By Asim Ahmad

• His Academic Life

Muhammad Zakariyya has for much of the last century, been a household name for many scholars. Though he is most known for his books on virtues (Virtues of Qur’an, Dhikr, Salat and Salaam), he gained recognition in the worldwide community of scholars as a muhaddith for his extensive work on hadith.

The shaikh ul-hadith opened his eyes to a world of scholars and books. His father, Maulana Yahya Kandhelawi, and his uncle Maulana Ilyas were both teachers of hadith and Arabic literature in Saharanpur, India, and much of his upbringing was in and around the four walls of the institute where his father taught.

After memorizing the Qur’an, the shaikh ul-hadith studied the elementary books with his father and uncle, both of whom quickly discerned his exceptional aptitude. He was precocious indeed, writing his first commentary of a book on Arabic poetry at the age of thirteen.

But shaikh ul-hadith had a special place in his heart for the study of hadith. His awe of the science was such that he was never known to have studied a single hadith without being in state of ablution. Before beginning his first book of hadith, Mishkat al-Masabih, he writes, “My father bathed and then performed two rak’as of optional salat. He then turned toward me and prompted me to begin the book with bismilla and the khutba. Then he turned around and fervently made du’a for fifteen to twenty minutes. I will never know what du’a he made but I remember raising my own hands and repeatedly asking Allah to allow me to serve hadith in any capacity for as long as I live, since I was starting my study belatedly.” The shaikh ul-hadith served the hadith until he was enfeebled by sickness and frailty.

Remarkably, the opportunity to serve hadith came quicker that he even expected. In this first year of hadith study, in 1915, when he was but seventeen, he was approached by the grand muhaddith of his time, his own teacher and his father’s, Shaikh Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri, to assist him in the monumental task of writing a commentary of Sunan Abu Dawud. Shaikh ul-hadith readily accepted this offer. The work was started immediately. He would collect the study material, and research and excerpt it as required by his teacher after which the latter would dictate the final composition to him. The outcome of this joint student-teacher effort was the celebrated eighteen-volume Badhl ul-Majhud,completed after thirteen years in 1928.

The Shaikh ul-hadith’s grasp of Arabic literature and hadith was extrordinary, and this was not lost on the teaching faculty at Saharanpur. In 1917, still a student, studying Abu Dawud under Shaikh Khalil Ahmad, he was selected for teaching the advanced Arabic literacy texts of al-Sab’ al-Mu’allaqat and Maqamat al-Hariri. After completing hadith studies in 1918, he was elected for the seat of teacher of Bukhari. At first he declined, arguing that he was still new to teaching, but at the behest of his teacher, who noted his depth of knowledge, taqwa, and perspicacity the shaikh ul-hadith relented.

This marked the beginning of his forty-three year career in teaching hadith. He taught Bukhari for forty-three years (1922-1967) and Abu Dawud for twenty-nine (1929-1958). His teaching engagements were greatly reduced after developing severe cataract, though he continued serving hadith in other capacities.