A brief presentation of Hafiz Muhammad Sharif, taken from “Bustan e Hadith” iz Molana Ishaq Bhatti P 581:

Hafiz Muhammad Sharif was born in 1958 in the area of Qasur in the village of Bhanba Kalan near Rajah Jang. His father Fath Muhammad was a farmer. Hafiz Muhammad Sharif memorised the Quran in 6 months in a Madrasah in the village of Mir Muhammad which was 4 miles from his village, and this Madrasah was under the supervision of Hafiz Muhammad Yahya Aziz Mir Muhammadi and the head of its Hifz branch was Qari Siddiq Al-Hasan.

After completing the memorisation of the Quran, he started to study preliminary books of Dars Nizami from Hafiz Muhammad Yahya. Afterwards Hafiz Muhammad Sharif joined the Madrasah “Zia As-Sunnah” in Rajah Jang and studied the curriculum of Dars Nizami there.

Afterwards he went to GujranWalah and joined the famous “Jamiyah Muhammadiyah” where Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi was teaching at the time. Hafiz Muhammad Sharif studied the book of grammar “Kafiyah” and other books from Hafiz Abdul Mannan Nurpuri, he studied books of rational sciences from Molana Jumu’ah Khan. He also studied under Molana AbdulHameed Hazarwi and Molana Abdullah. He studied Sahih Al-Bukhari from Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi.

Hafiz Muhammad Sharif was gifted with a strong memory, he memorised the book of grammar “Hidayatu Nahow” in a week and “Bulugh Al-Maram” in 17 days. Likewise he quickly memorised “Mukhtasar Sahih Bukhari” and “Al-Fiyah ibn Malik” in Arabic grammar.

After studying in Jamiyah Muhammadiyah, Hafiz Muhammad Sharif joined Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad, where he studied Sahih Bukhari again from Hafiz Thanaullah Madni and also benefited from Dr Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar and took ijaza from him.

Afterwards Hafiz Muhammad Sharif was admitted to Madinah university in the Kulliyah of Hadith and he benefited there from Shaykh Abdul Fattah Al-Ashur, Shaykh AbdulMawjud, Shaykh Umar Fulatah, Shaykh AbdulMuhsin Al-Abbad and Shaykh Zia Ar-Rahman A’zami.

After returning from Madinah in 1985, he became teacher in Jamiyah Abu Bakr Al-Islamiyah and taught there for 5 years. meanwhile he obtained MA Arabic from Karachi university. Afterwards he taught in Jamiah Salafiyah Faisalabad.

On the 22 July 1998, he established in Faisalabad in Coglistan Town near Akbar Chowk an institute called “Markaz At-Tarbiyah Al-Islamiyah” which teaches for 3 years advanced books to graduates of Dars Nizammi. Hafiz Muhammad Sharif is the head of this Markaz and Hafiz Masood Alam the general secretary. Shaykh Irshadul Haq Athari also teaches there.

Among Hafiz Muhammad Sharif’s students we count:

Professor AbdurRazak Sajid.
Hafiz Muneer Ahmad Azhar, teacher Jamiya Salafiya Faisalabad.
Molana AbdulAleem (Fazil Madinah), teacher Markaz Muwaddah Derah Ghazi Khan.
Molana AbdulMajid (Fazil Madinah)
Molana Numan Lakhvi, teacher Jamiyah Rehmaniyah Lahore.
Professor AbdurRahman Nasir.
Molana AbdusSattar (Fazil Madinah) teacher Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Khanpur
Hafiz Ata ur Rahman, Saudi Embassy Islamabad.
Hafiz Uthman Muneeb, research scholar Darussalam.
Hafiz Riyaz Ahmad Aqib, Shaykhul Hadith Markaz ibnul Qasim Multan, who studied the following books from Hafiz Muhammad Sharif in “Markaz At-Tarbiyah”: Subul Salam, Sahih Bukhari, Bahith Hathith, Usul Shashi, Al-Mirqat fil Mantiq, Arba’een Nawawi, some parts of Fathul Bari.

To this list provided by Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti, I will also add Qari Zakaullah Saleem from Green Lane among Hafiz Muhammad Sharif’s students.

And I will also add that Umm-ul-Qura Publications had the privilege to publish the book “Al-Islah” of Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi, whose Takhrij was done by Markaz At-Tarbiyah Al-Islamiyah, under the supervision of Hafiz Muhammad Sharif, and with the introductions of Hafiz Salahdin Yusuf and Dr AbdurRahman Ferawai.