A Life of Servitude to The Book of Allah, Shaikh Khaleel-ur-Rehman Al-Kashmiri.

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The best of you are those who learn The Quran and teach it”. (Al-Bukhari,5027)

Allah has preserved His Book by selecting some of His fortunate slaves to memorize, study and teach The Quran to the next generation. The successful Muslims are the individuals who have spent their lives serving The Deen of Allah in one way or the other. And the best of those like the Prophet ﷺ said, in truth is, the one who serves The Book of Allah.

One such gem from the gems in The Ummah was Shaikh Khaleel-ur-Rahman Al-Kashmiri Rahimahullah.

Let us read a short biographical sketch of his life as narrated by the famous Islamic historian of Kuwait, brother Shaikh Abdul Azeez Al-Uwaiyyid Hafidhaullah.

” Muhammad Yousuf Seedhi, was a Sikh who accepted Islam, and his family abandoned him for that.

He was a rich businessman, and he planned to start a center for studying and teaching The Quran.

In 1380 H, he travelled to Makkah, to get teachers. His travel coincided with Ramadan and on one night of Ramadan, the Imam of Masjid ul Haram, Shaikh Abduz Zahir Abu Samah, was on leave for Isha and Taraveeh prayers, due to some illness.

So the Imam of the silent prayers (Dhuhr and Asr) lead the Salah and he made many mistakes in his recitation, perhaps due to stage fear or some reasons, and Allah knows the best.

So Muhammad Yousuf Seedhi, thought that it was more necessary to start a Center for Quran in Makkah, he discussed with the Ulama and the businessesmen of Makkah and they agreed to his plan.

He returned to India and went to Kashmir, to meet some Ulama and students of knowledge. One of them was Shaikh Hafidh Khaleel-ur-Rehman Al-Qari who was only 23 then and was an excellent Qari.

The Shaikh Khaleel rejected initially as he wanted to continue his Talab-ul-Ilm and planned to go to Al-Azhar to seek knowledge. And he was nervous to teach in Makkah. So Muhammad Yousuf Seedhi spoke to him, and persuaded him, from Asr Salah that day to Fajr on the next day. And the Shaikh agreed at last and he travelled to Makkah and he established a Markaz with Muhammad Yousuf Seedhi and the assistance of the famous businessman Muhammad bin Laden.

Later, this Markaz was shifted to Madinah. The branches of this Markaz, Jamiyyat Al-Khairiyyat Li-Tahaffuz Al-Quran, spread throughout The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Shaikh Khaleel was born in Kashmir in 1940 CE, and he learnt from the Ulama of Kashmir, Quran and other Islamic Sciences.

When he met Shaikh ibn Baaz Rahimahullah, he asked his name, and he replied ‘Khaleel-ur-Rehman bin Abdur Rahman’, so the Shaikh said (correcting him),”No you are Khaleel bin Abdur Rahman”.

[ Shaikh Ibn Baaz perhaps didn’t like the name Khaleel-ur-Rehman(close friend of Ar-Rahman) and considered such a name self praise, hence he named him only ‘Khaleel'(friend)]

And in the span of time, Shaikh Khaleel, started many institutions in Saudi Arabia,and other countries. He spent 53 years teaching the quran in Masjid An-Nabawi.

And Allah blessed him to witness, before his death,that many of his students became Imams at the Haramain (Makkah and Madinah). Some of them were, Muhammad Subayyil, Ali Jabir, Muhammad Ayyub and his own sons Ahmad Al-Qari and Muhammad Khaleel.And a lot of Imams of other Masaajid and other centers around the world.

Shaikh Muhammad Ayyub, was with Shaikh Khaleel since he was 12 years old and Shaikh Khaleel raised him and brought him up till he became the Imam of Masjid An-Nabawi in 1401.

Whenever Shaikh Khaleel, travelled abroad he would listen to the recitations of Muhammad Ayyub or any of his other students and correct them and pray for their good by calling them.

Once an interview was conducted by Muhammad Ayyub and he was asked about the beginning of his relationship with The Quran. So he said that,”I memorized the Quran in the Masjid bin Laden in Makkah at the hands of Shaikh Khaleel”. Seeing this interview, the wealthy bin Laden family contacted Shaikh Khaleel to give him whatever he asked for. Shaikh Khaleel refused the offer by saying ‘Alhamdulillah whatever Allah gave me is sufficient for me’. Upon their persuasion Shaikh Khaleel took the help of that family to establish another institute of the Quran.

Once the former president of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq, did Umrah and prayed behind Shaikh Ali Jabir in Masjid ul Haram in Makkah. After the Salah he greeted the Imam and asked him about his teachers,’Who taught you the Quran?’. He said ‘Shaikh Khaleel Al-Qari’.

Then Zia-ul-Haq went to Madina and met Shaikh Khaleel and requested him to supervise a Madrasa of Quran in Pakistan.The Shaikh Khaleel agreed to that and the President brought a vast land in Islamabad (the capital of Pakistan) close to the Jamiah Malik Faisal Mosque and the center was established.

Shaikh Umar Fullata, an Aalim in Madinah, met Shaikh Khaleel and said that many a times many of our students in Jamiyyah Islamia Madinah recite the Quran nicely in the exams,so we’d ask them where did you learn the Quran, and all of them would answer ‘Shaikh Khaleel’.

Once an Ameer(Prince) called Saud bin Muhammad bin Abdul Azeez met Shaikh Khaleel, and requested him to be an Imam in the palace of Malik Khalid Rahimahullah, who was the ruler of Saudi Arabia at that time. But Shaikh Khaleel refused and he said that, he would send one of his students Ali Jabir, who later on became the Imam of Masjid ul Haram in Makkah.

Shaikh Hassan bin Abdullah Aalus-Shaikh was the education minister in Saudi Arabia, he was very fond of Shaikh Khaleel, and he once said that, ” Shaikh Khaleel you have filled our country with light, with your projects of The Quran (establishing Quran centers)”, whatever project you want to start I am ready to fund you.

Shaikh Khaleel Al-Qari said that the best and one of the most virtuous thing that the education minister,Hassan bin Abdullah, did was that, he made it a rule that whenever there were two(or more) candidates competing for a particular post, the one who had memorized more Quran and would recite it better would be given a preference(and be selected). Ans this is from honouring the Quran.

Shaikh Khaleel passed away on the 23rd of Dhul Hijjah 1439. ”

(End of the narrative of Shaikh Abdul Azeez Al-Uwaiyyid)

We ask Allah to expand his grave and forgive him and grant him and his students Jannat-ul-Firdaws, and we also ask Allah to grant Jannah to all those who assisted him in his endeavours towards memorization and preservation of the Quran.

(Source: As narrated by Shaikh Abdul Azeez Al-Uwayyid, a historian from Kuwait, in a YouTube video, and translated by Ustadh Sajid bin Shareef Al-Malibari. Only the most important portion in the video has been translated.)

-Transcribed and edited by Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna, teacher of Islamic Studies in Madrasatul-Huda Al Islamiyyah.

(Reposted after slight modifications)

Question) With respect to the incident of Al-Isra-wal-Miraj, there is a narration from Ummul Mumineen Aisha (رضي الله عنها) saying: “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul”, what is the authenticity of this narration?

Answer:

All Praises and Thanks be to Allah.

This narration has been narrated by Muhammad bin Ishaq who said: “It has been narrated to be from some of the Aal-Abi Bakr (family of Abu Bakr) that Aisha said: “”I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul” “.

Also refer to As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah of Ibn Hisham (2/46).

Also from the route of Ibn Jareer At-Tabari in his Tafseer (14/445, 22175), and was also mentioned by Qadhi Iyadh in As-Shifa (1/147).

And this is a weak narration not proven from Aisha and some of the Ulama (scholars) ruled it as being Mawdu (fabricated).

As Shaikh Al-Aluwwi As-Saqqaf said in his Takhreej Al-Ahadith Adh-Dhalal (p.229):”Daif (A weak narration), narrated by Ibn Ishaq with a Munqati (broken) chain”. End quote.

And similarly it was narrated from Muawiyah and it was declared weak by Al-Albani, as he weakened the narration of Aisha and said :”Such is not authentically proven from both of them.” End quote from ‘Checking of Sharh Aqeedah At-Tahawiyyah'(p.246).

And Shaikh Muhammad Rasheed Ridha said: ” And (it may be such that) you found two narrations from Aisha and Muwaiyah, that they both understood that Al-Isra-wal-Merah did not occur by the blessed body of the Messenger ﷺ and from them both are two narrations which are not needed (required) by the people of knowledge in Hadith, and it was narrated by Ibn Ishaq in his Seerah, and he said,”It has been narrated to be from some of the Aal-Abi Bakr (family of Abu Bakr) that Aisha said: “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul””(End of Ibn Ishaq’s statement), and verily these two narrations are weak and they don’t have authentic chains, and I (Rasheed Ridha) searched for a discussion on them and I didn’t find a chain for them othen than those narrated by Ibn Ishaq.

As for the narration of narration of Muawiya, it is Munqati (broken in chain), because the narrator Yaqub bin Utbah bin Al-Mugheera bin Al-Akhnas did not meet any Sahabi (Companion) and he only narrated from the Tabain (successors of the Sahaba), and he died in 128H, and Muawiyah died in 60H.

And the Hadith(narration) of Aisha is as you’ve seen, there is no chain for it, as for the statement of Ibn Ishaq that: ” It has been narrated to me by some of the Aal-Abi Bakr (people of the family of Abu Bakr)”, this shows ambiguity on behalf of the narrator, as he (Ibn Ishaq) doesn’t know who narrated to him from them (Aal-Abi Bakr).Was he (the narrator) trustworthy or not? And did he (the narrator) meet Aisha or not?

And thus both narrations are of Munqati (broken) chains, with unknown narrators, and the people of knowledge do not need such Ahadith!

End quote from Majallah Al-Manar (49/14) from Ash-Shamela (software).

And there is a variation in the wordings of the narration of Ibn Ishaq, in some of them (we find), ‘Ma Faqadtu’, with Ta Mutakallim, which means ‘I never found (the Prophet ﷺ absent)’, and in some narrations of Ibn Ishaq (we find), ‘Ma Fuqida’, in the F’al Majhul, which means ‘Never was the body of the Prophet ﷺ found absent’.

If the first version of wordings is considered then it is clear that it (the narration) is a plain lie and false speech ,because Al-Isra-wal-Meraj happened before the Hijrah (Migration to Madinah), and the Prophet ﷺ consumated his marriage with Aisha after his migrantion to Madinah, so how can Aisha (supposedly) claim that, “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent”!?

Similarly Salihi Rahimahullah in his Sabeel-ul-Huda War-Rashad (3/101) says: “In the manuscript of Seerah (Ibn Ishaq) I saw ‘Ma Fuqida (Fa’l Majhul)’ only, but in Qadhi Iyadh’s book Ash-Shifa I saw ‘Ma Fuqidtu’, i.e. Ta Mutakallim.” End quote.

After this Salihi (3/103) says: “With regards to the Athar (narration) attributed to Aisha about Al-Isra, there is not a single chain about it that reaches the level required to become a proof, and with respect to the chain that is available, it is broken and has unknown(Majhul) narrators, as I’ve mentioned before.”

Also Abu Khattab bin Dahiya mentions in his book ‘At-Tanveer’ that: “This Hadith is fabricated”.

Similarly he has mentioned in his summarized book ‘Minhaj’ that: “The Imam of the Fuqaha of the Shafii Madhab Imam Qadhi Abu Abbas Sareej says: “This narration is not authentic, actually this Athar (Narration) has been fabricated only so that it opposes the authentic Ahadith” “.

End of Shaikh Salihi’s Quote.

Imam ibn Abdil Barr Rahimahullah said:

” And (the saying that) Aisha (رضي الله عنها) rejected that Al-Isra didn’t occur by the body (of the Prophet ﷺ): It is not authentically reported from her and not proven to be her statement (it was reported that she said), “I never found the Prophet ﷺ absent, he ﷺ was made to travel in Al-Isra-wal-Meraj by his soul”, and like some narrated from her, “The Prophet’s ﷺ body wasn’t found absent on that night(of Al-Isra-wal-Meraj)”,and this statement is a clear lie, because Aisha was not with the Prophet ﷺ when Al-Isra occurred, but she joined him after many years in Al-Madinah”. End quote from Al-Ajwibah Al-Mustaw’abah Anil-Masail Al-Mustaghribah of Ibn Abdil Barr, Dar Ibn Affan Publishers,(134-135).

Al-Isra, the night journey of the Prophet ﷺ occured by his soul and body as is mentioned in the Fatawa no: 84314.

(https://islamqa.info/ar/answers/84314/الرد-على-من-زعم-ان-الاسراء-والمعراج-خرافة)

End of the Fatwa from islamqa.info

[The question above was posed to islamqa.info, the website run by Shaikh Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajjid Hafidhahullah, and the answer was only available in the Arabic language. It has been translated into the English language for the benefit of sincere students of The Seerah of The Prophet ﷺ and his Sahaba (رضي الله عنهم). Any mistakes in the translation are to be attributed to the translator alone,and rectifications in this regard will be highly appreciated, Barakallahufeekum.]

-Translated by Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna,

16th Rabi-ul-Akhir 1440

Original Arabic Source:

https://islamqa.info/ar/answers/228287/بطلان-ما-روي-عن-عاىشة-في-الاسراء-ما-فقدت-جسد-رسول-الله-صلى-الله-عليه-وسلم

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله …

[Alhamdulillah, was Salatu was Salaamu Ala Rasoolillaah]

Amma Ba’ad:

I, * bin *, of Class ***, stand before you to narrrate the story of the two sons of Adam Alaihissalaam , Habil and Qabil.

Adam Alaihissalaam, the father of humankind, had two sons called Habil and Qabil.

Acording to the scholars of Tafseer, Adam Alaihissalaam and Hawwa Alaihassalaam would have two sets of twins, a boy and a girl in the morning and a boy and a girl in the evening. It was allowed in those times for siblings to marry each other.

The boy from the morning would marry the girl from the evening and vice versa.

When Habil and Qabil grew up. Qabil wanted to marry has own sister as she was more beautiful than the other and not allow Habil to marry her. Qabil was adamant at this demand.

As a solution Adam Alaihissalaam asked both of them to offer a sacrifice to Allah, the one whose sacrifice would be accepted would marry the beautiful girl.

Qabil offered Allah a sacrifice of bad plants to Allah and Habil offered a healthy sheep. Allah accepted Habil’s sacrifice and rejected Qabil’s sacrifice.

Qabil was enraged and decided to harm his own brother. When he was about to kill Habil, Habil assured his brother that he would not kill Qabil even though Qabil wanted kill him. Qabil hit a rock on the head of Habil and killed him. Qabil became the first murderer of humanity.

Later on Qabil buried his brother after he saw a crow doing the same to a dead crow.

Qabil imitated the grave sin of murder, for which the Prophet ﷺ said, he will be punished for every one of the children of Adam Alaihissalaam who also murder another one of their kind.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said in a Hadith recorded by Imam Al-Bukhari, “No human being is killed unjustly, but a part of the responsibility for the crime is laid on the first son of Adam (who was Qabil) who invented the tradition of killing (murdering) on the earth.

Habil will be rewarded for showing patience and perseverance towards Qabil. Qabil’s jealousy and grudge against the favours that Allah bestowed upon his brother, lead him to commit the crime of murder.

Hence whenever Shaitan creates evil insinuations in our mind about another human being, we should fear Allah and stop them, lest we too fall into the crime of Qabil.

Killing an innocent human being is highly condemned in the Quran.

Allah says in the Quran:

مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا ۚ وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فِي الْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ

Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.

-Sura Al-Ma’idah, Ayah 32

Wa akhiruddawana anilhamdulillah rabbil Alameen.

سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك أشهد أن لا إله الا أنت أستغفرك وأتوب إليك.

Salamualaikum,

This is a short speech I wrote for one of my students, it has been presented here so that others can benefit In’Sha’Allah.

Download here.

Salamualaikum,

This book was translated into english from urdu for a Hadith memorization competition in our Madrasa, we have uploaded it here so that others can benefit In sha Allah.

Note: The quality of the pdf is very poor. If any Hadith isn’t from Sahih Al-Bukhari or Sahih Muslim, please cross check their authenticity, some narrations are weak in the book, and we realized it later.

In sha Allah I may post a better pdf if time permits and I make a new copy.

Download here.