SAUDI ARABIA

Remembering Sheikh Abdulhaq Al-Hashmi

A Shariah scholar from India who taught at the Grand Mosque in Makkah

July 15, 2017

Saudi Gazette report

OVER the centuries, many great scholars came to Makkah from different parts of the world and stayed in the holy city, making huge contributions to Islamic learning.

Sheikh Abdulhaq Abdulwahid Al-Hashmi (1302-1392 AH), who played a major role in spreading the message of monotheism on the Indian Subcontinent, was one of such scholars.

Born in 1884 into a family of religious scholars in Bhagalpur, India, Abdulhaq was raised by his parents. He had his early education under his father, who himself was a great scholar.

His father had always encouraged him to seek knowledge and was the one who helped the young Abdulhaq memorize the Holy Qur’an. He also taught him Persian as well as the Arabic syntax and morphology. Al-Hashmi attended sessions of great Indian scholars and learned from them Arabic rhetoric and poetry, principles of Islamic jurisprudence, interpretation of the Holy Qur’an and other Shariah disciplines, Al-Riyadh daily reports.

He dedicated his entire life to teaching Shariah and religion in his native India and later in the holy city Makkah.

He was appointed a Shariah judge and imam of the famous Al-Abbassi Mosque in Baghalpur where he had taught thousands of students who flocked to attend his classes from all over India.

Known for his extraordinary stamina, Al-Hashmi would teach 14 hours a day and this continued for nearly 25 years. When not teaching, he found great pleasure in camel grazing and would often take his students with him when he took his camels out to graze. He mastered his native language and was an eloquent speaker who delivered sermons and public speeches that had great influence on his listeners.

Al-Hashmi traced his lineage to Omar Bin Al-Khattab, the second of the four Rashidoon caliphs and a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Al-Hashmi wrote in his biography that Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) was his 42nd great grandfather. He said his family had migrated to India during the time of Imad Al-Din Muhammad Bin Qassim Al-Thaqafi, the Umayyad general who conquered Sindh and Multan in what is now Pakistan in 712 AD.

Journey to Makkah

In 1948, he traveled to Makkah to perform Haj where he was warmly welcomed by scholars of the holy city who had heard about his extensive knowledge of the Shariah. He discussed different Shariah issues with them and impressed them with his in-depth knowledge of Islamic sciences.

The scholars even entreated King Abdul Aziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, to issue a royal order allowing Al-Hashmi to stay in Makkah and teach at the Grand Mosque. The King obliged. Following the royal order, Al-Hashmi asked his son in India to ship all the books in his library to Makkah.

Al-Hashmi taught great scholars including Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Asheikh, Abdullah Muhammad Hameed and Abdulaziz Abdullah Bin Baz.

In 1951, Al-Hashmi joined Al-Hadeeth Makkiya School, which was founded in 1931 and supervised by the Islamic University of Madinah, and taught several Shariah subjects.

He penned more than 80 books covering different disciplines like interpretation of the Holy Qur’an, Hadith (Prophet’s sayings) and the Arabic language.

Al-Hashmi passed away in 1972 while he was still a teacher at Al-Hadeeth Makkiya School. He was a great scholar and was mourned by the majority of Muslim scholars because he spent his entire life serving the religion. He was survived by his wife and two sons, one of them Abu Turab Al-Dhahri who grew up to be a respected scholar and a great master of the Arabic language.


July 15, 2017
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