamic India. There is no nook and corner in India where Shah
Abdul Aziz disciples may not be found. The statement of a non-Indian scholar has
already been quoted above that during his travels in India he did not meet any
scholar of Hadith who was not a disciple of Shah Sahib. Maulana Ubaydullah
Sindhi is of the view that if ten persons benefited from the great qualities
of Shah Waliullah, from Shah Abdul Aziz's qualities must have benefited at least
ten thousand persons.
In short Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz brought the foundation Hadhrat Shah Waliullah
had laid for the renaissance of the religious sciences to consummation. He
established such a standard of knowledge whereby the religious sciences came to
attain a special honor and dignity. Shah AbduI Aziz, after the death at his
august father, served the cause of the religious sciences in Delhi for a long
period of sixty years. Besides teaching, he wrote several books amongst which
his Tafsir-e Fathul Aziz, a commentary on the Quran, Bustanul Muhaddithin,
on the history of the classes of traditionists and their compilations, and the
Tuhfa Ithna Ashriya on the reality of Shiaism; are really very famous. The
last-named book is such an opus magnum of Shah Sahib that there exists no
example thereof on this topic in the entire Islamic literature.
HADHRAT SHAH MUHAMMAD ISHAQ
Hadhrat
Shah Muhammad Ishaq was Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz's grandson (daughter's son) and
a distinguished pupil. In the presence of Shah Abdul Aziz he taught Hadith to
the students for twenty years. In 1239-1823, Shah Abdul Aziz, entrusting
Madrasah Rahimia before his death to Shah Muhammad Ishaq, appointed him as his
successor. Till 1257/1841 he rendered the service of disseminating and propagating
the science of Hadith. Almost the whole of India benefited from his educational
graces. He translated the Mishkatul Masabeeh into Urdu, which, at his
instance, was transformed into a commentary by his well-guided pupil, Maulana
Qutubuddin Khan, and is known as Mazahir-e Haq, Mi'at Masa'iI
and Rasa'il-e Arba'een are also his noteworthy works. Emigrating from
India in 1257/1841 to Mecca, he settled down there and died after a few years.
It is stated in Tarjuma Tazkira Ulema-e Hind: "It is particularly notable
that during the freedom fight of 1857 most of the pupils of Shah Muhammad Ishaq
Dehelwi took part as Ulema in this movement, the most noteworthy amongst them
being Mufti Inayat Ahmed Kakorwi (Sadar Amin, Bareilly), Maulana Abdul Jalil
Ko'ili (Aligarhi), Mufti Sadaruddin Azurda, Shah Abu Saeed Mujaddidi (father of
Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi) and the pupils of their pupils, i.e." the Ulema
of Deoband, e.g., Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Maulana Rasheed Ahmed
Gangohi, Maulana Muhammad Mazhar Nanautawi, Maulana Muhammad Munir Nanautawi
etc.
HADHRAT SHAH ABDUL GHANI
After Hadhrat Shah Muhammad Ishaq's emigration the honor of his
successor ship fell to the lot of Hadhrat Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi
(1235/1819-1296/1878), Shah Abdul Ghani studied some books of Hadith under his
father, Shah Abu Sa’eed, who was a pupil of Shah Abdul Aziz, and obtained the
Sanad of some books from Shah
Muhammad Ishaq. He during his time, despite his young age, was an incomparable
scholar of Hadith. Scholars and students used to come to him from every corner
of the country and used to take pride in gleaning from “this harvest of
accomplishment". His school was the greatest centre of the science of
Hadith in India. He wrote a scholium on Ibn Maja, which is known as Injahul
Haja. Through his educational grace were produced peerless Ulema like
Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Hadhrat Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi
and Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Yoqub Nanautawi, who infused a new life into the
world of knowledge.
In the upheaval of 1857 this greatest institution of the science of Hadith was
ravaged by the accidents of time and came to an end for good. Shah AbduI Ghani
emigrated to Madina and there he passed away in the month of Muharram, A. H.
1296.
Regarding Hadhrat Shah Abdul Ghani, Maulana Hakim Abdul Hayy lakhnawi writes in
his Nuzhatul Khwatir as under:
"Knowledge and practice, asceticism, forbearance, truthfulness, trust-worthiness,
chastity, self-preservation, bona fides, sincerity, resorting to Allah, fear of
Allah, conformance to the prophetic Sunnah, excellent morals, spiritual
communion (Muraqiba), benevolence to the people and disinclination to worldly
assets; of such qualities he was exclusively the last paragon. Many Ulema and
Shaikhs benefited from the blessings of his Majlis and his teachings. All the
people of India and Arabia are unanimous as regards his greatness and
saintliness. On Wednesday, the 6th of Muharram, A.H. 1296, he died at
Madina and was laid to rest there".
Another line of the Ulema of Deoband, through their pupilage to Hadhrat Maulana
Mamluk Ali Nanautawi and Maulana Rasheeduddin Khan Dehelwi, reaches back to Shah
Abdul Aziz. The details thereof are as under:
HADHRAT
MAULANA MAMLUK ALI
The
teacher of teachers, Hadhrat Maulana Mamluk Ali Nanautawi was one of the famed
Ulema of his time, commanding a distinctive position among his contemporary
divines. On textbooks, particularly those of Fiqh, he had such mastery that he
remembered most of the books by heart. The condition of his memory was such that
the late Sir Syed (Ahmed Khan) writes: "He has had complete proficiency in
the rational and this tradition1 sciences and he can recall the text-books so
thoroughly that, suppose, if the treasury of knowledge is emptied of all these
books, it is possible to reproduce them from the tablet of his memory. Over and
above this perfection and merit, his politeness and forbearance are beyond
words".
He was one of the well-guided pupils of Maulana Rasheeduddin Khan. The circle of
his educational beneficence (i.e., the circle of students and disciples) was
very extensive. His inspiring art of teaching produced innumerable scholars.
Maulana Ashiq Ilahi Meeruthi has stated:
"Maulana Mamluk Ali, who had studied most of the text-books under the
instruction of "the Moon of India" Hadhrat Maulana Rasheeduddin Khan,
a disciple of Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz, was himself the teacher of such holy and
famous personages and "the Suns of the Sky of Knowledge" as Hadhrat
Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi, Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Maulana
Muhammad Mazhar, Dean of Mazahirul Uloom, and Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Yaqub
Nanautawi, Dean of Darul Uloom. All these gentlemen had quenched the thirst for
religious sciences and the literary arts from this surging ocean, and driven
from pillar to post they had at last found cure and satisfaction at this very
threshold".
Maulawi Karimuddin
Panipati writes:
"The new Arabic Madrasah is stable due to him. He has had perfect mastery
over all the three languages: Persian, Urdu and Arabic; and is fully proficient
in all the arts and sciences found in these languages. When a book of any
subject is translated from English into Urdu, his keen mind grasps its
fundamental principle so quickly as if he was conversant with this subject from
the very beginning. In the work he has been appointed for, he has, as far as
possible, never shown any default. So much benefit has been caused in the
Madrasah by his beneficent being that perhaps it might not have accrued from any
teacher in any time".
This teacher of the teachers was the resort of students who, flocking to him
from all over used to derive academic benefit. Besides the college hours, there
used to be a throng of students at his residence during his, leisure-time.
Maulawi Karimuddin writes:
"His house is the resort of students, his college the assemblage of Ulema
and scholars; hundreds of students, deriving benefit from his blessed being went
as scholars to different parts of India. Besides teaching the college-students,
he teaches books of every subject to other people at his residence. All his
precious time till the dead of night, is divided over the teaching of students.
Hundreds of students flock to him from far and near for being educated in
different sciences and it is far from his affability that he might disappoint
any student".
Hadhrat Gangohi's statement has been reported in Tazkiratur Rasheed as follows:
"In the beginning we used to study under other teachers but we did not feel
satisfied. Sometimes the lesson used to be short and sometimes we would not
receive a reply to the searching of our hearts. But when we reached the presence
of Maulana Mamluk AIi, we got satisfied and finished the books within a short
time, as if he had poured them into our throats in the form of a mixture. There
were several good teachers in Delhi in those days but such teachers who might
have complete grasp of the meaning and instill it into the student's mind by
lecturing on it in different ways, were' only two: one was our teacher Maulana
Mamluk Ali and the other, also our teacher, Mufti Sadaruddin Azurda. (Allah's
mercy be on them!)
As regards Hadhrat Maulana Mamluk Ali's academic
insight and perception, Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi has written that:
“before him it was difficult to make progress without grasping the meaning (of
a lesson) because he used to make out from the diction whether this fellow
(student) has grasped the meaning or not".
To compute the number of the pupils of Hadhrat Ustazul Asatiza (the teacher of
teachers) is very difficult. Amongst his pupils the names of great Ulema like
Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi, Maulana
Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi, Maulana Muhammad Mazhar Nanautawi, Maulana Ahmed Ali
Saharanpuri, Maulana Shaikh Muhammad Thanwi, Maulana Zulfiqar Ali Deobandi,
Maulana Fazlur Rahman Deobandi, Maulana Muhammad Munir Nanautawi, Maulawi
Jamaluddin Madarul Muhim of Bhopal (chief-minister of the erstwhile Bhopal
state), Maulawi Karimuddin Panipati, compiler of the Tazkira-e Tabaqatus Shu'ara,
Shamsul Ulema Dr. Ziauddin L.L.D, Maulana Alim Ali Moradabadi, Maulawi Samiullah
Dehelwi, Maulana Abdur Rahman Panipati, etc. are especially noteworthy.
It is stated in Sawaneh Maulana Muhammad Ahsan Nanautawi that Hadhrat Maulana
Mamluk Ali had translated the first four and the eleventh and twelfth discourses
of Euclid from Arabic. Besides this, he is also reported to have translated the Tirmizi
and Trikh-e Yamini.
He was professor of Arabic sciences in the Delhi College. He died on 11th
Zil Hijja 1267/1851, and lies buried in Shah Waliullah's grave yard, 'Mihndiyun',
in front of the mosque. His grave is now untraceable.
HADHRAT
MAULANA RASHEEDUDDIN KHAN
He
was Hadhrat Shah Rafiuddin's disciple. In the rational and the traditional
sciences, particularly in scholastic theology, he was a matchless scholar of
his time. Shah Sahib had taught and trained him as his own son, always, thinking
of and trying to reform and improve him. After Shah Rafiuddin, Shah Abdul Aziz
and Shah Abdul Qadir taught and trained him.
Though Maulana
Rasheeduddin Khan had had perfect proficiency in all sorts of subjects, he had
acquired special experience in mathematics, and in those days hardly any man
would dare to compete with him in these subjects. He had a prodigious knack in
eristic and was an unrivalled litterateur in the Arabic language.
Besides his knowledge and learning, Maulana Rasheeduddin's asceticism (zuhd)
and piety (taqwa) were also acknowledged. He used to live a contented life. Once
the post of a judge was offered to him but he declined to accept it. In 1825
when the famous Madrasah Ghaziuddin of Delhi was changed into a college, he was
appointed as the head teacher of Arabic in it. He used to get a salary of Rs.
100/- p.m. but being magnanimous by nature, he would help, as for as he could,
any needy man who approached him. He died in 1249/1833 at nearly seventy years
of age.
HADHRAT
SHAH RAFIUDDIN
He
was Shah Abdul Aziz's younger brother and an illustrious divine of the
Waliullahian family. He was born in 1163/1749. When Shah Abdul Aziz was no more
able to teach due to several ailments and loss of sight, he appointed Shah
Rafiuddin in his place. Scholars and students used to flock to Delhi from far
off places to derive benefit from Shah Sahib. He was a versatile genius, having
mastery over every subject and this peculiarity of his was famous that to the
teaching of whichever subject he turned his attention; it seemed as if that very
subject was his specialty. As regards his command ever mathematics, Shah Abdul
Aziz used to remark that:
"Maulawi Rafiuddin
has advanced so much in mathematics that perhaps its inventor too must not
have advanced so much".
At another place
he says:
"There must be no match to Maulawi Rafiuddin in India and abroad in the
subject of mathematics".
Amongst his works the Urdu translation of the holy Quran, Muqaddamatul Ilm,
Takmilul Azhan, Asrarul Muhabbat, and Qiyamat Nama are very
famous. He died in 1233/1817 and lies in eternal rest in his family graveyard.
The late Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan writes:
“All the reputed scholars of India are the beneficiaries of his (Shah
Rafiuddin's) grace-gifting person. He had such aptitude with each subject that
he used to teach diverse subjects and different sciences at one and the same
time. When he diverted his attention from the teaching of one to that of another
the audience would feel as if the dress of uniqueness in the same subject had
been cut for the body of his talent. These accomplishments notwithstanding, his
imparting of the esoteric grace was such that had Junayd of Baghdad and Hasan of
Basra lived in his time they would have indubitably considered themselves the
lowest beneficiaries”.
