It has already been mentioned in the foregone that at the time the Darul Uloom was established, old religious schools in India had almost faded out of existence. After the tumultuous upheaval of 1857, a sufficiently large number of Ulema were consigned to the rope and the gibbet, and some of the Ulema, for their crime of participation in the war of independence, were sentenced for life and sent to Andaman Nicobar Islands. Some of them, eluding capture and imprisonment by the English, gave them the slip and migrated to other countries. The old generation of the remaining Ulema was gradually coming to an end. Under such circumstances those who could explain propositions were few and far between. However the people saw a ray of hope when Darul Uloom came into being. The practice of the common run of Muslims with Darul Uloom has always been such that whenever any problem arose in the country and the Muslims felt any difficulty, they have automatically looked up to Darul Uloom. Accordingly, enquirers of propositions began to refer to it and hence the work of fatwa-writing, along with the work of teaching, is being done from the very inception. First of all Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi who was principal in Darul Uloom was rendering this service, which he continued from A. H. 1283 till before his death, that is, up to A. H. 1301. After his demise this work was being taken from different teachers and in this way this work went on til1 A. H. 1309. But when the number of queries reached an extraordinary limit, in A. H. 1310 a regular Darul Ifta was established in Darul Uloom, and Hazrat Maulana Muti Azizur Rahman Deobandi was appointed on the post of Mufti. Darul Ifta, besides guiding in religio-legal matters, is also a very forceful means of rapport between Darul Uloom Deoband, and the common run of Muslims. The Fatwas of Darul Uloom have been highly esteemed in and outside the country; besides, the masses the law court in the country also honour them and consider them decisive.
1. HADHRAT MAULANA MUFTI AZIZUR RAHMAN
The year of his birth is A. H. 1275 and the chronogrammatic name given him was Zafaruddin. The name of his august father was Maulana Fazlur Rahman. In the late A. H. 1284 when the class for reading the Holy Quran was started in Darul Uloom, he was admitted to this class for memorizing the Quran. In Sha’ban, A. H. 1285, he took the test for having committed half of the Quran to memory and in A. H. 1287 he memorized the entire Quran. The teacher of that class then was Hafiz Namdar Khan. In A. H. 1295 he took the examination for Bukhari Sharif, Muslim Sharif and Sharh-e Aqa’id and graduated from Darul Uloom. The teachers of Darul Uloom then were Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi, Hadhrat Maulana Syed Ahmed Dehlawi, Hadhrat Shaikhul Hind and Maulana Abdul Ali (Allah’s mercy be on all of them!). In the commencement function (Jalsa Dastar Bandi) of A H. 1298, he was awarded the Sanad and the turban at the hands of Hadhrat Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi.
After graduation he worked for some time as an assistant teacher in Darul Uloom, rendering at the same time the services of fatwa-writing under the supervision of the principal, Maulana Muhammad Yaqub. Then he was sent to Meerut, where, at Madrasah Islamia, Inderkot, he remained engaged in teaching for several years. In A H. 1309 the elders of Darul Uloom selected him for the post of the pro-vice-chancellor, and after one year he was also appointed as mufti and teacher. It is stated in the report for the year A H. 1333 as follows:
“Maulawi Azizur Rahman, after graduation, worked as an assistant teacher in Darul Uloom and also did the work of fatwa-writing under the supervision of Maulana Muhammad Yaqub. During this period there arose in him a desire for the mystical path and he vowed allegiance at the hands of Hadhrat Maulana Rafiuddin in the Naqshbandiyya order. After having completed austere practices (for self-culture) and exertions with the unregenerate soul (mujahadat) he received the ‘permission’ of the order. For some years he worked as teacher in Madrasah Islamia, situated at Inderkot, in Meerut. During that period he entertained a desire to go for pilgrimage. Along with hajj the other purpose in this journey was to stay in attendance on Shaikhul Masha’ikh Hadhrat Haji Imdadullah (may his secret be sanctified!). As such, he spent one and a half years in this journey; and Hadhrat Haji Sahib made him his “Majaz” (a disciple declared as competent to receive allegiance from aspirants). He had gone to Mecca in Shawwal, A. H. 1305 and returned in Safar, AH. 1307. In A H. 1309 he was called to Deoband from Meerut and since then he has been continually busy in serving Darul Uloom. He is at present the mufti of the Madrasah but some lessons of Hadith, Tafsir and Fiqh are also assigned to him”.
Mufti Sahib used to write the answers to very important and vexed questions (istafta) off-hand and spontaneously, without referring to books. For nearly forty years he rendered this great service of writing fatwas in Darul Ifta on behalf of Darul Uloom. In this long period he wrote many difficult fatwas, which are not, merely fatwas but are of the nature of judgment in controversial cases, but he used to write the answers there of in a few words only. The post of the Darul Ifta used to be with him even during journeys and he used to write fatwas informally through sheer acumen, expertise and consummate ability. The explicit texts of Fiqh he mostly remembered by heart. A great peculiarity of his fatwas is that they are easily intelligible; the language of the fatwas is easy and fluent, a feature which is not to be found in the fatwas of this era.
Among the religio-Iegal sciences, fatwa-writing is a very difficult task. The knowledgeable alone can appreciate the delicate points that crop up in this task due to change of circumstances. Ordinarily, fatwas have been written in every period but the consummate expertise possessed by Mufti Sahib has been shared by only three men in the Deobandi group: Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi, Mufti Sahib himself and Maulana Mufti Kifayatullah Dehelvi. It is regrettable that the record of those fatwas Mufti Sahib had written between A. H. 1310 and A. H. 1329 is not extant. A great peculiarity of his fatwa-writing was also this that he never overlooked the zeitgiest and the demands of the time of which he used to have a profound knowledge. If there could be two decidable aspects of a proposition (mas’ala), he would on such occasions always adopt the easy aspect and issue the fatwa on it only, never adopting that aspect which would create difficulties for the masses. Examples of this feature are present everywhere in his fatwas.
The fatwas issued between A. H. 1330 and A. H. 1346 number 37,561. But among these also the record of some years has been lost. The aforesaid number is that of the recorded fatwas only. According to a cursory estimate of Maulana Muhammad Tayyib, vice-chancellor, Darul Uloom Deoband, the number of Mufti Sahib’s fatwas comes to the huge figure of nearly 1,18,000. This prodigious output and achievement of Mufti Sahib is a great and glorious religious service. This characteristic feature of his fatwas also commands a great importance that, in and outside India, these fatwas were being considered decisive in the worldly dealings, devotions and beliefs of the Muslims.
The fatwas written between A. H. 1330 to A. H. 1346, arranged in jurisprudential order, are being published by Darul Uloom under the title Fatawa Darul Uloom Deoband. Ten volumes have been published so far; the last volume consists of the Kitabut Tallaq (“The Book of Divorce”).
This series of Fatawa will most probably be completed in 12 volumes, details of which have been given in the foregone.
Mufti Sahib was not only a religious divine and mufti but also a gnostic and one of the great masters of the esoteric science. The practice of accepting allegiance and giving spiritual guidance was also constantly current through his esoteric ‘initiation’ (talqin) and training thousands of the slaves of Allah benefited and reached their goals.
“Khatm-e Khwajagan” (“The Seal of the Masters”) is one of the famous practices of the Naqshbandi order. This was recited every day regularly after the Fajr prayer in Mufti Sahib’s Mosque (which is known as Chhoti Masjid in Deoband).
Besides knowledge and practice, humility, self-effacement, self-suppression and self-obliteration constituted his special tenor, which used to appear even in small and minute details. A daily practice of his was that after the Asr prayer he would approach the doors of the houses near his locality (Mohalla) and ask if anyone wanted to get any thing from the market. From within the houses someone would say: “Mufti ji, bring chilies worth four paise for me” a voice would say: “Oil is required”, and another would say: “We need salt”.
Mufti Sahib then would take money from all, go to the bazar, buy the ordered commodity for each-salt for someone, chillies for another, coriander for still another-and tying all these things in the different corners of his large handkerchief would bring these himself. He never liked this burden to be shared by anyone else, sometimes he used to be bent by this load but under no circumstance he would tolerate to become light by entrusting it to someone else. Then he would personally go to each house and entrust the goods to all those who had ordered them. In this act of selflessness and service to the people he never imagined that he was doing a service or that it was some great action that was being done at his hands or that he was accomplishing some great work of selflessness.
Academic minutiae during lessons were over and above these practical ‘strivings’ (Mujahadat). Along with fatwa-writing the work of teaching was done constantly. He used to teach higher lessons of Fiqh, Hadith and Tafsir. He would never adopt an assertive manner by ascribing great and important disquisitions, which used to be the product of his own acute mind, to himself. On the contrary, he would express it by way of a probability and say in the course of his lecture “in this proposition one aspect can be this also”. Though it used to be his own disquisitions, he would never assert, “in this proposition my opinion and research is this”. If it is pondered over, this position is so much more sublime and more delicate than this academic service and practical selflessness that everyone cannot aspire to reach it. One’s own mind may present academic subtleties and yet this mind may never be brought to the fore; of self-lessness and self-annihilation (‘fana’) it is the highest state or station which can be attained by only that person in whose veins and sinews humility and self-effacement may have permeated.
Mufti Sahib had also resigned from Darul Uloom along with Hadhrat Anwar Shah Kashmiri. In A H. 1347 when Shah Sahib, due to illness, came to Deoband from Dabhel, he had left fourteen portions of the Bukhari Sharif unfinished. At the insistence of the authorities of the Jamia Islamia Dabhel, Mufti Sahib went to Dabhel in the middle of Rabius Sani, A H. 1347, started the lessons and within the shortest possible time of one and a half months completed all the remaining fourteen portions!
In the beginning of Jamadius Sani he returned to Deoband. En route he was feeling indisposed. Treatment began when he reached Deoband but the condition did not improve. The “promised hour” had come. At last, on the night of 17th Jamadius-Sani, A H. 1347 A. D. 1928, he expired. Next day at 10-00 a. m. Maulana Syed Asghar Hussain led the funeral service and at 11-00 a. m. he was laid to rest in the graveyard of the Darul Uloom.
‘May Allah make his grave fragrant and make paradise his resting-place’!
He was a high-ranking personality amongst the matchless personalities possessing knowledge and practice, good morals and habits, gnosis and insight, and jurisprudential knowledge and understanding, appointed to grace the Darul Ifta of Darul Uloom Deoband.
2. HADHRAT MAULANA IZAZ ALI
He was one of the most distinguished graduates of Darul Uloom. After his graduation from it in A H. 1321, Hadhrat Shaikhul Hind selected him for Madrasah Naumania Pureni, District Bhagalpur (Bihar). Accordingly, he taught in that region for nearly seven years. Then he came to Shahjahanpur and established a Madrasah under the name ‘Afzalul Madaris’ in a mosque where he used to teach for the sake of Allah (i.e. without charging any fees or taking any remuneration). For nearly three years he taught very successfully in this Madrasah. In A H. 1330 he was appointed as a teacher in Darul Uloom Deoband, and in the first year he was assigned elementary books of Arabic like ‘Ilmus Sigha, Nurul Ezah, etc. In the report for that period it has been stated about this Professor of Literature as under:
“Maulawi Izaz Ali is one of the middle graduates of the intermediate and the latter classes. He has been a teacher at some places. He is a young, talented, righteous and pious divine. In presence and character he is a relic of his ancestors. He has complete proficiency in different sciences and great expertise particularly in the science of literature. Recently he has written a scholium on Himasa and is currently busy in margining the Kanzud Daqa’iq, and earlier he had already written marginal notes on Divan-e Mutanabbi. He teaches in the middle classes of Darul Uloom. He handles most of the lessons of the science of literature. He also exercises the students in writing Arabic articles. He is an eloquent lecturer; the students are very familiar with him“.
In A. H. 1340, when Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Ahmed, vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, was selected for the post of the Chief Mufti of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, he on account of his old age, took Maulana Izaz Ali with him. There he stayed one year and came back with Hafiz Sahib to Deoband. In the vacancy of the Chief Mufti Maulana Azizur Rahman he was appointed as Chief Mufti of Darul Uloom Deoband, on which post he stayed in Darul Uloom till his demise.
Religious jurisprudence (Fiqh) and literature were his special fields. Initially when he came to Darul Uloom Deoband, he had been assigned elementary books of Arabic, as stated earlier, but at last his teaching attained such popularity that he became famous by the title of “Shaikhul Adab wal-Fiqh” (Professor of Literature & Jurisprudence”). In the last phase of his life he also taught for several years the second volume of the Tirmizi, as also higher books of Tafsir. In Maulana Madani’s absence he also had the chance many times of teaching the Bukhari Sharif also. In fine, he had had mastery over the books of all the disciplines like the sciences of Fiqh, Hadith, Literature, Exegesis, etc. Along with teaching he had also had a special penchant for training and looking after the students; a quality from which the students benefited very much and his pupils still remember him for this. His punctuality was proverbial and in his punctual engagement of his classes he was sui generis; so much so that some of the teachers of Darul Uloom learnt the lesson of punctuality in attending their respective classes from this exemplary Professor of Literature.
From the very inception of teacher ship till his last breath he was meticulously punctual in his work. He was a paragon of selflessness and humility. He would never feel ashamed of teaching the most elementary books along with the highest books; teaching Tirmizi and Bukhari (to higher classes), he would gladly teach Mizanus Sarf, Ilmus Sigha, Nurul Ezah, etc. to small children also. The most beloved student in his eyes would be one who devoted himself to studies with singleness of purpose and the most hated would be one who, engaging in no educational pastimes, showed carelessness in studies, though such a student be his own offspring.
Even as this professor of literature had great mastery in writing Arabic prose and poetry, he was equally highly proficient in composing Urdu prose and poetry also. He had a special style in Urdu prose. Though his hand was not quite legible, the style of writing was such that it looked pleasing to the eye.
In accordance with the standard of the Nafahatul Yemen in the Arabic literature, he had compiled a book entitled Nafahatul Arab (in Urdu), comprising historical anecdotes, fables and m9ral themes. This book became very popular in Arabic schools and as such was included in the syllabi of Darul Uloom and many other Madrasahs. Besides this, he has written many useful marginalia on Nurul Ezah, Sharh Niqaya and Kanzud Daqa’iq in Fiqh, and Divan-e Himasa and Divan-e Mutanabbi in Arabic literature, which are highly appreciated among the teachers as well as the taught.
His ability in administrative matters too was acknowledged on all hands and his administrative know-how was often utilized in the management office also. In short, he was an incomparable teacher, an erudite religious divine and a versatile personality. The period of his academic services in Darul Uloom extended over 44 years.
He was entrusted with the post of Ifta twice: first time from A. H. 1347 to A. H. 1348, and second time from A. H. 1364 to A. H. 1366. During the period of his presiding over this post of Ifta, 24,855 fatwas were written. He passed away from this mortal world in A. H. 1374.
3. HADHRAT MUFTI RIYAZUDDIN
He was one of the disciples of Hadhrat Shaikhul Hind; he graduated from the Darul Uloom in A. H. 1330. He was a resident of Afzalgarh, Dist. Bijnor. After Mufti Azizur Rahman’s resigning, he was entrusted with the services of the Darul Ifta in the late A. H. 1347 on which post he served till the early A. H. 1350. During this period of more or less two years nearly seven thousand queries (Istafta’at) were answered from Darul Ifta. In Safar, AH. 1350, he was transferred to the teaching department. He was a very virtuous and accommodating man. He died on 22nd Zil Hijja, AH. 1362, and lies buried in the Qasmi graveyard.
4. HADHRAT MUFTI MUHAMMAD SHAFEE
He was born in 1314/1896. Hadhrat Gangohi proposed the name Muhammad Shafee for him. Originally he belonged to Deoband. He prosecuted his studies in Darul Uloom and graduated in A. H. 1336 at the age of 22 years. Thereafter, in AH. 1337, he was appointed teacher in the primary class in Darul Uloom but covering the stages of teaching quickly he soon joined the cadre of the teachers of the higher classes. He had had from the very beginning a natural affinity with Fiqh and Literature. In 1350/1922 he was appointed to the Mufti’s post. In 1368/1949 he went away to Pakistan, where, as a member of the Board of Islamic Teachings in the Constituent Assembly, he helped in compiling the Islamic constitution. In 1951 he established a seminary under the name Darul Uloom at Karachi, which is now an important and great center of Islamic learning there.
Mufti Sahib’s knowledge was vast and profound and he possessed excellent ability in almost all the current scholastic disciplines. He is an author of many religious books: a stock of very useful books on Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh and polemics has emanated from his pen. All his big and small books total up to nearly two hundred. Hundreds of his pupils and disciples are rendering religious services, besides the subcontinent, in various foreign countries. Initially he vowed allegiance to Hadhrat Shaikhul Hind; after the latter’s demise, he resorted to Hadhrat Thanwi and obtained khilafat from him. Simultaneously with the work of teaching religious sciences and writing books on them, throughout his life he remained occupied in spiritual beneficence also. He had also had a taste for poetry; a collection of his Arabic, Persian and Urdu panegyrics, elegies and a number of poems has already been printed and published. In Pakistan he held the position of the Chief Mufti.
Mufti Muhammad Shafee discharged duties of Darul Ifta twice: at first from AH. 1350 to AH. 1354 and then from AH. 1359 to. AH. 1361. During his tenure of office nearly 26,000 fatwas were written.
5. HADHRAT MUFTI MUHAMMAD SAHOOL
His native-place was Pureni, Dist. Bhagalpur (Bihar). Having taken primary education at home, he joined Maulana Ashraf Alam’s teaching circle in Bhagalpur. From there he went to Kanpur and studied under Hadhrat Thanwi and Maulana Muhammad Ishaq Burdwani at Madrasah Jamiul Uloom, and then at Madrasah Faiz-e Aam under Maulana Muhammad Farooq Chiryakoti. The zest for the acquisition of knowledge then took him from Kanpur to Hyderabad; this journey he covered in two months – on foot! During his stay in Hyderabad he acquired the knowledge of logic, philosophy, astronomy, literature and Principles of Fiqh from Mufti Lutfullah Aligarhi and Maulana Abdul Wahhab Bihari. Reaching Delhi from Hyderabad, he attended lectures of Maulana Nazeer Husain; in the end he took admission in Darul Uloom and completed the study of Hadith under the instruction of the Shaikhul Hind. After graduation he served as a teacher in Darul Uloom for seven, eight years, and then as head teacher and Shaikhul Hadith at Madrasah Azizia, Bihar Sharif, Madrasah Aaliya, Calcutta; and Madrasah Aaliya, Sylhet (Assam). In 1920 he was appointed as principal in Madrasah Aaliya Shamsul Huda Patna. In short, he taught for as many as 46 years in the great Madrasahs of U.P., Bihar, Bengal and Assam. From AH. 1350 to AH. 1362 he was a member of the Majlis-e Shura of Darul Uloom. He passed away on 27th Rajab, AH. 1367/AD. 1948, his grave is in Pureni.
Maulana Muhammad Sahool discharged the duties of the Chief Mufti in Darul Ifta for nearly three years from AH. 1355 to AH. 1357. During his tenure, 15,185 fatwas were dispatched from Darul Ifta.
6. HADHRAT MUFTI KIFAYATULLAH GANGOHI
He graduated from Darul Uloom in AH. 1323 and rendered teaching services in various Madrasahs. In the late AH. 1356 he was selected for Darul Ifta of Darul Uloom. Thereafter, in early AH. 1359, he was transferred to the teaching department. In AH. 1363 he resigned from Darul Uloom and went to Meerut, where he remained occupied in teaching. During his office, 5,840 fatwas were sent from Darul Ifta.
7. HADHRAT MUFTI MUHAMMAD FAROOQ AHMED
He is the son of the famous divine and saintly person of the Deoband group, viz. Hadhrat Maulana Siddiq Ahmed Anbahtawi. For a long time he rendered services of teaching and fatwa-writing in Jamia Abbasia Bhawalpur. In the late AH. 1362 he was appointed Chief Mufti in the Darul Ifta, where he served in this capacity for more or less one year. In AH. 1363, pressure was brought upon Maulana Farouq Ahmed from the Ministry of Education of the Bhawalpur State to return to his previous position at Bhawalpur. So he went there and was appointed Shaikhul Hadith in the said Jamia Abbasia. Then he became principal in Madrasah Qasimul Uloom Faqirwali, Dist. Bhawalpur. In AH. 1380, due to old age and weakness, he retired to his house and home. During his one year tenure as many as 8,427 fatwas were written in Darul Uloom.
8. HADHRAT MAULANA MUFTI MAHDI HASAN
His native-place is Shahjahanpur. He was born in AH. 1301. He graduated from Madrasah Aminja Delhi, in AH. 1326, and was one of the distinguished pupils of Hadhrat Maulana Mufti Kifayatullah Dehelwi. He had also been awarded the “turban of proficiency” in the convocation held at Darul Uloom Deoband, in AH. 1328. After his graduation, Mufti Sahib sent him to Madrasah Ashrafiya Rander, Dist. Surat, where he spent a very long time in teaching and fatwa-writing. The people of Gujarat were highly impressed by his knowledge and learning. Besides having matchless expertise in the Hanafite jurisprudence, he had a profound insight in Hadith and Asmaur Rijal (the art determining the authenticity of the narrators of the prophetic Hadith). In AH. 1367 he was appointed Chief Mufti of Darul Ifta at Darul Uloom. Retiring in AH. 1387 due to his long illness, old age and debility, from Darul Uloom, he returned to his beloved hometown, Shahjahanpur.
During his presiding over the Darul Ifta, as many as 75,324 fatwas were issued from Darul Uloom. Mufti Mahdi Hasan was an abstinent and pious man, hospitable and generous, but at the same time he was very candid and fearless in speaking the truth. He had also had a taste for the art of poetry. His nom de plume was Azad. He was under allegiance to Hadhrat Gangohi but received ‘permission’ and khilafat from Hadhrat Gangohi’s spiritual successor (khalifa), Maulana Shafiuddin Makki.
Mufti Mahdi Hasan has been the author and compiler of many important books amongst which the Arabic commentary entitled Qala’idul Azhaar on Ma’aniul Athaar of Tahawi runs into six volumes. Two of these six volumes have been published. The first two volumes of Imam Muhammad’s Kitabul Hujja which is on Fiqh and is in four volumes has been published by the Da’iratul Ma’arif with his emendation and marginal notes. It is a very rare book of which one Ms. was extant in Istanbul. It is one of the basic books of the Hanafite Fiqh. Mufti Sahib spent twenty years in the recession and marginal notes of this manuscript. His marginal notes on Imam Muhammad’s Kitabul Athaar are a valuable academic wealth. He had also written the commentary on Nukhbatul Fikr but it has not been published so far. All these books are in the Arabic language. Besides these, he wrote more than two-dozen treatises in Urdu but they also could not be published.
Mufti Mahdi Hasan died in his native Shahjahanpur, on 28th Rabius Sani, AH. 1396, after a long illness.
9. HADHRAT MUFTI MAHMUD HASAN GANGOHI
He was born in the beginning of Jamadius Sani, A H. 1325, at Gangoh. He prosecuted his studies at Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur, and Darul Uloom, Deoband. In A H. 1351 he completed his study of Hadith in the Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur, and there itself for nearly twenty years, he continued to render the services of fatwa-writing and teaching. Then, for nearly fourteen years, from A H. 1371 to A H. 1384, he graced the post of principal ship and fatwa-writing in Madrasah Jamiul Uloom, Kanpur, where there was a great impact of his knowledge and learning, abstinence and piety and saintliness upon the people.
In A H. 1385 he was selected for the post of Mufti in the Darul Ifta of Darul Uloom Deoband, on which post he is still working. Besides fatwa-writing, he also teaches the second volume of the Sahih Bukhari to the students.
He has not produced any independent book but his important fatwas have been published in different journals. Nizam, the monthly journal from Kanpur is being published under his patronage for a number of years. The style of writing in the fatwas is concise.
Mufti Sahib has received khilafat and ‘permission’ from Hadhrat Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Muhammad Zakariya. His residence is always resonant with the ‘remembrance’ (zikr) of the ‘remembrancers’ (zakirin). He is very unassuming and hospitable; a man of vast reading, a regular ‘remembrancer’, an ‘occupied’ (shaghil), large-hearted and generous august man. One is reminded of the ancient Ulema on seeing him. An important peculiarity of his is also this that whatever salary he receives from Darul Uloom, he not only returns it to Darul Uloom every month but also adds something to it from his own pocket.
During his presiding over the Darul Ifta, a big number of fatwas were issued from Darul Uloom. His Fatwa has been published in 20 volume till.
Mufti Mahmud Hasan died in South Africa, on 18th Rabius Sani, AH. 1417/ 2 Sep. AD 1996 after a long illness.
10. MAULANA MUFTI NIZAMUDDIN
He was born in AH. 1328 at his native place, Ondra, Dist. Azamgarh. He received primary education in the local schools and then studied in Madrasah Ihyaul Uloom, Mubarakpur (Azamgarh). Thereafter, he read up to the intermediate classes in Madrasah Azizia Bihar Sharif, and Madrasah A’liya, Masjid Fatehpuri, Delhi. In the end he took admission in the Darul Uloom Deoband, and completed the Daura Hadith in AH. 1352.
At first he rendered teaching service in Madrasah Jamiul Uloom, Jatinpur (Azamgarh) and in Gorakhpur, and then was appointed in Madrasah Darul Uloom Mau Nath Bhanjan, on the post of teacher and fatwa-writer. In AH. 1385, on the call of the Darul Uloom Deoband, he came to Deoband and was entrusted with the post of Ifta, which he still occupies. He has got a good knack of fatwa-writing; his answers to the queries are detailed. Most of his important fatwas are being published in the journal Darul Uloom Deoband. Two volumes of his Fatwas has been published till from Islamic Fiqah Acadmy New Delhi
He has had the honour of vowing allegiance to and receiving khilafat from Hazrat Shah Wasiullah (may his secret be sanctified!). Simplicity and dignity was conspicuous in his disposition.
Mufti Nizamuddin passed away in Deoband, on 20 Ziqada, AH. 1420.