Muhammad Idris Kandhlawi

Idris Kandhlawi (; 20 August 1899 – 28 July 1974) was a Pakistani Sunni scholar during the mid-twentieth century, widely recognized for his contributions to various fields of Islamic studies, including hadith, Quranic studies, Islamic jurisprudence, Prophetic biography, and theology. Holding the titles of Sheikh al-Hadith and Sheikh al-Tafsir, he traced his lineage to Abu Bakr on his father's side and Umar on his mother's side. He studied in Thana Bhawan under Ashraf Ali Thanwi. He studied hadith, first at Mazahir Uloom under Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri, and later at Darul Uloom Deoband under Anwar Shah Kashmiri. He started his professional career at Madrasa Aminia and later went to Darul Uloom Deoband. In 1929 he took a position in Hyderabad State, where he had access to the Asafia Library. This experience enabled him to produce a five-volume Arabic commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih titled Al-Taleeq al-Sabeeh, of which the first four volumes were published in Damascus. His scholarly work garnered recognition in the Arab world. He later assumed the roles of Sheikh al-Tafsir at Darul Uloom Deoband and Sheikh al-Hadith wa al-Tafsir at Jamia Ashrafia. In addition, he served as the Chancellor of Islamia University of Bahawalpur during its tenure as Jamia Abbasia.

He actively engaged in politics and worked in the Pakistan Movement as one of the top members of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. Following the partition of India, he migrated to Pakistan. He wrote over a hundred works, including an eight-volume Quran commentary called Maarif al-Quran, which aimed to counter the influence of Western-oriented exegesis trends in South Asia. His approach to writing this Quran commentary drew from the methodology of Bayan al-Quran. He also wrote a biography in Urdu of Muhammad, called Seerat-e Mustafa. The initial three volumes were printed in 1941, with the final volume, designed as a supplement, published in Deoband in 1966. He also wrote many works to refute Christianity and Qadianism.

Name and introduction In the introduction to one of his works, he introduces himself as "Hafiz Muhammad Idris ibn Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Ismail Kandhlawi, Siddiqi by nasab (lineage), Hanafi by madhhab (school of jurisprudence), and Chishti by mashrab (spiritual disposition, lit. 'spring')." Elsewhere, in one of his Arabic works, he writes, "as-Siddiqi al-Faruqi by nasab, al-Bawfali by birth and origin, al-Kandahlawi by home, al-Hanafi by madhhab, an-Naqshbandi, al-Mujaddidi." while on his mother's side he was Farooqi, claiming descent from Umar ibn Khattab. At the madrasah there he completed his primary education in the Dars-i Nizami curriculum with Thanawi as well as with Maulana Abdullah Gangohi.

Career Kandhlawi spent the majority of his life in the service of institutions of Islamic learning. His career can be summarized as follows: Al abwab wa at tarajim Al hairul zari Urdu Kalimatu Allah Fi Hayat Ruhi Allah: Al-Qawl Al-Muhkam: Lata'if Al-Hikam Fi Asrar Nazul 'Isa Ibn Maryam: Al-Din Al-Qayyim: Ahsan Al-Bayan Fi Mas'alah Al-Kufr Al-Iman: Nahayat Al-Adrak Fi Haqiqat Al-Tawhid: Walaa Shirk: Fath Al-Ghafur Sharh Manzumah Al-Qubur: Islam Aur Marzaiyat Ka Usooli Ikhtilaf: Historiography Urdu Seeratul Mustafa: Khilafat-e Rashida:

Legacy In a Q&A on Darulifta-Deoband.com, he was acclaimed as an great commentator and hadith scholar.