Saints and Scholars of Islam in Rajab and Shaban

Our Pious Predecessors

Rajab al-Murajjab is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. A brief mention of 116 great Saints and scholars of Islam whose day of passing or ꜤUrs (anniversary) falls in this month has already been made in the Monthly Magazine Faizan-e-Madinah from Rajab al-Murajjab 1438 AH to 1446 AH. Further introductions of 6 more are presented below:

Blessed Saints رَحِمَهُمُ الـلّٰـهُ

1. Shaykh Sayyid Muḥammad b. Yakhlaf رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born in Jumādā al-Ākhirah 756 AH in the Al-Rashidiyyah region of Meknes-Tafilalet, Morocco, and passed away on the 24^th of Rajab 857 AH in Walhasa, Ain Temouchent Province, Algeria, Africa. He was an erudite scholar, an ascetic, and a pious individual, who was an expert in various Islamic sciences. He was also a teacher and Mufti. He was granted the titles: ꜤAlāmat al-Muḥaqqiqīn, Musnid al-ꜤAsr and Ṣadr al-Afāḍil. He was an accomplished Saint known for his marvels.[1]

2. Mawlānā Muḥammad Ḥusayn Fārūqī Muḥibb-ullāhī Ilāhābādī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born in the scholarly and spiritual Fārūqī family of Mohalla Bahadurganj, Allahabad, UP, India, probably in 1269 AH, and passed away on the 8^th of Rajab, 1322 AH at the shrine of Gharib Nawaz, Ajmer Sharif, where he was interred. He is referred to as Qudwat al-Muḥaqqiqīn, ꜤUmdat al-Mudaqqiqīn, Ra'īs al-Aṣfiyāˈ, and Imam al-ꜤUlamāˈ. He was a great scholar, learned personality and literary figure, a skilled physician, an author, and an eloquent poet in Urdu, Farsi, and Arabic. He combined between many scholarly and practical virtues. He was an Ꜥārif billāh, a Sufi of spiritual states, and a martyr of love.[2]

Noble Scholars of Islam رَحِمَهُمُ الـلّٰـهُ

3. Shaykh al-Islam ꜤAllāmah IsmāꜤīl b. Ibrāhīm al-Hāshimī al-Jabartī al-Zabīdī al-ShāfiꜤī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born in 722 AH and passed away on the 15^th of Rajab 806 AH. He was a scholar of Islam, a Hadith master, a preacher, and a devoted worshipper. He was an accomplished Saint known for his marvels and abundant spiritual blessings, a devotee of ꜤAllāmah Ibn ꜤArabī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه and an admirer of the book Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam. He was a personality who was accepted by both the common people and the rulers, a Sufi, and a frequent reciter of Surah Yā Sīn.[3]

4. Imam Muḥammad Mahfūẓ al-Tirmasī al-Jāwī al-ShāfiꜤī al-Muhājir al-Makkī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born in the village of Tirmas, Arjosari sub-district, Pacitan Regency, East Java, Indonesia, in 1285 AH, and passed away on the 1^st of Rajab 1338 AH in Makkah Mukarramah, and was buried in the MaꜤlā cemetery. He was a Ḥāfiẓ, Qārī, Faqīh and Muḥaddith, Musnid al-ꜤAṣr, author, and teacher in Masjid al-Haram. He was pious, scrupulous, humble, and a paragon of good manners. He had a large number of students. Among his nearly two dozen books, Hashiyat al-Tirmīsī, Ghunyat al-Ṭalabah, Bughyat al-Adhkiyāˈ, and Nayl al-MaꜤmūl hold special significance.[4]

5. Shaykh Sayyid Faḍl Pāshā b. ꜤAlawī al-Malībārī al-Makkī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born into the scholarly Sādāt Bā ꜤAlawī family in Calicut, Malabar, Kerala, South India, in 1240 AH, and passed away on the 2^nd of Rajab 1318 AH in Istanbul. He was buried in the Mazar Complex, Istanbul, Turkey. He benefited from the scholars of India, Yemen, and Makkah, and he was rich in religious and worldly knowledge. He was a freedom fighter for India, author, Governor of Dhofar, Southern Oman, a Minister of the Ottoman Sultanate, and popular among the elite and common people. Among his 20 books, ꜤIqd al-Farāˈiḍ and Īdāḥ al-Asrār al-ꜤAlawiyyah are particularly noteworthy.[5]

6. Badr al-Millat wa al-Dīn Shaykh Sayyid Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Ghulāyīnī al-Jīlānī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born in the Samana neighbourhood near Aqibah, Damascus, in 1330 AH, and passed away on the 23^rd of Rajab 1411 AH in Jeddah, and was buried in the MaꜤlā cemetery. He was an expert in Fiqh of both the ShāfiꜤī and Hanafi schools, Musnid al-ꜤAṣr, a teacher and Mufti. He also received Ijāzah and Khilāfah from Mawlānā Diyāˈ al-Dīn al-Madanī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه. He taught and led prayers in Jordan and Damascus and was famous for his asceticism and generosity.[6]

ShaꜤbān al-MuꜤaẓẓam is the eighth month of the Islamic calendar. A brief mention of 111 Companions, Saints, and Scholars of Islam whose anniversary of passing away or ꜤUrs falls in this month has already been made in the Monthly Magazine Faizan-e-Madinah from ShaꜤbān al-MuꜤaẓẓam 1438 AH to 1446 AH. Further introductions of 6 more are presented below:

Blessed Companions رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُم

1. Sayyidunā Bashīr b. ꜤAnbas b. Zayd al-Anṣārī al-Ẓafarī رَضِىَ اللّٰهُ عَـنْهُ

was a brave Companion. His title was Fāris al-Ḥawwā (The Horseman of the Ḥawwā Horse). He embraced Islam before the Battle of Uhud and participated in the Battle of Uhud, the Battle of the Trench (Khandaq), and all subsequent battles. He attained martyrdom in MaꜤrikat al-Jisr in ShaꜤbān 13 AH. The famous Companion Sayyidunā Qatādah b. NuꜤmānرَضِىَ اللّٰهُ عَـنْهُ was his cousin.[7]

2. Sayyidunā Thābit b. ꜤAtīk al-Anṣārīرَضِىَ اللّٰهُ عَـنْهُ

was from Banū ꜤAmr b. Mabzūl. He attained martyrdom in MaꜤrikat al-Jisr in ShaꜤbān 13 AH or 15 AH.[8]

Noble Saints and Scholars of Islam رَحِمَهُمُ الـلّٰـهُ

3. Student of Baḥr al-ꜤUlūm, ꜤAllāmah Aḥmad Anwār al-Ḥaqq Farangī Maḥallīرَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was a Spiritual Guide in the Qādiriyyah Razzāqiyyah order, a Sufi, and a Saint who remained engaged in remembrance and litanies. He passed away on the 6^th or 26^th of ShaꜤbān 1236 AH, corresponding to 1821 CE, and was buried in his garden in Lucknow. Ḥāfiẓ Shāh Kāẓim ꜤAlī Khān رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه, the great-grandfather of Imam Aḥmad Razā Khān رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه, was his disciple and spiritual deputy.[9]

4. Sayyid Khawājah Gulāb Shāh Aurangābādi رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born in 1264 AH and passed away on 13 ShaꜤbān 1355 AH. His resting place is in the graveyard of Gaon Aurangabad, Jand Tehsil, Attock District. He was a religious scholar, prolific teacher, a disciple and spiritual deputy of Khawājah Shams al-ꜤĀrifīn, and a Saint known for marvels. He spent his entire life in teaching; students would come from Kabul, Qandahar, Ghazni, Chhachh, and Hazara to study under him.[10]

5. Pir-e-Tariqat Dr. Muḥammad Allāh Ditta Tālib Kunjāhīرَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was born on 12 February 1886 CE in Kunjah, Gujrat District, and passed away on 11 ShaꜤbān 1377 AH. He was buried in his birthplace. In his early life, he served in the military as an Assistant Surgeon. Later, he achieved the honour of pledging spiritual allegiance to and being granted spiritual succession by Amir-e-Millat ꜤAllāmah Sayyid JamāꜤat ꜤAlī Shāh Muḥaddith ꜤAlīpūrī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه. He was strict in following the Shariah and Sunnah, a devotee of the holy Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم, an author, and an Islamic poet.[11]

6. Shams al-Aˈimmah Imam Bakr b. Muḥammad al-Anṣārī al-Bukhārīرَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه

was Shaykh al-Ḥanafiyyah and Mufti of Bukhara. He was regarded as Ḥāfiẓ of the Hanafi school of thought and Abū Ḥanīfah al-Ṣaghīr. He was born in 427 AH in Zaranjari near Bukhara. He attained expertise in the various Islamic sciences from Shams al-Aˈimmah ꜤAbd al-ꜤAzīz al-Hulwāˈī and other scholars and shuyūkh. Shaykh ꜤAlī b. Abī Bakr Farghānī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه, the author of Al-Hidāyah, was his student. He passed away on the 19^th of ShaꜤbān, 512 AH.[12]