Chapter 11: My Education in Darul-Uloom Deoband

My Education at Darul-Uloom Deoband

As far as I can remember, my dear brother (marhoom) taught me a few lessons of Gulistan, and  the text of Meezane Munshaib with much attention. When I was well versed with these books, I was taught Panj Gunj and Sarf Meer one after another by Hadhrat Hakim Mohammed Hasan sb marhoom. These lessons and likewise many other additional lessons took place took place outside madrasah hours in my free time after asr, maghrib and esha salah. These additional study sessions allowed me to excel very quickly in my studies and surpass my fellow classmates in the lower years; they enabled me to move onto study higher level texts in the higher classes. Observing my diligence and commitment, my teachers also began to give me much more attention.

In summary, from Safar 1309 Hijri (1891) uptil Shabaan 1316 Hijri (1899), I stayed in Deoband and studied the following books by the following teachers:

1.    Shaykhul Hind  (Quddus sirruhu)	Dustoorul Mubtadi, Zarawi, Zanjani, Mirahul Arwah, Qala Aqool, Mirqaat,Tahzeeb, Qutbi Tasdeeqat, Qutbi Taswwwurat, Meer Qutbi, Mufeedut-Talibeen, Nafahatul Yaman, Mutawwal, Hidaya Akhirayn,Tirmidhi shareef, Bukhari Shareef,Abu Dawud,Tafseere Baydhawi,Nukhbatul Fikr,Sharah Aqaid Nasafi, Hashiya Khayali, Mawta Imam Malik and Mawta Imam Muhammad (Rahimhuma AllahTala)
2.    Molana Zulfiqar Ali sahib (Father of Shaykhul Hind RA)	Fusool-e-Akbari
3.    Molana Abdul Ali Sahib RA -Teacher at Darul Uloom	Muslim Shareef, Nasai Shareef, Ibn Majah, Sab’a Mualliqat,Hamdullah, Shamsul Bazighah, Sadra, Tawzeeh at-talweeh, Tasreeh.
4.    Molana Khaleel Ahmad Marhoom: Teacher at Darul uloom Deoband	Talkheesul Miftah
5.    Molana Al-Hakeem Mohammed Hasan sahib: Teacher at Darul uloom Deoband	Panj Gunj, Sarfe Meer, Nahwmeer, Mukhtasir Ma’ani, Sullamul Uloom -Mulla Hasan, Jalalayn Shareef, Hidayah Awwalayn
6.    Molana Mufti Azeezur -Rahman: Teacher at Darul Uloom Deoband	Sharah Jami,Bahath fa’l, Kafiyah, Hidayatun Nahwa, Munyatul Musalli, Kanzul Daqaiq, Sharah Wiqahya, Sharah Mi’ata Aamil, Usoole Shashi
7.    Molana Gulam Rasul sahib Bafwi: Teacher at Darul Uloom Deoband	Noorul Anwar, Husami, Qazi Mubarak, Shumaile Tirmidhi
8.    Molana Munfa’at Ali sahib marhoom	Meer Zahid Risala, Meer Zahid Mulla Jalal, Mebzi, Khulasatul Hisaab, Rasheediya, Siraaji
9.    Molana Hafiz Ahmad marhoom	Sharah Mulla Jami, Beheth-Ism.
10.  Molana Habeebur Rahman Sahib	Muqamaate Hareeri, Deewane al-Mutanabbi
11.  My Elder Brother marhoom	Meezanus-Sarf, Munsha’ab, Esa Ghooji (logic)

In summary, within six and a half years I was given the opportunity to study sixty-seven books that covered seventeen different sciences. These texts were generally taught as part of the darse nizaami (study curriculum used in Madrasahs) and the nisaabe-dares walie-ilahi in the Arabic educational centres in India. However, I could not complete other books relating to adab (literature), hay’at (astronomy), urooz (prosody), tibb (medicine) etc that formed part of the curriculum because of our travel to Hijaz.



Shaykhul Hind RA, only taught the prominent text books of the higher classes, yet he was my first teacher in Deoband. Though he was not formally assigned to teach the introductory texts, he taught us because his own nephew - Munshi Habeeb Hasan Sahib was a student in our class. Owing to the death of Munshi Habeeb Hasan Sahib’s mother and their mutual kinship, Shaykhul Hind RA always displayed deep love towards him. Another reason I was taught by Shaykhul Hind RA was because he was deeply compassionate towards my brothers and myself, and took special care of us because my eldest brother would present himself excessively for his khidmah and fulfilled the given tasks. Thus, I was taught the above mentioned foundational texts and most of them were taught outside the madrasah hours. I lacked passion in my study of the kitabs and I made meagre effort with motala (pre-reading and researching the lesson ahead) and takrar (revisiting and revising) of the lessons after they were taught. However, I would make sure that I punctually attended all the sessions and put my utmost effort into understanding the lessons during classtime.


I was able to  pass all the examinations of the introductory texts with excellent results as they were all oral examinations in nature. However, when I began taking written exams (in the middle and higher classes), in the first year I failed three textbook examinations out of six. This was because students were only given three questions in the written papers and no prior information about which specific chapters or topics would be tested.  If students didn’t revise all the chapters of the text and had not formed a solid understanding of all the topics, it became extremely difficult to pass the examinations. Furthermore, the marking strategy used was to add together the scores of each of three individual question and divide them by three to form an average score which was used as the overall result of that paper. Consequently, if the results for two questions were very good and one was poor, you still would not be successful. You had to work extremely hard otherwise it became very difficult to pass your exams. To help myself during the examination period, my strategy was to stay awake most of the night and do motala of the full kitab from beginning till the end and I would only sleep for one hour or even less. To keep myself awake, I would prepare salty tea and would drink it throughout the course of the night when sleep would overpower me. I was then able to stay awake for a further one to two hours each time. I had a problem with sleepiness, which worsened during my study time, so this tea drinking practice allowed me to overcome the difficulties I encountered in the preparation of my written exams. Thereafter, I never failed any of my written exams ahumdulillah.  Rather I, almost always, managed to achieve outstanding results in my class.

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