[gerturiotf]

Salaam,

Shaikhul Hadith Muhammad Zakariyya was close to Sayyid Shaikh Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki, and I'm sure he knew that he attended mawlid and such. Now some deobandis have called him an deviant, which to me turned me completely off the whole sub-continent.

It is not necessary for our elders to know the details of everyone that they grant ijazas to. The book Mafahim by Shaykh Maliki came after Maulwi Zakariyya had passed on and the objections of the Deobandis who read the book were not on fiqhi issues but on matters of belief. You can read the details here:
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/show...ars-of-Deoband
The 'Ulama of Deoband who granted ijazah to Shaykh Maliki were:
1. Shaykh al Hadith, Zakariyya Kandhalwi.
2. Mufti Shafi' Uthmani.
3. Sahib 'Ila al Sunan, Imam Zafar Ahmad Thanwi, nephew of Hakim al Ummah.
4. Muhaddith Habib al Rahman Azmi.
5. Ghazzali-e-waqt `Ali Miyan Nadwi.