Biography of Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi (1934-2020)

Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi’s lineage is: Abdul Hameed ibn Abdil Haq ibn Imamudin ibn Mian Hayat.

His family

His ancestor Mian Hayat was a civil servant of the last Mughal leader Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi and he emigrated to a mountainous area in Hazarah after the fall of the last Mughal leader following the 1857 mutiny, as he feared being arrested by the British rule. His son Imamudin, the grand father of Shaykh AbdulHameed, joined the Jama’at of Muhajideen of Shah Isma’eel Dehlwi and Syed Ahmad Barailwi. Shaykh Imamdudin became a religious scholar in their company and Imamudin’s son AbdulHaq, the father of Shaykh AbdulHameed also was a religious scholar.

Shaykh AbdulHameed was born in the village of Makol Bala near Kala Bagh Nathiya Gali in 1934. Six years after in 1940 his grand father Shaykh Imamudin passed away and 9 years after his father Shaykh Abdul Haq passed away in 1943. There was no school in this village and Shaykh Abdul Hameed had learnt primary knowledge from his father.

His studies and teachers

At this time Shaykh Muhammad Deen Mujahid, a student of Sufi Abdullah, was the Imam and Khateeb of the village. Sufi Abdullah was the founder of Dar Al-Ulum Odhanwala and Jamiyah Ta’lim Al-Islam in Mamun Kanjan. So Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi went to OdhanWala (in the suburb of Faisalabad) and joined the Dar Al-Ulum in 1944, and he joined the first class, he was behind the other students in Persian and Arabic, but with efforts he reached their level, rather went ahead of them.

Among his teachers there:

Shaykh Muhammad Sadiq Khalil, from whom he learned in the first year.
Shaykh Muhammad Ishaq Cheemah, from whom he learned Fusul Kubra and other books.
Peer Muhammad Ya’qub Jehlumi, from whom he learned Jami Tirmizi.
Shaykh Muhammad Ata’ullah Haneef Bhujiyani, from whom he studied Sunnan Nasai.
Shaykh Muhammad Ya’qub Malhawi from whom he studied Sahih Muslim.
Hafiz Abdullah Budhimawli, from whom he studied Sunan Abi Dawud and Sahih Al-Bukhari.

His teaching and students

Shaykh AbdulHameed Hazarwi studied for 6 years in OdhanWala and graduated there in 1950. Sufi Abdullah seeing his excellent qualities and knowledge appointed him as teacher of Dar Al-Ulum OdhanWala, and Shaykh Abdul Hameed taught there for a year and sought permission from Sufi Abdullah to return to Hazarah as he is more needed there. Hence Shaykh AbdulHameed Hazarwi started to teach in a Madrasah in the village of Jhangra but this Madrasah stopped after a year so he went to another village nearby Riyala where he taught in a Madrasah for 5 years.

Afterwards he went to teach to Gujranwala to teach in Madrasah Muhammadiyah at the end of 1955 as Shaykh Isma’eel Salafi was looking for good teachers and he was informed of Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi’s qualities so he went to visit him after a conference in Kala Bagh and invited him to teach in his Madrasah in Gujranwala. There were 2 teachers at the time in Madrasah Muhammadiyah, Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi and Shaykh Abdullah and Shaykh Abdullah established his separate Madrasah afterwards. After the death of Shaykh Isma’eel Salafi in 1968, Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi and Shaykh Abdullah joined their Madrasah and established it as Jamiyah Muhammadiyah which is now a large Jamiyah on GT road, and Shaykh Abdul Hameed has been teaching there since the end to 1955 to his death in 1920.

The Shaykh started to teach in 1950 in Odhanwala and passed away in 2020, so he taught exactly 70 years during which he had a great number of students, we count among his preeminent students:

In Odhanwala: Shaykh Muhammad Ali Janbaz (author of “Injaz Al-Hajah Sharh Sunnan ibn Majah”), Shaykh AbdulGhafoor Nazimabadi.

In Gujranwala:

Hafiz AbulMannan Nurpuri
Dr Fadh Ilahi
Shaykh Abdul Aziz Haneef
Dr Abdul Karim (General secretary of Markazi Jamiat Ahl e Hadith Pakistan)
Shaykh Muhammad Shareef Jangwani (markaz ibn Al-Qasim Al-Islami Multan)
Hafiz Muhammad Shareef (Faisalabad)
Hafiz Abdullah (Loko Workshop MughalPurah Lahore)
Hafiz Muhamamd Ameen (principal of Dar Al-Ulum Taqwiatul Islam Odhanwala)
Shaykh Zulfikar Ali (Shariah College Iqbal Town Lahore)
Hafiz Farooq Ar-Rahman Yazdani (teacher Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad, Editor Tarjuman Al-Hadith)
Shaykh Muhammad Javed Sialkoti
Hafiz AbdulGhaffar Ropuri, Nazim Jamiyah Quds Lahore.
Hafiz AbdulWahhab Ropuri, teacher Jamiyah Quds Lahore.
Shaykh Abdul Hay Abid, Shaykhul Hadith Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Aam Khas Bagh Multan.
Hafiz AbdulKarim, previous Shaykh Al-Hadith Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Khanpur
Hafiz Muhammad Rafeeq, teacher Aam Khas Bagh Multan

His knowledge and qualities

With his teaching Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi was also a great Mufti who was trained by Shaykh Isma’eel Salafi and Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi, who when he was a young teacher, would verify his Fatawa, and Hafiz Gondalwi would sign them. In 1969, he had also started giving Khutbah in a Masjid in Gujranwala in which he continued the rest of his life.

Shaykh Abdul Hameed Hazarwi was a very compassionate and soft hearted teacher and the students would respect him immensely. He would pay a great attention at their studies and he would teach younger students of first classes as well as last year students to whom he would teach Sahih Al-Bukhari.

His death

Shaykh AbdulHameed Hazarwi, an ocean of knowledge, passed away on the 9th May 2020, his funeral prayer was prayed in Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Gujranwala with a great crowd of scholars, students and laymen.

Source: Adapted from “Chamestan Hadith” iz Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti

Note: Shaykh Abdul Hameed, who is Imam in Margate Kent, and Hafiz Shahid Mahmood (Umm-ul-Qura Publications) were also among the students of Hafiz Abdul Hameed Hazarwi.