[Aaron757]

Asking for a specific proof:
He said, “You can also ask the claimant for proof, however, asking for a specific proof is not permissible. This was the method of the disbelievers that they did not believe the miracles which the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) presented, rather they used to ask for miracles that were based on their own terms and conditions. And when they were not shown miracles that were according to their terms, they had the right to say they were not shown the miracles that they demanded. But, they used to spread the propaganda that they weren’t shown any miracles at all. For example, a man comes and says that “I am very sinful, I am sixty years old and I have never prayed salat. I want to repent today. Please teach me how to pray but I have a condition that you have to prove to me the rakats, thana, tashahhud, and the words of durood only from the Quran, because I want to worship God only according to the Book of God. I don’t accept anything else.” So will you show him all of these things only from the Quran? If you can’t show him and he says that if you can show it to me from the Quran, then it is fine, but if he says that you couldn’t give proof for any of these rulings, then this is obviously wrong. This is called specifying the proof. If this happens in a law court, then the court will ask the claimant to bring proof. And whatever proof the claimant brings, you will be given the right to cross-examine it. But the court will not allow you to demand for a specific proof. For example, the claimant made Zayd a witness, then the court will tell you to cross-examine the witness, but you say that I don’t accept Zayd as a witness. I will only accept the president of the country or the prime minister as witness. So, will any court use this wrong methodology?

Belief in the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) or on the condition of the teacher?
Hadhrat said, “Just like the disbelievers did not believe in the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) rather they believed only on the miracles that they used to ask for, similarly, you should also remove this misconception from your heart that you believe in the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam). You definitely don’t believe in him! Rather, your belief is only on the conditions of your teacher. Just like the disbelievers used to demand from the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) that they will only believe if he can make Allah say or do what they demand, otherwise they will not believe. Similarly, your teacher writes a statement and demands that if the Prophet of Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) says the exact same words, only then we will accept, otherwise whatever the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) has said on his own accord, we will not accept it at all.

At this moment, I was thinking to myself that what Maulana is saying is absolutely correct. Even when someone used to present to us 100 hadiths, we did not pay any attention to it, and would leave it, thinking it to be useless, because why did the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) not say the exact words that our teacher has demanded. It is like giving advice to the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) that if you do not say the phrase exactly as we have written it, then we will not accept it.

A question: I said, “Hadhrat! Can you also make a question which demands only a hadith, and promises a reward, and my teacher will not be able to present such a hadith. And he would be forced to call this question a fraud just like you are calling these questions fraud.” Maulana replied with a smile, “Is fraud a commendable thing that we should also start doing it?” I said, “Please write a question so that I may understand.”

So Hadhrat wrote on the backside of the same advertisement - “Just like your own conditions, please present only one hadith for us which proves that proof of Shariah is only restricted to Saheeh, Sareeh, Marfu, ghair majruh hadiths. If you can prove this, then I will give you 50,000 cash as reward.” And then Maulana signed this paper. When he signed it, I thought to myself that our teacher emphasized to us not to make any challenge for less than 50,000, but he wouldn’t give his signature even for 5 cents. But Maulana signed for the amount of 50,000 without the slightest hesitation.

Return:
I returned with the paper and saw my teacher eagerly waiting for me at the gate. As soon as I got there, he asked me – does anyone dare to touch our advertisement? I said: “Teacher! Today was a very bad day. Someone did take it and he has demanded a hadith as well. If you can write the hadith, then he will give 50,000 Rs in reward. He has signed it as well. Teacher, write the hadith and I will bring the prize.”

It was the cold month of December. After reading only one line of the question, my teacher wiped sweat off his face three times. After watching my teacher drown in sweat, I also started feeling the weight of the question. Now the time of guidance from Allah Ta’ala had come. As soon as my teacher finished reading the question, the first thing he said was, “My son! These conditions are placed in the question to deceive us.” When I heard this, the floor slipped from under my feet.

I said, “Teacher! Today Maulana explained to me that my Iman is not on the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam), rather it is on the fake conditions of my teacher. And today, you called these terms and conditions as fraud and deceit. Now what do I do?”

Another question:
I was in charge of placing books, notebooks and other things on the table for the teacher in the classroom. There were two thick notebooks within these. One of them was titled “Lectures on Saheeh Bukhari by Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri Saheb (Rahmatullahi Alaih), teacher of Darul Uloom Deoband” and the other one was titled, “Lectures on Tirmidhi by Shaykh of Arabs and non-Arabs Sayyed Husain Ahmad Madani (Rahmatullahi Alaih), teacher of Darul Uloom Deoband”

One day, I asked my teacher, “Teacher! Why do you keep the notes of these polytheists?” During this time, calling the Hanafi scholars as polytheists was considered a very good deed by us, and it was a great way to please the teacher. Our respected teacher would become really pleased at this and would praise us a lot for it.

My teacher replied, “My son! We have differences with them on many rulings, however Allah Ta’ala has given them much knowledge. Without their notes, we cannot teach Bukhari or Tirmidhi.”
Today the thought came to my mind, and I asked, “Teacher! You deceive those people without whose notes you are incapable of teaching Bukhari and Tirmidhi?” After hearing this, my teacher said, “Get out! Don’t ever go there again.” I said, “Teacher! Write the hadith, so that I can bring the prize.” My teacher slapped my face and told me to go sit down.

My return:
After Asr, I went to Hadhrat Maulana Abdul Qadeer Sahib once again and I said, “Hadhrat! I am convinced that these questions are nothing but fraud, but… please tell me why do you guys give preference to the sayings of Imam Abu Hanifa (rahmatullahi alaih) instead of the hadith?” Hadhrat replied, “You are right.” And he gave me the book “I’lal Sunan” to study which had Urdu translation in it. Now when I would read hadiths, I would realize what a big lie everything which we have been saying every day was.

Now I asked my teacher that, “Teacher! Why don’t you accept the hadiths that are in the “I’lal Sunan” and why do you call those who follow these hadiths as Ahl Rayy (those who follow personal opinion???). And if any ghair muqallid scholar has written a reply to it, then please give it to me so that I can study it as well.” But even after doing a full investigation, I found out that all of the ghair muqallids of the world have been incapable of writing a reply against it. Whenever I used to sit at the madrasa and study I’lal Sunan, my teacher would become very angry with me, and once he even beat me up. I couldn’t understand why the people of Ahl Hadith were such enemies of hadith? I used to say, “Why don’t you let me study hadith?” He would only say one thing every time, “Why did you bring this hadith book in our madrasa?”

One day, I wrote this hadith in beautiful handwriting on the wall “Ma asfartum bil fajri fa innahu a’zamu bil ajri” (There is greater reward in praying the Fajr salat when the sky has some brightness). Everyone in the masjid started yelling - who wrote this hadith? Why did they write it? Get him! Kick him out!

Next day, I wrote this hadith on the wall, “Abridu bi zuhri fa inna shiddatal harri min fayhi jahannam” (Pray the Zuhr salat when it is cooler, because the intensity of heat is from the breaths of jahannam). At this, I was asked, “Why are you causing such mischief?” Before the next salat, I wrote this hadith on the wall, “Faqeehun wahidun ashaddu ala shaytani min alfi aabid” (One jurisprudent is more severe on Shaytan than 1000 worshippers). I realized that these people hate hadith more than anything else in the world.

The third time:
Then I went back to Maulana and he asked me, “What is Taqleed Shakhsi called?” I said, “Polytheism (shirk).” He said, “So all of the muhaddiths which are mentioned in Tabaqat Hanafiya, Tabaqat Malikiya, Tabaqat Shafi’iya, and Tabaqat Hanabila, are they all polytheists?” I said, “Without a doubt.”

He replied, “Then Sihah Sitta must also be polytheists. You study Bulugh Al-maram, so Ibn Hajar Shafi must be a polytheist. You study Nasai, he was also a follower of Imam Shafi; so he must have been a polytheist.”

Now I came to my teacher and I said, “If any muhaddith or muslim historian has written any book on the Tabaqat of ghair muqallid muhaddiths, then can you please show me?” My teacher became angry saying that, “You only cause mischief, and you read hadiths from I’lal Sunan to the other students, and you write hadiths on the wall of the masjid. We will not tolerate this. Stop all of this, otherwise… get out of this madrasa! We don’t have any book named Tabaqat ghair muqallids.”

When I came back to Hadhrat, he said, “If there was any ghair muqallid masjid, madrasa, grave, translation of Quran, translation of hadith before the time of the British, then show me. If there’s any complete book of salat, then bring it to me!”

So when I asked my teacher the same thing, I realized the true meaning of the idiom “Even when you cut it, there is no blood in the body.” He replied angrily, “All you do is cause mischief.”

Joke:
One day we were having a lesson on Nasai, and the issue being discussed was about reciting behind the Imam. I was also sitting in the lesson but I did not take the book. My teacher asked, “Where is the book?” I said, “In the room.” He said, “Why didn’t you bring it?” I said, “That book is written by a polytheist. Why should I touch it?” My teacher was affected by my statement, but he remained quiet.

Imam Nasai has written a chapter on “Taweeli qawlihi azza wa jall wa iza qurial quranu fastamiu lahu wan situ la’allakum turhamun” and then he has brought a hadith “iza qara’a fansitu.” So it is as if it is the command of both Allah and His Messenger that when the Imam is reciting, then the muqtadi must remain quiet. This verse and hadith were against the teacher. My teacher became adamant in completely discrediting this hadith. He said, “Abu Khaid Ahmar is mutafarrid (alone???), so for this reason, this hadith is fake. And there is no mutabi of Abu Khalid in any of the hadith books of the world. I spoke to Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri, and he was also unable to show any mutabi. I have also been involved in many debates, and there hasn’t been anyone who could give me a reply to this.”

I had come to class with preparation. My teacher looked at me and said, “Hey you Hanafi! Does Khalid have any mutabi’?” Even though I had not become Hanafi yet, I still said, “You are sitting with your head upwards. How can you see the mutabi in this condition? Just look down, and you will see his mutabi Muhammad ibn Saad Ansari in the same book.” And I got up and placed my finger on it.

He said, “What is this?” I replied, “You can swear at me all you want, but at least tell me why you weren’t able to see the mutabi in the book which is right in front of you?” That’s it! That’s when he started hitting me with a rod and he kicked me out of the madrasa.
Now I started studying I’lal Sunan, and Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Hasan Saheb Muhaddith Faizpuri’s book Sitta Dharuriya, Al-daleel al-mubeen, etc. But I could not get rid of the mentality of ghair muqallidiyat which was within me. Whenever I would see a fiqh issue, I would rush to search for a hadith for it. After many months, my mindset changed. Now, whenever I would read a verse or hadith, I would think to myself that the meaning that has come to my mind, is it something new like how Mirza Qadiyani interpreted, or did the elders and the Salaf also understand them in this way? So now the disease of personal opinion was finally out of my mind, and the ailment of Ghair muqalladiyat left my heart. And I became firm on the maslak of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’a, Hanafi, Deobandi. Supplicate that Allah Ta’ala grants all of us the ability to remain firm on this true maslak.
Ameen!!