Remembering Our Pious Elders - Dhu al Qadah 1446

Our Pious Predecessors

Dhū al-QaꜤda is the eleventh month of the Islamic calendar. From amongst those saints and Islamic scholars who passed away in this month or whose Ꜥurs commemorations take place in it, 119 have been mentioned briefly in Monthly Magazine Faizan-e-Madina Dhū al-QaꜤda issues 1438 AH - 1445 AH. Take note of a further 12 herein.

Saints رَحِمَهُمُ الـلّٰـهُ

1. Sayyid Abū JaꜤfar Amīr Māh Behraˈichī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was a scion of the Ahl al-Bayt. He was the murīd and successor of Sayyid ꜤAlāˈ al-Dīn Jaipūrī al-Suhrawardī. He was a leading scholar of his age, an author, and the famous saint of Bahraich, U.P., India. He passed in 772 AH. His resting place in Bahraich is famously well known. His Ꜥurs is on the 29^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda.^[1]

2. Sayyid Ḥamīd Bukhārī al-Bījāpūrī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was a revered sayyid and distinguished personality, harbouring spiritual successorship in the Suhrawardiyya order. He passed away on the 15^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 1018 AH. His resting place is in Bijapur, Karnataka, India. Sayyid Ashraf al-Bukhārī, a research scholar and saint, was the custodian of this.^[2]

3. Muhammad ꜤAbdullāh Paglīnwī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه – lovingly known as “molwī ṣāḥib of the mountain”- was born to a Gujjar family of Paglin Sharif near Abdullahpur (formerly Haripur), Union Council Khambah, Tehsil Samahani, District Bhimber, Azad Kashmir. He was a student of the scholars of Kashmir, Punjab, and India. He also once asked Imam Aḥmad Razā Khan رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه for a legal verdict.

He was a murīd of Sayyid Ghulām Ḥayder ꜤAlī Shāh (Jalalpur Sharif, Tehsil Pind Dadan Khan, District Jhelum). He was a murshid, scholar, and poet in both Punjabi and Persian. He passed away on the 28^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 1345 A.H. He was buried at his birthplace. Famously, a lion would come to visit his shrine.^[3]

Islamic scholars رَحِمَهُمُ الـلّٰـهُ

4. ꜤAbdullāh b. Muḥammad Musnadī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was born in 112 AH in Uzbekistan and passed away on the 23^rd or 24^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 229 AH. He studied under Imam Sufyān b. ꜤUyayna and others. Due to his passion for the musnad branch of ḥadīth sciences, he was called Musnadī. Imam Muhammad b. IsmāꜤīl al-Bukhārī is his most famous student.^[4]

5. Shaykh al-Islam, ꜤAbd al-Awwal b. ꜤĪsā al-Sijzī al-Harawī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was born in 458 AH. He was an imam and ḥadīth expert, with a plethora of students. He was an accomplished Sufi and possessor of beautiful character. Pious and humble, his nights were spent in sincere worship and he practically acted upon his knowledge. He passed away on the 6^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda in Baghdad, 553 AH. His funeral salah was offered by the Crown of the Saints, Shaykh ꜤAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه.^[5]

6. Abū ꜤUmar Qāsim b. JaꜤfar al-Hāshimī al-ꜤAbbāsī al-Baṣrī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was born in Rajab 322 AH and passed away on the 29^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 414 AH. He was an imam, jurist, and trustworthy narrator of hadith. He was the musnid of Iraq and judge of Basra.^[6]

7. Abū Muḥammad ꜤAbdullāh b. Muḥammad al-Ṭāˈī al-Andalūsī al-Qurṭubī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was born in Ramadan 603 AH. He passed away on the 11^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 702 AH. He was a scholar, literary authority, ḥadīth expert, and musnid. His veraciously transmitted ḥadīth, acted upon his knowledge, and was a Mālikī jurist.^[7]

8. The exegete of the Quran, YaꜤqūb b. Ḥasan al-Ṣarfī al-Kashmīrī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was born in 908 AH in Kashmir. He was intelligent, a memoriser of the Quran, and was learned in both rational and transmitted sciences. He was a student of Imam Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī and others, a murshid in the Kubrawiyya spiritual order, author, and Sufi poet. He was known for his generosity and widespread public acclaim. He passed away on the 12^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 1003 AH.^[8]

9. Shaykh al-Islam wa al-Muslimīn, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Muḥibbī al-Miṣrī al-Ḥanafī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was an expert in in Quran, ḥadīth, language, literature, jurisprudence and other sciences. Leading famous scholars from the Ahl al-Sunnah in Egypt were from his students. His life was spent learning and teaching. He passed away on the 20^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 1041 AH in Egypt. He was buried in the Mujāwirīn graveyard, Cairo.^[9]

10. Ḥassān al-Hind, Sayyid Ghulām ꜤAlī Āzād Chishtī al-Bilgrāmī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was a scholar, historian, ḥadīth expert, poet, and Sufi linked with the Chishtiyya spiritual order. He was born on the 25^th of Ṣafar 1116 AH in Bilgram, Duwai Province, UP, India. His famous published literary works include: Sibhat al-Marjān fī Āthār Hindustān, Maˈāthir al-Kirām, Shamāmat al-ꜤAnbar and Rawḍat al-Awliyāˈ. He passed away on 21^st Dhū al-QaꜤdah 1200 AH in Khuld Abad, Aurang Abad province, Maharashtra, India. His resting place is there.^[10]

11. Faḍl Imam Khayrābādī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was born in Khayrabad. Having studied with teachers, he became a scholar and accomplished teacher of scholars. He became a mufti in Delhi and was then appointed to the position of Ṣadr al-Ṣudūr. He maintained his series of lessons as well. His students are vast in number. He has detailed marginalia upon Mīr Zāhid and Mullā Jalāl. He passed away on 5^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 1244 AH. He was buried within the confines of SaꜤd al-Dīn Khayrābādī zawiya.^[11]

12. Aḥmad al-Dīn Chakwālwī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه was born into a scholarly family in Bolah, Chakwāl province, in 1268 AH. His tutelage began under the supervision of this father, Ghulām Ḥusayn Chakwālwī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه. In Mecca, he attained license to teach Islamic sciences from Sayyid Aḥmad Zaynī Daḥlān al-Makkī. He was a murīd and successor of Shams al-ꜤĀrifīn al-Siyālwī. He was a sage, strong in his Quranic memorisation, and an erudite scholar. He taught for some time in Karachi and then in Chakwāl. He passed away on the 28^th of Dhū al-QaꜤda 1347 AH.^[12]