TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

Chapter FiveIn these first few years at Sahāranpūr, Ĥađrat did not performi‘tikāf but as has been mentioned previously, spent most of histime reciting Qur’an at his home, [kacha ghar] only leaving thehouse for the obligatory śalāt and Sunna. There were few murīdsand devotees around him at the time since Ĥađrat did not takepeople in bai‘a [pledge]. Instead, he sent whoever wished to takebai‘a with him to Shaikh Madanī or Ĥađrat Raipūrī, as he didwhen they came for i‘tikāf. Despite his efforts to send everyoneoff to Shaikh Madanī and Ĥađrat Raipūrī some people insistedon staying in Sahāranpūr with Ĥađrat, who then advised them tospend all their time in the masjid. Thus, they devoted all their timeto worship in the masjid, except for the gathering after ‘Ishā withĤađrat, which was the only opportunity they had to meet withĤađrat in the day.He once said in the Ramadan of 1390/1970:About 25 years back, the first people to come for Ramadanwere Shaikh ‘Abd Allāh Kursīwala and Pehlwān. Aside fromthem, the few others that came commuted between theirhomes and Sahāranpūr and did not actually reside here.Altogether, we would have about 25-30 people in Ramadanin those days.An AnecdoteOne can imagine the amount of time Ĥađrat devoted to worshipduring the month of Ramadan by the following incident, asnarrated by Ĥađrat in his Āp Bītī:My close friend, Ĥakīm Ţayyib Rāmpūrī [the father ofanother of my close friends Shaikh ‘Āmir] came to visit mefrequently in those days. He came for a very short time andwas good at providing quick rundowns of the latest news, sohe was allowed to visit whenever he wished.Once, in Ramadan he came at 8 or 9 a.m. He said to MaulwīNaśīr,17