Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari

Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari was born in 1937 in Sangror (West Punjab) in the village of “Rashidah Wala”. His father’s name was Mian Qaaim Ad-Din. His lineage is: Muhammad Rafeeq ibn Qaaim Ad-Din ibn Ali Sher ibn Farido ibn Tayib. His ancestor Tayib had converted to Islam, Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq’s great grand father, Farido, had settled in “Rashidah Walah”.

Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq’s father was Ahl e Hadith like the rest of his family. Shaykh Sayid Mulla Baksh (from Ludhiyana) would come to their village to deliver lectures and the Khateeb in the village was Shaykh Ubaydullah who had studied in Dar Al-Hadith Rehmaniyah Delhi.

His studies

In 1947 after the partition as there were troubles in “Rashidah Walah”, Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq’s family came to Pakistan and settled in Jalalpur Peerwala. In 1947, Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq entered the preliminary branch of Dar Al-Hadith Muhammadiyah Jalalpur Peerwala, called Madrasah Subul As-Salam and passed his primary there. In 1949, he joined Dar Al-Hadith Muhammadiyah Jalalpur Peerwala and graduated from there in 1956.

His teachers in Dar Al-Hadith Muhammadiyah include:

1) Shaykh Sultan Mahmood Jalalpuri

2) Shaykh AbdurRaheem Aarif

3) Shaykh AbdulHameed

4) Shaykh Abdullah Muzafargarhi

5) Shaykh AbdulQadir Muhannad

6) Shaykh Muhammad Qasim Shah

7) Hafiz Kushi Muhammad

Afterwards Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari joined Dar Al-Ulum Taqwiyatul Islam (Lahore) where he studied from:

1) Shaykh Muhammad Ata’ullah Haneef Bhujiyani

2) Hafiz Muhammad Ishaq

3) Shaykh Sharifullah Khan Sawati

He also had the opportunity to benefit from Shaykh Muhammad Dawood Ghaznawi.

His teaching

In 1959, Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari went to teach in Dar Al-Hadith Muhammadiyah Jalalpur Peerwala, where he taught all his life up to his death and thus he taught 62 years.

His famous students

Shaykh Sa’eed Mujtaba Sa’eedi

Shaykh AbdusSattar Hammad

Shaykh Allah Yaar

Shaykh Idrees Athari

Shaykh AbdurRahman Cheemah

Shaykh Umar Farooq Sa’eedi

Shaykh Abu Nu’man Basheer Ahmad

Shaykh AbdurRahman Shahin

Shaykh AbdulGhaffar Awan

His writings:

1) “Daw As-Salik ala Muwatta Imam Malik” (Arabic): His short commentary on Muwatta Imam Malik. The Shaykh did Takhrij of the Ahadith, explained difficult words and explained the different opinions of jurists with giving precedence with evidences to the school of thoughts of scholars of Hadith. This book was published by Faruqi Kutub Khanah in a large volume of 665 pages.

Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari translated this book as well in Urdu and it was published by published by Athari Idarah Nashr wa Talif, with the verification of Shaykh Sa’eed Mujtaba Sa’eedi.

2) “At-Ta’liq An-Najeeh ala Mishkat Al-Masabih” (Arabic): Arabic small commentary and Takhrij of the famous book of Hadith “Mishkat Al-Masabih” in 2 large volumes of total 1295 pages, published by Athari Idarah Nashr wa Talif.

Shaykh Ata’ullah Haneef Bhujiyani had advised Shaykh Rafeeq Athari to write Arabic commentary on these two important books of Hadith taught in Ahl e Hadith Madaris.

3) “Tarjamah wa Ifadat Mishkat Al-Masabih”: Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari had started the translation in Urdu of “Mishkat Al-Masabih” with Urdu notes but after the death of Shaykh Sultan Mahmood Jalalpuri in 1995, Shaykh Rafeeq Athari became in charge of the Madrasah Dar Al-Hadith Muhammadiyah, so the writing of this book was suspended.

4) Ta’liqat upon “Al-Fiyah Al-Hadith lil Iraqee” (Arabic): Notes on this famous book of Mustalah Al-Hadith of Hafiz Al-Iraqee. Maktabah Imam Bukhari published it in 106 pages.

5) Ta’liqat upon “Isbal Al-Matar ala Qasb As-Sukar” (Arabic): Notes on the famous book of Mustalah Al-Hadith “Qasb As-Sukar” of Imam Muhammad ibn Isma’eel Al-Yamani. This book of 318 pages was published by Darusalam.

6) Urdu translation of “Minhaj Al-Muslim” of Allamah Abu Bakr Al-Jazairi, and Shaykh Rafeeq Athari also added critical notes on some matters of jurisprudence with evidences. This translation with notes was published in 788 pages by Darusalam.

7) Urdu translation of the book “Tibyan Al-Adillah fi Ruiyah Al-Ahilah”

8) Urdu translation of the book “Hidayah An-Nasik” of Shaykh Abdullah ibn Ubaid. The Urdu name of this book was “Manasik Hajj”

9) “Sharh Khutbah Hajjatul Wida’”: A book of approximately 100 pages explaining the final sermon of the Prophet (saw) at Hajj.

10) “Sultan Mahmood Muhadith Jalalpuri, Hayat, Khidmat, Athar”: A book of more than 450 pages on the biography of his teacher Shaykh Sultan Mahmood Jalalpuri, from whom many Saudi scholars such as Shaykh Muhammad Aman Jami and Shaykh Ali Shibl took Ijazah. This book was published by “Athari Idarah Nashr wa Talif”

With these books Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari wrote many epistles such as:

1) Jihad or Humare Faraidh

2) Ahl e Hadith Kon?

3) Fadhail wa Masail Ramadhan Al-Mubarak

4) Masail Qurbani

5) Namaz Parhne Ka Masnoon Tariqah

6) Janazah Parhne ka Tariqah

7) Faqahat Abu Hurayrah (rad)

8) Maqam Mu’awiyah (rad)

Shaykh Rafeeq Athari also translated the book “As-Sayf Al-Maslool” of Qadhi Thanaullah Panipati against Shia, and recently published some Arabic books of Shaykh Muhibullah Shah Rashdi

His death

Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari passed away on the 27 September 2021 after a long life spent for knowledge. Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Rajiun.

Shaykh Muhammad Rafeeq Athari had 7 sons and 5 daughters. One of his son passed away on the second day of his birth and one passed away before him.

Sources: “Dabistan Hadith” of Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti and interview in the magazine “Tafhim Al-Islam” of Shaykh Hameedullah Khan Aziz.