Muhabbat ul Deen

Allama Anwar Shah al Kashmiri (ra) was an amazing scholar of the recent past who had an amazing photographic memory.

Mujaddid-e-Millat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi says:

“When Hadhrat Shah Sahib would come and sit next to me, my heart would feel the pressure of the greatness of his knowledge” (Millat-e-Islam ki Muhsin Shakhsiaat, p. 185).

Hadhrat Shah Sahib’s knowledge was of such a unique nature that it even impressed great Ulama like Hadhrat Thanvi. Maulana Habibur Rahman Azami would always refer to Allama Kashmiri as a mobile library.

Mufti Taqi Usmani writes:

“My respected father often said that Allah had blessed Hadhrat Shah Saheb with proficiency in all types of knowledge and skills” (Akabir Deoband Kia They?, p.44).

Hadhrat Shah Saheb was such that no Earthly power could distract him from his favorite endeavor and lifelong engagement: reading and researching. After reading accounts of his life from those who were around him, it seems that he spend majority of his life reading books and extracting knowledge from them as if he had nothing else to do. However, he was not only a teacher of Hadith sciences at Darul Uloom Deoband, but the Head of all Teachers (Sadr al-Mudarris as called in Urdu); he has authored numerous books, he actively participated in the Khatme Nubuwwat Movement, served the Islamic cause in politics by his official position at Jamiatul Ulama-e-Hind and raised a family of which his two sons, Maulana Anzar Shah Kashmiri and Maulana Azhar Shah Kashmiri, are well-know for following the footsteps of their distinguished father.

Despite all these engagements, he was always found by his students in front of a book. He would never touch a book without Wudhu (Ablution) and would always sit respectfully in front of religious books. Allama Kashmiri had high respect for knowledge and books, the sources of knowledge. If a book has notes on its sides, he would move himself to read the side notes rather than moving the book. What great respect he had for divine knowledge! As a result of this tremendous reverence for religious books, Allah favored him with a matchless knowledge and unparalleled understanding.

Here Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq speaks about the many other virtues of this amazing scholar. A must listen!

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