Beginning of writing Fatawa and                                         Introduction to ‘Fatawa Razawiyyah’

Dear Islamic brothers! With his tireless efforts, Imam Ahmad Raza Khan       رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه served Islam so well by propagating the Islamic knowledge that he is still very much renowned [as a great Islamic scholar]. One of his best and outstanding achievements in propagating Islamic knowledge is Fatwa writing.

From his father, Ra`ees-ul-Mutakallimeen, Maulana Naqi ‘Ali Khan رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه, A’la Hadrat رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه completed acquiring knowledge of all the subjects [of ‘Aalim course] generally studied in his era at the age of only 13 years, 10 months and 4 days, and received a certificate of completion of his education. On the same day, he رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه had written his first Fatwa in response to a question. Seeing that he had written the Fatwa correctly, his father handed over the responsibility to him for giving Fatwa and since then, Imam Ahmad Raza Khan رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه kept on writing Fatawa till his demise. This implies that he رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه had written millions of Fatawa from 1286 Hijri to 1340 Hijri. But alas! All of them could not be preserved. Those preserved are mentioned in Fatawa Razawiyyah. Every Fatwa contains a number of evidences and proofs.

There are 30 volumes of Fatawa Razawiyyah. It is perhaps the most voluminous Fatawa collection in the world in Urdu language. It approximately contains 22,000 pages, answers to 6847 questions and 206 booklets whereas thousands of other rulings have been mentioned in the answers to these questions. He رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه had such an excellent command of more than 55 subjects that he has written hundreds of books on dozens of topics of different branches of knowledge. Every book depicts his glorious status of knowledge, expertise in Fiqh and research skills. For people seeking the knowledge of Fiqh, understanding especially of Fatawa Razawiyyah is very essential. (A’la Hadrat ki Infiradi Koshish, pp. 2-3; slightly amended)

Dear Islamic brothers! By observing the quantity of the Fatawa of A’la Hadrat رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه, one can perfectly understand his high level of proficiency in writing Fatawa. This is the very reason that not only the common people but even the great ‘Ulama and Muftis refer to the Fatawa of A’la Hadrat رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه for answering critical questions or writing research based answers.