A Teacher’s Love...

The intimate teacher-student relationship that Sheikhul Hadeeth (rahmatullahi 'alayh) describes here is surely something to be envied. Teachers are rare gems that are waiting to be discovered, but he who seeks will surely find.

What shall I write concerning the spiritual stature of the Elders of the second era and how shall I write that. My first meeting with my Murshid, my Master and Guide, Hazrat Maulana Khaleel Ahmed Saheb was in Rajab 1328 Hijri. But up to the time of my father's death or up to 1333 Hijri I had very little chance of being in his esteemed company. In spite of that, Hazrat's kindness to me was innumerable. His looking at me with love was something I experienced from the beginning. The result was that which I had described under the section dealing with my studies. It was this which prompted him to advise against my being sent to Maulana Abdul Majid for studying logic. He did not accept, that for a whole year, I should be separated from him.

My direct contact with Hazrat started after the death of my father, when Hazrat showed himself to be a father to me in the true sense of the word. In my description of my first marriage, I had related how I had declined the bringing of my wife from Kandhla, as Kandhla was my hometown. The taking away and the bringing back of a wife with you was a delicate question. Hazrat understood this and said: "Who is there that will refuse. I have come as a father to perform this marriage."

Once on seeing Hazrat's kindness to me and my continuous presence with him, a person asked: "Is this your son?" Hazrat replied: "He is more than a son to me."

...In spite of his very high rank and his magnificent stature, his favours towards me increased all the time, firstly because of the fact I was an orphan and secondly as a result of the work on 'Bazlul Majhood'. Hazrat was very devoted to his research on Bazl and as a result thereof his love for me increased tremendously. Another very important fact is that the work done on Bazl was a great favour to me because as a result of it, Hazrat never took notice of my iniquities and shortcomings.

See Sacredlearning.com à General Talks à Finding a Hidden Gem for Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar's [db] own account about how he found his teacher.

Respecting our Teachers

The hadeeth kitabs which were taught in the madressa by other teachers were always accompanied by long lectures. Whenever I saw these lectures being held, my mouth used to water to attend. I sought my father's permission to be allowed to listen to these lessons held by someone else, but he always refused permission most emphatically and every time he used to say:

"You are unmannered. You only repsect me because of the shoes with which I beat you and you honour Hazrat [ie. Hazrat Khalid Mahmood Saharanpuri رحمة الله عليه] by heart."

This is reference to a specific incident to which he referred to on many occasions saying: "You do not even go on to the roof of Hazrat's house (out of respect for him) but you are prepared to climb on my head."

The story is this: My father's room was the western-most room of the library, which is now included into the library. The outside area of it was empty (as already mentioned in connection with the reading of Sharah Tahzeeb). When one wished to come along the stairs to my father's room, one had to walk over the roof of Hazrat's room. To come to his room instead of crossing over Hazrat's roof I climbed over the wall alongside his roof. Actually this was done for show because I am not even in possession of good manners upto this day. This is the reason why my fahter said: "You are unmannered. If you should act unmannerly to a falsafa or mantiq teacher, that knowledge will leave you and it will be a calamity for me. But if you should act unmannerly to any hadeeth teacher, this will be completely unbearable and unacceptable to me because you will then be deprived of the blessings of hadeeth."

In this he was right. I have not been able to show due respect to my Ustads and in spite of my ill-manners, my Ustads have treated me with great love, sympathy and goodwill. May Allah grant them all high ranks. Except for Hazrat Saheb, all the rest of my teachers treated me as an equal as if I was their contemporary or class-mate.

A most pertinent talk on this topic can also be found on the Sacredlearning website [see links] titled 'Debt to our Teachers'.

"That which had passed never returns": Appreciating our Scholars

...there is one very important fact to which I wish to draw attention.

When the Elders passed away many people desired to see those special qualities which were part of the Sheikh (in those that succeeded them). But it is clear that all those who follow the Elders and in their footsteps will be less gifted than the Sheikh except in some cases, as Allah pleases.

Those people who, because they do not see the qualities of the Elder in his followers, turn away from that Sheikh's line of Tasawwuf, are only doing themselves great harm. I began to see this very clearly since the time of Hazrat Gangohi. During the time of the most prominent Khalifas of Hazrat, I saw many of their contemporaries, who were also attached to Hazrat through Bay'at, saw that now some of the special qualities which Hazrat had were no longer present in the Khalifas. They then declined to return to these Khalifas for spiritual guidance. This caused me a lot of pain and sorrow because the Khalifas were near in relationship (with Allah Ta'ala) and men of 'Nisbat'. If indeed these people had become connected to one of the Khalifas, they would have progressed greatly.

Similarly I have seen many in the third generation of Khilafat who did the same thing. I did my utmost to explain to them the wrong of their actions. After the death of my uncle, Hazrat Ilyas رحمة الله عليه , I have heard many people say that this 'Hazrat-ji' was not nearly in the same class as Maulana Ilyas Dehlawy.

To those people I replied: "You have spoken the truth. But in Hazrat Dehlawy we did not see those special qualities which we saw in Hazrat Saharanpuri."...

...Now it is the era of Maulana Inaamul Hasan and very often we hear the complaint that it is not the same as in the time of Maulana Yusuf. Then I tell them: "My friends, after him you will not find even those qualities which are in him. That which had passed never returns."

Dispute Over Pay (2)

Hazrat Thanwy was also one of the trustees and supervisors of the madressa. I told him and Maulana Zafar Ahmad Thanwy, the Mufti of Thanabavan with whom I was most informal, "If any application concerning my salary from the madressa should come to Hazrat Thanwy, please let it be rejected."

I do not kno what he told Hazrat Thanwy. A letter of application was sent to Hazrat Thanwy for one and a half years leave of absence. Mohtamim Saheb also wrote: "He has some salary left with us. Kindly give permission for it to be paid to him."

Hazrat Thanwy approved the leave of absence and with regard to the salary, he wrote: "If the salary had not been received by him, then why is the permission of the trustees required? If there is any other doubts regarding the salary, then please explain it so that we may ponder over it."

Another trustee was Maulana Aashiq Ilahi and I also told him: "You are also a trustee. That salary is not permissible for me. Disapprove it."

However, after Hazrat had approved it, Maulana Thanwy could still disapprove, but what right had any of Hazrat's attendents to do so? I had done all these contemptable things as I always do.First of all, Maulana Ashiq Ilahi debated the issue with me and when, like in the case of Nazim Saheb he could not convince me, he wrote on my application: "Leave of absence for one and a years is approved. And just as in the case of of his leave of absence his application regarding his salary should also be accepted, that is, that his salary should also be granted by the madressa."

When Hazrat saw Maulana Meeruty's [ie Maulana Aashiq Ilahi's] note, he knew I had also had a debate with him. Thereafter Hazrat told me with great sympathy: "Bazal is not my own work. It belongs to the madressa. If I should take you with me in service of the madressa, and apart from going and living there, I let your expenses come from the madressa, then what do you have to say?"

I replied: "Then I will say: That is permissible. I have no hesitation."

Hazrat said: "The salary of your's which is in the madressa will be less than what the madressa will now give you."

I replied: "That is true."

Hazrat said: "This is what you should understand."

Dispute Over Pay

Here Sheikhul Hadeeth رحمة الله عليه relates the argument that took place over his salary.

I said: "Hazrat, do not worry, arrangements will be made for my expenses. It will not be permissible for me to take that money." I have always been a bit forward in the presence of the elders.
Hazrat asked: "Why?"

I replied: "In those months when I did not take salary, I taught with the neyat of doing so without salary. Now I am not entitled to take it."

Hazrat asked: "Did you put any application to the madressa when you were hired? The madressa was the hirer. What right did you have of cancelling the contract of hire from your own side unilaterally until such a time that we accepted your application?"

I replied: "But Hazrat, this has nothing to do with a hiring contract. If a person of his own self does a job for the sake of Allah, what right has he afterwards of receiving renumeration?"

At that time, Hazrat Nazim Saheb was also seated there. He said to Hazrat, "Leave him, I will explain the matter to him."

Hazrat became happy and I also, because in Hazrat's presence I spoke with fear, while with Nazim Saheb an open and lively debate took place and in the end he told Hazrat: "He does not want to budge from his view."

"My Father..." (3)

There were many points upon which my father and Hazrat Saharanpuri had differences of opinion. Because of the fact that they never had any enmity and open arguments, leave aside the general public, even the Ulama with close contact with them did not even know about these differences.

Allow me to write about one such difference of opinion by way of example: If in the case of an animal offered up jointly for Qurbani, two or three persons hold one share jointly to be offered on behalf of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, my father considered it permissible on condition that each of them have a share in the rest of the seven shares of the animal. Hazrat considered this as being not permissible.


During that time my father was staying upstairs and Hazrat was below, on the ground floor. I have seen many people come to Hazrat to ask about this same mas'ala. He would say to them: "In my opinion it is not permissible. Maulana Yahya considers it permissible. Go upstairs and ask him. If he gives you permission then accept and act accordingly."


In my opinion also it is permissible, while our Mufti (Mufti Saeed Ahmed Saheb) and the previous Nazim Maulana Abdul Lateef Saheb in accordance with Hazrat's opinion considered it as being not permissible. We knew about each other's views and have discussed the matter but the end result was that I did not accept their view and they did not accept mine. But never was there any pamphleteering against each other, nor any arguments. Regarding the burial of Hazrat Raipuri in Pakistan (instead of Raipur), I have always told people that there is no need for fighting over the issue, no need for taking out pamphlets against the other side, nor for debates, as always happens in cases of differences of opinion. No matter what the nature of the dispute, what need is there for fighting and arguments? There is no harm in explaining one's view with sanity, reason and calmness. If after that, the other party does not see his way clear towards accepting your view, then it is most inappropiate to resort to swearing and degrading them. I was so open-minded in this regard that I never even debated with Congress, League, Jami'at or Ahraar supporters.

"My Father..." (2)

Another of his specialities was that he would not allow me to be taught Hadith and Fiqh by anyone other than himself and Hazrat Saharanpuri. Repeatedly he used to tell me that I am rude and if I was ill-mannered towards my Ustad, that knowledge would be lost to me. If any other subjects were lost to me, the loss would not be so grave.

While writing about Hazrat Madani I mentioned that I have never seen anyone crying aloud so much in the latter part of the night as Maulana Madani and my father. My father used to read the Quran a lot. Whenever he was free from work, he would start reciting from memory, during the latter part of the night. He used to recite loudly and with much weeping. He was also very strict that I should not have any free time or that any of my time go wasted. Through the barakat of these things, these same aspects have become standing habits of mine.

My father was also very particular about drawing up time-tables for his special students and for me. Every year, he used to tell me: "Draw up your time-table and show it to me." He also had a habit of giving money for distributing sweetmeats at the completion of every kitab and also took great care that I was not allowed to spend the money as I wished.

Because he was a very accomplished Aalim, Fiqh, Hadith and Adab (Arabic Literature) were to him such basic subjects like the Qaida Baghdadi. Up to now, this humble one has not been able to emulate him in anything.

Often he used to tell me: "There was a certain Maulana, who was an Allama like me. He had a son who was a no-good like you. When he was on his death-bed, he called his son and said: "You no-good! You have not done a thing! All my students and mureeds will come to you and ask: Sahebzada Saheb, why is this so and what is the reason for that? Then you must just say: 'The Ulama differ upon it.' If you say that, you will be saved from exposing your ignorance."

This statement of his made a great impression on me. When I started teaching Hadith in 1340, time and again I had to say those very same words: "The Imams have a difference of opinion on this. This Imam says this and that Imam says that."

I spoke about this in 'Al-Etidaal'. During the time when I was teaching Mishkat I once enumerated the number of differences of opinion concerning salaah consisting of four raka'ahs. I found more than two hundred differences of opinion. From that time onwards, I had no problem with the differences among the Ulama. It became a very easy thing for me to grasp. Therefore whenever I became aware of the differences of opinion among the Ulama, and saw people giving it a lot of importance, it caused me no distress. I always said: "Bhai, there will always be differences of opinion. Follow the view of whomsoever you find yourself having faith in his person. There is no need for debates, fights and arguments."

to be continued inshaa allah

The Benefits of Good Company

Good company is something truly to be envied. Here, Sheikhul Hadeeth (rahmatullahi 'alayh) speaks of the company and the spiritual attention he received from his Shaykh, Maulana Khaleel Ahmed Saharanpuri (rahmatullahi 'alayh). Indeed, the golden opportunity to merely be his Shaykh's scribe for his grand work, Bazlul Majhood, allowed Sheikhul Hadeeth (rahmatullahi 'alayh) an insight to the world of hadeeth from early on. May Allah (subhanahu wa ta'aalaa) bless us with company that is better than solitude!

It was Hazrat's habit in Medina as well as in India that when he used to eat, he often used to take out pieces of meat from a kebab with his own hand and give it to me with great kindness. I never imagined that his loving kindness to me could be greater than that. In Medina I used to have both meals with Hazrat. Hazrat Raipuri also sometimes joined us for meals.

Hazrat Raipuri once said: "I envy you indeed, because whenever Hazrat Saharanpuri gives you something to eat, he always casts a thorough gaze at it and then gives it to you. If only he would do the same for me."

After that, I took notice and Hazrat really did look at it thoroughly (as if casting his spiritual attention at it). If only that spiritual attention had had beneficial affects upon this hard-hearted one! In Medina, while writing 'Bazlul Majhood', I used to spend almost six hours from after the early morning tea in Hazrat's company. One day, while I was writing, I do not know what I was thinking of but I became lost in thought.

Hazrat, while dictating said, in a stern but calm voice, "I am busy with you and you are thinking of Amar and Zaid."

Whenever that scene appears before me, I still feel a loud noise in my ears. But as Hazrat said that, I felt myself breaking out in a sweat. My kurta and pants became soaked with my perspiration. At that time, and later, I thought about it, but I just could not remember what I was thinking about.

If these attentions of Hazrat had fallen on some capable one, one wonders how far he would have progressed spiritually. But I have always acted ill-manneredly towards my Elders. My father spoke the truth when he said: "You are ill -mannered and if you should study Hadith by anyone other than Hazrat, your behaviour would be insulting and your knowledge concerning Hadith will come to nothing, which will be a great calamity."

Fear Playing the Shame Game

In this respect I remember something very important and I always warn my friends about it. In the Hadith we are warned against shaming a person for a sin committed and if one does that, he never dies until he himself becomes involved in that same sin. I have from experience found this to be very true and have warned my friends never to disgrace or shame people for sins committed by them. This is a very grave matter. It is a completely different aspect to warn them against such deeds or to advise against it or to preach to them to discard such acts.

I thought of this Hadith at this stage because of the following: In my childhood I noticed Hazrat had no teeth and that Hazrat used to take tobacco with this 'paan', which after four or five minutes he took out of his mouth to put into a spittoon. I used to think that if he takes it out again as he put it in, then what was the reason for putting it into his mouth in the first place. He has no need to eat paan! Since he did not have the habit of chewing paan, I thought this was foolish. But I pay the price myself. My teeth are gone and I am still addicted to paan-eating. Now I have to cut the paan into small thin pieces before eating it and I blame myself for the habit.