Memories (Episode 18-a)

The Mosque of Dar al-ʿUlum

After Dar al-ʿUlum shifted to Sharafi, while the classrooms and dormitory buildings had been constructed, a formal mosque could not be built immediately, and initially, prayers were offered on a paved floor near a well. Later, as the number of students increased, the hall of the northern classroom building was used as a prayer space (musalla). The foundation stone for the official mosque was laid on 15 Shaʿban 1377 AH (7 March 1958) during the annual gathering. Its construction continued gradually, until the task of laying its roof was scheduled for 6 Rabi al-Thani 1378 AH. Our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him) said that instead of getting this done by hired labourers, it should be carried out by Dar al-ʿUlum personnel themselves. Accordingly, on that day, all the teachers, students, and administrative staff of Dar al-ʿUlum remained busy the entire day in laying the roof. We, too, Alhamdulillah, attained this blessing. Congregational prayers took place within this mosque for many years. After the passing away of our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him), even this mosque became cramped for space, whereafter a major expansion plan was initiated under the supervision of my elder brother, Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Rafiʿ Usmani (may Allah grant him a long life), which, Alhamdulillah, has now been completed. The previous mosque was entirely incorporated into this new one.

Various events were organized by the Dar al-ʿUlum to provide students with opportunities to practice and enhance their speaking and writing skills. That year, in Jamadi al-Thani 1378 AH, corresponding to December 1958, a writing competition was held in which three questions related to acquiring knowledge were given. I wrote an article on the topic “Islam’s Approach to Knowledge” which was deemed worthy of first place.

In any case, our academic year thus concluded successfully with the grace and favour of Allah Most High, and Alhamdulillah the results of the annual examinations were also good. But I still remember the pain of an incident from those exams. By the grace of Allah, we had prepared well for those exams and hoped that Insha Allah we would secure good marks. And this did happen in most subjects. However, the paper for Sharḥ Nukhbat al-Fikr was set by Hadhrat Mawlana Akbar Ali (may Allah have mercy on him), who was known for setting tough exams and awarding marks very stringently. I was thus apprehensive about this exam. When the paper came, one question completely baffled me. I still remember that question to this day. It contained the following excerpt from Sharḥ Nukhbat al-Fikr:

“فإن قيل: إنما اتفقوا على وجوبِ العملِ به لا علي صحته، منعناه”

Beneath this excerpt, the question was:

“Explain this passage and provide the “سند منع” (sanad manʿ)”.

Since only this portion of the passage was quoted, due to my lack of understanding, I was unable to comprehend its meaning without the context. I could not determine to what the pronoun in “وجوبِ العملِ به” referred, nor could I grasp the meaning of “منع”, let alone “سند منع”. Consequently, I wrote an incoherent and nonsensical answer. As a result, Hadhrat Mawlana Akbar Ali (may Allah have mercy on him) awarded me 41 marks (perhaps taking into account my answers to the other questions), which were of the low category. Even though I had studied well for Mishkat, I attained low marks in that exam as well. I do not recall ever getting such poor marks in the exam of any other book. I was deeply disheartened at this, and it is the “blessing” of that pain that today even after 56 years, I still remember the question.

The following were my results in the annual exams that year:

I had written the following note beside these results in my personal diary: “The exams of Mishkat and Nukhbat al-Fikr were conducted by Mawlana Akbar Ali.”

My First Jurisprudential (fiqhi) Writing

After the academic year ended, we returned home to spend our vacations of Shaʿban and Ramadan. A detailed query regarding the ruling on conducting congregational Tahajjud prayers during Ramadan had come to my respected father (may Allah have mercy on him). My respected father (may Allah have mercy on him) instructed me to collate the relevant references from the books of Fiqh on this issue so that it becomes easier for him to write the reply, and that I also get practice in referring to books of Fiqh.” This also gave me the opportunity to pursue my desire. Accordingly, I collected the relevant passages from all the books of Fiqh available in my respected father’s (may Allah have mercy on him) personal library. I gathered a heap of books, each marked at the relevant pages, beside my pillow. When my respected father saw this heap, he was very pleased and remarked: “By gathering so many books, you have acted in accordance with my own nature”. Encouraged by these words, I submitted: “If you permit, shall I pen down my understanding from these references and present it to you?” My respected father granted his permission, after which I wrote a detailed answer and presented it to him. He was overjoyed at reading it and made supplications for me. Later, in his reply to the query (dated 4 Shawwal 1378 AH), he wrote the following at its beginning to the correspondent:

“I assigned this query to my youngest son, Muhammad Taqi (may Allah protect him), who is set to begin his studies of Dawrat al-HḤḥHadith this year. My intention was for him to practice referring to books of Fiqh, and after he extracts the relevant references, I would write the answer. However, MashaAllah, this boy is intelligent. He extracted all the references on his own without any assistance from me and then used those references to write the answer by himself. When I reviewed his writing, I found it fully sufficient and comprehensive. I am therefore sending this very answer with my attestation on it.”

And at the end of the Fatwa (answer), he wrote the following words:

“لله درّ المجيب، حيثُ أصاب فيما أجاب، وأجاد فيما أفاد، مع ملاحظة أدب الأكابر، وفقه الله تعالى لما يُحبّ ويرضي”

This was my first academic writing, which the late respected Majd al-Din of Sylhet later published as a pamphlet titled “Jamaʿat Tahajjud Dar Ramadan”. I was in the fifteenth year of my life, and after Eid, our Dawrat al-Hadith began.

The Year of Dawrat al-Hadith

In that year (Shawwal 1378 AH, corresponding to April 1959), our Sahih Bukhari lessons were under Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti Rashid Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him); Jamiʿ Tirmidhi was taught by Hadhrat Mawlana Salimullah Khan (may Allah have mercy on him); Sahih Muslim by Hadhrat Mawlana Akbar Ali (may Allah have mercy on him); Abu Dawud was initially under Hadhrat Mawlana Muhammad Haqiq (may Allah have mercy on him), but was later transferred to Hadhrat Mawlana Qari Riʿayatullah (may Allah have mercy on him), from whom we studied the majority of it. Sunan Nasai and Muwatta Imam Muhammad were under Hadhrat Mawlana Sahban Mahmud (may Allah have mercy on him); Sunan Ibn Majah was with Hadhrat Mawlana Muhammad Haqiq (may Allah have mercy on him); and Muwatta Imam Malik and Shamail Tirmidhi were taught by our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him). At that time, our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him) resided in the city and would visit Dar al-ʿUlum once or twice a week, and would conduct these lessons during those visits.

Engrossment in Studies

The year of Dawrat al-ḤHadith is a very memorable one in the life of a student of knowledge. During this year, a student detaches himself from every other subject and devotes his complete attention to the blessed Ahadith of the Noble Messenger .H From morning until evening, the mind is absorbed in a single preoccupation, with lessons on Ahadith taking place in every single class. The following couplet of Hadhrat Majzub (may Allah have mercy on him) would come to my mind:

اُن کا ذکر، اُن کی تمنا، اُن کی یاد

وقت کتنا قیمتی ہے آج کل

Mentioning him, longing for him, remembering him

How precious is time these days

Due to the blessings of Hadhrat Mufti Rashid Ahmad’s (may Allah have mercy on him) companionship, a love for books had already been instilled in my heart since the previous year. When the Dawrat al-ḤHadith year began, the desire arose in my heart to thoroughly prepare for each lesson before attending the class. For this, we brought a few books from the personal library of our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him). One was Fatḥ al-Mulhim, the commentary on Sahih Muslim, and the other was an incomplete commentary on Jamiʿ Tirmidhi titled “al-Ṭib al-Shadhi”, written by Hadhrat Mawlana Ashfaq Ahmad Kandahlawi (may Allah have mercy on him). It was printed as a large book using an old typeface. Hadhrat Binnori’s commentary “Maʿarif al-Sunan” had not yet been published, so this was the best commentary on Tirmidhi as of that time, though it only covered up to Kitab al-Taharah. Additionally, our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him) also gave us al-ʿArf al-Shadhi and al-Kawkab al-Durri. Beyond these, the lectures on Jamiʿ Tirmidhi delivered by Hadhrat ʿAllama Anwar Shah Kashmiri (may Allah have mercy on him), which our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him) had personally transcribed, were also available. Our respected father (may Allah have mercy on him) had these transcriptions fully copied by his paternal cousin, Hadhrat Mawlana Zahur Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), and added numerous annotations from al-Kawkab al-Durri and al-ʿArf al-Shadhi in the margins, and had it bound into a large volume. He kindly gave this to us as well. With these, we had excellent reference material for the study of Jamiʿ Tirmidhi.

For Sahih Bukhari, in the beginning, I wanted to read ʿUmdat al-Qari and Fath al-Bari as much as possible, but we did not possess these two books, hence we had to visit the library of Dar al-ʿUlum to study them. In those days, the library was located in the dilapidated building that was known as Purana Bangla (Old Bungalow). This was the same bungalow that the late Haji Ibrahim Dadabhai, who had endowed his land to Dar al-ʿUlum, had gifted to Dar al-ʿUlum along with the land. On its eastern side was a two-storey residential building. Toward its west, after a courtyard, stood a long building, a part of which was used as the Administration Office. What was the Administration Office? It consisted of a long mat spread on the floor, with a wooden floor desk placed on one side along with a bolster pillow (gao takkia). The other part of this same long building had been converted into the library, where numerous wooden cupboards were haphazardly strewn around, with each cupboard containing books arranged by subject. Hadhrat Mawlana Abdul Khafi Saharanpuri (may Allah have mercy on him) was the librarian and was known for his strictness. However, seeing our passion for reading, he became very kind to us. After attending our class of Tirmidhi in the fourth period, we would head to the library. There, we would study ʿUmdat al-Qari and Fatḥ al-Bari as much as possible, and during this time, also familiarize ourselves with other books. Once or twice, it so happened that the time for the library to close had arrived whilst I was engrossed in studying a book, so I requested Mawlana (may Allah have mercy on him): “Can I stay here until Zuhr while you can go for lunch?”. He kindly granted me permission.

…………….(Continued)…………….