TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

the ramadan of shaikh muĤ ammud zakariyyĀShaikh ‘Ashiq Ilāhī writes in Tadhkirat al-Khalīl:Once at my request he came to Mīrat to recite the Qur’an intarāwīĥ. I saw that whatever he was doing throughout the dayhe was reciting the Qur’an simultaneously and in this mannercompleted one Qur’an daily. When the time of ifţār came, youheard him reciting the last Sura, Sūrat al-Nās. When he steppedoff the train it was ‘Ishā time. It was his habit to be in the stateof ablution all the time. When he entered the masjid, he walkedstraight to the place where the imam led, recited ten part in threehours smoothly and without any mistakes, without stumbling orany confusion between two assimilated ayas, as if he was recitingfrom the Qur’an clearly and calmly. He finished on the third dayand returned to Sahāranpūr. There was no need for a listener or torecite it with anyone else.Another thing my father mentioned about this journey was thatsome of the people of Mīrat told him that when people learned aĥāfiż is arriving from Sahāranpūr to finish the Qur’an in three days,thirty to forty ĥuffāż stood behind him in tarāwīĥ to test him.My father never caught a ‘fever’ like myself in the monthof Ramadan. He went whenever his friends insisted, completedthe Qur’an in two or three days in tarāwīĥ and returned toSahāranpūr. Once, he went on the request of Shāh Zāhid Ĥussain,the mayor of Bahit, led tarāwīĥ in his house, and completed theQur’an in two days. I also remember him going to the NawābWalī Masjid in Qisābpūra, Dehli for tarāwīĥ. Once, MaulwīNaśīr al-Dīn was leading tarāwīĥ in Ĥakīm ‘Ishāq’s masjid whenmy father walked in [he had just returned from a long journey].Naśīr al-Dīn was on the 14th part and the listener was correctinghim repeatedly. In the state of ablution, he walked into themasjid, asked Naśīr al-Dīn to move from the imam’s place andcompleted 16 part in 16 rak‘as. The prayers in the back were certainlyexhausted and irritated but their joy over the completionof Qur’an did away with everything. They all forgot they wereexhausted when they realized the Qur’an was completed on the12th of Ramadan.160