ترجمة المؤلف والتعريف بكتابهBiography of the Author

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Biography of the Shaykh, Abu al-Hasanat Sayyid ʿAbdullah Shah al-Haydarabadi (may Allah have mercy on him)

He is Abu al-Hasanat Sayyid ʿAbdullah Shah, son of Sayyid Muzaffar Husayn, son of Sayyid Yaʿqub, al-Qadiri al-Naqshbandi al-Haydarabadi: the great scholar, the knower of Allah, the learned educator, the muhaddith and jurist, the venerable shaykh, titled "Muhaddith of the Deccan."

His lineage and family: He belongs to a family of long standing in religion and learning, in nobility and honour, whose members trace back to the noble Hasani sayyids. His distant ancestor, Shaykh Sayyid ʿAli, migrated from Makkah the Ennobled to India and settled in the city of Bijapur in the south of India in the era of the ʿAdil Shahi sultans, and was appointed imam of the mosque of the fortress of Naldurg. His family later left it for the city of Hyderabad and settled there, and the family retains a distinguished standing among the people of that city to this day.

His birth: He was born in the city of Hyderabad (the Deccan), in south India, in the year 1292 AH, into that noble family. His father, Shaykh Sayyid Muzaffar Husayn, was among the most renowned scholars of his age in Hyderabad, and the shaykh was raised in his care upon a religious upbringing.

His pursuit of knowledge: He learned Persian, Urdu, and Arabic in his childhood; then he kept the company of Shaykh Muhammad Anwarullah al-Faruqi (may Allah have mercy on him), the founder of the Jamiʿa Nizamiyya in Hyderabad (d. 1363 AH), under whom he read the transmitted and rational sciences with thorough mastery. He then devoted himself to the reading of the Prophetic hadith, studying it with the muhaddith and physician Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Saharanpuri (may Allah have mercy on him, d. 1346 AH) and other scholars, until he attained full command of it, and the ijaza was granted to him by them.

His teaching: He devoted himself to teaching and instruction throughout his life. He held famous lessons in the Prophetic hadith, regularly attended by the notables and dignitaries of the city of Hyderabad, besides the scholars and students who studied under him and benefited from him, beyond count or number. He played a great part in reviving many abandoned sunnas and in extinguishing many innovations and superstitions current in that city and in the villages and countryside around it.

His standing in the science of hadith: To show his standing in the science of hadith it suffices that he was the unrivalled hadith scholar of the Deccan, indeed, of the whole of south India, upon whom the title "Muhaddith of the Deccan" was bestowed, and by which no one besides him is known. Likewise, to show his mastery of this science it suffices us that he was not a scholar versed in hadith alone: he joined it with fiqh, composing a precious book on the pattern of Mishkat al-Masabih in which he established that the Hanafi school conforms to the Book and the Sunnah, and is not built upon analogy and opinion alone as some who bear a grudge against it have portrayed it.

Yet, with deep regret, those who wrote his biography in their books, or composed works about him in Urdu, did not bring out for their readers this great scholarly aspect of his many-sided personality in the service of the Prophetic Sunnah, in publishing, teaching, and authorship. They contented themselves with displaying a single aspect, tasawwuf, and went to excess in ascribing to him miracles and unveilings whose occurrence from him is not soundly established.

His appearance and character: He was white-complexioned, tinged with redness, handsome of face, thick-bearded, of medium height and build, dignified and awe-inspiring. As for his character, he was gentle-natured, sparing of speech, gracious in word, forbearing, and humble. He followed the Prophetic Sunnah intensely, scarcely leaving a sunnah without acting upon it and urging people to follow it. He kept all the prescribed prayers in congregation with the utmost strictness, whether at home or on a journey, and continued to do so even in the days of his illness, when he had passed ninety years of age. He was severe in condemning innovations and superstitions, and made commendable efforts in suppressing many of them. There is no doubt that he was a man of miracles (karamat); but the root of his principles and of his path was acting upon the Book and the Sunnah and standing firm upon them, and he was intensely careful to pursue this root. He used to say to his students: "Be seekers of steadfastness, not seekers of miracles."

His death: He died in Hyderabad on Thursday, the 18th of Rabiʿ al-Thani 1384 AH (1964 CE). The multitude that prayed over him was such as has not been witnessed in that city, to this day, at the funeral of any scholar among its scholars or any dignitary among its dignitaries.

His works: He wrote (may Allah have mercy on him) a number of books in Urdu on various subjects, the Prophet's biography, Qur'anic exegesis, self-purification, exhortation, and guidance. These are their names: ¹ a commentary on Surat Yusuf, which he named Guldasta-e Tariqat"the Bouquet of the Path"; ² Zujajat al-Masabih, the only book he composed in Arabic, of which an extended account follows; ³ Fada'il Ramadan; ⁴ Mawaʿiz Hasana; ⁵ Gulzar-e Awliya' ("the Garden of the Saints"); ⁶ ʿIlaj al-Salikin; ⁷ Suluk-e Naqshbandiyya ("the Naqshbandi Path"); ⁸ Kitab-e Muhabbat ("the Book of Love"); ⁹ Miʿraj-nama; ¹⁰ Milad-nama; ¹¹ Qiyamat-nama; ¹² Shahadat-nama.

His contribution to the Prophetic hadith: He had occasion to compose only one book in Arabic, Zujajat al-Masabih, which I present here in a brief account:

The author (may Allah have mercy on him) stated the reason for composing this book in his preface, saying: "Since al-Khatib, may Allah raise his rank, followed in his compilation the way of Imam al-Shafiʿi (may Allah have mercy on him), it often stirred in my heart to compose a book on the pattern of the Mishkat in which I would follow the way of our Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nuʿman (mercy and good pleasure be upon him); but my limited means kept holding me back from standing in this station, until I saw in a dream that the sun of the forenoon, the full moon of the dark night, the light of guidance and the lamp of the darkness, our beloved, the Most Noble Prophet ﷺ, rose before me and gave the greeting of peace. I said: 'Peace!', and he clasped me (my soul be his ransom) to his breast, which is the wellspring of knowledge and wisdoms, and embraced me. When I awoke, glad and joyful, I praised Allah for this blessing and thanked Him; that righteous vision became an expansion of my breast, and by it its difficulty became easy for me. So I resolved firmly upon composing it and girded myself to write it; and I set down no hadith in it without invoking blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ as I placed it. I named it Zujajat al-Masabih. And I ask Allah Most High, the asking of one humble and lowly, taking as my means His beloved, the intercessor whose intercession is accepted, that of His bounty He make it purely for His Noble Countenance; that He benefit the Muslims by it as He benefits them by its original; and that He accept it as a treasure for my return. He is worthy to answer, and over all things powerful."

What this preface tells us is: first, that the author composed this book on the pattern of Mishkat al-Masabih of al-Khatib al-Tabrizi (may Allah have mercy on him); second, that in it he sought to gather the hadiths that support the Hanafi school, whereas al-Khatib's book had gathered the hadiths that agree with the Shafiʿi school; and third, that in it he repelled the objections that impugn the Hanafi school as built upon opinion and analogy alone, for which the author brought abundant proofs from the Book and the Sunnah, to establish that there is no issue among the issues of the Hanafi school but that it is derived from the Noble Qur'an, the Prophetic Sunnah, the sound reports, and the sayings of the Successors, or rests upon a sound analogy built on a sound basis.

His method in it: ¹ At the opening of every book and chapter the author took care to cite the relevant verses of the Noble Qur'an, drawing proof from them for their hadiths, as is the way of Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) in his Sahih. ² He cited in the book the sound hadiths of the two Sahihs, attributing them to both with the words "agreed upon"; where a hadith is from other than the two Sahihs, he named the source and stated the hadith's grade of soundness or weakness. Weak and mursal hadiths in it are few, and such as occur are strengthened and supported by corroborations and witnesses so that they rise to the rank of hasan. ³ He cited first the hadiths that indicate the chapter-heading by direct correspondence, then those that indicate it by implication, then those that indicate it by entailment. ⁴ In expounding the hadiths the author followed an analytical method: he cited first the noble verses and the Prophetic hadiths, then the rulings derived from them, set out the differences of the imams and the jurists concerning them, and discussed the causes and grounds of the disagreement. Then he cited the proofs of the Hanafi school and the aspects of its preponderance, supporting it with sound hadiths and reports and strong sayings, and not stopping there, he adjudicates with a judgement built upon the texts and the principles of the schools, then brings a precious word of his own which stands as the summation of what preceded it. ⁵ In expounding the legal issues the author cited of the imams' positions only what he held to be preponderant, and what the scholars give fatwa upon.

The difference between the Mishkat and the Zujajah: Shaykh Abu al-Hasanat (may Allah have mercy on him) followed in this book of his the very method of al-Khatib al-Tabrizi (may Allah have mercy on him) in Mishkat al-Masabih, except that his method differs from al-Tabrizi's in two respects. The first: al-Tabrizi built his book upon the hadiths that support the Shafiʿi school, while Shaykh Abu al-Hasanat built his upon the hadiths that support the Hanafi school. The second: in the Mishkat an issue lies in three different sections, across which the hadiths of the issue are scattered; in the Zujajah the issue and its hadiths stand in a single section.

Its printings: The book was printed in Hyderabad, India, in 1361 AH, then in Pakistan at al-Maktaba al-Khayriyya in Quetta in 1422 AH. The book stands in need of one who will extend to it the hand of editing and annotation, bring it out in fine dress, and place it within the broad reach of students and scholars, for it has become almost lost, found in libraries only rarely. I have learnt that Maktabat al-Bushra of Karachi will bring out this book in the manner we hope for.

The scholars' praise of the book: This book met with a goodly reception and great approval among the Hanafi scholars of India and beyond, being the first endeavour upon the pattern already described, and they praised it in their beautiful words with fragrant praise. Worthy of mention here:

The imam of the age, the hafiz and muhaddith Shaykh Muhammad Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri (d. 1352 AH) said: "This excellent composition is among the memorials and glories of this new age, for it is the most important of the books composed in it in the science of hadith, may Allah reward him well."

The great Urdu man of letters, Ustadh ʿAbd al-Majid al-Daryabadi (d. 1397 AH), wrote in an article in his famous journal Sidq: "By this noble endeavour Shaykh ʿAbdullah has discharged the debt that had lain upon the shoulders of the Hanafi scholars for a thousand years."

The scholar, preacher, and prolific author Shaykh Muhammad Manzur al-Nuʿmani (d. 1417 AH) says: "A brick's place had remained empty in the palace of hadith; Shaykh ʿAbdullah set it in that place and completed it."

And the muhaddith, researcher, and godly scholar Shaykh ʿAbd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda (d. 1417 AH) wrote in a letter addressed to the author, after studying its first volume: "…my sight and my insight were illumined by it; may Allah reward you, on behalf of Islam and the Hanafi masters, with the best of rewards."

Two notes: This biography is taken in its entirety from the draft of the book "Hadith and the Hadith Scholars in India across the Centuries: an Inductive Study" by Sayyid ʿAbd al-Majid al-Ghawri, who kindly sent it to us at our request. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Saharanpuri is the son of the muhaddith and jurist Shaykh Ahmad ʿAli ibn Lutfullah al-Saharanpuri (d. 1297 AH), author of the famous marginalia on Imam al-Bukhari's al-Jamiʿ al-Sahih, may Allah Most High have mercy on them both. And al-Khatib is Imam Abu ʿAbdillah Wali al-Din Muhammad ibn ʿAbdillah al-Khatib al-Tabrizi (may Allah have mercy on him, d. 742 AH), one of the great hadith scholars of his era; among his works is Mishkat al-Masabih, by which he completed al-Baghawi's Masabih al-Sunna.