Posted by: Friends of Deoband | November 29, 2011

Allamah Zahid al-Kawthari’s Praise of ‘Allamah Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri and his services to Islam

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيم 

In Maqalat al-Kawthari, one article is devoted to showing the misguidance of the Qadiyanis. Towards the end of the article, ‘Allamah Zahid al-Kawthari (1879 – 1951) only mentions ‘Allamah Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri (1875 – 1933)‏ and his associates, Mawlana Murtada Hasan al-Chandpuri (1868 – 1951) and Mufti Shafi‘ al-‘Uthmani (1896 – 1976), as those who defeated the Qadiyani heresy in India in writing. Mawlana Murtada Hasan al-Chandpuri is the author of a famous book refuting Ahmad Rida Khan’s false allegations against the Deobandi scholars.

May Allah (Glorified is He) elevate the rank of the lost soul of Islam, the penetrating hadith-scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Anwar al-Kashmiri in the rooms of the Gardens [of paradise], and may He repay him with the reward of those who defended the borders of the religion of Islam, for indeed he uprooted the Qadiyanis with his irrefutable arguments, and he created a barrier before the terrible evil of the moderate of them and the extreme of them in India, by compiling beneficial books in refutation of them in various languages.

He researched in his book Ikfar al-Mulhidin the matter of anathematising them and their ilk. At its conclusion is found around seventy seven quotes similar [to the quotes] that have preceded from the writings of the aforementioned Ghulam Ahmad the false claimant to prophethood, quoting from the books of this deviant while identifying the pages from them by the selection of the eminent teacher, Mawlana Sayyid Murtada [Hasan al-Chandpuri] al-Hindi, and along with those texts are their translations into Arabic by the pen of the earnest teacher, Mawlawi Muhammad Shafi‘ al-Deobandi. Awareness of [even] one of them is enough to be certain of the speaker and his partisans having left the fold of Islam.

(Maqalat al-Kawthari, p. 271-2)

أعلى الله سبحانه منزلة العلامة فقيد الإسلام المحدث المحجاج الشيخ محمد الأنور الكشميري في غرف الجنان وكافأه مكافأة الذابين عن حريم دين الإسلام فإنه قمع القاديانية بحججه الدامغة، وحال دون استفحال شر معتدليهم ومتطرفيهم بالهند بتأليف كتب ممتعة في الرد عليهم بلغات شتى، وحقق في كتابه “إكفار الملحدين” أمر إكفار هؤلاء وأمثالهم، وفي ذيله نحو سبعة وسبعين نصًا من نحو ما سبق من عبارات غلام أحمد المتنبئ المذكور نقلاً من مؤلفات هذا المارق مع تعيين صفحاتها – بتحقيق الاستاذ الجليل مولانا السيد مرتضى الهندي- ومع تلك النصوص ترجمتها إلى العربية بقلم الاستاذ الغيور المولوي محمد شفيع الديوبندي. والإطلاع على واحد منها كاف في الجزم بخروج قائله ومشايعيه من حوزة الإسلام

While discussing the deviant belief that the Prophet ‘Isa (upon him peace) has died and will not descend, ‘Allamah al-Kawthari writes:

And in ‘Aqidat al-Islam fi Hayat ‘Isa ‘alayhi al-salam by our master, the oceanic-scholar, al-Kashmiri, is a detailed explanation of the ways the Book indicates to what the people of truth are upon, so whoever wants more detail should refer to that. (Maqalat al-Kawthari, p. 266)

وفي عقيدة الاسلام في حياة عيسى عليه السلام لمولانا الحبر الكشميري بسط القول في وجوه دلالة الكتاب على ما عليه أهل الحق فليراجعها من شاء للاستزادة

Besides ‘Aqidat al-Islam (and its commentary Tahiyyat al-Islam) and Ikfar al-Mulhidin, ‘Allamah Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri also authored al-Tasrih bi ma Tawatara fi Nuzul al-Masih in refutation of the Qadiyanis. In this book, he collected all the narrations proving the bodily descent of ‘Isa at the end of time. The book was edited and published by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah.

‘Allamah al-Kawthari also said ‘Allamah al-Kashmiri’s work on the issue of raf‘ al-yadayn is one of the best on the topic:

From the best of what was written on this topic is Nayl al-Firqadayn and Bast al-Yadayn both of them by our master, the great scholar, the deep ocean, Muhammad Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri, Allah have mercy on him. (Ta’nib al-Khatib, p. 166)

ومن أحسن ما ألف في هذا الباب نيل الفرقدين وبسط اليدين كلاهما لمولانا العلامة الحبر البحر محمد أنور شاه الكشميري رحمه الله

On specific works on hadith-proofs for the Hanafi school, he also has a book on reciting behind the imam in prayer (Fasl al-Khitab fi Mas’alati Umm al-Kitab), and another on Witr (Kashf al-Sitr ‘an Salat al-Witr); and he was also an aide to ‘Allamah Nimawi’s Athar al-Sunan to which he made further notes after the author’s death with the title al-Ithaf li Madhhab al-Ahnaf.

Finally, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah wrote in the introduction to his edition of al-Tasrih bi ma Tawatara fi Nuzul al-Masih:

Our shaykh, the researcher, al-Kawthari said: “After the shaykh, the imam, Ibn al-Humam, there appeared none equal to him [i.e. ‘Allamah Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri] in eliciting rare points of discussion from hadiths – and this is a long period of time!” (al-Tasrih bi ma Tawatara fi Nuzul al-Masih, p. 26)

وقال شيخنا المحقق الكوثري: لم يات بعد الشيخ الامام ابن الهمام مثله فى استثارة الابحاث النادرة من ثنايا الاحايث وهذه برهة طويلة من الدهر


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