biography of hazrat maulana mufti kifaya - free copy

7/27/2019 Biography of Hazrat Maulana Mufti Kifaya - Free Copy

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MUFTI

IFYATULLH


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DEHLVI


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Table of Contents

TranslatorsPreface..............................................1

ufti-e-Azam Allmah Hadrat auln Kifyatullh Dehlvi ...........

3

Remote Ancestry.........................................................3

ShaykhInyatullh.......................................

4


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Birth and Early Education.........................................................4

Friends and Classmates.........................................................6

Involvement inTeaching............................................7

l-Burhn Magazine.........................................................

8A ChristianDialogue...........................................

8


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MaritalLife...................................................9

Madrasah Amniyyah.........................................................9

Educational Reforms.........................................................10

Anjuman Islh-ul-Kalm.........................................................

12Beginning of Political Activities.........................................................

13


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Participation in Political Movements.................................................... 13

Boycott of the Armistice Celebrationashn-e-Sulh ) ............................ 14

eed for UnitedUlam ..............................................

15

Secret Assemblage.........................................................15

Establishment of Jamiatul-Ulam-e-Hind............................................. 16

Hindu Shuddhi Movement and Effort

Tablgh in Response............. 17


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The Word of Truth in The Defence oDeen .......................................... 18

HijzConference........................................20

Imprisonment....................................21

Self-sufficiency and Self-respect..............................................22

Offer from the British Government....................................................... 2

First Muslim, Then

Hindustani.........................................


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23

Palestine Conference in

Egypt.................................................24

Educational (Talmi ) Services.........................................................27

Salary................................................27

Issuance of Fatw (Religious Ruling

............................................... 28Writing and Publications.........................................................

30


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Death.........................................................32

oble Characteristics and Virtues.........................................................

A Poignant Historical and ReverentiEulogy (by Hafzur-Rahmn

Sheb)...............................................34

iography of Mufti Kifyatullh


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TRANSLATORS PREFACE

By the grace of Allh, within the lastseveral decades, English-speaking students of Islm have beenblessed with the availability of anntroductory series of Islmic textboo

covering the beliefs and practices ofdeen entitled, Taleem-ul-Islm , (

Teachings of Islm ), translated from toriginal in Urdu written by MuftiKifyatullh (may Allh have mercyupon him). Within the same

ime period also, an equally popular widely used handbook

was compiled by Ml. Shabbr Ahme


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Desai Taleem-ul-Haq

which derived much of its material f

he same series.Taleem-ul-Islm , as noted already, isseries of books originally written in Urdu language by Allmah MuftiKifyatullh Dehlvi.

They introduce the beliefs and practiof Islm from the level of a beginnerare laid out in a simple question-ansformat. At least two English translati

of this work are widely available.The procedures of worship and otheraspects of life detailed in


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hese books are based on the rulings he Hanafi school of juris-prudence (

madh-hab ). Thus, they are all derivedfrom the most authentic sources of thQurn and Sunnah although, in orde

avoid overwhelming the beginningstudent, they have not detailed

he bases for each and every ruling.

Recently, I was informed by anacquaintance that a new trans-

ation of this series of books into theSwedish language was being undertaand that a biography of the author, MKifyatullh, was being sought for.

Having searched and enquired, I was


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unable to find any such biography inEnglish or any other language

1 -

Translators Preface

besides Urdu. Therefore, with Allhgrace, I endeavored to

ranslate the Urdu biography intoEnglish, the result of which is in youhands.


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This booklet is a summarized translaof the biography of Mufti Kifyatullrecorded in Bees Baray Musleman Twenty Great Muslims) , by Abdul-Rashd Arshad, published by MaktabRashidiah, Lahore, Pakistan, June 20The author of the biog-

raphy was a student of the respectedMufti Kifyatullh and close friend a

classmate of his son, Hafzur-RahmWsif. The Urdu

book cited above contains many mor

details of the life history of MuftiKifyatullh as well as somebibliographic footnotes, which I havnot carried over in the translation.


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Nadeem Abdul Hamid

Hamden, CT, U.S.A.Shawwl 1424 / December 2003

1 email:[email protected]

2 -


ufti-e-Azam Allmah Hadrat auln

Kifyatullh Dehlvi

( rahmatullhi alayhi May Allh


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have mercy upon him) 1292 1372 H(1875 1952 C.E.)

by Hfiz Sayyid Abdur-Rashd AhmArshad, (M.A.)

[translated in summary into English fUrdu]

The lineage of Hadrat Mufti1Kifyatullh is: Kifyatullh bin

Shaykh Inyatullh bin Faydullh biKhayrullh bin Ibdullh.


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REMOTEANCESTRYHis lineage goes back to ShaykhJamluddn Yamani and thus the

actual homeland of his ancestors waYemen (Yaman ) in the ArabianPeninsula. His great-grandfathers weraders who used to

come from Bahrain to the shore lyingareas of the Indian subcon-

inent to sell their wares. Once theresuch a trading ship coming from Ara

which did not reach the coast of Indi


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before it ran into a storm and sunk.There were hardly any survivors, if

except for a young man named ShaykJaml who managed to

use a piece of debris to reach the shoAt the shore, he was

found by a man of Bhopal who helpehim and took him to his

home. There, Shaykh Jaml grew up eventually married into

he local families. It was this ShaykhJaml who was the prede-

cessor of Mufti Kifyatullh.2 The


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sinking of the ship is estimated to haoccurred some 300 years before.

1 The title Mufti refers to one who qualified to deliver religious rulingsatw ). Hadrat is a title of respect,

similar toSayyidun .

2 Mukhtasar Trkh Madrasahmniyyah Delhi by Maulvi Hafzur-

Rahmn.

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Shaykh InyatullhSHAYKH INYATULLH

After Shaykh Jaml, there is no detai


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record of the history of MuftiKifyatullhs ancestors. His familymoved at some point

from Bhopal to Shahjahanpur. MuftiKifyatullhs father, Shaykh

Inyatullh, was an extremely noblepious man who lived a

ong life and looked very much like hson. Shaykh Inyatullh

had a large family but was quite poo

Prior to Mufti Kifyatullh, he had twdaughters and after him were born thmore boys.

One son was named Hfiz Qri


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BIRTH AND EARLYEDUCATIONHadrat Mufti Kifyatullh was born neighborhood of Shahja-

hanpur (in the UP province of India)1292 Hijri.

At the age of five he began his educan themaktab (primary school) of HfBarkatullh Sheb. He completed hisnzirah

(recitation by sight) of the Qurn thand after that obtained initial instruc

n Urdu and Frsi from Hfiz


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asmullh. After that, he enrolled inMadrasah Izziyyah, run by MaulviIzz Hasan

Khan in Khall Sharqi (another neighborhood of Shahjahanpur).

Thismadrasah was very famous byvirtue of its capable teachers and thuMufti Kifyatullh gained a strongfoundation in terms of his education.completed the most advanced book ohe Frsi

syllabus,Sikandar Nmah , and beganstudying the Arabic books under theextremely intelligent and able teacheHfiz Budhun


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Khan Sheb.

A second teacher of his in thismadrasahwas Mauln Ubayd-ul-Haq Khan, had migrated to India from Afghanistn the

search of religious knowledge, and wwas the student of the

renowned scholar Mauln LutfullhAligarhi. Mauln Ubayd-ul-

Haq quickly recognized the great

potential of the young MuftiKifyatullh so he tried to convince father, Shaykh Inyatullh,


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o send him to Darul-Uloom DeobanHowever, due to lack of

means and Mufti Kifyatullhs younage (he was 15 at the time), his fathewas not agreeable to the idea at thatpoint. Eventually, Mauln Ubayd-uHaq managed to convince him to senMufti

Kifyatullh along with another studAbdul-Majd, to the

nearby Madrasah Shhi Murdbd.


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Thus, the two students were sent alonwith a letter of introduction fromMauln Ubayd-ul-Haq to theadministrator (muhtamim ) of theMadrasah Arabiyyah at Shhi MasjMurdbd. The two

were admitted thereto and they lodgehe residence of Hfiz

Muhammad Isml, a famous lawyeMurdbd. As Mufti

Kifyatullhs father was very poor,

(Mufti Kifyatullh) used to work himself to pay for all his educationalexpenses. He did not

ake gifts or assistance from others, a


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during his studies at

Murdbd and (later in) Deoband h

used to earn his livelihoodweaving and selling prayer caps (topi ).In two or three days, he would finishsewing a cap and it would sell for twrupees. Prior to actually sewing thecaps, he used to work on decoratinghem with designs using a pen. This

excellent example of his resource-fulness and workmanship. Samples ohis caps and designs were

preserved by his son.1

Some anecdotes of the period of stud

Murdbd are narrated


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by Mauln Sayyid Fakhr-ul-Hasan (ustdh of Darul-Uloom Deoband) frohis father, Mauln Sayyid Fayd-ul-Hasan, who said,Mufti Kifyatullh and I studiedogether in Murdbd. For most of time when Mauln Ahmad Husayn

Amrohi was at thatmadrasah , MuftiKifyatullh and myself studied seve

books together under Hadrat MaulnMuhammad Hasan Murdbdi. Of

hem, I remember that we studiedSharh-ul-Waqyah together.During the lesson Mufti Sheb used n the back, seemingly


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nattentive and sometimes even usedsew caps during the les-

son. But his power of understanding memory was such that

whenever I needed an explanation ofsomething in the book which

I didnt understand, I used to go to MSheb. Mufti Sheb

1 Mufti-e-Azm ki Yd .

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riends and Classmates

would redeliver and explain for me t


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exact same lecture that

had been given by our teacher in cla

After spending two years at MadrasaShhi Murdbd, Mufti

Kifyatullh gained admission to DaUloom Deoband in 1312

H., along with Maulvi Abdul-Khliand Maulvi Abdul-Majd. At

hat time, themuhtamim of Darul-Uloowas Maulvi Muhammad Munr and tprincipal ( sadr mudarris ) was Shaykhul-Hind Mauln Mahmd-ul-HasanDeoband, Mufti Kifyatullh acquire

education from the following teacher


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Mauln Munfaat Ali, who later became principal of Ma-

drasah Fatehpri; Mauln Hakm Muhammad Hasan(brother of Hadrat

Shaykh-ul-Hind);

Mauln Ghulm Rasl;

Hadrat Mauln Khall AhmadAmbethvi, then Saharanpuri;

Hadrat Mauln Abdul-Ali; and

Hadrat Shaykh-ul-Hind Mauln

Mahmd-ul-Hasan himself.


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Mufti Kifyatullh completed his stuof Hadth under the latter two.


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FRIENDS ANDCLASSMATESDuring the period when MuftiKifyatullh was acquiring his edu-

cation at Darul-Uloom, many other personages were also doing

he same who would later become grand famous scholars.

This was, in fact, an illustrious era inhistory of Deoband.

Some such personalities were aheadMufti Kifyatullh in their studies, su


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as Allmah Anwar Shh MuhaddithKashmri, and

others were close behind him. We lishere some of his special

classmates besides the two mentioneabove who studied to-

gether with him:

Shaykh-ul-Islm Sayyid Husayn AhMadani;

His brother, Sayyid Ahmad Faizb

Mauln Zi-ul-Haq, principal of Madrasah Amniyyah;


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earn and memorize his lessons at theime when

hey were delivered by the teacher awould spent his free time

meeting the expenses of his educatioweaving caps,etc .

Hadrat Shaykh-ul-Islm Sayyid HusaAhmad Madani used to

relate a story from his days of learninhere, One time, I made a special ef

o obtain the highest mark in our lessamong my

classmates. When examination time

arrived, the question-paper


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was on Mr Zhid Rislah . For thequestion I wrote a very detailed twopage answer and Mufti Kifyatullhwrote only a half page inanswer to the same. Hadrat Shaykh-uHind was the examiner

and he gave both of us the same markhat is, he considered

hat the content of the half page was ness than that of my two pages.

Despite the fact that he usually did nreview his lessons

( mutlaa ) much at night like others,

Mufti Kifyatullh used to earn the


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INVOLVEMENT INTEACHINGAfter leaving Darul-Uloom, MuftiKifyatullh stayed for some time inDelhi with his close friend, MaulnAmn-ud-Dn, who at the

ime had the intention of starting areligiousmadrasah . Then he returned Shahjahanpur where his initial teachUbayd-ul-Haq Khan, had founded a

new school, Madrasah Ayn-ul-Ilm.Mufti

Kifyatullh began to teach in that

madrasah and also handled the office


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work. From the records of Ayn-ul-t is found that Mufti Kifyatullh

managed all the administrative matteof the school.He used to get 15 rupees a month at time and he was always

he first to arrive and last to leave frohe madrasah . Along with

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l-Burhn Magazine

eaching and administrating, MuftiKifyatullh also began to give answfor fatw (religious rulings, sing.:

atw ) in this period. In writing fatw ,


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he was very meticulous and cautiouswould deliver them with well-writteproofs.

Students at Madrasah Ayn-ul-Ilmduring Mufti Kifyatullhs pe-

riod of teaching included:

Mauln Hfiz Izz Ali, teacher oiqh andadab , Darul-Uloom Deoband

Mauln Mufti Mahdi Hasan, MuftDarul-Uloom Deoband;

Maulvi Ikrmullh Khan Nadwi, HConference Gazette , Aligarh;

Maulvi Hfiz Zkir Ali, advocate.


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L-BURH N MAGAZINE

While at Madrasah Ayn-ul-Ilm, MuKifyatullh started amonthly periodical, Al-Burhn , inresponse to the Qadiani problem. Thfirst issue was published in Shabn1321 H. and

strongly refuted the Qadiani propaga


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A CHRISTIANDIALOGUEBesides Arabic, Mufti Kifyatullh uo read and teach Frsi

books and he would engage in dialogwith people of other faiths when theoccasion arose. Mauln Izz AliSheb records one

anecdote of a dialogue that took placduring this period,

At the time I was studyingSikandar mah from Mufti


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Kifyatullh, it became known that inocal vegetable market

he Christians had begun speaking anpropagating against Islm

and the preachers of Islm. That veryday Hadrat Mufti Sheb,

ook myself and Maulvi Akram-ul-Aadvi (editor Conference Gazette ,

Aligarh) to the assemblage (in themarket) and began arguing with thosespreaders of falsehood. At first, they

hought that it was some ignorant perspeaking, but when the weight of thearguments hit them, they realized thawas not an ordinary


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8 -


person arguing with them and, leavinaside the discussion, they

began to sing. Mufti Sheb stepped babout 10 feet and con-

inued to give answer to their criticisuntil even those who had been agreeiwith them previously also began tocriticize them.

I was standing next to the Christiansplatform and was supplying Mufti Swith notes of the statements they wer

making. He


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would then give answers to them oneone. This continued for

about two weeks and then ended. Anended in such a way that

besides myself (who was only there other reasons) there was

not a single other soul that came to lio them (i.e. by the end of the two wehey had been so utterly rebutted by

Mufti Sheb that no one came to listehem any more).


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MARITAL LIFE

Mufti Kifyatullhs first marriage toplace during this time while he waseaching at Madrasah Ayn-ul-Ilm. H

had a boy and a girl by this first wifebut they passed away in childhood ahis wife also passed away. Then hemarried the daughter of Sharfuddn

Sheb by whom he had seven childre

MADRASAH AMNIYYAH

The financial situation of MadrasahAyn-ul-Ilm was very poor, so muchhat in 1321 H. the teachers had a

reduction in their salaries, which we


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already very little. Mufti Sheb himshad his salary reduced from 18 to 16rupees. However, he remained at

Ayn-ul-Ilm for about five years unthe death of his dear teacher, MaulnUbayd-ul-Haq Khan.

Upon the passing of Mauln UbaydHaq, Mufti Kifyatullh

was brought to Delhi by Mauln Amud-Dn and he began to

each there in the Madrasah AmniyyAlthough Mauln Amn-

ud-Dn was the official principal of t

madrasah, in practice, besides teachi


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hadth and giving fatw , MuftiKifyatullh managed all theorganizational affairs of themadrasah .

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ducational Reforms

In Delhi Hadrat Mufti quickly becampopular. The dignitaries and people he upper-class used to consult with n their political and religious affairs

and would benefit from his correctadvice.

That he could achieve such fame as hdid in Delhi, which was

he capitol of the Indian subcontinent


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was only by the grace of

Allh. The courts of law also benefit

from his presence there.Before his arrival, the religious rulinhat would be delivered by the scholo the courts of law were causing

confusion either the language theywere written in was too hard tounderstand or

else the fatw was completely wrong.addition, different scholars would gi

different fatw on the same issue.However, when Hadrat Mufti arriveand began answering questions, itbecame


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very easy for the courts of Delhi bechis fatw were very concise, clearlywritten, and not too confusing or complex to understand.


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EDUCATIONALREFORMSAfter arriving at Madrasah AmniyyaMufti Kifyatullh began

step-by-step implementation of beneficial reforms in the educa-

ional structure of the school. He hadpassed his own days of student life wgreat self-restraint and patience, as hparents were very poor, but even in circumstances he had never accepted

charity from the wealthier people. A

mentioned previously, he


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supported himself by means of manuabor such as weaving

caps,etc .However, when he arrived in Delhi hwitnessed that the philan-

hropists of the town would often calstudents of religious

schools to come and eat upon occasiof marriage or death.

Though the philanthropists were doinhis for the poor students

due to their strong desire to help and

support them, this was in


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fact causing disrespect to the station religious education. Thus, Mufti Shcompletely stopped this practice of going out to peoples houses for foodFor the 8th annual convention of Madrasah Amniyyah, Mufti

Sheb presented a treatise containingnumber of proposals for

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he reform of religious educationalnstitutions. In summary, he put forth

suggestions that:


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most of them are of the

modernized type and influenced by

western fashions, having noconcept of the religious sciences. Thsome organizational

members are indeed scholars but thehave the wrong motives

hey are well-aware of Islmic issuebut in monetary affairs they are notrustworthy and they think the financ

he school are for their own purposeFor these reasons, it is absolutely nesary that the members of theadministrative committees of Islmic

schools should be people of knowled


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and fidelity and all organizational annstructional affairs should be

undertaken with their consultation andecisions. The administrators of theschools

should have fear of Allh in their heaand take their responsibilities seriounot using the money of the schoolnappropriately for their own purpos

3) Whoever becomes administrator oIslmicmadrasah he should devote alhis attention and time only to the affa

of thatmadrasah . He should not takeresponsibility of other work besidesbecause nobody can give his fullattention to two jobs at a time.


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4) The administrators and teachersshould treat the guests of

Allh (i.e . the students) with gentleneand well-wishing. They should remohe difficulties from their paths andnculcate within them the love and d

for knowledge.

5) Great caution should be taken whenitially considering stu-

dents for admission. Only those studeshould be accepted who

have within them a real wish and deo attain knowledge. Also,

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njuman Islh-ul-Kalm

before admitting them they should ha

o produce a certificate of goodachievement from their previousmadrasah .

6) In order to maintain the students respect, they should not be allowed tout for invitations to eat. If the well-wishers want to feed the students, theshould arrange with themuhtamim a dabeforehand and bring the food at anarranged time and feed

he students themselves.

ANJUMAN ISLH-UL-KALM


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In addition to the administrative refomentioned above, Mufti

Sheb expended all his efforts to corhe educational weak-

nesses of the students. He had noticehat the students could not properly

convey and express their ideas to thegeneral public,

heir speeches and lectures were notpolished as desirable,

and they could not argue and debate non-Muslims when the

need arose. In order to correct these

shortcomings, in 1328 H. he initiated


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assembly for speech and debate, whiater came to

be called Anjuman Islh-ul-Kalm (Organization for Reformation of Speech). The purpose of this gatherinwas to teach students

how to deliver speeches and debate.Every eighth day, the stu-

dents had to give talks or engage in adialogue and Mufti Sheb

himself would help them. This assemwas very successful in its aims but asome time it was ended due to lack oparticipation


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the local inhabitants of Delhi on thwhole did not send their

children for religious instruction andhose students who came

from other countries only came with purpose of studying the

set syllabus of Dars-e-Nizmi .

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BEGINNING OFPOLITICALACTIVITIES

In 1915-1916, the Hindu and Muslimunity movements gained

popularity and both sides realized th

mportance of unity because the Britgovernment had promised new politireform if they

would unite. At that time, the Muslimpolitical group was the

Muslim League and the Hindus had a


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mistakes were. Thus, he began to atteo clarify these on his own behalf. Hpolitical insight and adeptness was swell acknowledged that whenever his respected teacher, Shaykh-ul-Hinhad to engage in a discus-

sion with a political leader he wouldfirst call Hadrat Mufti and consult hiThis caused Shaykh-ul-Hinds friendand close students to be envious. Aftenduring this for a long time, ShaykhHind finally addressed his friends

saying, Without doubt you are si-ysat-dn politicians (i.e . you playpolitics), but Maulvi Kifyatullh hamind thatmakes politics ( siysat-sz ).


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PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL


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MOVEMENTS

On August 18, 1917 the colonial emp(Britain) made the famous

announcement that promised the peoof the Indian subconti-

13 -

oycott of the Armistice CelebrationJashn-e-Sulh)

nent self-rule and self-government. LMontego arrived in India and the pacalliance between Muslim League andCongress


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Fazlul Haq in which again

a great number of ulam took part. In

his conference Hadrat Mufti put fortproposal to boycott Britains ArmisCelebration:

Putting into context the impact that tarmistice had with regard to those hewrenching events in the Turkish emphe

khilfah , and the sanctity and authoritof Iran, this proposal is put forth from

he religious viewpoint that the Muslof India should not take part in thecelebrations of these victories.

This proposal was unilaterally accep


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and Mufti Kifyatullh had further supported it saying, that from theSharah point of view, it is impossibhat a Muslim should happily take pasuch a

1 Probably the Armistice of Mudroswhich took place on October 30, 191and which marked the defeat of theOttoman power in World War I. The

Turks had to give up the lands under heir control, the army was demobiliand ports and other facilities were mavailable for use by the Allies. ranslators note, from Ency. Brit.14 -



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celebration in the context of the fact he sacred places have been taken aw

from the Muslimkhilfah and the landsof Bagh-dad, Jerusalem, and others hcome under the control of non-

Muslims. Furthermore, the sole resulhese happenings has

urned out to be nothing else than thaamr-ul-muminn, khalfat-ul-muslimnost control of these countries and th

elimina-tion of Islms worldly powand authority.

Furthermore, he stated, I am from thranks of theulam and I say, from theviewpoint of theSharah , it is notpossible for a Muslim to take part in


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such celebration, and if one does so,will definitely be sinful.1

NEED FOR UNITEDULAM Before and during the establishment he Khilfat Committee in

Delhi, Mufti Kifyatullh had felt astrong urgency for the need of establishing a separate central andunited headquarters of the

ulam . He realized that if theulam

continued to participate in politicalparties on an individual basis and suparties took an unwary step, then thescholars would be in the greatest dan


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from the backlash of such a mistake.Thus, he began to discuss

his idea with others of the same minhimself.


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o discuss these issues. According tonstruction of Mufti Kifyatullh,

Mauln Ahmad Saeed and MaulnzdSajjni secretly contacted all of theulam at their residences to invite tho take part in this gathering.

1 Masalah Khilfat wa Jashn-e-Sulh .

15 -

stablishment of Jamiatul-Ulam-e-

ind ESTABLISHMENT OF JAMIA-

TUL-ULAM-E-HIND


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Thus, on that day, after Ish prayer, agathering of ulam was held in whichabout 25 took part. There, all of themagreed upon a plan of establishing aunited body of theulam of India, thename of which would be Jamiatul-Ulama-e-Hind. The temporary head

( sadar ) was selected to be MuftiKifyatullh and Mauln Ahmad

Saeed was chosen to be the temporaadministrator (nzim ).

Upon the invitation of Mauln Sayy

Mahmd Dwd Ghaznawit was agreed that the next meeting

first assembly of


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he Jamiatul-Ulam was settled. Thehead of this

conference was Mauln Abdul-BFarangi Mahalli.

With regard to the charter, constitutioand future directions of the Jamiat thwere differences among theulam butMufti

Kifyatullh utilized his statesmanshand unmatched acumen,

managing to resolve all the disputeswithin a few hours.

Mufti Kifyatullh remained the

emporary head of Jamiatul-Ulama


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hroughout the life of his teacher, HaShaykh-ul-Hind, due to the lattersmprisonment in Malta. Throughout hife, he never accepted to be thepermanent head of the Jamiat. Althou

he

held this position from 1919 till 193a period of 19 continuous years henever took charge as chair of the

Jamiats annual conferences but woueave the position to his contempora

Under the direction of Mufti Sheb, t

Jamiatul-Ulama-e-Hindkept in view the goal of completendependence for the Pak-o-


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Hind subcontinent and for this purpohe worked hard to unite

16 -


he ulam and bring in being a soundpolitical consciousness among them.conferences of the Jamiat were exactfor this

purpose and they were held almostearly, alternating location

among the various major cities of IndSome of them were ex-

remely impressive and important


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HINDU SHUDDHIMOVEMENT ANDEFFORTS OF TABLGH INRESPONSE

With the rise of the Shuddhi1 movemn 1922, as a result of

which thousands of Muslims wereforced to convert to Hinduism,

Mufti Kifyatullh did not letassociation with Congress and other affairs of national unity deflect him fhis religious obligations.


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He arranged to send out the firstdeputation for tablgh (Islmicpropagation) to those areas where thArya Samaj movement hadbeen most active. The head of the growas Mauln Muham-

mad Irfn and thenib (substitute)head was Mauln Wahd HasanTonki.2 Mufti Sheb did not suffice whis he went out himself with a

deputation to the area of Achheetra asaved the

Muslims there from becomingmurtad (apostate).

Mufti Shebs manner of speaking an


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mode of address in this

period of tablgh fell right according t

he level and intellect of the villagerThey would be much affected by hismpressive, yet

straightforward and simple speech areturn to Islm. One ex-

ample of this is that during this periorial, Mufti Sheb received news tha

certain village had entirely becomeapostate.

He sent Mauln Ahmad Saeed withorders to go immediately

and determine the situation in that


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village. At that time, the Arya SamajShuddhi movement was extremelyntense among the

Malkna people with the result that tMuslimstablghi deputa-1 Hinduproselytism.

2 Mauln Wahd Hasan Khan was agreatlim (scholar) and specialist inphi-losophy (maqlt ), logic (mantiq ), and theology (ilm-e-kalm );hus he had great weight in propagati

Islmic through rational proofs.

17 -

The Word of Truth in The Defence of

een


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ions could not reach those areas witrisking danger. Anyway, MaulnAhmad Saeed arrived there and fouhat the Arya

Samaj were telling the people: Youancestors were Hindu until

he Muslims came and forced them toheir chooti 1 and convert to Islm.

Upon being informed of this, MuftiKifyatullh went to the village andcalled for a gathering of the people,whereupon he addressed them thus:

Today I am so happy to be in this tomeeting you, the scions of a courageopeople. The Malkna people are onehe worlds


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nations known for bravery. These peare the backbone of In-

dia. Your ancestors also stood up forprotection of Hindustan.

They never took defeat from any enem

Some people have come to youclaiming that the Muslims forced

our ancestors to accept Islm and hhem by the necks, cut-

ing off their hair locks. What?! Wereour ancestors so weak and cowardl

do not believe this. Look brothers: thpeople are


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elling you lies and deceiving you. Truth is that no one could stand eye to

with your predecessors. It was only they un-derstood Islm to be a good rue way of life that they willinglybecame Muslims. In deserting your treligion, can you not feel the grief thhe souls of your ancestors are

experiencing?

The effect of this speech hit the hearthe people so hard that the people of entire village again reverted to Islm

THE WORD OF TRUTH IN THE


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DEFENCE OF DEEN

As a result of the Shuddhi movemententire country became

embroiled in sectarian clashes andunrest. It was for the purpose of HindMuslim unity that Gandhi ji started hfast in September 1924. Then aconference of all the religious partiewas held on

September 26, 1924 in which the

chairman, while expounding onhe importance of Hindu-Muslim unibrought forward the sug-


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gestion to the Muslims that thepunishment for apostasy and the

1 Top lock, or pigtail, worn by Hindmales.

18 -


duty of tablgh should be dropped asparts of their religion. Under thecircumstances, most of the Hindu and


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Muslim leaders were in

support of this proposal. Out of the

gathering of thousands, only the persof Mufti Kifyatullh was fully oppoo this unani-mous resolution and sto

up for the correct position of theSharah . He was not awe-struck by aof the great personages assembled thbut rose in opposition, saying:

The foundation of Islm is upontablgh(propagation). The very nature of itncludes (the institution of)tablgh .

Undoubtedly the punishment of theapostate in Islm is death. This is anopenly

manifest, fundamental principle of Is


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and we have no reserva-

ion declaring it to be so. The curren

unrest in Hindustan is not a result of existence of) this principle because tenforce this punishment is only the riof the Islmic sultanate. Thus the issuhis Islmic punishment has no bearin

on the unrest oc-

curring in Hindustan today.

In this way, despite all odds, MuftiSheb spoke the word of Haqq ,

preserving the status of ulam-e-haqqand Islm. In the words of Iqbal:

***


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***

19 -

ijz Conference

HIJZ CONFERENCE

When Sultn Ibn Sad was fighting expel the Sharf of Makkah

from his position, it was proposed threpresentative gathering of Muslimsfrom all over the world take place. Ta conference

was planned for 1926 C.E. (26 Dhil-Qadah 1344) under the


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chairmanship of Sharf Sharf Adnnwas to be attended by se-

ected delegates of all Muslim countThe members of the

delegation sent by Jamiatul-Ulam-eHind were Hadrat Mufti

Kifyatullh (head of delegation),Mauln Abdul-Hakm Siddqi

(private secretary), Mauln MuhamIrfn (secretary),

Allmah Shabbr Ahmad Uthmni,Mauln Ahmad Saeed, and

Mauln Nishr Ahmad. Mufti


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Kifyatullh demanded of Sultn

Ibn Sad that the conference also

address the formation of theHijz government and this issue wassubsequently added to the

agenda.

In May 1926 the delegation of JamiaUlam-e-Hind left from

Bombay on the ship Akbar along witdelegates from the Khilfat Committwho included Mauln Sayyid Sulaim

adwi (head

of delegation), Shoaib Qureshi, Mau


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Shawkat Ali, and

Mauln Muhammad Ali. This

extraordinary international confer-ence was attended by representativefrom India, Egypt, Java,

Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, NaHijz, Russia, Turkistan, AfghanistanTurkey, and other Muslim lands. Thesubject committee of the conference made up of the following individuals

Grand Mufti of Palestine Al-Hj Amal-Husayni, Grand Mufti of

India Mufti Kifyatullh, Prime Min

of Sadi Government


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Hfiz Duhbah, Mauln Shawkat Ahe Khilfat Committee,

Head of Russian Delegation Zia-ud-and Head of Javan Dele-

gation Umar Saeed.

Mufti Sheb enthusiastically took pahe proceedings of the

conference. He presented to the schoof Hijz and Sultn Ibn

Sad himself many suggestions for setting up the administrative

structure of Hijz. He demanded that

Islmicmadhhib and sects should ha


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freedom of thought and practice of thviews

n Hijz, that the un-Islmic practiceslave trafficking be totally

20 -


abolished, and many other reformativproposals which he got

approved on account of his power ofargument.

He also remonstrated Sultn Ibn Sahat he should not have


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destroyed the tombs and other historically important places of

Madnah without the prior consent ofparticipants of the con-

ference, who were theulamrepresenting the entire Muslim worldAll these dignitaries thus witnessedHadrat Muftis courage, determinatioand power of argument and his fame popularity spread throughout the Islworld.


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While in jail, Hadrat Mufti did notremain unoccupied but he en-

gaged himself in pursuits such aseaching his fellow prisoners,

and even stitching the clothes of otheMauln Ahmad Saeed

Dehlvi reports having learned the lasportion of Fath-ul-Bri, Sharh Sahh-ul-Bukhri from Hadrat Mufti while ihe jail of Gu-jrt. Furthermore, he

relates that many political and religi

meetings were held among the fellowprisoners.

21 -


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Self-sufficiency and Self-respect

SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND SELF-


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RESPECT

Around this time, many opponents uso say that Mufti

Kifyatullh and other members of thJamiatul-Ulam obtained

salaries from Congress and that theentire party operated upon

he funds of Congress. Mauln AbuGhiyth Shaykh Karmuddn

Meerthi, who worked as ambassadorhe Jamiat in southern

India for 15 years, refutes these claim


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anyone else. Our efforts for liberatioour land are our religious obligationwe cannot sustain the operation of thJamiat, then we will close the officeAnyway, looking at the lifestyle of Hadrat Mufti, Hadrat Mauln

Sayyid Husayn Ahmad Madani, andother elders of the Jamiat one

realizes that such accusations (of takmonetary support from

Congress) are completely false. Thepiety, character, sincerity for Allh, religious and national sense of honorwere unmatched.


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OFFER FROM THE BRITISH


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GOVERNMENT

When he began taking full part in thefreedom movement and

much progress was being made in thdirection, with hundreds of

housands of followers joining him, tBritish government started putting alypes of pressure on Mufti Kifyatulo keep away

from the movement. Eventually amessage was sent to him

hrough a member of the Viceroy

Council, Mian Sir Fazl Husayn,


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saying, The British governmentrequests you to separate yourself

22 -


from the political movement. In returhe government will give

ou as a gift the royal building andgrounds of the Madrasah Saf-

dar Jang for your own personal self. purpose is not that you

should support the British governmenengage in propaganda


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on its behalf but we just want you toremain silent and stay away frompolitics.

The eldest son of Hadrat Mufti, MauHafzur-Rahmn wrote in

an article about the above message ththis was a secret mes-

sage to my father, who also informedof it in the greatest se-

crecy and today is the first time that t

has been made public.In response to the above message of Mian Sir Fazl Husayn, Had-


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rat Mufti Sheb replied, I have notoined the freedom movement

for personal enrichment. Thank you vmuch for your offer but

no enticement will be able to silencevoice.

FIRST MUSLIM, THENHINDUSTANI

There has been some propaganda thaMufti Kifyatullh and

other members of the Jamiatul-Ulamwere blind followers of the

Congress party and that they ascribed


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he motto, (we are) first Hindustani(Indians), then Muslims. But thisaccusation has absolutely no foundatMufti Shebs oldest son again wrotrefutation of this in his book Mufti-e-

zam ki Yd , This fact cannot beestablished from any of Hadrat Muftwritings or speeches. In

fact, quite the opposite, he held that i

was the first duty of the Muslim publhat in the push for political reform, tprotection of religious freedom shoube the foremost aim. And they should

understand that we are first Muslim, Hindi, Arab, Irani, Chi-nese,etc .(Reference Musulmn ke Mazhabi aur Qaumi Aghrz ki Hifzat 1 published


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by The Printing Works, Delhi, 1917.remained steadfast upon this principuntil the end of his life.

1 Protecting the Religious and ational Interests of the Muslims .

23 -

alestine Conference in Egypt


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PALESTINECONFERENCE INEGYPT

When Britain decided to partitionPalestine and establish a Jewish statone part there was great agitation on part of the Palestinian Arabs. The(resistance) movement resulted inviolent efforts of the British governmo suppress it. In support of the op-pressed Palestinians, Mufti Sheb anhe Jamiatul-Ulam estab-

ished the Majlis Tahaffuz-e-Filistn

(Association for the Protection of


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Palestine), which collected funds tosupport their cause. On August 26, 1all of India held a Palestine Day orallies and protests against the divisiand it was decided that there would world gathering of Muslims to protehis action. Thus, on

October 17, 1938 a PalestineConference was held in Cairo un-

der the chairmanship of Ali AlawiyPasha, in which over 3,500

delegates were present from Egypt,Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, Lebanon, HiJordon, Yugoslavia, Romania, Turkeand other Mus-


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im lands. The delegation from theJamiatul-Ulam of India in-

cluded Mufti Kifyatullh as head,Mauln Abdul-Haq Madani,

and Mauln Muhammad Yusuf Binnas members.

Mufti Kifyatullh received anexceptional welcome in Egypt.

Mauln Muhammad Yusuf reportedThe welcoming of Hadrat

Mufti that we witnessed in Cairo fillour hearts with joy and

made us raise our heads in pride


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Mauln Abdul-Haq Madani.

During his sickness, Mufti Kifyatul

was visited several times by the Shaof Azhar, Allmah Mustaf al-MurgThe religious position of the Shaykh Azhar at the time was greater even thhat of the king that is, the king wou

come himself to see the Shaykh insteof the other way around. However, d

o the24 -


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great respect held for Mufti Kifyatuby the Shaykh, he would himself comand visit him.1

Upon preparation to leave Egypt, a gnumber of Egyptian

ulam and dignitaries came to see hi


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off. The dignitaries requested that aphoto be taken but Mufti Kifyatullhrefused to do so. Because a number ohe Egyptian scholars had givenpermissibility to taking photographs,discussion on this issue started.

The viewpoint of the Egyptian scholwas that the impermissi-

bility applied to those pictures whichwere created directly by the human hIt did not apply to photography becauhe picture

was simply a reflection of the scenThe conversation that took place,according to the report of MaulnAbdul-Haq Madani,


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was:

Ulam-e-misr :

The impermissibility only

applies to those pictures

which are made by the

work of the human hand.

In photography, no such

hing is needed, it is

simply a reflection of the

picture.


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Hadrat Mufti Saheb:

So how does this reflec-

ion become transferred

from the lens to the pa-

per?

Ulam-e-misr :

It requires much [i.e.

echnical] work.

1 The Shaykh remarked of him,Clemency and gravity shine upon hibrow.


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25 -


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alestine Conference in Egypt

Hadrat Mufti Saheb:

What is the difference

between human handi-

work and much work?

Ulam-e-misr :


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Yes, they are the same

hing.

Hadrat Mufti Saheb:

Hence, their ruling is the

same.

The Egyptianulam were extremelympressed with Hadrat

Muftis ready and sound answers andsome were unable to speak

o give any reply after that.

26 -


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EDUCATIONAL (TALMI )SERVICESThe political and national services thMufti Sheb effected

hrough the Jamiatul-Ulama have beebriefly mentioned previ-

ously. However, his teaching andssuance of fatw while at Madrasah

Amniyyah are truly his lasting

contributions. Muftisdars (lessons),especially hisdars of hadth , had thisspecial quality that he avoided longdiscussions. He would explicatemportant


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ahdth and points of difference thereusing the most simple andstraightforward language. In this, hefollowed the footsteps of his teacherShaykh-ul-Hind, whose lectures alsoused to be very

concise. Among the many explanatioof ahadth , he would pick the mostconcise and comprehensive of them t

appeared mostacceptable to him and explain it, thuseffectively impressing the essence ofahdth into the students minds. MufKifyatullh spent about 50 years in eaching of ilm-e-hadth at Madrasah

Amniyyah and also in issuing fatw .The author had the opportunity to stu


135/166

Sahh Bukhri Sharf andTirmidhiSharf in his company and was mostmpressed by his direct style of deliv


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SALARY

Upon first arriving at MadrasahAmniyyah, Mufti Shebs salary

was set at 20 rupees a month. Near thend of his period, it had

advanced by Jamdi al-Awwal 1370o 250/- rupees. On the first

of Jamdi ath-Thni 1370H., themanagement committee had

raised his pay by 25 rupees to 275/- month. In response to

his, he replied, The income of the


137/166

madrasah is on the decline

and therefore I will not take this

ncrease. Hence, up until his death hused to return 25 rupees monthly to tmadrasah.

By this time, Mufti Kifyatullhs famhad spread internationally and he couhave availed himself of greatemployment opportunities. Howeverhad dedicated his life to the service he madrasah and would not accept a

offer from anywhere else. At the

ime when his salary was 40/- rupeemonth, the Madrasah li-

yah, Calcutta, put forward an invita


138/166

for a teaching position of 500/- rupebut he rejected the offer, saying, Thwill not be

27 -

ssuance of Fatw (Religious Rulings)

able to have freedom of conscience, his will be an obstruc-

ion in the service of thedeen .

From the organization of Mash-ul-MHakm Ajmal Khn, the

izm-e-Daccan had made availablesome office position and a


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stipend but Mufti Sheb did not allowhis to be executed because he

considered that these might become aobstacle to his conscience, ability tospeak the truth, and his fearlessness he path (of Islm).

ISSUANCE OFFATW (RELIGIOUS

RULINGS)We have previously mentioned thatMufti Kifyatullh began writ-

ng fatw in Shahjahanpur and he didhe same when he moved to Madrasa

Amniyyah. As a result of this, MadrAmniyyah


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very quickly became famous in DelhAccording to Mufti Ab Mu-

hammad Abdul Haqq, the author of Tafsr Haqqni stated in front of a larcrowd at one of the madrasahs annuconventions:

I say on oath that this madrasah, inrespect of the educational

quality, civility and maturity of thestudents, proficiency of the teachers,administrative integrity, holds the

highest position among themadris of Delhi. This is the only madrasah inDelhi which is providing the highestevel of service to Islm in the issuan

of fatw .


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It was a result of this that after a periof fifty years, Mufti Kifyatullh hadwritten answers to hundreds of housands of

questions and his rulings are a greatreasure of Islmic jurisprudence.1 I

fact, his teachers also placed great trupon his writing of fatw . Thus, in theperiod of non-cooperation with the

British, when people sought rulingsabout this from Shaykh-ul-Hind,

among the three people he would

redirect them to in this issuewas Mufti Kifyatullh.

1 A compilation of these is nowaday


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available, entitled Kifyatul-Mufti .

ranslator.

28 -


The fatw of Mufti Kifyatullh had special quality that they were extremconcise, yet fully well-grounded inproof, and the answer was given exa

according to the intent of the questioThat is, whatever question was askehe answer would

be given to the point unlike the lon


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and twisted explanations

given by the average mufti. It was fo

his reason that he waspopular not only among the commonbut also among the offi-

cials of the courts of law, who wouldgive preference to his rulings inreligious cases. We present below a examples of his

atw :


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Black Market

What is the religious ruling on theBlack Market? That is, is itpermissible to sell on it, or are therecertain circumstances in

which it is? For instance, nowadaysclothes and flour are being

rationed so is it permissible or not?Kindly write a detailed answer to th

In reply, Mufti Sheb concisely said,Engaging in the Black Mar-

ket is not permissible because it

nvolves injustice against fellow


145/166

humans, it does not breed mercy andkindness, and there is great

chance of falling into speaking lies.In the Charge of Allh andMuhammad (

)

Once a question was asked, Manypeople, when they wish to en-

rust something to the care of Allh, t

utter the words, Allh Muhammad keipurd (in the charge of Allh andMuhammad).

For instance, when someone is leavi


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for a dangerous place,

hen his friends and relatives utter it.

his phrase correct to say or what shoone say in such a situation?

Answer, One should not utter thephrase Allh Muhammad ke

ipurd . It is only correct to say, Allhke sipurd (in the charge of Allh).

29 -

Writing and Publications


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Taking Photos

The issue of taking photos was broaco Mufti Sheb as fol-

ows, What do the scholars of relighave to say on the issue of taking phoand having them taken from theviewpoint of

Sharah why is it forbidden? It issaid: we just make a moving thingstationary that is, the image of

ourselves that we see in the mirror, ware simply making it permanent andcalling it a photo.

So it is not clear as to why it should


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forbidden? Also, this is a means of keeping memoirs.

Answer, Making and using picturesmpermissible according to

he sacredSharah . Photography issimply another method of makingpictures; hence it is impermissible wused to take photos of a living creatuOf course, to take photos of buildingand other non-living things ispermissible, just as it is permissibledraw pictures of them by hand. TheSharah has forbidden making picturand taking photos of living things dua certain wis-dom, which is that thershould be no doubt about a Muslimglori-


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fying or respecting someone other thAllh.

From these few examples it should bclear that when giving a

atw Mufti Sheb did not use long,echnical details but clarified the rulof theSharah in very simple terms,which was his special excellence.


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WRITING ANDPUBLICATIONSFrom at early age, Hadrat Mufti alwaook interest in reading

and writing. His first major endeavowas the magazine Al-

urhn for which he wrote inrefutation of the Qadiani problem, asmentioned earlier.

awd-ur-Rayyhn

His second major work was his famo

(Arabic) poem, Rawd-ur-


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ayyhn which was published in 1H. (1909 C.E.) and had been presentat the annual convention of MadrasahAmniyyahhe year earlier. In thisqasdah , Mufti

Sheb recalled and eulo-

30 -


gized the greatmadris (religiousschools) and scholars of old and

especially the famous teachers of Deoband and their efforts. The

eloquence and grandeur of the poem

such that Hadrat Mufti


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was requested to, and subsequentlyproduced, an Urdu transla-

ion with footnotes giving more detaof the lives and explaining difficultwords of the original.

l-Musawwand Al-Musaff

Hadrat Mufti Sheb published theSharhal-Musaww of Hadrat Shah WaliyullDehlvi, which was an exegesis of ImMliks

al-Muwatta . This great work of ShahWaliyullh was published along withFrsi commentary,al-Musaff in 1347H. In this way, readers could benefitone time from both of Shah Waliyull


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number of madris in India andPakistan. So popular was it that mandifferent publishers printed versionst in the thousands and even today evbook publisher is bringing out new

editions

of it. Because he did not copyright thwork, it has been published anddistributed in the hundreds of thousa

Its translation into English and other anguages has also been accomplishe


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Various OtherManuscriptsHadrat Mufti wrote various other religious treatises which were

published in book form but are no lon circulation. As the

reader has learned by now, MuftiKifyatullh was a greatmufti andscholar and very able writer. Howevhis literary works are actually very fThe reason was that he was so involn

eaching, political activities and wri


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atw , along with the fact

31 -

eath

hat Delhi was such a large city that hmany different organizations of whic

was a member; therefore he was toobusy and it

was difficult for him to find the time

write and publish. Had he been able find the time to write, he would havebeen a great

writer of our age, but at any rate, a


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published version of all the fatw hewrote would run to about 15 volumevaluable religious research. Hisspeeches andkhutbt would also be agreat treasure were they to be colleca published in book form. Similarly, was a great poet in Arabic and apublication of his poetry, some of wwas also in Urdu, would be verybeneficial.


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DEATH

During the last years of his life,watching the deteriorating immor-aliof society, clashes between Hindus aMuslims, and many

other reasons, Mufti Kifyatullhwithdrew himself completely frompolitics. For his last 10 years he wasotally isolated and did not attend an

gatherings. He was very much disturby the events

aking place in the subcontinent andabstained from even making

comments. The last several months o


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ife he suffered from

severe illness and swelling of the liv

and showed no improve-ment despite the best medical treatmFinally, on 13 Rab-uth-Thni, 1372(end of December 1952) he passed aat 10:30

PM. The next day his funeral prayerswere attended by 100,000 of

he Muslims of Delhi and he was bur

near Hadrat Khwaja Qut-buddn Bakhtiyr Kki.

NOBLE CHARACTERISTICS AND


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VIRTUES

It is very difficult to encompass all ohis noble traits. In summary, it can besaid that he was the example of a truand sincerelim .

He was of a respectable and solemnnature but was kind and po-

ite to his friends and the common foHe stuck to the sunnah of the Prophet (

and would do his work by his ownhands. He

was always ready to lend his help to

needy. From early child-


161/166

hood he had such self-respect and serestraint that even in dire financialstraits he did not ask help from anyonelse but worked

32 -


himself to earn a living. Even whenworking as a teacher, he

passed his life with very little salary

His good qualities have been bestenumerated by those who ac-

companied him on his travels to Hajj

and Egypt, or who were with


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him in the jails of Gujrat and MultanThey report that on the way to Hajj hhelped and served his fellow traveleo every extend possible. He wouldwash and hang to dry their clothes fohem.

During Hajj, he would secretly pray ahajjud and remain quietly in worshall the time. At night, he would go

hrough the streets of Makkah andMadnah distributing alms to the neeHe was of a

very simple nature and would not onget his own groceries from

he market by himself but would alsobring those of his neighbors.


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He would cook his own food and stihis own clothes, and in jail he even dhe same for his fellow prisoners.

33 -

Poignant Historical and Reverential


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ulogy (by Hafzur-Rahmn Sheb) APOIGNANT HISTORICAL AND

REVERENTIAL EULOGY (BYHAFZUR-RAHMN SHEB)

Upon the death of the last Mughalemperor, Shah Sirjuddn

Zafar, it was said,

The lamp of Delhi has been put out(1279 H.)

Then, upon the death of Hakm AjmaKhan, someone remarked,

The lamp of Delhi has been


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extinguished. (1346 H.)

And then, upon the passing of Hadra

Mufti-e-Azam, MaulviMaqblur-Rahmn remarked again,

Extinguished is the lamp of Delhi.(1372 H.)

34 -


ranslated by Nadeem Abdul Hamid

for MADRASA-TUN-NOOR (c/oConnecticut Council of Masjid, Inc


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Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.A. Shawwl 1424 / December 2003

biography of hazrat maulana mufti kifaya - free copy

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