Shaykh Abdul Aziz Alawi was born on the 15 February 1943 in the village Budhimal, he was the son of the famous scholar Ahmadullah Budhimalvi. His grand father was named Mian Qadir Baksh and great grand father Haji Ali Muhammad.

Shaykh Abdul Aziz Alawi was 4 years old when the partition occurred. His family moved to the village Chak N 36 in the suburb of Jaranwala in the area of Faisalabad.

After some time, his father Shaykh Ahmadullah went to teach in the Madrasah Khadim Al-Quran wal Hadith in Jhok Dadu which was established by Mian Baqir, student of Hafiz AbdulMannan Wazeerabadi. Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi passed 5 classes in governmental primary school there.

Afterwards Shaykh Ahmadullah went to Okara and Hafiz AbdulAziz passed the 6^th class in Okara and then he passed middle there.

In 1961, after studying privately he gave exam of Matric in Faisalabad and obtained first division. At that time Shaykh Ahmadullah was teacher in the Madrasah Dar Al-Quran wal Hadith in Faisalabad and Hafiz Abdul Aziz was studying in the same Madrasah. He studied there for 5 years of Dars Nizami and reached Sunnan Tirmidhi.

After passing his Matric, Shaykh Ghulam Hariri advised Shaykh Ahmadullah to send Hafiz Abdul Aziz Alawi to Islamiyah College but Shaykh Ahmadullah preferred for his son to study only in religious studies.

In 1963 Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi joined Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Okara and started to study Sahih Muslim but the the government announced the establishment of Jamiyah Islamiyah in Bahawalpur. It was before a religious Madrasah of the state of Bahawalpur named Jamiyah Abbasiyah. Once the government of Pakistan decided to turn it into an Islamic University, they announced that only those who completed Madrasah studies would be able to apply to it as there would be questions on Sahih Bukhari, Tafsir Baydawi and Al-Hidayah and they would need to pass the entry exam. Shaykh Muhammad Abduh Falah who was at the time the Shaykhul Hadith of Jamiyah Muhammadiyah in Okara advised Shaykh Ahmadullah to prepare Hafiz Abdul Aziz for the exams though he hadn’t completed Dars Nizami and didn’t study the 3 books mentioned above. More than 300 students went to the exams but only 17 were accepted and Hafiz Abdul Aziz was among them.

Among his teachers at this state University Jamiyah Islamiyah Bahawalpur, there were Shaykh Shamsul Haqq Afghani and Shaykh AbdurRasheed Nu’mani who were Deobandis.

Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti writes: “Hafiz Abdul Aziz would respect his teachers, and his teachers would also be compassionate with him. In his free time in general, he would go the the house of Shaykh AbdurRasheed Nu’mani and would read a book near him, and sometimes he would borrow a book from him to read it and take it to Dar Al-Iqamah” (“Gulistan Hadith”)

Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti also mentioned that Shaykh AbdurRasheed Nu’mani would ask Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi to lead the prayer in his Masjid, but once a bigoted person complained to Shaykh AbdurRasheed Nu’mani that why do you put as an Imam someone who kills mosquitoes in the prayer (ie does Raful Yadayn). Shaykh AbdurRasheed replied to him that for us it is not a Sunnah but for the Imam it is, so you mocked the Sunnah and should repeat your faith. Afterwards he would ask his son to lead the prayer if he saw some non regular attendees as a precaution.

After completing his studies in Jamiyah Islamiyah Bahawalpur, Shaykh AbdulAziz Alawi returned to Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Okara to complete Dars Nizami. While he was studying, Shaykh Muhammad Abduh Falah appointed him to teach Tafsir Baydawi and a book of Arabic literature to some classes.

Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi completed his Dars Nizami in 1966 from Jamiyah Muhammadiyah. He went afterwards in 1967 to Gunjranwala to study Sahih Al-Bukhari again from Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi in Jamiyah Islamiyah, and he also studied the trasnaltion of 15 Parah of the Quran from him, and also in this period he completed his memorisation of the Quran.

Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi’s teachers:

1. Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi

2. Shaykh Abdullah Verwali

3. Shaykh Muhammad Abduh Falah

4. Shaykh Ahmadullah Budhimalvi

5. Shaykh AbdulGhaffar Hasan

6. Shaykh Ghulam Ahmad Hariri

7. Shaykh AbdurRasheed Haneef Jhangvi

8. Shaykh Shamsul Haq Afghani

9. Shaykh Muaz Ar-Rahman

10. Shaykh Hidayatullah Nadwi

11. Shaykh Abdullah Amjad Chatwi

12. Hafiz Basheer Ahmad Bhujiyani

13. Shaykh Fathullah Irani

14. Shaykh Mir Zahid

15. Shaykh AbdurRasheed Nu’mani

His teaching

Shaykh AbdulAziz Alawi taught first in Jamiyah Ta’leemat in Faisalabad of Shaykh AbdurRaheem Ashraf. He taught there from 1967 to 1972.

He taught afterwards in 1973 in Jamiyah Ta’leem Al-Islam Mamun Kanjin.

In 1974 he taught for a year in Dar Al-Quran Faisalabad.

In 1975 and 1976, Shaykh AbdulAziz Alawi taught for 2 years in Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Shekhupurah of Shaykh Muhmmad Hussain Shekhupuri

In 1977, he taught again in Jamiyah Ta’leem Al-Islam Mamun Kanjin

He went in the same year 1977 to the Madrasah of Shaykh Sayid Habib Ar-Rahman Shah in Rawalpindi and taught there up to 1986.

From 1987 to 1988, he returned to Jamiyah Ta’leem Al-Islam Mamun Kanjin

Then from 1989 to the end of his life in 2024, Shaykh Abdul Aziz Alawi taught in Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad.

He taught all books of Dars Nizami in his teaching career Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Usul Tafsir, Usul Hadith, Usul Fiqh, Sarf, Nahow, Mantiq, Arabic literature, Balaghah, Ma’ani and ther subjects. In Jamiyah Salafiyah Faislabad, he would teach Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sharh Al-Aqidah At-Tahawiyah, Bidayatul Mujtahid, Al-Wajeez fi Usul Al-Fiqh and some books on Mantiq.

His famous students:

1. Dr Zahid Ashraf

2. Dr Ateeq Ar-Rahman

3. Dr Hafiz Muhammad Na’eem

4. Dr AbdulJabbar

5. Dr Iftikhar Ahmad Azhari

6. Dr Zahid Qamar Hashmi

7. Qari AbdurRazzaq

8. Qari Muhammad Shoaib

9. Hafiz Muhammad Farhan

10. Qari Hidayatullah

11. Shaykh Adeel Ar-Rahman

12. Hafiz Hafeez Ar-Rahman

13. Hafiz Maqsood Ahmad

14. Hafiz AbdulAzeem Asad

15. Hafiz AbdurRazzaq Sajid

16. Hafiz Sanaullah Zahidi

17. Qari Khalid akram

18. Shaykh Muhammad Yusuf

19. Hafiz Muhammad Aslam

20. Shaykh Habeeb Ar-Rahman

21. Shaykh Muneer Ahmad

His writings:

1) An-Nasikh wal Mansukh: This essay was written during in 1965 during his studies in Jamiyah Islamiyah Bahawalpur

2) Al-Jarh wat Ta’dil: This essay was also written in 1965

3) He composed the book “Zubtaul Bayan” of Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi during his stay in Gujranwala upon his instruction.

4) He simplified the books of Hafiz Gondalwi upon his instructions: “Ithbat At-Tawheed” and “Ibtal At-Tathlith” and established sub-chapters to them.

5) He started during his stay in Rawalpindi an explanation of the headings of the chapters of Sahih Al-Bukhari

6) He wrote an explanation of the Arabic grammar book “Al-Fiyyah ibn Malik”

7) He summarised the book “Sharh Shuzuz Az-Zahab”

8) He wrote an epistle on Triple Talaq

9) In 1988, he wrote a series of articles in the magazine “Ta’leem Al-Islam” of Jamiyah Ta’leem Al-Islam on Imam Bukhari and his Sahih.

10) He wrote a series of articles on “Mutala’ah Quran” in the magazine “Tarjuman Al-Hadith” of Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad.

11) He wrote a detailed article on the politics of Mu’awiyah (Rad) in “Tarjuman Al-Hadith”

12) A wrote an article on the status of the Wali in Nikah

13) He wrote an article on the issue of “Mafqood Al-Khabar”, when can the woman remarry when her husband is lost with no news of him.

14) He wrote an article on the Islamic system of governance

15) He wrote an article on the status of collective invocation after the prayer

16) He wrote an article on the fasting of Ashura

17) He wrote a series of articles on the order and Nazam of the Quran in the magazine “Tanzeem Ahl e Hadith” and criticised in it some views of Shaykh Ameen Ahsan Islahi.

18) He wrote an Urdu explanation of Sahih Muslim entitled “Tuhfatul Muslim” in 8 volumes published by Maktabah Nu’maniyah

19) He wrote an Urdu explanation of Sunnan Tirmidhi and also “Ilal Tirmidhi”

20) He translated the book “Wabil AS-Sayib” of Hafiz ibn Al-Qayim

21) He reviewed the book “Sharh Asma u Allahi Al-Husna” of Qadhi Mansurpuri and wrote an introduction to it

22) He translated an Arabic epistle on Imam Zuhri

23) He translated an Arabic biography of Imam Muslim

24) He wrote an introduction to the Urdu translation of “Tafsir ibn Katheer” by Shaykh Muhammad Khalid Sayf

25) He wrote an article on photography in the special number of the magazine Mohadis Lahore on photography

26) He translated the first volume of “Ighathah Al-Lahfan” of Hafiz ibn Al-Qayim

27) He reviewed the Tafsir “Nayl Al-Maram min Tafsir Ayaat Al-Ahkam” of Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan published by Hadith Publications

28) He reviewed the Tafsir “I’rab Al-Quran wa Tafsirihi” which was published under the supervision of Hafiz Muhammad Sharif

Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi was the head of the Fatwa committee of Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad and the Fatawa of this committee were written.

He also reviewed and introduced many other works

His family

Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi married in 1970, he had 6 daughters and 2 sons Muhammad Umar and Uthman.

The brothers of Hafiz AbdulAziz Alawi were also teachers. They are mentioned in the biography of Shaykh Ahmadullah Budhimalvi by Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti in “Dabistan Hadith”

His character:

He was a good Khateeb and orator, he had an excellent behaviour and was of a joyous nature, he was very humble and very desiring to help others, a great worshipper praying regularly Tahajjud.

His student Ajad Rabbani wrote: “One of the particularity in his life was that he never kept knowledge as a theory or knowledge of the books but established this knowledge in all aspects of his life, and made his actions as an example for others”

He also wrote: “The simplicity in his life would not only make his teaching successful but was also an expression of the fact that knowledge is only for the pleasure of Allah and serving humanity”

His death:

Shaykh AbdulAziz Alawi passed away on the 10-12-2024 and his funeral prayer was conducted on the 11-12-2024 with a huge gathering of scholars and students. Hafiz Masood Alam lead the funeral prayer. May Allah Ta’ala grant him Firaws Al-A’la.

He left being not only published achievements such as his Urdu explanation of Sahih Muslim but also an ocean of students in his 57 years of teaching career from 1967 to 2024. (He also taught some classes in his final years in Jamiyah Muhammadiyah Okara while he was still a student). His students are teachers in the main universities of Pakistan such as Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad, Jamiyah Salafiyah Islamabad, some in Sind, some in Khanpur and other places. Many of his students established institutes and authored many books such as Hafiz Sanaullah Zahidi and others headed organisations such as Hafiz Maqsood Ahmad who was previously the head of Markazi Jamiat Ahl e Hadith Islamabad.

Among his recent students Shaykh Amjad Rabbani (graduate Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad) is active in the organisation alulama headed by Hafiz Khizar Hayat which provides Fatawa from senior scholars of Pakistan such as Shaykh Abdussattar Hammad and others, and Shaykh Syed Abdullah Tariq (graduate Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad, completed al-Bina Al-Fikri and other courses)  is also very active in teaching in Islamabad and is the head of Ma’had Al-Imam ibn Al-Mubarak li Tarbiyah Wa Ta’lim.

Sources: “Gulistan Hadith” of Shaykh Ishaq Bhatti, and biography written by Shaykh Amjad Rabbani which is present on www.alulama.org