TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

Ramadan of the EldersĤađrat has related his opinion on this subject in some detail. Oneof the things he mentioned is that the hadith says that Sūrat al-Ikhlāsis one third of the Qur’an, not that reciting it three times gainsthe reward of the whole Qur’an. Shāh Muĥammad ‘Ishāq made abrilliant point about this. He said that the hadith only indicates thata person gets the reward of one third of the Qur’an, meaning that byreciting it three times he gets the reward of three one thirds of theQur’an. And reciting one third of Qur’an three times does not meanreciting the whole Qur’an. It is like a person reciting ten parts threetimes; nobody is going to call this recitation of the whole Qur’an. 76All praise is to Allah u that we were able to gain some knowledgeof Ĥađrat Thānwī’s devotions for the month of Ramadan.There is a funny incident I would like to add here which hasalready been mentioned in Āp Bītī. As contemporaries, ĤađratThānwī and my father had a very open relationship and jokedwith each other quite often. I remember some of their momentstogether. Once, in Ramadan my father went as a guest to ĤađratThānwī’s. My father asked Ĥađrat, “What is your routine forifţār?” Ĥađrat replied, “Once the alarm [for ifţār] rings, I wait afew minutes for peace of mind.” On that day, many more thingswere prepared for ifţār because my father was visiting. My fatherlooked at his watch then at the sky and began eating, announcingto Ĥađrat matter-of-factly, “You can wait for your peace of mind.”All of my father’s helpers also put their hands in the food and beganto eat. Ĥađrat Thānwī and his helpers sat waiting. After one ortwo minutes, Ĥađrat commented, “By the time I get my ‘peace ofmind’ there will be nothing left.”After tarāwīĥ, Ĥađrat asked my father, “What is your routinefor seĥr?” My father replied, “I stop [eating] until I can’t tellwhether I am fasting or not [i.e. I eat to the last minute-translator][my father was exaggerating otherwise he stopped three to fourminutes before dawn- Zakariyyā].” Ĥađrat Thānwī said, “I stopone hour before dawn.” My father said, “You eat in your time I76 Ĥusn al-‘Azīz.139