Shaykh Dr AbdurRasheed Azhar

His family

Before partition, Dr AbdurRasheed Azhar’s family was residing in the village “Amin Wala” in the province in Ferozpur in West Punjab.

In August 1947, his family left India for Pakistan after the partition and moved to Bahawalpur where his maternal grandparents were. There Shaykh AbdurRasheed was born on the 1^st February 1953. After some time, his family moved to the village Chak N 9-170L in Chach Watni, in the area of Sahiwal. His father was allocated an 8 acre land there (people were allocated land in Pakistan because of the land they lost in India due to the partition)

His father was farming land in India, he was the elder of his family and as his father (Shaykh AbdurRasheed’s grandfather) passed away young, Shaykh AbdurRasheed’s father had to work to support his younger brothers and sisters, hence he could not obtain an education. Shaykh AbdurRasheed’s father was poor in India and his financial situation remained the same in Pakistan.

No one was educated in his family. The first person to be educated was Shaykh AbdurRasheed Azhar’s elder brother Hafiz AbdusSattar. In India, there was a scholar Shaykh Abdullah, who was residing in their village. He was from “Jande Bage” and was thus called “Molvi Abdullah Jande Bage Wala”. After the partition, Molvi Abdullah Jande Bage Wala moved to the village “AbdulHakim” near Multan and started to teach there. When Shaykh AbdurRasheed Azhar’s father heard about it, he sent AbdusSattar to “AbdulHakim”, which was 70 miles from Chak N 9-170L. He walked this distance as they could not afford bus or another transport, and whenever his father wanted wanted to visit him, he would have to walk such a great distance. This was how he managed to get his eldest son educated.

His education

Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar was the youngest of his family, he had elder brothers and sisters. Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar memorised the Quran from Hafiz AbdulGhani Farokash in his village at the age of 11. He also self taught himself how to read and write Urdu.

Afterwards his father sent him to the Madrasah Saeediyah in Khanewal established by Shaykh Ali Muhammad Sa’eedi. Shaykh Ali Muhammad Sa’eedi was a student of Shaykh Sharfudin Dehlwi. Later Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar would marry a daughter of his teacher Shaykh Ali Muhammad Sa’eedi.

Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar studied for 4 years in Madrasah Sa’eediyah Khanewal, and after he had the option to study in either Jamiyah Ta’lim Al-Islam Mamun Kanjin or Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad. He visited first Jamiyah Ta’lim Al-Islam and went after to Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad to have a look at it. During his visit of Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad, he listened to the Dars of the Quran after Fajr of Hafiz Abdullah Budhimalvi and was so much affected by him that he opted to join Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad. He joined Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad in 1969 and graduated from it 4 years later in 1972.

His teaching

After graduating, Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar taught for 7 years in different Madaris, first in Jamiyah Sa’eediyah Khanewal and finally in Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad. He established the branch of Tasnif and Ta’lif of Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad under the instruction of Mian Fazal Al-Haqq and Hafiz Sanaullah Madni.

His studies in Madinah

In 1980, Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar was accepted in Madinah University where he studied for 4 years. He studied there from Shaykh Hammad Al-Ansari, Shaykh AbdulMuhsin Al-‘Abbad, Shaykh Abu Bakr Al-Jazairi, Shaykh Atiyah Saalim, Shaykh AbdulQadir Shaybah Al-Hamd, Shaykh AbdurRauf Labadi, Shaykh Muhammad Hamad Al-Waaili

His further degrees in Pakistan

After Madinah, Hafiz AbdurRasheed did MA Islamiyat exams privately from Punjab University and obtained first division.

Afterwards he did his PHD on comparing the “Tafsir Al-Mazhari” of Qadhi Sanaullah Panipati and the “Tafsir Fathul Bayan” of Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan Bhopali. His Maqalah of Phd of around 1000 pages in Arabic was entitled “Ad-Dirasah Al-Muqaranah Bayna At-Tafsir Al-Mazhari wa Fath Al-Bayan”

He completed his Phd in 96-97 but obtained the degree 5 years later. It was first sent to some scholars in KSA and Qatar. The reports from there came late, so it was sent to Shaykh Sayid Muhammad Raabi Nadwi in India, hence the 5 years delay. He obtained his Phd in 2002 and became Dr AbdurRasheed Azhar.

Some of his great contributions

After 1972, he taught for 7 years in Madaris

He was the head of the Islamic Research Institute (Idarah Al-Buhuth Al-Islamiyah) of Jamiyah Salafiyah Faisalabad.

In 1978, he taught students of MA Arabic at the Oriental College Punjab University as guest teacher.

In 1987, he lectured judges more than 30 times on Usul Al-Ijtihad in the National Institute Public Administration (NIPA)

In 1994, he gave lectures alongside Madinah University teachers on Islamic Culture

In November 1997, he participated in a conference in New York

In 1999, he gave a lecture at Police College Sahalah to trainee officers on human rights.

In 2000 and 2001, he participated in Islamic conferences in the UK

In 2002, he participated in an international seminar in Indonesia on Hadith

He remained for some time the Fiqhi adviser to the Federal Shariat Court in Islamabad

He lectured many times on Radio and TV Channels

He delivered Dars at the completion of Sahih Al-Bukhari for more than 40 years.

His writings

1) In 1970, Dr AbdurRasheed Azhar wrote a biography of Shaykh Dawud Ghaznavi which was published

2) In 1971, he wrote a series of 3 articles on “Deeni Madaris ke Nisab or Tarz Ta’lim par Ek Nazar” on the curriculum of Madaris

3) In 1973, he wrote a series of 14 articles on “Ma’ishat or Akhlaq ka Bahmi Taaluq Shah Waliyullah ke Afkar ki Roshni mein” (The link between the economy and our character according to the views of Shah Waliyullah)

4) In 1974, he translated the Persian book of Shah Abdul Aziz on Usul Al-Hadith “Ujalah Nafiyah” into Arabic with his notes

5) He wrote an Arabic Maqalah of 100 large pages for his degree from Kuliyah Shariah in Madinah entitled “Al-Istislah fi ash-Shariah Al-Islamiyah”

6) He corrected the Urdu translation of the Quran of Shaykh Fatih Muhammad Jalandari entitled “Fath Al-Hameed”, and this translation corrected by Shaykh AbdurRasheed Azhar was published by KSA and freely distributed.

7) He corrected the mistakes in the published Persian translation of the Quran of Shah Waliyullah entitled “Fath Ar-Rahman”, alongside Shaykh AbdulHameed Azhar and Qari Naeem Al-Haqq Na’eem. Due to the publishers carelessness, there were many mistakes in the publication of the Persian translation and Hashiyah of Shah Waliyullah of the Quran. After the corrections of Dr AbdurRasheed Azhar and his 2 colleagues, Saudi Arabia published this Persian translation of the Quran and distributed it freely

8) He translated the Arabic book of Dr Musa Al-Musawi “Ash-Shia wa At-Tashih. As-Sira’ bayna Ash-Shia wa at-Tashayu” into Urdu under the name “Islah Ash-Shia, Ahl e Tashayu ka apne Mazhab se Tasadum ki Tarikh”. This Urdu translation was published in 1990. Dr Musa Al-Musawi called in this book Shia to reform themselves and reject false beliefs.

9) He translated “Aqidah Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah” of Shaykh ibn Utheymin

10) One of his lecture was composed and published by his student Muhammad Shabaz Hasan under the name “Shariat mein Hadith ka Maqam” in 37 pages, published by Maktabah Afkar Islami

With this, Shaykh AbdurRasheed Azhar introduced many books, and some of these introductions were so lengthy that they could be published as separate books. We count among his introductions:

a) He wrote a 108 pages introduction to “Kitab Tawhid” from Sahih Al-Bukhari of Shaykh AbdusSattar Al-Hammad

b) He introduced “Fatawa Sanaiyah Madniyah” in 84 pages speaking on Ifta and its principles

c) He introduced Qari Khalil Ar-Rahman’s book “Janib Halal” in 40 pages on Halal, Haram and banks.

d) He introduced “Dawam e Hadith” of Hafiz Muhammad Gondalwi, published by Umm-ul-Qura Publications.

e) He introduced “Rasool Rehmat (saw) or Ghayr Muslim” of Shaykh Shafiq Rahman Shahin (UK), which is also translated into English.

f) He introduced “Husul Ilm ke Zara’i” of Umm Umayr Salafi bint AbdulGhaffar Muhammadi

With this, Shaykh AbdurRasheed Azhar also pointed at some mistakes in the translation of the Quran by Shaykh AbdurRahman Kaylani in his Tafsir “Taysir Ar-Rahman”, errors in translation which he took from Molana Mawdudi’s translation of the Quran.

His Death

On the 17^th March 2012, he was martyred (Insha Allah) by unknown people, may Allah (Ta’ala) grant him Firdaws Al-‘Ala

His children

In 1973, he married a daughter of Shaykh Ali Muhammad Sa’eedi. He had 3 sons and 3 daughters who all memorised the Quran. His son Dr Hafiz Masood Azhar became a scholar and is carrying the mission of his father.

Sources: “Mere Muhsin, Mere Murabbi, Hafiz AbdurRasheed Azhar Shaheed” of Dr Hafiz Muhammad Shahbaz Hasan, and “Gulistan Hadith” of Shaykh Muhammad Ishaq Bhatti