Muhammad Zakariya Al-Kandahlawi

Muhammad Zakariya Al-Kandahlawi

Muḥammad Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad Yaḥyá ibn Muḥammad Ismā‘īl Ṣiddīqī Kāndhalawī Sahāranpūrī Muhājir-i Madanī (Urdu: محمد زکریا بن محمد يحيى بن محمد إسماعيل صدیقی کاندھلوی سہارنپوری مہاجر مدنی‎;‎ 2 February 1898 – 24 May 1982) was a Deobandi Hanafi Islamic scholar from India, particularly known as a scholar of hadith, and an influential ideologue of Tablighi Jamaat, the missionary and reform movement founded by his uncle, Maulana Muhammad Ilyas. The writings of Zakariya constitute much of the group's basic reading material in the form of Faza'il-i A`mal. Originally composed in Urdu but translated into several languages, Faza'il-i A`mal contains several of his treatises on the virtues of different subjects, including Faza'il-i Qur'an (Virtues of the Qur'an), Faza'il-i Ramazan (Virtues of Ramadan), and Faza'il-i Namaz (Virtues of Salah). Also notable among his works, which number over one hundred, are Awjaz al-Masalik, an Arabic commentary in six volumes on Imam Malik's Muwatta, and Khasa'il-i Nabawi, an Urdu translation and commentary on Imam at-Tirmidhi's Shama'il.

Zakariya was born at Kandhla in 1898, the son of Maulana Muhammad Yahya. He spent ten years in Gangoh, where he attended his father's madrasah. In 1910, he moved to Saharanpur to study at Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur, a madrasah closely affiliated with Darul Uloom Deoband, the birthplace of the Deobandi Islamic revivalist movement in India. He learned hadith from his father and from Maulana Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri. After graduating in 1915, he secured a position as a teacher at the school.

Zakariya was also a prominent Sufi shaykh of the Sabiri-Imdadi branch of the Chishti order. He was a khalifah (spiritual successor) of Maulana Saharanpuri, who initiated him in the Sufi path in 1915 and gave him permission to intitiate others in the four major tariqas (Chishtiyah, Naqshbandiyah, Suhrawardiyah, and Qadiriyah) in 1925.

He taught at Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur from 1916 to 1969, becoming well-known by the title "Shaykh al-Hadith", a title given to him by his shaykh, Maulana Saharanpuri, for his extensive knowledge in the field of hadith. After he stopped teaching due to developing cataracts, he focused on the spiritual training of his numerous disciples. In 1973, he permanently migrated to Medina, Saudi Arabia, where he died in 1982.