Gifts of Knowledge

Continuing from the last post.

“The Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him, had something which many people missed out on in our time, namely, the companionship of scholars and being raised among them, since he started his education with his parents and the scholars from his family. During that time he learnt Urdu and Persian and memorised some juzz of the Qurʾān, Shaikh ʿUzair said, “We used to memorise some juzz of the noble Qurʿān and some didactic poems and poetry in Urdu, the focus with us in India was more on understanding and expression rather than memorisation, that is why we were not familiar with the memorisation of texts and different manāhij as is known in Arab lands.”

The Shaikh also benefitted a lot from his father going to a large number of Shaikhs and different madrasahs. The most important madrasahs that Shaikh ʿUzair studied in were:

1) The first one he mentioned when he was asked about his religious upbringing was his own home, where he studied with his father and some of his brothers, this was in 1960 and he did so for two years at primary school level.

2) Faiḍ ʿĀm Madrasah in Māo, it was the first one he studied in after studying with his parents at home, he joined it in 1962 when he was about six years old and stayed there for three years. In his sixth year at primary he learnt Persian and memorised lots of Persian poetry.

3) Dārul-ʿUlūm al-Aḥmadiyyah Madrasah in Dārbānjā in Bihār in 1967. He only stayed there for a year. He studied grammar and morphology and the fundamentals of Arabic there under his uncle ʿAinul-Ḥaqq as-Salafī in Urdu, and also with Shaikh ʿAbdun-Nūr an-Nadwī who he studied Arabic with in Arabic, and he studied Persian literature with Shaikh Muḥammad Raʾīs an-Nadwī.

4) Dārul-Ḥadīth in Bengal in Murshidabād, he joined it in 1968 when his father moved there to teach so he had to go with him, and it is there that he learnt Bengali, and as such the Shaikh had learnt the following languages: Urdu, Persian, Hindī, Arabic, English and Bengali, then later he also learnt German. The following year he left this madrasah.

5) Dārul-Ḥadīth ar-Raḥmāniyyah in Benares in 1969 for two years where he completed middle school. Here he studied ḥadīth under Shaikh ʿAbdus-Salām ar-Raḥmānī.

6) Al-Jāmiʿah as-Salafiyyah in Benares too where he completed his secondary school education, finishing in 1976. There, under his father, he studied Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and al-Muwaṭṭaʾ. And with Shaikh ʿAbdul-Waḥīd ar-Raḥmānī he studied Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. And with Shaikh Ṣafiyyur-Raḥmān al-Mubārakfūrī he studied the book Ḥujjatullāhil-Bālighah of Shāh Waliyullāh ad-Dehlawī. And with Shaikh Muḥammad ʿĪsā an-Nadwī he studied selected chapters from the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldūn in Arabic. And with Shaikh ʿAbdul-Muʿīd Banārisī he studied Sunan an-Nisāʾī.

7) The Faculty of Arabic at the Islamic University of Medīnah, graduating with a degree there in 1981.

8) The Faculty of Arabic at Umm al-Qura University in Makkah where he obtained a Masters in 1985. Then he studied for a Phd there.”

Part 3 to follow inshaa Allaah.

Tagged: Uzair Shams