Biography of Dr Muhammad Sulayman Azhar, Dr Baha Al-Din

Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti wrote in “Chamestan Hadith” p 595: “I have written the Tazkirah of Shaykh Abdullah Gurdaspuri in my book “Bazm e Arjumandan”. It is regrettable that the Shaykh passed away in May 2012 in his home in Borewala. Dr Muhammad Sulayman Azhar is his eldest son whose penname is Muhammad Baha Al-Din and mostly his written series have this name. He started 13 years ago in 2000 to write “Tahreek Khatme Nubuwat” against Mirzaism (Qadiyanism) in the form of a book. This Faqeer wrote the introduction to the first volume under the title “Harf e Chand”. 13 volumes of this book have been published up to now (Tr: ie in 2013, in 2018 44 volumes have been published with 58 coming soon insha Allah). With it he also started to write a book entitled “Tarikh Ahl e Hadith” whose first 4 volumes have been published (Tr: 8 in 2018 of mopre than 6000 pages with 9 and 10 coming soon insha Allah).

My last meeting with the noble Dr took place on the first January 1985 in Islamiyah University Bahawalpur where I went to take an oral examination of MA, the noble Dr was a professor of Islamiyat there…Afterwards due to some condition that arose in the university, he left his job and went to Britannia and after working there, he reached the age of retirement. Now let’s read his condition in the next lines:

He was born on 1944 in Dhaari Waal in the suburb of Gurdaspur (western Punjab) where is noble father Shaykh Abdullah was giving Khutbah. After the partition of the country, the family went to different places to finally reside in the city of Borewala. In this city Dr Muhammad Sulayman Azhar reached the age of discernment and started to gain knowledge. He read the Qur’an with Qari Khudah Bakhsh (rah) and he studied books of Arabic grammar and morphology, the translation of the Qur’an and preliminary books of Hadith from his noble father. There he passed his Metric in high school and learnt Arabic from Ustadh Shaykh Muhammad Afzal. Afterwards he passed his BA in Gegree college in 1968. Afterwards he was admitted to Punjab University and obtained the degree of MA in Islamic sciences. Afterwards he did his MA Arabic from the same university.

He taught English for some time in Jamiyah Salafiyah Faislabad to students and joined after the government education body and started to teach in a college in Sialkot. He also taught some time in a college in Lahore. Afterwards he taught at Bahawalpur University the subjects of Islamic history and comparative religion. He did his doctorate in Edinburgh University, and did after some research work in this university as post doctoral fellow. In the beginning of the 90ies he did his MA in social work from Leicester University…

At the time of Jamiyah Salafiyah, he wrote on different topics, his articles would be published in different magazines, among whom weekly magazine “Al-I’tisam”, weekly magazine “Ahl e Hadith”, monthly “Al-Ma’arif”, monthly “Muhadith” (Lahore), monthly “Tarjuman Al-Hadith”, monthly “Al-Haqq”, monthly “Sirat e Mustaqeem” (Birmingham). Some of his articles have also been published in magazines in India, “Isha’at As-Sunnah” Delhi which was published every 2 month, monthly “Muhadith” Banaris, monthly “Al-Balagh” Mumbai, every 2 weeks published “Tarjuman” Delhi.

“Tahreek Khatm e Nubuwwat” is a unique work on which the noble Dr is working with great dedication. He established in it that Ahl e Hadith scholars were the first to oppose Mirzaism and Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Batalwi (rah) (was first) to compile a Fatawa of Takfeer (excommunication) against Mirza Qadiyani. This position of the noble Dr is based on reality. This Fatwa was presented to his noble teacher Hazrat Mian Sayid Nazeer Husayn Dehlwi (rah) who signed it. Afterwards he presented this Fatwa to 200 scholars of India either meeting them directly or sending emissaries, and these scholars signed as approval and stamped this Fatwa with their seals. Mirza Qadiyani became extremely worried at this Fatwa and wrote a lot against it. Almost 100 years after, Shaykh Ataullah Haneef Bhujiyani published this Fatwa of 188 pages in November 1986 under his institute “Daar Ad-Da’wah As-Salafiyah” under the name “Pakohind ke Ullama ka Awalin Muttafiqah Fatwa”.

After this Fatwa Ahl e Hadith scholars have pursued their efforts in writing, speeches, debates against Mirzaism, and history is witness to this fact. The noble Dr mentioned these facts in detail, and he incorporated in the 13 published volumes the writings of Shaykh Batalwi from his magazine “Isha’at As-Sunnah” and other scholars against Mirzaism. These writings also contain the writings of Qadhi Muhammad Sulayman Mansurpuri, Shaykh Thanaullah Amritsari, Shaykh Muhammad Ibraheem Mir Sialkoti, Shaykh Abdullah Mu’amar and many other noble scholars. In such a manner this book of the noble Dr is expanding…If Allah wills the efforts of our beloved friend Dr Muhammad Sulayman Azhar will grow brighter and people will benefit from it.

The other writing of the noble Dr is “Tarikh Ahl e Hadith”, and it is regrettable that copies of this book haven’t reached me yet, but I was informed that the first 4 volumes have been published in India. He incorporated in different volumes some writings of some scholars in a beautiful manner. May Allah bestow him the best of rewards and this weak person invokes for him….

Written by Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti on 12 August 2013.