TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

Ramadan of the Elders“I heard Ĥađrat but didn’t have the courage to say I would leadout of propriety.” Two days before Ramadan, Ĥađrat said,‘Maulwī Yaĥyā, you are a ĥāfiż too.’ I said,‘Ĥađrat, I am a ĥāfiż, but I recite in Persian [i.e. my recitationis not good-translator] and Ĥađrat is used to Ĥakīm Masūd’srecitation, who is an excellent recitor.’ Ĥađrat replied, ‘No, that’snot true. I have heard your Qur’an. Now only you will lead thetarāwīĥ. ’” My father would say,“The first day was hard. It was the first time since I became ĥāfiżat the age of seven that I opened the Qur’an to recite one and aquarter part. This is because when I became a ĥāfiż, I completedone Qur’an, reciting from it, everyday for six months continuous.”He also often said,“The first day, I recited one and a quarter part in the Qur’an. Bythe second day my fear was gone, and then I never needed to openthe Qur’an again.”The devotions of Shaikh Muĥammad Qāsim Nānautwī 63I could not find details about the devotions of Shaikh Nānautwī inRamadan, and now there is no one to help me in this matter. Onlythis much is known: that he memorized the Qur’an in the Ramadanof 1277/ September, 1860 while travelling to Ĥijāz, memorizingone part per day and saying it that same night in tarāwīĥ. ShaikhYa‘qūb Nānautwī writes in Sawāniĥ-e-Qāsmī (biography of ShaikhQāsim Nānautwī) that he departed for hajj in Jamāda al-Thānī 1277/December, 1860 and reached Makka in the last few days of Dhu al-Qa‘da/ May, 1861. After hajj, he went to Madina and returned to63 Maulānā Muĥammad Qāsim Nānautwī (1831-1879) - was the founder ofthe school of Deoband. He and Maulānā Shaikh Rashīd Aĥmad were both classmateswho studied under Maulānā Shaikh Mamlūk ‘Alī, the greatest Islamicpersonage at the time. He wrote many great philosophical books like AjwibaArba‘īn and Qibla Numā. The eight rules upon which he established Deobandand which he advised his successors to hold on to if they wished for the successof the school reveal the depth of his spirituality, understanding of human psychology,and love for the Dīn of Allah u.127