Thursday 31 May 2018

My Memoirs Part 8.


My Memoirs No.8

Final year in Madinah (1966)

I have not many recollections of my last year in the university except that I achieved the highest grade (Mumtāz) in the final exam by which I acquired my certificate in Islamic Sharia. It equates with a B.A in the British educational system.

There had been neither any award-giving ceremony nor any graduates gathering. We had to pick up our certificates from the office and say farewell to the Registrar and slip away quietly.

Would it not be adorable if I gave here some short and sketchy notes about some of my colleagues who shared with me the room, the class, the university as a whole?
With some I had good memories of a long-lasting company; with some others a remembrance of a kind gesture, exchange of some thoughts or opinions, a sitting of mutual reading and discussion. By remembering them, I find myself paying off a debt which I owe to them.

When I speak about them, I have to cover the post-graduate period during which I might have had contact with some of them as well.

So to make my task easier, I could briefly say about the phases of life through which I have passed after leaving Madinah and about which I have to speak in details in a later part of my memoirs.

From April 1967, I started my career as a teacher and Da’ī in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
In July 1976, I moved to London where I first established Al-Quran society and later, with the help and co-operation of some other activists I was able to lay the foundation of the Islamic Sharia Council (1982), and then Masjid Al-Tawhid (1984). I was one of the founding members of the international charity Muslim Aid in 1985.

I had the honour to be a member of the European Council for Fatwa & Research since its inception in 1997 and also a member of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA) since its appearance in 2003.

I had been awarded as well, the membership of the World Organisation of the Muslim Scholars which was established under the auspices’ of Rabita ‘Alam Islami (Muslim World League) of Makkah.

With this background in mind, I am going to speak first about those colleagues who, by the time I write these lines (May 2018) had already passed away. May Allah Almighty have mercy upon them and declare them among the citizens of the Paradise. Secondly, as for those who are still alive, I will keep on remembering them in my writing on the Blog in future. I wish for me and them a blissful end in line with the saying of Allah:

مِّنَ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ۬ صَدَقُواْ مَا عَـٰهَدُواْ ٱللَّهَ عَلَيۡهِ‌ۖ فَمِنۡهُم مَّن قَضَىٰ نَحۡبَهُ ۥ وَمِنۡہُم مَّن يَنتَظِرُ‌ۖ وَمَا بَدَّلُواْ تَبۡدِيلاً۬
“Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah, of them some have fulfilled their obligations and some of them are still waiting, but they have never changed in the least.”
[Surah al-Ahzāb 33:23]

Thirdly, I have to crown this discussion with my thoughts about one of the greatest scholars of this century, a most influential person not only in Saudi Arabia but in the entire Muslim world, his eminence Sheikh ‘Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz, May Allah have mercy upon him.

So let me begin with the first group.

1.      Ibrahim Khalil

He comes of a very remote northern area in Pakistan, from Skardu, Gilgit, Baltistan, an area where Sunni  Muslims, mostly Ahl-e-Hadith to which he belonged and Noor Bakshia, a sect of Ismailia, the followers of Agha Khan live side by side. Difference of faith and practices may lead them to debate and discuss, and sometimes to denounce and have enmities. To come out of that far-flung area and travel to Karachi for the pursuit of knowledge was a great achievement on his part.

As I mentioned earlier we were together for the four years of our stay in Madinah and were also together in our appointment in Kenya. He remained associated to Madrasa al-Falah of Mombasa, from the day he joined till the day he had to leave it. He had been a successful teacher throughout his life and left behind him his legacy: a great number of students.

Visiting him in 2016, at his place in Mombasa, just one year before his death, was a great God-given opportunity for me.

The news of his death came to me through his eldest son Anas, who was with him while he was confined to his bed in Shifa hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan. The family took his body to Skardu for a burial in his native town.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him!

2.      Abdul Rahman Nasir

My second colleague in the boarding for the first two years of Jam’ia life.
He had to join the secondary stage lasting for three years before entering into the degree college.

With a healthy body and strong physique, he was always interested in militant ways and military life. He started his career as a translator to help Pakistan officials on their visits to Saudi Arabia. But his ambitions came true when he got the translator role with Pak forces headquarters in Islamabad.

He seems to have enjoyed his duties, away from the hectic field of Da’wa or preaching.

As a regular visitor to Islamabad annually, I have met him twice or thrice at his residence.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

3.      Muhammad Yusuf Kazim

After graduation, he was appointed as a teacher in Kempala, Uganda. In the summer of 1976, when I had to leave Nairobi for good, he replaced me at Mungana Madrasa where I had been a teacher for nine years.

Later he moved to the Islamic University at Islamabad. There I happened to meet him several times during my visits to Pakistan. He has developed a great liking for western philosophy and was found to be very appreciative of philosophical theories.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

4.      Abdullah Kaka Khail

Remembering him means to remember his two colleagues as well; Hasan Jan and Abdul Razzaq Iskandar. All three belonged to the famous seat of knowledge in Karachi; known as Jam’ia Binnuari, named after Sheikh Muhammad Yusuf Binnuari. They come from the northern border area of Pakistan. Pathan by tribe and Khaiber by province.

They were all well-versed in Hanafi Fiqh and their stay in Madinah gave them an exposure to Hanbali Fiqh in particular and to all the schools of thought in general. Our text back in Fiqh, Bidayat-ul-Mujtahid of Ibn Rushd allowed them an insight in comparative fiqh.

Though they were impressed by the scholastic approach of Sheikh Muhammad Al-Amin Al-Shanqiti, they seemed to be at odds with Salafi teachers, like Sheikh Muhammad Nasiruddin Al-Albani and Sheikh Abdul Mohsin Hamd Al-‘Abbad.

Abdullah Kaka Khail turned out to be a popular teacher at the Islamic University in Islamabad. Now his son Adnan is advancing his legacy in knowledge and defence of the religious values.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

5.      Hasan Jan

Long after graduation, I met him once in Makkah during a pilgrimage. He had shown me a treatise of his writing on the Hadith of “Umm Zar,” a famous Hadith in Bukhari where a very interesting discussion is recorded among eight women who had been describing their husbands. It is one of those Ahadith which consists of very difficult Arabic words and idioms.

He became famous by winning a seat in the National Assembly of Pakistan.

The last news which struck my ears were about his murder on the hands of some extremists who were not happy on his stance about some political issues in the northern areas of Pakistan.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

6.      Abu Bakr of Mozambique

See Memoirs No.5 for a detailed discussion about him.

7.      Siraj-ul-Rahman Nadawi

Not in Madinah but in Africa, a stronger bond of friendship developed among the two of us, mainly because of the womenfolk in both houses. During my few visits of Kampala, while I had been stationed in Nairobi, we were hosted by him. Later during the times of President Edi Amin, he moved to Mombasa, Kenya where he was able to establish a centre for education and training.

Twenty years after my departure from Nairobi I happened to visit this centre twice. Once during his lifetime and secondly in 2016 after his death. With his friendly contacts with some Arab Shuyukh and wealthy tradesmen, he acquired enough funds to establish this centre.

I remember a friendly gathering of our two families when I took him to Ngong Hill at the outskirts of Nairobi when I was still there.

A year before he passed away, he came to visit his son in London. I found him frail and exhausted, due to a heart attack he suffered while he was in Kenya.

During my last visit to Kenya in 2016, his son-in-law, a medical doctor by profession, took me to the Islamic college, a part of the main educational centre and two other schools and a mosque, which he also established at a distance from Mombasa on the road to Kalifi, a coastal town before approaching Lamu on the east African coast.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

8.      Habibullah Abdul Qadir Sindhi

I met him in Madinah where he used to assist the pilgrims in their boarding, lodging and travelling to Makkah especially as a spiritual guide during their sacred journey.

Long after leaving Madinah, I heard about him as a distinguished Sheikh with exhaustive writing on the fallacy of Sufism. I happened to visit him once in his house by the road leading to the airport. Here I got some glimpses of his books on the subject.

Being older than me, he turned out to be an old Sheikh, with fully Arab attire which attracted respect and admiration from the people around him.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

9.      Abdul Hamid Rahmani

See Memoirs No.6 where I have spoken about him.

10.  Hafiz Nisaruddin Ahmad

See my article (obituary) on his death in this blog.

11.  Abdul Wahhab Khilji

He must be a contemporary to my younger brother, Dr Suhail Hasan who stayed in Madinah with the family (my parents) after my departure to Nairobi in 1967.

He comes from Malair Kotla, one of the princely states in East Punjab, which is my birthplace as well.

I used to see him in Madinah, during my annual visits to see my parents until my father had to leave Madinah in 1980 after retirement.

As a Secretary General of Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, India, he was very influential in promoting the Salafi way of Islamic Da’wa in his homeland. On the other hand, this august post provided him a great opportunity to travel widely especially in the middle east to represent Jamiat at international forums. During such meetings and in Makkah, Istanbul and London, I happened to meet him and have exchange of thoughts with him.

After a long illness, he breathed his last on Friday 27th Rajab 1439 AH (13.4.2018) in Delhi.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

12.  Ihsan Ilahi Zaheer.

He joined the University one year later than me i.e. in 1963.

He was known to be an active, flamboyant and outspoken young man.

Myself, being away from Pakistan, soon after graduation, in a foreign land, I lost contact with him after leaving Madinah.

Once, during my annual Hajj activities, in late seventies, when I was officially used to be invited to participate in the guidance of pilgrims, I found him occupying a bed in a big room with a few beds, all for the delegates like us during the Hajj season. He told me that he had been invited that year to join hands with the working group during the Hajj season. But for him, to abide by a strenuous working schedule with regularity and punctuality was a task too far. I do not remember for how many days he made himself available but whatever amount of time he spent, he was a valuable asset for the whole group known as ‘’Taw’iya Islamia fi Al-Hajj (Islamic Awareness during Hajj).”

Twice, I think, he came to U.K to participate in the annual conference of Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith held at Birmingham. At one occasion he was seen standing hand in hand on the stage with Mian Fazl-e-Haqq, the Secretary General of Pakistan Jamiat, with whom he used to have differences on party politics. The Birmingham meeting brought them closer and a chapter of rivalry and bitterness came to an end.

His books refuting Shi’ism brought him a fortune but also declared him an authority on this subject.

The murderous attempt on his life in 1988 while he was addressing a public meeting, crowned the last phase of his energetic life full in the defence of Islamic values, the propagation of the true Islamic faith and consolidation of a just system in Pakistan.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.

13.  Abdul Salam Kilani

They were three: Abdul Salam Kilani, Hāfiz Sanaullah and Hāfiz Abdul Rahman, all from the same school of thought inspired by Sheikh Abdullah Ropari, who came to join the university in 1963. All three of them excelled in knowledge and adherence to Sunnah.

It is said about Kilani that he followed my footsteps in travelling to Madinah, on his first retreat after passing the summer vacation in his hometown in Punjab, by taking the voyage through Muscat, Dubai and Bahrain. Like me he spent a night in a small hotel in Bahrain where his eyes caught for the first time in his life, the glimpse of a black and white TV set. He simply turned his back to that object which was displaying pictures!

He was very simple in his life, very fond of the books and always with a smile on his face.

Later after graduation, he joined that group of Da’wa delegates who were appointed in Uganda.

Another interesting story is related about him. Once he was riding a tractor beside its African driver. He kept on talking to him about the beautiful teachings of Islam throughout his short journey to the fields. By the time he dismounted, the man had already pronounced the Kalima of Shahadah i.e. the one to embrace Islam.

It has been a normal chat among teachers like us to amuse ourselves to speak about marrying a second wife. Though none of us took it seriously except for Kilani. He, in the absence of his wife who was still in Pakistan, married a lady of Somali origin. It became a nightmare for him when his first wife arrived at Kampala. However, he managed to calm down the situation and even take his second wife to Pakistan for a short stay.

Later his Somali wife, with three of his daughters moved to London where I happened to meet them once according to the wishes of Kilani. These were very sad moments for him and his family as one of his daughters met her death in a road accident.

Kilani, eventually moved back to Pakistan where I had seen him once at the premises of Darus Salam Book shop.

He had grown in weight and seemed to be exhausted by travelling but he was still there with his smiles.

May Allah shower His mercy upon him.