Muhammad Yusuf Kandhalawi - Childhood and Early Education

Childhood and Early Education

Muhammad Yusuf Saheb was born in such an environment in which the attainment of piety was the purpose of one and all. The whole family was ingrained with spirituality and nearness to Allah. It was a family of scholars, Huffaz, and Soofia. Memorizing the Quran had been the common practice of all men and women of this noble family. The women of the house used to keep themselves busy in the recitation of the Quran, optional prayer, studying of religious books and remembrance of Allah. Inside the family, there were numerous renowned scholars.

Scholars such as Muhammad Saheb, Muhammad Yahya, Muhammad Ilyas, Muhammad Ihtishamul Hasan, Muhammad Zakariyyah were all members of this outstanding family in which Yusuf Saheb was nurtured.

As a young boy, Muhammad Yusuf Al-Kandhlawi showed very early promise. Indeed, he completed the memorization of the Qur'an when he was only 10 years of age. He then completed his primary education and studied Hadith, starting with the six main authentic collections, under his father. He then undertook a more specialized study of Hadith under the distinguished scholars of Mazahir Al-Uloom, a specialized school which placed particular emphasis on the study of Hadith, and trained its students in the art of Islamic advocacy. During his attendance at this school he particularly benefited from studying under his cousin, Sheikh Muhammad Zakariya Al-Kandhlawi, one of the top scholars of Hadith in the Muslim world in the twentieth century. He graduated from this school at the age of 20, in 1355 AH.

The training and education Yusuf Saheb had at home was similar to that of the training the Muslim women in the time of Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam used to give to their children. Each women of that household was ready to give her son for the work of Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam. The stories of the companions of "Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam" had replaced the fairy tales in those homes. The lesson of the heroic freedom movement of Syed Ahmed Shaheed and Shah Ismail Shaheed had become so common in those homes, that when Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi wrote the detailed biography of Syed Ahmed Shaheed, Ilyas Saheb did not find anything new in that biography.

Yusuf Saheb memorized the Quran at the age of ten, from Hafiz Imam Khan Mewati. It was a blessing and a bounty of Allah on Yusuf Saheb that right from the very beginning, the elders of that time had great concern and interest in him. Syed Ahmed Saheb Faizabadi, the elder brother of Syed Hussein Ahmed Madni, sent an honorary degree to Yusuf Saheb commemorating his memorization of the Quran.

Khaleel Ahmed Saheb Saharanpuri, who was the Khalifah of Rashid Ahmed Gangohi and the Sheikh of Ilyas Saheb and Zakariyya Saheb had great affection for the young Yusuf Saheb. Although, Yusuf Saheb was about ten years at the time of Saharanpuri’s death, they had still shared tremendous love. Yusuf Saheb would call Saharanpuri as “abba” (father in Urdu). Once, Yusuf Saheb rejected eating the bread cooked by the servant of Saharanpuri and insisted on eating bread baked by Saharanpuri himself. Saharanpuri then went in the kitchen and cooked the bread with his own hands and fed Yusuf with his own hands as well.