Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam’s trip to Yemen

Posted by Hamza Isa

Mar 6

Extracts from Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam’s personal account of his trip to Yemen: (LINK)

Habib Umar informed me how he spent some time in India with the Jama’ah Tabligh. He said, his father Shaykh Abu Bakr ibn Salim had close links with the head of the Jama’ah Tabligh in India, Shaykh Muhammad Yusuf al-Kandahlawi (Allah (SWT) have mercy on them both). He said his father was also in contact with the great Muhaddith of the Subcontinent, Shaykh Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandahlawi (Allah (SWT) have mercy on him). The meeting ended with me gifting Habib Umar some books, including the two volume Hadith text of I’la al-Sunan by Imam Zafar Ahmad Uthmani

He [Shaykh Habib Ali] mentioned to me how his teacher Habib Umar’s father had close contacts with the Ulama of Deoband. He said Habib Umar’s father, Shaykh Abu Bakr ibn Salim, was very close to the Amir of Tabligh in India, the late Shaykh Yusuf al-Kandahlawi, the author of Hayat al-Sahaba (Allah (SWT) have mercy on them both). He stated that when Shaykh Yusuf was compiling his masterpiece work, Hayat al-Sahaba (Lives of the Companions), Shaykh Abu Bakr was with him and actually took the honour of compiling the index for this auspicious work. The edition with Shaykh Abu Bakr Salim’s writing is still in existence, Habib Ali said. Habib Ali also mentioned that Shaykh Abu Bakr ibn Salim was a friend of Shaykh Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandahlawi (Allah (SWT) have mercy on him), and that Habib Umar himself travelled to India with the Jama’ah of Da’wa and Tabligh some years ago.

Sayyid Habib Ali (may Allah (SWT) preserve him) also advised me on the roles and responsibilities of young Ulama in the West. He stressed the importance of teaching the younger generation as to how they should treat non-Muslims and how their behaviour should be towards them. We also talked about some other issues.

Shaykh Habib Ali Zain al-Abideen ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Jifri (may Allah (SWT) preserve him) gave a wonderful lecture in clear and eloquent Arabic (without any running translation) that carried on for around an hour. Thereafter, he answered some written questions forwarded by the students and with that, the session came to an end. After Dua, students were crowding around Habib Ali in order to shake and kiss his hands. Masha Allah (SWT) , these students really knew how to respect and revere their esteemed teacher!

Read the article in full: 10 Days in the Blessed Lands of Yemen (A personal account by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari on his recent trip to Yemen)