Islamic Studies

A Weekend With Shaykh Akram Nadwi

 

Through the grace of God, the weekend of 14-15 March 2009 saw the visit of Shaykh Akram Nadwi to the north of England (may God bless him, preserve him and increase him and us through him). This was a truly blessed experience that began with a one-day course on Abu Bakr Khara’iti’s Makarim al-akhlaq wa ma’aliha in Manchester (which served as the impressive launch for the Sacred Pursuits organisation); and then followed by another one-day course in Bradford on Shaykh Akram’s Mabadi fi usul al-hadith wa’l-isnad. In addition to being blessed with the Shaykh’s company during breaks, lunch and dinner, I was led to a wonderfully insightful ‘conversation’ with Shaykh Akram that was published in the IIDR’s paper for their ‘Sirah Fest 2009’. All praise is due to God for such an inspiring weekend, and I will try and share some of the generally beneficial matters that I perceived and learnt, insha’Allah.


Before the weekend, I knew of his forty-volume Arabic collection of female hadith scholars, and his links to Shaykhs Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, Yusuf Qaradawi and ‘Abdal-Fattah Abu Ghudda, as well as being familiar with his English works: Madrasah Life: A Student’s Day at Nadwat al-Ulama, Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam, and al-Fiqh al-Islami: According to the Hanafi Madhhab, Volume 1. Also, I was aware of him being a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies. Moreover, having studied with him before, I already knew of his effective and engaging teaching style.

Yet numerous additional details of Shaykh Akram’s background were revealed to me. Firstly, the fact that Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi personally chose and sent him from his teaching post at Nadwat al-Ulama (India) to teach at the Oxford Centre, when Abul Hasan was the chairman of the latter. Secondly, that he had taken the pledge of spiritual allegiance (bay’ah) to Shaykh Abul Hasan. Thirdly, his wide travels around the Muslim world – including Hijaz, Morocco, Syria and Egypt – in search and gaining of the highest chains of transmission in hadith, from leading authorities such as Shaykhs Muhammad ‘Awwama and Nur al-din ‘Itr, among others, in addition to Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, Qaradawi and Abu Ghudda; and his connection in hadith transmission to the Ghumari family through Hasan bin Siddiq Ghumari, as well as Shaykh Wahbah Zuhayli reading hadith with him. Fourthly, some of his fascinating Arabic works, including the recording and explanation of the chains for Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi and Qaradawi, his biographies of Shibli Numani and Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, and his critical edition of Usul al-Shashi (with a foreword by Qaradawi).

Manners and Good Character

The essential teaching of the Shaykh over the entire weekend was manners and good character. This was apt bearing in mind that it is the topic of Khara’iti’s work. We covered some ahadith from the latter work on ‘encouragement of good character’, ‘softness in speech and humble submission’, ‘trustworthiness and censuring betrayal’, ‘keeping promises and the repugnance of breaking them’, ‘the virtue of treating one’s neighbours well’, ‘maintaining good family relations and being kind to them’, ‘the virtue of charity to one’s relatives’, ‘the virtue of modesty’, ‘honouring one’s guests’, honouring our elders, ‘guarding one’s tongue’, and ‘conditions of mastery over others’.

His behaviour was of noble humility – the good upbringing of the righteous and leaders. His warm and engaging personality made everyone who came into contact with him feel honoured, worthy and touched through his shining smile and friendly demeanour. His lofty virtue led him to initiate conversations with students and to put them at ease with his gracious manners and smile.

I remember saying to him over dinner how we in the West are not accustomed to the company of the scholars, and that we highly valued his frequent and involved efforts at teaching us in England. At this comment he paused in seriousness, and said how he was ashamed that people like him are considered the ‘ulama in this country. One sensed a genuine humility in this comment, and marvelled at its being held as his position; for if people like him are not really scholars, then scholarship would have to be considered dead; but by the grace of God it still lives through such men, alhamdulillah.

He stressed the importance of good character and how it is attained in Islam through faith and adherence to the law, i.e. the belief that one is a slave of God and that the means and ends of one’s character must fit the prescriptions of the Sacred Law. Furthermore, he taught how good character takes effort and needs training, unlike base character – the latter being easy like travelling downhill. For such training, he says that one needs knowledge and going to a scholar. On being asked about how one goes about improving one’s character without a scholar to train one, he recommended that one read the biographies of the righteous and that one adhere to the Qur’an and Sunnah.

I mentioned to him that I’d thought over his answer to this latter query, and I asked him whether Ibn al-Jawzi’s Sifah al-safwa might be an important book to teach in the West as a chronicle of the lives of the righteous? He agreed that this is a good book for such a purpose, but that Dhahabi’s Siyar a’lam al-nubala was a better work of this kind. Furthermore, he stated three books from the scholars that had greatly impacted him: Dhahabi’s Siyar, Ibn Taymiyya’s al-Radd ‘ala’l-mantiqiyyin and Ibn al-Jawzi’s Sayd al-khatir. For presentations on the latter two, one can consult Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi’s fascinating discussions of these major figures in his Saviours of the Islamic Spirit.

The Shaykh was not opposed to people entering the Sufic turuq if one spent time with a Master and found him to be a person of abstinence (zuhd) – obviously basing his actions on the Qur’an and Sunnah. Nevertheless, he stressed the power of the remedies of the Qur’an and Sunnah, which reminded me of ‘Abdal-Fattah Abu Ghudda’s words in his notes to Muhasibi’s Risalah al-mustarshidin that one need not necessarily join a tariqa through bay’ah; but that one could reach spiritual excellence through adhering to the Qur’an and Sunnah, by God’s permission.

Shaykh Akram’s nobility and excellence as a teacher leads him to give hope to the weak of us, and encourage us towards our Lord. When asked to choose an ayat from the Qur’an and a hadith, he chose the following in his IIDR ‘conversation’: Say: “O my servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (39:59); and ‘a person will be with whom he loves’. For the latter hadith, the Shaykh added: ‘this hadith gives a chance for a person to think that even though he is not pious, because of his love for the Prophets, and their Companions, that he has a chance to enter Paradise’.

Hadith and Scholarship

His introduction to the science of hadith was not dry and merely technical, but an extended session of light and heart-melting due to its frequent narration of actual ahadith of our blessed Master Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) with the connection of our dear Shaykh (may God bless him and his family). He began the session – as he did in Manchester – with a musalsal narration which many people would begin their teaching of hadith with; namely the ‘hadith of mercy (rahma)’ through his chain from Hasan bin Siddiq Ghumari back through such masters, among others, as Sayyid Murtada Zabidi, Suyuti, Ibn al-Jawzi, Sufyan bin ‘Uyaynah, from ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr al-As (may God be well pleased with him and his father) that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, ‘The All-Merciful (al-Rahman) – praised and exalted be He! – has mercy for those who are merciful. Be merciful to those in the earth, and He of the heaven will be merciful to you.’ Then the course began with the Shaykh’s narration of the hadith of ‘Umar (may God be well pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, ‘Actions are only by intentions…’ etc. with his own chain that was one degree higher than the chain in Sahih al-Bukhari, and two degrees higher than the chain in Sahih Muslim.

This highly informative course deepened one’s appreciation of the great science of hadith, and the mercy of God upon this Community through the blessed efforts of the masters, especially in relation to the preservation of the isnad (the mentioning of the chain of transmission). He quoted Ibn Sirin and ‘Abdullah bin Mubarak on the importance of the isnad; and from Qadi Abu Bakr bin al-‘Arabi on how God blessed this Community with the isnad, and how we would be lowering ourselves and forsaking the favour of God if we left the isnad.

Then he highlighted Hafiz ‘Iraqi’s definition of the muhaddith as one who has written, narrated, heard, preserved, travelled, and obtained the best of books of chains and history and hidden mistakes – approaching a thousand books! After finishing the lengthy quote, in which ‘Iraqi rebuked those who take on the title but do not possess its qualities, Shaykh Akram then mentioned how no one is a muhaddith now with this definition; and being a teacher of Sahih al-Bukhari does not make one a muhaddith.

Shaykh Akram warned against taking this science without the guidance of its people. He emphasised how mistakes in re-checking the classification of hadith without the necessary first-hand training can be due to making a mistake in reading something like Mizzi’s Tahdhib or Ibn Hajar’s works on the narrators (Tahdhib al-Tahdhib or Taqrib) – all essentially abridgements of ‘Abdal-Ghani Maqdisi’s al-Kamal, although Shaykh Akram did mention that Mizzi added to his own abridgement. Previous masters of hadith would know many of these names and their rulings by memory, and could often be spared the sort of oversight bequeathed through mere book checking – although, of course, they could make such mistakes or contradictions. When asked on who is now alive that can be considered a master of this discipline, the Shaykh only mentioned ‘Awwama and ‘Itr – and he had earlier praised Abu Ghudda for his similar standing in the field.

All of this invoked the memory of Shaykh Albani and made me recall the extract translated by our ustadh Suhaib Webb from Shaykh Muhammad Hassan Walid Didou Al-Shinqiti on Shaykh Albani, which was balanced and politely critical (see https://www.virtualmosque.com/blog/translations/a-glowing-example-of-critique-and-respect-by-sh-muhammad-hassan-al-shanqiti-may-allah-preserve-him/ ). It is interesting that contemporary scholars who place an emphasis on Shaykh Albani’s works – like Qaradawi, ‘Azzam or Munajjid, for example – are not usually hadith specialists. It struck me that one should tread with caution in such waters, and look broadly at the masters of the science, without simply always relying on one author. [In contrast to Didou’s comments and others, one can read the defence of Albani translated from various sources by Abu Rumaysah: http://www.islaam.net/main/display.php?category=36.]

I was able to have a fascinating discussion with Shaykh Akram on the issue of dirayat (critical or intellect-based scrutiny) of ahadith, as brought up by Shibli Numani in his Imam Abu Hanifa: Life and Works, primarily from a lengthy Ibn al-Jawzi quote from Sakhawi’s Fath al-mughith. I raised the concern about an excessive application of this principle that might be neo-Mu’tazili, and how I favoured the approach of Shaykh Qaradawi in Approaching the Sunnah: Comprehension & Controversy. In this latter work Qaradawi warned contemporaries against rejecting ahadith with sound chains on the basis of what are perceived as intellectual grounds for rejection – and he later gives an example of Shaykh Muhammad Ghazali, one of his ‘teachers’, doing this with a hadith from Sahih Muslim; and one could add here Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo’s rejection of ahadith from the two Sahihs in his notes to his translation of Bukhari’s Adab al-mufrad (apparently on the method of Taha Jabir al-Alwani). For Qaradawi, ahadith with sound chains from the muhaddithin must be accepted and one tries to ‘study the intelligible meaning or the appropriate interpretation’. If one cannot find such an understanding, then Qaradawi says that the hadith is accepted but that one ‘refrains from’ them ‘for fear that they have meanings not yet disclosed’ to one. Shaykh Akram supported my fears and liked what Qaradawi had said in this regard. Moreover, he added that the muhaddithin had historically applied this principle of dirayat, so it was not new.

Furthermore, we discussed the limits of the intellect and the Shaykh spoke of the continuing relevance of Ibn Taymiyya’s attack on the philosophers, and how their attempts at defining many matters were conjectural. Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi expounds on this in the Saviours. I told him that this discussion on the limits of the intellect reminded me of Sayyid Qutb’s mild rebuke of the school of Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rashid Rida during his commentary of surah al-fil in his In the Shade of the Qur’an. Qutb wrote how ‘Abduh and Rida (and the less famous Abdal-Qadir al-Mughrabi) opposed the ‘pressures of superstition’ while having a ‘fascination with technology’ and became ‘extra cautious, tending to make the familiar natural laws the only basis of the Divine Laws of nature’. Qutb notes that they went ‘too far’, and failed to see the Qur’an’s teaching of God’s ‘will and power’ being ‘absolute, limitless and go far beyond the universal rules and laws He ordained, whether familiar to man or not’. As Qutb mentions, ‘what is familiar to man is only a fraction of these laws [of the universe]’. Therefore Qutb advises that one ‘cannot approach what the Qur’an states with prejudiced minds and preconceived ideas’. [These ‘rationalist’ tendencies are apparent in the English studies of the meanings of the Qur’an by ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali and Muhammad Asad, as highlighted by Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi in his An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’aan.]

It was apt that the Shaykh should stress the genius and ‘miracle’ of Sahih al-Bukhari. He said if the book disappeared, he doubted the Community could again assemble such a masterpiece. The Shaykh emphasised that it is a book that cannot be read without guidance or learning. In this regard, not only would a person be liable to commit many serious misunderstandings, but he would also be unaware of the mastery that has gone into the work by the author.

Imam Bukhari (may God have mercy upon him) was the sort of character indicative of the great scholars of the past who sacrificed their lives for this knowledge, and we are still feasting on the fruits of their labours. Shaykh Akram spoke, with an emphasis on the hadith masters, of how these scholars ate and slept little; and during the day they studied and sought hadith, and at night they wrote the hadith. He said that we can become like them because the knowledge is available; but we don’t want to follow that path of sacrifice; instead we want our long sleep of eight hours and the comfortable living. Furthermore, despite modern technology, we still talk of these early imams as our leaders, because these scholars knew more than us who can just look in a few books, or who are too rash in taking on giants when we have yet to grow sufficient muscles.

When one thinks of the Shaykh’s own scholarly successes in conjunction with his many commitments, it is not surprising to read the Shaykh describing his life in the IIDR ‘conversation’: ‘I don’t engage in other activities like watching television, or going out. I confine myself to my workplace and my family, and my day starts early’. This is reminiscent of the foremost scholars, those who leave legacies, rather than lots of big words and plans. To God we complain of our state and ask for help! Here one recalls some of the wonderful anecdotes included in Shaykh ‘Abdal-Fattah Abu Ghudda’s Value of Time: ‘Ubayd ibn Ya’ish being fed by his sister for thirty years because he was too busy writing hadith; Abu Yusuf al-Alma’i (the student of Abu Hanifa) leaving the washing and burial of his young son to neighbours and relatives so that he would not miss a moment of Abu Hanifa’s lecture; al-Fath ibn Khaqan always carrying a book in his sleeve or shoe, and whenever he would go to the bathroom or prayer he would take one out and read while walking; Abu Nu’aym teaching while walking; Khatib Baghdadi constantly reading a book while walking, among many others.

Conclusion

Due to our predicament, one feels that many in the West – including myself – often fail to distinguish between a good car and a super car when it comes to Islamic scholarship. A good car is the student of the scholars, who has learnt well and hopefully graduated from a recognised institute with distinction, but he is not of the higher scholars – somewhat like how a secular Masters or PhD in a Western university does not necessarily make one a leading academic: this takes years of published papers and works, and recognition by one’s peers, and prestigious teaching posts. A super car is a scholar of the scholars: one who minor and major scholars seek for knowledge, whose works are numerous and whose peers praise him.

Shaykh Akram is a scholar of scholars, masha-Allah, and how rare are they in the West! I’ve written before of how we in England must not lose this blessing. Over the course of the weekend, I was informed by the Shaykh of a dedicated group of brothers from Manchester – who were at the forefront of the excellent Saturday programme, and also attended the Sunday programme – who were wont to travel every Sunday from Manchester to Oxford to hear the Shaykh teach hadith from the Sahihs. These are a people who understand what a jewel Shaykh Akram is – for a search will show that the journey from Manchester to Oxford is around three hours one way! May God bless them and increase them, for themselves and us.

Now, of course, we in the West must understand that not all super cars are fit for all courses. A fast race on a flat track might require a McLaren F1 road car or Ferrari, but these would not be suitable for a rough terrain over desert or country rally, where a Subari rally car might be better; or the track might be narrow, where a mediumer powerful car is more appropriate. The point is that we need to recognise that even scholars of scholars have specialities; therefore we might not take law (fiqh) from a muhaddith or Sufi, nor hadith from a jurist (faqih) or jurisprudent (usuli), nor history from a theologian (mutakallim), and the list goes on.

Finally, Shaykh Akram presented some wise advise in the IIDR paper. He reminded us that the material development we experience in the West has come at ‘a very high price’, where we have leant towards ‘materialism’ that has negatively impacted upon ‘religious and human values’ since the ‘renaissance’. Therefore he encouraged us to present our ‘faith-based values’ as a way of repaying the ‘material benefits’ we enjoy, alhamdulillah. How often this feast leaves us sloth and inebriated! To help us towards our goals, he left three pieces of advice: ‘develop and strengthen’ faith in the unseen; ‘attain good knowledge of the religion through learning Arabic and studying Islamic sources in their original languages’ – ‘If we do that, we can avoid many misunderstandings, or superficial understandings of the religion’; and ‘understand the value of time’, as a gift from God, and ‘we should spend every moment of our lives in those things that benefit our society and ourselves’, and ‘we must avoid wasting time in harmful or un-useful activities’. We, the cradling children, thank him for such wise and comprehensive fatherly counsel. May God bless him and his family with good for travelling from their home to teach us. Amin to every supplication herein.

Andrew Booso

www.virtualmosque.com

About the author

Andrew Booso

Andrew Booso

Andrew Booso is originally from London, England and is a graduate of law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He has taken religious instruction from Shaykh Iqbal Azami and Shaykh Muhammad Akram Nadwi, as well as numerous students of knowledge. He is currently on the Advisory Board of the England-based Spring Foundation, which is a scholarship charity for students of the Islamic sciences.

9 Comments

  • Islamic Circles presents:

    SHAH WALIULLAH AND INTRODUCTION TO THE HUJJATULLAHIL BALIGHA

    By Shaykh Dr Muhammad Akram Nadwi (Oxford)*

    Date: Saturday 25th April 2009
    Time: 9am – 5pm
    Venue: Ebrahim College, 80 Greenfield Road, London E1 1EJ

    Since the fall of the Moghuls in India, one of the most important
    and influential Muslim scholars in Islamic revival in India was
    Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlavi (rh) whose work to this day
    still influences most of the Muslim groups and schools of
    thought be it Deobandi, Ahle-Hadith, Barelwi and others.
    His magnum opus was the Hujjatullahil Baligha, two-volume Arabic
    manuscript covering the principles of Islamic revival, which is
    more than pertinent in todays society.

    This course will cover: Shah Waliullah's life; Establishment of
    hadith scholarship in India, Shah Waliullah's role as a reformer, Shah
    Waliullah's writings, Hujjatullah al-Balighah: an exposition of the
    rationale of Shari`ah and an intellectulal interpretation of hadith,
    comparison of this work with earlier writings on the subject, Irtifaq
    (sociability) and Siyasat al-madinah (issues related to the civil society),
    concept of sa`adah (the success), creeds and devotion, comprehensive
    prophethood, ways and method of discussing the meanings of hadith, Shah
    Waliullah's legacy.

    All welcome but those who consider themselves as “activists” or “students
    of knowledge” are highly encouraged to attend. A basic requisite of
    the history of Islam in India is recommended but not essential.

    To BOOK please visit http://www.islamiccourses.org

    *Shaykh Dr Muhammad Akram Nadwi studied and taught Shari’a at the
    prestigious Nadwatul ‘Ulama (India). A Muhaddith specialising in
    ‘Ilm al-Rijal (the study of the narrators of Hadith), Shaykh Akram
    has ijaza (licenses) from renowned mashayakh, including Abul Hasan
    Ali Al-Nadwi, Abdul-Fattah Abu Ghuddah and Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He has
    authored and translated over 20 titles on Fiqh, Qur’an and Hadith
    including his monumental 40 volume work on Al-Muhaddithaat – The Lives
    of Female Scholars of Hadith. Shaykh Akram is a research fellow at the
    Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford University.

    Entrance by bookings only as there are limited spaces.

    For bookings and further information please contact:
    Tel: 07956 983 609
    E-mail: courses@islamiccircles.org
    Website: http://www.islamiccourses.org

  • One Day Hanafi Fiqh and Hadith Narration course with Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi

    Date and Time
    Saturday 28th March 09
    10.30am – 7pm

    Venue
    1st Floor London Muslim Centre,
    Whitechapel Road London E1
    Price: Students £10 Employed £15

    Bookings http://www.angelwingmedia.net/aw/main/detaileve

    This intensive one day fiqh course covers the obligatory knowledge of Tahara (purification) and Salah (prayer), with plenty of opportunities to ask questions. The course will be based on the highly acclaimed book Al-Fiqh Al-Islami written by Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi.
    Based on the classics, Al-Fiqh Al-Islami – one of the fastest selling Islamic book of recent times – is unique in providing students guidance whilst presenting the earliest and strongest positions in the Hanafi School. This course will therefore not only teach you the rules pertaining to the topics but provide you with the framework and evidences upon which they are based.
    Students will also have the rare opportunity to listen to a selection of ahadith with its full sanad (chain of transmission) on the topic of Tahara and Salah.

    Speaker(s)

    Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi
    Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi is from the Indian city of Lucknow. He is a graduate of the world renowned Nadwatul ‘Ulama (India) where he studied and taught shari’ah. Shaykh Akram is a Muhaddith of the highest calibre who has specialised in ‘Ilm ul Rijal [the study of the narrators of Hadith]. He has Ijaza (licenses) from many of the most renowned scholars of our time
    including Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali Al-Nadwi, Shaykh Abdul-Fattah Abu Ghuddah and Shaykh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. He has a doctorate in Arabic Language and has authored and translated over 20 titles including his monumental 40 volume work on the lives of female scholars of Hadith and Al-Fiqh Al-Islami the first Hanafi Fiqh text to be originally written in English.

  • AS

    This post demonstrates the validity of pushing for greater literacy in the West and facilitating the means for achieving companionship with scholars. Those people who are studying to be scholars from the West may do well to study this post thoroughly and emphasize the importance of being with people who want to learn -be accessible to the community- in other terms.

    Advice to brothers and sisters in the UK:

    Do not underestimate the ni'mat that Allah has showered you with as it is clearly manifest.

    Allahu Akbar Walilah al Hamd

    Abul-Hussein

  • I don't know what to say. I have never met Shaykh Akram or heard him speak but I love this scholar. May Allah preserve him and help us to benefit from him for a long time. AMIN.

  • Excellent article, jazakallah khair for taking your time out to write such a precise review of the weekend.
    I was their at the event on Saturday and Sh.Akram is truly an inspiration to us all. I don't know him that well, but the little time I did spend with i learnt and picked up a lot. Very simple in his outlook, yet we know how many great lesson we can learn by spending time with him. May Allah preserve him and give him strength to carry on with all the work he is doing.

  • As-salam alaykum wa rahmatullah

    I'd like to firstly thank you all for reading the article, and then posting your warm comments.

    Secondly, I wanted to mention the al-Salam Institute: http://www.al-salam.co.uk/

    The al-Salam Institute kindly organised the Bradford event, and they have organised numerous events around the country for Shaykh Akram. Also, they arrange semester courses for Shaykh Akram in Oxford – these have lately included Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, amongst others. Please regularly check their site for updates. They are professional and active, masha-Allah, and deserve our support.

    fi amanillah

    Andrew Booso

  • Just wanted to say br Andrew Booso i thoroughly enjoyed reading your critique of Ed Hussain's “The Islamist”, as well as this article. Thank you and keep them coming
    Wassalam
    Haq

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