Shaikh-ul-Islam Syed Masood Ahmad

Shaikh-ul-Islam Syed Masood Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) was born on 4 August 1915 into a religious Hanafi family. He received his early religious education at home. For worldly learning he went to school and then to Victoria College, Lashkar (Gwalior), and in 1936 he earned a BSc in physics and mathematics from Agra University. Soon afterwards he turned wholly to religious study and research. That research led him to leave the Barelvi school of his forefathers: he began to act directly on the Quran and Hadith and to call himself simply a "Muslim". At the time he did not know of the Ahl-e-Hadith sect, but before long he met a man who was Ahl-e-Hadith and who told him, "We are Ahl-e-Hadith; we too do not follow taqleed, and we act on the Quran and Hadith." Trusting his word, he became Ahl-e-Hadith and devoted himself energetically to spreading that school. When his family learned of it, they all turned firmly against him. Debates were arranged between him and several Hanafi scholars of the time, and, all praise is for Allah, he prevailed in every one of them.

At the end of 1948 he came to Pakistan, whose capital was then Karachi. He found work in the Ministry of Commerce and settled in Karachi, where his pursuit of knowledge continued. He already knew Arabic, but he now had the good fortune of meeting Allama Khalil Arab, a peerless teacher of Arabic and an eminent scholar, and studied Arabic formally with him. In 1950 he was elected to the executive council of Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, where he served as an active member. In these years he also held successful debates with several Hanafi scholars, with deniers of Hadith and with Qadiani preachers. On Jahangir Road he began a regular class on Sahih al-Bukhari, which continued without a break until he was transferred to Rawalpindi.

In 1959 he was transferred to Rawalpindi. While living in Rawalpindi (Chaklala) he held a written debate with the Nawab Sahib of Sindh, which Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Karachi later published as "Talash-e-Haq". Mufti Taqi Usmani wrote a reply, and he answered that reply in "At-Tahqeeq". No better books have been written on the subject of taqleed than "Talash-e-Haq" and "At-Tahqeeq". Both were received very warmly, and countless editions have been printed since.

Also during his time in Chaklala he wrote a reply to Dr Ghulam Jilani Barq's well-known book "Do Islam", which Allama Ataullah Hanif Bhojiani published as "Tafheem-ul-Islam" through the Ahl-e-Hadith Academy, Lahore. It was written in so courteous, persuasive and well-argued a style that it was greatly admired. Dr Ghulam Jilani Barq himself wrote to him praising it highly, withdrew from his position of rejecting Hadith, and told his publisher to stop printing "Do Islam". More than that, Dr Barq went on to write "Tareekh-e-Hadith", a most useful and informative book that has been published and is widely available.

In the same period he wrote "Sahih Tareekh-ul-Islam wal-Muslimeen", the most authentic and reliable book of Islamic history. The whole book is compiled solely from the Quran, Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and it too was highly regarded in scholarly circles.

In 1963–64 he was transferred back to Karachi. Most people there already knew him, and the books above had added greatly to his renown, so he was given a warm welcome. Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Karachi came back to life: its preaching gathered pace, and a series of lessons and gatherings began, attended with great enthusiasm. Major (Retd) Abdul Rahim Qureshi, then president of Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Karachi, wished to step down and hand the presidency to him. He declined many times, but at Major Qureshi's great insistence he finally had to accept the office.

He was deeply grieved to see the new generation of Ahl-e-Hadith drifting away from the religion, and the older generation's indifference to it. To protect the young from irreligion and secure their future, he had long wished to found a school that would give both religious and worldly education and pay special attention to children's character and personal development. So in 1968 he founded the "Muslimeen Primary School" next to a minaret mosque on Shaheed-e-Millat Road. Sincere, religiously minded teachers were chosen to teach there, and he himself took early retirement from government service to give the school as much of his time as he could. Under his close care its standard of education became so high that parents took their children out of English-medium schools to enrol them there. The school was flourishing, and he planned to develop it step by step into a high school and then a college, but in 1974–75 the government of the time nationalised it.

The Ahl-e-Hadith, which in the subcontinent had been a movement for leaving taqleed and following the Messenger ﷺ, had become stagnant and taken the form of a sect. He kept working to reform it, but his efforts bore no real fruit, and he came to feel that following their own scholars and sectarian prejudice had taken such deep root among them that reform was no longer possible.

He was deeply averse to sectarianism. The only way to end it was, in obedience to the command of the Messenger ﷺ, to separate from every sect, give up self-made sectarian names, and adopt the one name on which all agree: "Muslim". Against this background he separated from all sects and began to call himself only a Muslim. Others came to share his view and chose him as their Ameer. In this way "Jamaat-ul-Muslimeen" was revived.

As soon as Jamaat-ul-Muslimeen was revived, the sectarians opposed him fiercely and made baseless accusations against him: some called him a Kharijite, some a Qadiani, some a takfiri. Sadly, among those making these false charges were people regarded as great scholars. They sank so low in opposing him that they did not hold back from extremely provocative and uncivil language, language that not even a decent person, let alone a scholar of religion, would use. Shaikh-ul-Islam was a man of extraordinary patience and great dignity. All honour to him that he never said or wrote a single unbecoming word against these opponents, and he went on presenting his call in a positive way.

He was a great lover of the Messenger ﷺ, and his whole life was a model of following the Messenger ﷺ. He was a scholar who lived by what he knew, a living reminder of the righteous predecessors, and unmatched in piety. He held the symbols of Allah in the highest respect. His memory was excellent; he was a walking encyclopaedia of Hadith. He had a charismatic personality, and Allah had filled him with the qualities of leadership. He was the finest example of good character: cheerful and engaging, good-humoured and witty, hospitable, and devoted to keeping the ties of kinship. Patience, forbearance, tolerance, forgiveness and humility were the marks of his personality. He was a man of great vision, without equal in insight and understanding of the religion. He loved simplicity and was a picture of modesty and dignity. He had matchless willpower and was a mountain of resolve and steadfastness; weakness, laziness, helplessness and faint-heartedness had no place in him, and his whole life was one of unbroken striving.

His writings, large and small, number close to one hundred and fifty.

Besides these, he wrote a translation and commentary (tafseer) of the Quran Majeed. The tafseer is compiled solely from authentic Hadith and runs to ten large volumes.

He passed away in Karachi on Friday, 6 Shawwal 1417 AH, corresponding to 14 February 1997. With his death a great chapter of service to Islam came to a close. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. May Allah forgive him, send down His mercy and blessings upon him, grant him Jannat-ul-Firdaus and raise his ranks. Ameen, O Lord of the worlds.