Hazrat Maulana Yusuf Motala (Rahimahullah)

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gra­cious, the Most Merciful.

As-salā­mu ‘alaykum wa-rah­mat­ul­lāhi wa-barakā­tuh (Peace, Bless­ings & Mer­cy of Allah be upon You).

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Message of condolence from Shaykhul-Hadeeth (Maulana) Mohammad Ayub Bande Ilahi (Leicester)

I first saw Hazrat Maulana Yusuf Mota­la (ra) 50 years ago in Saharun­pur when he was vis­it­ing with a Tableeghi Jam­mat from Eng­land. I was a junior Khadim of SHAYKH (MAULANA) MUHAMMAD ZAKARIYYA KANDHLAWI (RA) in the blessed month of Ramad­han where this hum­ble ser­vant was also present. Hazrat Maulana Yusuf Mota­la (RA) had plas­ter on his hands due to being involved in aN acci­dent. In those cir­cum­stance, many times I assist­ed him in his Wud­hu and that’s how I was intro­duced to him (in India) and our inter­ac­tion con­tin­ued here in Eng­land. His (ra)’s biggest accom­plish­ment for which he received enor­mous amounts of Duas, love and (SPIRITUAL) atten­tion from SHAYKH (MAULANA) MUHAMMAD ZAKARIYYA KANDHLAWI (RA) is the estab­lish­ment of Darul-uloom (Bury) in this land of England.

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Note: This arti­cle is still being reviewed

Manifestations of Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ Beauty

 

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Education

Hazrat’s pri­ma­ry Islam­ic edu­ca­tion of Qur’an Sharif and Urdu was com­plet­ed at Madres­sa-e-Targib in Nani Naroli. In 1961, Hazrat enrolled at Jamea Hus­sainia a well-known madrasa in Ran­der. There, he stud­ied from the first year of Per­sian until the first year of Hidaaya. There­after, in 966, Hazrat enrolled at Maza­hir­ul Ulum in Saha­ran­pur. His class­es com­menced on Feb­ru­ary 23, 1966. He stud­ied Mishkaat ul Masabeeh under Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Yunus, Tafsir ul Jalalayn under Maulana Muham­mad Aqil, Vol­ume 3 of Hidaaya under Mufti Yahya, and Mishkaat ul Masabeeh for a sec­ond time under Hazrat Shaikh Maulana Muham­mad Zakariyya Kandhlawi (RA).

In the fol­low­ing year, Hazrat stud­ied Sahih ul Bukhari under Hadhrat Shaikh Maulana Muham­mad Zakariyya Kandhlawi (RA), Sunan Abu Dawud, Sunan An Nasa’i, Mu’atta Imam Malik and Mu’atta Imam Muham­mad under Maulana Yunus Jaun­puri, Sahih Mus­lim and Sunan At Tim­r­mid­hi under Maulana Muzaf­far Hus­sain, and Surah Maiani Al Athar under Hadhrat Maulana Asadul­lah. At around this time, Hazrat wrote a let­ter to Hadhrat Shaikh Maulana Muham­mad Zakariyya Kandhlawi (RA) request­ing the accep­tance of bay’at. He replied, accept­ed Hazrat’s bay’at, and entered Hazrat into his sil­si­lah. After this, along with his stud­ies, Hazrat com­menced a con­sis­tent rou­tine of the recita­tion of Qur’aan Sharif and per­for­mance of Taha­jjud, Ishraaq, Chaasht and Awwaabeen Salaah.

Teachers

Maulana Yusuf Shab­bir writes:

I am not aware of Hazrat’s teach­ers in Jamia Husayniyyah, Ran­der with the excep­tion of Mawlānā Sham­sud­dīn Afghānī Ṣāḥib (basā), whose style and anec­dotes Hazrat would fond­ly rec­ol­lect in our class­es. Mawlānā Sham­sud­dīn Ṣāḥib is the author of an Ara­bic com­men­tary of Sharḥ al-ʿAqāʾid al-Nasafiyyah, where­in he is extreme­ly crit­i­cal of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Qayy­im (d. 751/1350), describ­ing him as deviant. Mawlānā Manẓūr Aḥmad Nuʿmānī (d. 1417/1997) refut­ed him in this regard in his al-Furqān mag­a­zine, a copy of which I pos­sess. Mawlānā Sham­sud­dīn Ṣāḥib also authored an Ara­bic com­men­tary of Sunan al-Tir­mid­hī, a par­tial man­u­script exists in the library of my respect­ed father Mufti Shab­bīr Aḥmad (b. 1376/1957). I have ben­e­fit­ed from this work and cit­ed it in some of my Fat­was and books.

In Maza­hir Uloom, Saha­ran­pur, Hazrat stud­ied under the fol­low­ing teachers:

1. Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyyā Kānd­hel­wī (d. 1402/1982) taught him Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī in the final year.
2. Mawlānā Asʿadul­lāh Rām­pūrī (d. 1399/1979) taught him Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār in the final year. Mawlānā Asʿadul­lāh was a very intel­li­gent and pious schol­ar. Our respect­ed teacher Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Yūnus Jown­pūrī would reg­u­lar­ly praise him and rec­ol­lect his piety and dis­cours­es. He was a senior dis­ci­ple of Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī Thā­nawī (d. 1362/1943) and taught in Maza­hir Uloom for approx­i­mate­ly 60 years (for his biog­ra­phy, refer to al-Yawāqīt al-Gāliyah, 2:39).
3. Mufti Muẓaf­far Ḥusayn (d. 1424/2003) taught him Sunan al-Tir­mid­hī in the final year.
4. Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Yūnus Jown­pūrī (d. 1438/2017) taught him Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ in the penul­ti­mate year, and Ṣaḥīḥ Mus­lim, Sunan al-Nasāʾī, Sunan Abī Dāwūd and both Muwaṭṭaʾ in the final year.
5. Mufti Yaḥyā Ṣāḥib (d. 1417/1996) taught him the third vol­ume of Hidāyah in the penul­ti­mate year. He is the father of the cur­rent rec­tor of Maza­hir Uloom, Mawlānā Salman Ṣāḥib and served as the Head Mufti in Saha­ran­pur for many years.
6. Mawlānā ʿĀqil Ṣāḥib, the cur­rent Shaykh al-Ḥadīth of Maza­hir Uloom taught him Tafsīr al-Jalālayn in the penul­ti­mate year.

Marriage, Khilafat, and the Birth of His First Child

In 1968, after com­plet­ing his final year, Hazrat’s rel­a­tives engaged him to a close friend of the fam­i­ly in Eng­land. His trip to Eng­land was booked for after Ramadan. In Ramadan of 1968, Hazrat was appoint­ed to lead the five dai­ly salaahs and Taraweh Salaah. Two paras were to be recit­ed in each Taraweeh Salaah. How­ev­er, after three or four days, Hazrat became ill and was sent home to Surat. Approx­i­mate­ly four months lat­er, in ear­ly June, Hazrat trav­elled to Eng­land. His mar­riage was con­duct­ed with­in five or six weeks.

On April 23 1969, along with four friends, Hazrat depart­ed from Eng­land to per­form Umra. There, he had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spend six to sev­en months in the com­pa­ny of his Shaikh. Hazrat passed the Ramadan of 1969 with his Shaikh in Makkah and Mad­i­na. One night, whilst in I’tikaaf, after the per­for­mance of Taraweeh Salaah, Hazrat’s Shaikh called Hazrat and Maulana Ismail Badat into his tent and grant­ed them per­mis­sion to accept Khi­lafat, wrap­ping tur­bans on their heads with his own hands. At the end of the month of Ramadan, Hazrat was sent back to England.

How­ev­er, Hazrat had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spend Ramadan of 1970 in Saha­ran­pur. On the 30th of Ramadan, by means of a telegram, Hazrat received glad tid­ings of the birth of his first child, a girl. Hazrat’s Shaikh imme­di­ate­ly sent a telegram: “May the name ‘Khadi­ja’ be blessed. The birth of a daugh­ter is an indi­ca­tion of resem­blance to the exalt­ed Prophet Muham­mad ﷺ .”

Students

Maulana Yusuf Shab­bir writes:

Most schol­ars in the UK are direct or indi­rect stu­dents of Hazrat. Many stu­dents of Hazrat have estab­lished sem­i­nar­ies whilst many oth­ers are work­ing in a range of fields includ­ing: Med­i­cine, Accoun­tan­cy, Chap­lain­cy, Char­i­ty, and oth­er fields. Hazrat’s stu­dents reflect his lega­cy and contribution.

Some of Ḥaḍrat’s notable stu­dents include:

1. My respect­ed father Mufti Shab­bīr Aḥmad, Ḥadīth Lec­tur­er at Darul Uloom Black­burn. He stud­ied many books of the first few years of the ʿĀlim pro­gramme with Hazrat, most of them on a 1–1 basis. My father migrat­ed to the UK from Malawi in 1969, he knew Hazrat since, first as a stu­dent and there­after as a co-teacher and Head Mufti at Darul Uloom Bury for thir­ty-five years.
2. My respect­ed teacher Mufti Muḥam­mad Ṭāhir Wādī, Ḥadīth Lec­tur­er and Head Mufti of Darul Uloom Bury.
3. Mufti ʿAbd al-Ṣamad Aḥmad, the Prin­ci­pal of Darul Uloom Blackburn.
4. Mawlānā Faḍl al-Ḥaq Wādī, the Prin­ci­pal of Jāmiʿah al-Kawthar, Lancaster.
5. Mawlānā Salīm Dhorāt, founder of Islam­ic Dawah Acad­e­my, Leicester.
6. My respect­ed teacher Mawlānā Naw­shād ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Ḥadīth Lec­tur­er at Darul Uloom Bury.
7. My respect­ed teacher Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Lim­bādā, the UK based Ḥadīth lec­tur­er and founder of Rahee­mi Academy.
8. My respect­ed teacher Mawlānā Ḥifẓur­raḥmān, the sec­ond father in law of Ḥaḍrat.
9. My respect­ed teacher Mufti Ibrāhīm Rājā, Ḥadīth Lec­tur­er at Darul Uloom Bury.
10. The late Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Dīdāt (d. 1439/2018), the for­mer Librar­i­an of Darul Uloom Bury.
11. Dr Mawlānā Mah­mood Chan­dia, Senior Lec­tur­er at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cen­tral Lancashire.
12. Dr Mawlānā Mohammed Ashraf Makadam, Vice Prin­ci­pal of Madani School, Leicester.
13. Dr Mufti Abdur­raḥmān Mangera, founder of White Thread Insti­tute, London.
14. Dr Riyad Kallin­gal, Con­sul­tant Sur­geon at Leeds Teach­ing Hos­pi­tals NHS Trusts.
15. Mufti Shāh Ṣadrud­dīn, founder of Imam Zakariya Acad­e­my, London.
16. Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Sīdāt, founder of the glob­al NGO Ummah Wel­fare Trust.
17. Mawlānā Khalīl Aḥmad Kazi, founder of Mad­i­na Acad­e­my, Dewsbury.
18. Mufti Sai­ful Islām, founder of Jami­ah Khata­mun Nabiy­een, Bradford.
19. Shaykh Riyāḍ al-Ḥaq, founder of Al-Kawthar Acad­e­my, Leicester.
20. Shaykh Aḥmad ʿAlī, founder of Al Mahadul Isla­mi, Bradford.
21. Shaykh Yūnus Dud­hwālā, Chair­man of Halal Mon­i­tor­ing Com­mit­tee UK and Head of Chap­lain­cy and Bereave­ment Sup­port Ser­vices, Barts Health NHS Trust, London.
22. Shaykh Ibrāhīm Mogrā, Assis­tant Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al of the Mus­lim Coun­cil of Britain.
23. Shaykh Rafīq Ṣūfī, Chair­man of Lan­cashire Coun­cil of Mosques.
24. Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah, Direc­tor of Darul Ilm, Birmingham.
25. Mawlānā Mak­sūd Gangāt, Direc­tor of Al Risalah Trust, London.
26. Shaykh Shab­bīr Menk, Zimbabwe.
27. Shaykh Ibrāhīm Mem­on Madani, Canada.
28. Mawlānā Shirāz ʿAlī, Trinidad.
29. Mufti Ḥus­sain Kamānī, Dal­las, Texas.
30. Mawlānā Sar­farāz ʿĀlī, Auck­land, New Zealand.

Since its incep­tion, over a thou­sand stu­dents have grad­u­at­ed as schol­ars from Darul Uloom Bury and many more as Ḥuf­fāẓ. The vast major­i­ty of the grad­u­ates are pro­fi­cient in Eng­lish along with oth­er lan­guages. Hazrat encour­aged stu­dents to pur­sue fur­ther edu­ca­tion both in Islam­ic stud­ies and oth­er dis­ci­plines. Thus, some grad­u­ates trav­elled to India, Sau­di Ara­bia and Egypt whilst oth­ers were encour­aged to enrol at uni­ver­si­ties in the UK. This has result­ed in a diverse range of grad­u­ates with exper­tise in dif­fer­ent dis­ci­plines who are now con­tribut­ing to and ben­e­fit­ing the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty and the wider com­mu­ni­ty in the UK and beyond.

As the first Darul Uloom in the West­ern World, the sem­i­nary attract­ed stu­dents from dif­fer­ent parts of the world. Darul Uloom’s grad­u­ates include schol­ars from the fol­low­ing countries:

1. Bar­ba­dos
2. Cana­da
3. France
4. India
5. Moroc­co
6. Nether­lands
7. New Zealand
8. Pana­ma
9. Por­tu­gal
10. Reunion
11. Sau­di Arabia
12. Trinidad
13. Unit­ed Kingdom
14. Unit­ed States of America
15. Zam­bia
16. Zim­bab­we

Teaching

Maulana Yusuf Shab­bir writes:

Hazrat taught at Darul Uloom Bury since its incep­tion in 1973. In the ear­ly years, there were only a few teach­ers and Hazrat taught many books. The first grad­u­ates of Darul Uloom Bury grad­u­at­ed in 1981 (1401 hijrī). For approx­i­mate­ly eleven years dur­ing the 80s, Hazrat taught Sunan al-Tir­mid­hī along with oth­er books. Dur­ing this peri­od, my respect­ed father Mufti Shab­bīr Aḥmad taught Ṣaḥīḥ Mus­lim. In the ear­ly 90s, they switched with each oth­er. Sub­se­quent­ly, in 1416 (1996) after the demise of Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Islām al-Ḥaq, Hazrat start­ed teach­ing Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and con­tin­ued doing so until his demise. For sev­er­al years in the mid­dle includ­ing in 2004–5 when we stud­ied with Hazrat, Hazrat only taught a por­tion of the Ṣaḥīḥ. How­ev­er, I under­stand in recent years, the full Ṣaḥīḥ would be read in his pres­ence. Hazrat also taught the trans­la­tion of the Quran for many years. My col­league Mawlānā Ḥassān Qāzī of Pre­ston record­ed our lessons and even­tu­al­ly this result­ed in the pub­li­ca­tion of Ḥaḍrat’s Urdu trans­la­tion of the Quran.

In addi­tion to this, Hazrat served as a spir­i­tu­al guide for many thou­sands of peo­ple. For many decades, the Thurs­day evening (Fri­day night) spir­i­tu­al majlis would attract sev­er­al hun­dred peo­ple at Darul Uloom in Bury. Hazrat was very punc­tu­al on attend­ing this majlis through­out his life.

Work & Accomplishments

Upon the instruc­tions of his Shaikh, Hazrat estab­lished Dar ul Ulum Al Ara­bia Al Ilamia in Hol­combe, Bury, Lan­cashire, in 1973. At present, he is the founder and patron of numer­ous Islam­ic insti­tutes through­out the world and spir­i­tu­al guide to thou­sands of Mus­lims all over the world.

His stu­dents, who num­ber thou­sands, are spread across the globe, occu­pied in the ser­vice of deen in vary­ing capac­i­ties. A large of Eng­lish-speak­ing Ula­ma in the UK are grad­u­ates of insti­tutes found­ed by Hazrat, many of whom are active­ly engaged in mat­ters of Deen. The fol­low­ing insti­tu­tions have been either set­up by Hazrat or his Mushwara/input were considered:

• Dar ul Ulum Al Ara­bia Al Ilamia in Hol­combe, Bury
• Mad­i­nat­ul Uloom Al Islamiya, Kidderminster
• Jami’at­ul Imam Muham­mad Zakariyya, Bradford
• Madrasa Mis­bah al-Uloom, Bradford
• Markaz ul-Uloom, Blackburn
• Madrasa al-Imam Muham­mad Zakariyya, Bolton
• Madrasa al-Imam Muham­mad Zakariyya, Preston
• Azhar Acad­e­my London,
• Al Markazul Ilmi, Dewsbury,
• Zakariyya jaame masjid, Bolton

Publications

Maulana Yusuf Shab­bir writes that he (RA) authored sev­er­al works dur­ing his life, which include the following:

1. Iṭāʿat Rasūl (Urdu) – one volume.
2. Mashāyikh Ahmed­abad (Urdu) – two volumes.
3. Trans­la­tion of the Quran (Urdu) enti­tled Aḍwāʾ al-Bayān fī Tar­ju­mat al-Quran – one volume.
4. Tafsīr of the Quran (Ara­bic) – This is par­tial­ly print­ed and was the work Ḥaḍrat had been work­ing on over the past few years until his demise.
5. Maḥab­bat Nāmey (Urdu) – Let­ters of Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyya to Ḥaḍrat, print­ed in three volumes.
6. ʿInāy­at Nāmey (Urdu) – Let­ters of oth­er schol­ars and lumi­nar­ies to Ḥaḍrat, print­ed in one volume.
7. Meyrey Bhai Jān Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Ṣāḥib Nawwar Allah Mar­qadah (Urdu) – one volume.
8. Jāmiʿ al-Siyar (Urdu) – one volume.
9. Jamāl Muḥam­madī Dars Bukhārī key Āiney mey (Urdu) – three volumes.
10. Jamāl Muḥam­madī kī Jal­wah Gāhey (Urdu) – two volumes.
11. Jamāl Muḥam­madī Jabal Nūr par (Urdu) – one volume.
12. Buzur­gow key Wiṣāl key Aḥwāl (Urdu) – one volume.
13. Shām wa Hind key Awliyā ʿIẓām (Urdu) – one volume.
14. Aimmah Arbaʿah awr Ṣūfiyā Kirām (Urdu) – one volume.
15. Karāmāt wa Kamālāt Awliyā (Urdu) – two volumes.
16. Ḥaḍrat Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyyā Muhājir Mad­nī awr unkey Khu­lafāʾ Kirām (Urdu) – Three vol­ume pub­li­ca­tion com­piled by Mawlā­na Yūsuf Ludyān­wī and Ḥaḍrat.
17. Makātīb Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Quṭb al-Aqṭāb Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyyā Muhājir Mad­nī (Urdu) – one volume.
18. Isnād Bukhārī Sharīf (Urdu) – A small book­let, with a fore­word by Shaykh Muḥam­mad Yūnus Jownpūrī.
19. Nūr Nubuwwat (Urdu) – a one vol­ume book.
20. Ṣalāt wa Salām ʿalā Sayyid al-Anām bi al-Asmāʾ al-Ilāhiyyah wa al-Alqāb al-Nabawiyyah (Ara­bic) – a small booklet.
21. Maṣābīḥ al-Dujā (Ara­bic) – a small booklet.
22. Maṣābīḥ al-Sabīl (Ara­bic) – a small booklet.
23. Miṣbāḥ al-Ẓalām (Ara­bic) – a small booklet.
24. Makātīb Yūsufī (Urdu) – a one vol­ume book fea­tur­ing the let­ters of Ḥaḍrat to Mawlā­na Aḥmad ʿAlī Lūnat of Leicester.
25. Al-Adʿiyah al-Qurāniyyah (Ara­bic) – a small booklet.
26. Sarkār Dow ʿĀlam Ṣal­lal­lāhū ʿalay­hi wa Sal­lam awr Māhey Ramaḍān (Urdu)
27. Maqālat Yūsufī (Urdu) – an unpub­lished work of my col­league Shaykh Khalīl Aḥmad Kāzī fea­tur­ing Ḥaḍrat’s arti­cles and speech­es, pre­ced­ed with a biog­ra­phy in Urdu enti­tled Dhikr Yūsufī. This will be pub­lished on this web­site soon.

Many of the PDFs are avail­able on the Inter Islam web­site and sev­er­al pub­li­ca­tions have also been trans­lat­ed into Eng­lish. The small book­lets have also been pub­lished as a col­lec­tion enti­tled Hadyah Ḥaramayn.

Some discourses

Maulana Yusuf Shab­bir writes that he stud­ied the trans­la­tion of a part of the Quran and a part of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī with Ḥaḍrat. Dur­ing the Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī lessons, I made some notes. A trans­la­tion of some of these are pre­sent­ed here along with some oth­er rec­ol­lec­tions. Ḥaḍrat would also share dreams and their inter­pre­ta­tions in our lessons, he was an expert on inter­pret­ing dreams.

1. Ḥaḍrat said on Tues­day 23 Novem­ber 2004, “Recite the Quran in Nafl prayers in abun­dance. This is more ben­e­fi­cial to remem­ber the Quran than revi­sion (dawr).”
2. Ḥaḍrat said on Tues­day 23 Novem­ber 2004, “Make the stu­dents punc­tu­al on Ṣalāh and be strin­gent in this regard, even if some­one is offend­ed by this. This is because Ṣalāh stops many evils as men­tioned in the Quran. Ṣalāh is such an impor­tant oblig­a­tion, yet it is (rel­a­tive­ly) easy.”
3. Ḥaḍrat said on Mon­day 29 Novem­ber 2004, “Ḥaḍrat Shaykh (Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyyā) would recite the Quran after ʿAṣr Ṣalāh to Mufti Yaḥyā and Ḥakīm Ilyās. He would cry so much that the onlook­er would feel sorry.”
4. Ḥaḍrat said on Mon­day 6 Decem­ber 2004, “Ḥaḍrat Shaykh (Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyyā) began writ­ing Awjaz al-Masā­lik in the blessed city of Madī­nah and wrote one vol­ume (equiv­a­lent to three vol­umes of the new print) in three and a half months. The rest of the vol­umes took many years.”
5. Ḥaḍrat agreed with the view of Mawlānā Ḥusayn Aḥmad Mad­nī (d. 1377/1957) in rela­tion to the par­ti­tion of India. He said on Wednes­day 8 Decem­ber 2004, “I have most admi­ra­tion for Shaykh al-Islam Ḥaḍrat Madanī.” He said two days lat­er on Fri­day 10 Decem­ber 2004, “In 1956, he vis­it­ed Gujarat for a con­ven­tion of Jami­at, in which Nehru also par­tic­i­pat­ed. Ḥaḍrat Madanī per­formed ʿAṣr Ṣalāh in our Masjid in Naroli. I was nine or ten years old. After Ṣalāh, peo­ple were shak­ing hands with him and we young chil­dren did muṣafaḥah a few times.”
6. Ḥaḍrat said on Sat­ur­day 1 Jan­u­ary 2005, “Ḥaḍrat Shaykh (Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyyā) wrote to all the sem­i­nar­ies in the Indi­an sub-con­ti­nent includ­ing the Ahl Ḥadīth ones ask­ing for their asānīd (ḥadīth chains). All the respons­es fea­tured Shāh Waliyyul­lāh in their chains. This is why he is Mus­nid al-Hind.”
7. Ḥaḍrat said on Sat­ur­day 1 Jan­u­ary 2005, “Shāh Waliyyul­lāh and his descen­dants did a lot of work. The Ummah is indebt­ed to them.”
8. Ḥaḍrat said on Fri­day 7 Jan­u­ary 2005, “Work with and among the Barel­wis, do not debate with them.”
9. Ḥaḍrat said on Thurs­day 27 Jan­u­ary 2005, “Shari­ah demands that Allah is remem­bered at all times and not only remem­bered, but embed­ded in the heart.”
10. Ḥaḍrat said on Fri­day 28 Jan­u­ary 2005, “Shaykh ʿAbd al-Aziz ibn Bāz was a very good per­son notwith­stand­ing some of his views. He would respect Mawlānā Saʿīd Aḥmad Khan Ṣāḥib.”
11. Ḥaḍrat said on Sat­ur­day 29 Jan­u­ary 2005, “Once Mawlānā ʿAlī Miyā Nad­wī (Sayyid Abu al-Ḥasan) vis­it­ed Ḥaḍrat Shaykh (Mawlānā Muḥam­mad Zakariyyā) and was amazed at the num­ber of let­ters Ḥaḍrat Shaykh would receive and respond to. He request­ed a count. On that day, 65 let­ters were received and respond­ed to in addi­tion to all the oth­er com­mit­ments of Ḥaḍrat Shaykh.”
12. Ḥaḍrat said on Wednes­day 1 June 2005, “To ascer­tain the mind­set of an author is easy, look at what they have writ­ten on the sen­si­tive topics.”
13. Ḥaḍrat said in 2005 whilst teach­ing Kitāb al-Magāzī, “Jihad is from among the most impor­tant issues in this era. This is our his­to­ry that can­not be denied. We can­not omit it from the books of history.”
14. Ḥaḍrat said in 2005, “What­ev­er errors the com­pan­ions made, it is not per­mis­si­ble for any of us to open his tongue in this regard.”
15. Ḥaḍrat gave me a tip in 2005 regard­ing the swift but clear recita­tion of the matn (text) of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and oth­er books. He advised to read two lines in one breath.

Passing away

Maulana Yusuf Shab­bir writes that in August (2019) a few weeks ago, Hazrat trav­elled to Cana­da with his fam­i­ly to deliv­er some speech­es. On Sun­day 25 August in the morn­ing, Hazrat suf­fered a heart attack which caused injury to the brain. The news spread world­wide. The heart pro­ce­dure was suc­cess­ful, how­ev­er, Hazrat remained uncon­scious. Med­ical efforts con­tin­ued. Allah Almighty had decreed oth­er­wise. Hazrat passed away at 8.20pm Cana­da time, on Sun­day 8 Sep­tem­ber 2019, this cor­re­sponds to 9 Muḥar­ram 1441 hijrī in Cana­da. Accord­ing­ly, Hazrat’s age was 75 and 72 accord­ing to the Islam­ic and solar cal­en­dars respec­tive­ly. The Janāzah Ṣalāh is sched­uled lat­er today after Ẓuhr Ṣalāh 1.35pm at Jame Masjid Mis­sis­sauga (Coop­ers Avenue Mosque) in Toron­to (a fur­ther update will be added in this regard fol­low­ing the Janāzah Ṣalāh and burial).

It is worth not­ing that Mon­day night had begun when Hazrat passed away. Our beloved Prophet Muḥam­mad ﷺ also passed away on a Mon­day. Hazrat pos­sessed immense love for the Prophet ﷺ. Accord­ing to Imam Bukhārī (d. 256/870), the most vir­tu­ous day to pass away is Mon­day because the leader of mankind ﷺ passed away on that day (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 1387).

Hazrat’s demise is a great loss for the Ummah as a whole and par­tic­u­lar­ly for British Mus­lims. A great per­son­al­i­ty has left this world. We pray to Allah Almighty to for­give Hazrat and grant him an abode in Jan­nat­ul Fir­daws. May Allah Almighty accept all his endeav­ours and make them a means of his sal­va­tion. May Allah Almighty pro­tect all the insti­tutes he estab­lished and bless them.

Hazrat leaves behind two spous­es and eight chil­dren: Aishah Kha­la and her daugh­ter Khadi­jah Apa who is mar­ried to Mawlānā Junaid Desai Ṣāḥib, they have five chil­dren: Muham­mad, Ahmad, Humayd, Aishah and Humayrah. Ḥaḍrat has sev­en chil­dren from his sec­ond spouse Aishah Apa: Mawlānā Sulay­man, Fatimah, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Ami­nah, Qasim and the eldest Mawlānā Muham­mad who mar­ried recent­ly to my cousin and raḍāʿī (fos­ter) sis­ter Ḥasanah. May Allah Almighty show­er mer­cy upon them all and grant them and all of Hazrat’s fam­i­ly, asso­ciates and stu­dents Ṣabr Jamīl. Āmīn.