TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

Ramadan of the Elderstarāwīĥ in Masjid Ibn ‘Abbās during the first days of Ramadan butas the route to the masjid was dangerous, Ĥađrat put himself inserious danger by going to the masjid.Then an incident occurred one night. He had just prayedMaghrib and began the voluntary śalāt, and darkness had comeover when the Bedouins attacked a Turkish garrison [near themasjid]. A small squadron of Turkish troops was standing guardon the minarets and roof of the masjid and a few lay behind thebarracks at the entrance of the masjid. The battle between the twowas fierce and heavy firing continued for several hours. The insideof the masjid was also pockmarked with bullet holes. People stuckin the masjid huddled in one corner to protect themselves fromstray bullets. Tarāwīĥ was not held on that day except for somemen who gathered for ‘Ishā and prayed in one corner. When thefiring stopped and the situation calmed down, they rushed home.After that, his devotees begged him not to go to Masjid Ibn ‘Abbāsand to pray in congregation in the neighborhood masjid next towhere he stayed. Therefore, Ĥađrat prayed all five śalāt in the localmasjid throughout the remainder of Ramadan.This year tarāwīĥ was prayed with Surāt al-Fīl. After that,Ĥađrat stayed in the masjid praying voluntary śalāt throughoutthe night until seĥr. Maulwī Udhair Gul and I [Shaikh ĤusainAĥmad Madanī] prayed voluntary śalāt in the same masjidindividually. Since it was summer, the time of seĥr came quickly.We returned home and cooked seĥr [sweet rice most of the time]but as there was no sugar we used honey in the rice and tea. Whenwe made rice we filled it with camel meat. Due to the conditions,it was difficult to get hold of rice and chappatti, and we wereforced to pay eight times the price for chappatti. One of thebusinessmen of Dehli, al-Hāj Harūn, sent some premium qualityrice as a gift for Ĥađrat, which helped us through. During thattime [about two months], we spent some twelve ashrafī becauseof our situation.Ĥađrat al-Hājj Syed Aśghar Ĥussain Miāń Deobandī writes inSawāniĥ Shaikh al-Hind:131