Biography of Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri

Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri was born in 1920 in the village of Husaynabad which is in the suburb of Mubarakpur. Mubarakpur was an industrial centre in the district of A’zamgarh in the province of UP. His father’s name was Shaykh AbduSubhan and his grand father’s name was Shaykh Muhammad Bahadur. Shaykh Zaheerudin had 2 brothers: Nazeer Ahmad and Abdul’Ali.

Shaykh Zaheerudin read some Parah of the Quran from his mother Khadijah Begum bint Pir Hafiz Nizamudin and afterwards he read the rest from Hafiz AbdulAziz, a student of his maternal grandfather.

He studied up to primary and level of Molvi in Madrasah Dar At-Ta’lim Mubarakpur. Afterwards he joined Madrasah Faydh Aam in Maunath Bhajan where he studied up to 6^th class (of Dars Nizami). Afterwards some people advised him to join Dar Uloom Deoband so he joined this Madrasah and studied there a little time. His father was not happy with this decision, so he spoke to Shaykh Ubaydullah Mubarakpuri and decided to send his son to Delhi to join Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah. Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri thus joined this Madrasah in 1937 and studied there three years and graduated from Dars Nizami from Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah in 1940.

His teachers

1) Shaykh Muhammad Asghar (Madrasah Dar At-Ta’lim Husaynabad)

2) Shaykh Muhammad Ahmad Amlawi (Madrasah Dar At-Ta’lim Husaynabad)

3) Shaykh AbdurRahman Mubarakpuri (Author of “Tuhfatul Ahwazi”). He read Arabic grammar to him and studied some portions of “Tuhfatul Ahwazi” and obtained Ijaza from him.

4) Shaykh Ahmad ibn Husamdin, head teacher of Madrasah Faydh e Aam Mau. Shaykh Ahmad was a student of Mian Nazeer Husayn Dehlwi.

5) Shaykh Faydhullah (Madrasah Faydh e Aam, Mau). Shaykh Faydhullah was also a student of Mian Nazeer Husayn Dehlwi.

5) Shaykh Abdullah Shaaiq (Madrasah Faydh e Aam, Mau)

6) Shaykh Abdur Rahman Nahowi (Madrasah Faydh e Aam, Mau)

7) Shaykh Husayn Ahmad Madni

8) Shaykh Izaz Ali Amrohi

9) Shaykh Ahmadullah Parthabgarhi (Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah). He studied Sahih Muslim from him and obtained Ijaza.

10) Shaykh Ubaydullah Mubarakpuri (Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah), he studied Sahih Bukhari, Muwatta and Sunnan Abi Dawood from him and obtained Ijaza from him.

11) Shaykh Nazeer Ahmad Rehmani Amlawi (Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah)

12) Shaykh Ashab Ad-Din Peshawri (Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah)

13) Shaykh AbdulHaleem Sarhadi (Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah)

14) Shaykh AbdulJaleel Bastawi (Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah)

15) Shaykh Muhammad Basheer Mubarakpuri (Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah)

His teaching

After his studies, Shaykh Zaheerudin started to teach in his first Madrasah “Dar At-Ta’lim” Mubarakpur. In 1944, he went to Kako Gali (area of Agra) to teach in Madrasah Qasim Al-Ulum but he only taught there for a week and resigned from there. He went after to Madrasah Ahmadiyah Salafiyah Barbanghah but he also resigned there after 2 weeks.

In 1946, his father and mother passed away and it was the year of sorrow for Shaykh Zaheerudin Muabarkpuri. In 1948, Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri became teacher in Jamiyah Muhammadiyah in Raidarg. In 1949, his wife passed away in Husaynabad and in 1950 he married again in Raidarg upon the insistence of Shaykh Isma’eel, the secretary of Jamiyah Muhammadiyah.

After some differences with Shaykh Ismaeel, Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri resigned from Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Raidarg in 1958 after teaching there for 10 years. Afterwards Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri became teacher in Jamiyah Darussalam Umerabad in 1958 and taught in this Madrasah up to 2005 when he stopped teaching due to weakness and difficulty to walk.

As soon as he started to teach in Jamiyah Darussalam, he was given the task to teach the 4^th year class and the books: “Mishkat Al-Masabih”, “Muqaddimah ibn Khaldun”, “Nur Al-Anwar” and also some classes of the 5^th year. Afterwards he started to teach “Sunnan Tirmidhi”, “Sharh Nukhbah”, “Muqadimah ibn Salah”, “Sunnan Abi Dawud” and other books. In his life, he taught “Sunnan Abi Dawud” around 50 times and the two Sahih 10 times.

He was also given the presidency of the branch of Tamil Nadu of Jamiyah Ahl e Hadith for some time.

His readings of Hadith in different countries

After 2005 when he had to stop teaching in Jamiyah Darussalam, Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri started to conduct readings of books of Hadith. Due to the highness of his Isnad, many scholars from the world came to obtain Ijaza from him and he was invited to many countries for readings of Sihhah Sittah, Muwatta Malik and Musnad Ahmad. He also conducted many readings to scholars and students of knowledge by phone or internet. He continued attending readings of Hadith up to his death in 2017 as he was due in Malaysia for a reading (Maqra) before his death.

Shaykh Muhammad Ziad Tuklah visited India in 2005 and heard about Shaykh Zaheeurdin Mubarakpuri. He spoke to him on the phone about his Asanid and wrote about them on the forum Multaqa Ahlalhdeeth. Afterwards many students seeking higher Asanid travelled to Shaykh Zaheerudin to obtain Ijaza or read to him on the phone. It is highly possible that Shaykh Muhammad Ziad Tuklah was the cause of the fame of Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri in the Arab world due to his writing on Multaqa Ahlalhdeeth which was attended by most of the serious students of knowledge and scholars.

Afterwards Shaykh Muhammad Ziad Tuklah had the opportunity to benefit directly from Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri in Riyadh, Madinah and Doha (Qatar). Shaykh Ziad Tuklah listened to the 2 Sahih, Timridhi, Nasai and other books from Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri in readings in Riyadh, Madinah and Qatar and direct phone. Shaykh Muhammad Ziad Tuklah gifted his verification of the book “Sisilah Al-Asjad” of Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan to Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri in Riyadh and the next day, Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri read his Tarjmah written by Shaykh Ziad and was very satisfied and delighted with it. Shaykh Ziad Tuklah also wrote a biography of Shaykh Zaheerudin on the forum Alukah.net.

Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarkpuri travelled to so many countries to conduct Ijaza. He travelled to Kuwait where Shaykh Salahdin Maqbool Ahmed and Shaykh Arif Javed Muhammadi obtained ijazah from him.

In 2014, “Al-Ma’haf Al-Ulum Al-Islamiyah” in Qatar conducted a reading of Sahih Muslim, organised by Shaykh Khalid ibn Ghanim Aal Thani, who was from the Qatari royal family. In this reading, scholars from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Yemen, Shaam and India were invited. Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri and Shaykh Muhammad Israil Nadwi Salafi were invited from India, Shaykh Salih Al-Ubaid and Shaykh Abdullah ibn Hamood At-Tuwaijiri from KSA, Shaykh Mustafa ibn Ahmad ibn Hasan Al-Qadimi, Shaykh Ali Sagheer ibn Ali ibn Hasan Ahdal (Yemen), Shaykh AbdurRahman ibn AbdilHay Kettani (Morocco) and many other scholars participated in it.

Shaykh Muhammad Rashid Mumin Umri wrote: “Dr Yusuf Qardawi, despite his weak health, participated in this gathering and in his speech, he told that his participation was a cause of honour for him and he advised to conduct further readings of Hadith and requested invocation of forgiveness for himself. After his speech Shaykh Khalid ibn Ghanim at the end of the gathering introduced our honourable Shaykh to Shaykh Qardawi and made him meet him.”

Shaykjh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri travelled to the US as he was invited by Shaykh Waleed ibn Idrees Al-Menese in his Islamic University in Minnesota and many scholars and students of knowledge obtained Ijaza from Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri in the US.

Shaykh Khalid Musleh, the son in law of Shaykh ibn Utheymeen, wrote at the death of Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri: “A scholar from the scholars of the Ummah travelled to His Lord, our Shaykh the Musnid Zaheerudin Al-Athari Ar-Rehmani, and he is among my teachers. He gave me Ijazah in the six books, may Allah have forgive him and have mercy upon him”

Shaykh Muhammad Areefi wrote at the death of Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri: “The people of Hadith are the people of the Messenger (saw), even if they did not accompany him physically, they accompanied his breaths”

Dr Farhan Ubaid Ash-Shamri from Jamiyah Ihya Turath wrote: “The death of the Rabbani scholar, Al-Allamah Al-Musnid, one of the illustrious scholars of of Hadith in the Indian subcontinent”

His political views

Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri said in an interview present in the book “Shaykhul Hadith Molana Zaheerudin Athari” of Muhammad Rafee Kalori Umri:

“As for what is related to the movement of independence against English government, then the most active and strong party was Congress, and denying its services would be injustice. My father was a strong Congresi and he would participate by action in the conferences of Congress and sittings of Khilafah Committee (tr: political party which opposed sanctions against Ottomans after first world war and tried to keep Ottomans going). I WAS ALSO SINCE MY YOUTH HAVING SUCH VIEWS AND UP TO NOW I AM CONGRESI (More details of this need to be asked). All the people involved in this movement were very active. The pro active people which I met: Shaikh Abul Kalam Azad, Gandi Ji, Pundit Joharlal Nehru, Sabhash Chandar Bos and the great leader of Madras Sita Ram and Raj Gopal Achari and others”

In the same book p 83, Hafiz Muhammad Ibrahim Umri mentioned:

“On the day of independence day or Jumhuriyah day, after the rising of the flag, he (Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri) would give a short speech. On day of independence, he would, shedding light on the history of independence, mention with great passion the feats of the Muslims fighters for independence, and he would insist on students being aware of the history of India. On the day of Jumhuriyah, he would, highlighting the Indian constitution, clarify the importance of the constitution and he would say that Muslims should be aware of the Indian constitution. He would say particularly on these 2 days that it is our country, we have a part in it, we have the right to live in this country like other citizens. Protecting this country and bringing progress to it is our duty.”

His writings

Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri wrote many articles in the magazines “Mohadis” of Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah, “Al-Balagh” Mumbai, “Misbah” Basti, “Tarjuman” Delhi, “Rah I’tidal” Umerabad, “Sawt Al-Haqq” Maligaon, “Nawae Islam” Delhi and in the magazine of Jamiyah Sanabil.

His death

Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri passed away on the 14^th August 2017, Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Rajiun. His funeral prayer was led by Shaykh Abdullah Jolam in front of a large crowd. Shaykh Zaheerudin had 2 daughters from his first wife and 3 sons and 4 daughters from his second wife.

Shaykh Abdus Salam Madani post on Facebook on 20 August 2017:

My memories with my teacher sheikh Zaheeruddin Rahimahullah By Sheikh Abdus Salam al Madani Founder of Aspire College of Excellence Scholars, speakers, social workers, politicians and writers have offered their tributes to him who died at 8:20 pm on 14 August 2017. Yes he was a great scholar of Hadith, a freedom fighter etc. but his distinguished quality was the one that could be felt always in his words and practices was love of Sunnah and following the Manhaj of Salaf. I never saw him except wearing white clothes because the prophet preferred the white color over other colors for wearing and shrouding. He strongly used to reject taking pictures for any purpose, but later when mobile became common, his pictures were taken.

Once we asked him why he hasn’t registered himself as a freedom fighter so that he could get pension, award, facilities, etc. he became angry and said: “We fought for the sake of Allaah, as our religious duty, not to gain any worldly benefit.” You must know that their freedom fight was not arm struggle rather most of the fight was through protest, boycott, strike, and similar peaceful means.

He taught me Sunan al Tirmizi in 1984 before teaching he dictated his chain to all the students but he didn’t give us Ijazah, permission of narrating from him. When we requested for Ijazah he said you are not eligible for that though we got the Ijazah from other sheikhs. However, in 2005 after Maghrib I visited him in his house and he was alone, I requested him once again to grant me Ijazah, he accepted and praised me which I don’t deserve then he said I heard from Molana Hafeezur Raham Azami, (who had visited Qatar and lived with us for few months) about your work in www.Islamweb.net Subhanallah, it was astonishing me. Can you imagine their love and attachment to their children, they were having thousands of their students from all the corners of the worlds but still they try to recall each and every one and know about each and every one and make Dua for him. Yes, they were real Salafis, real follower of Sunnah.

Later on when his chain became the shortest chain in the world he was forced to give Ijazah then he became lenient and started giving Ijazah without much strictness.He used to say that leaders of India like Nehru, Gandhi and other people were wiser than others hence they wanted Muslims to be here because only Muslims are the uniting factor in India; if there were no Muslims then Indian community never live unitedly, and then used to prove his point with the facts of the history.

He used to say that before Muslims there was no India not Akhand Bharat, there were tribes, casts, groups, reginal dynasties and always fights, Muslims were the firestone who give this country as shape and map which is India and Akhand Bharat. He used to say that British always used to crush Muslims and kill them in India because Muslims took fighting British as their religious duty. Hence, the price the Muslims paid for freedom of India is far overwhelming than others. There is no single proof that Muslims ever compromise with British.

About those who call for flexibility in religion he used comment on them that they are so flexible that truth hardly exist in it. As for moderation he used to say that Islam itself is perfect and moderate any action to make it moderate basically distort it. Whenever, we complained about the bad situation of Muslims in India, he becomes angry and used to say “you are Na Mard and children of Na Mard”. May Allaah have mercy on you my Sheik

Link to Shaykh AbdusSalam Madani’s post: https://www.facebook.com/302040683300013/posts/618824941621584/

Link to Shaykh Muhammad Ziad Tuklah’s Arabic Biography of Shaykh Zaheerudin Mubarakpuri:

https://www.alukah.net/culture/0/119426/

Sources of biography: “Chamestan Hadith” of Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti, “Shaykhul Hadith Molana Zaheerudin Athari” of Muhammad Rafee Kalori Umri, Arabic biography of Shaykh Muhammad Ziad Tuklah and others.