|
 Darul Ifta It is one of the most significant departments of Darul Uloom from which people all across the world question in their religious and social matters. Darul Uloom has issued fatwas from its inception but when questions started coming in bulks and it was hard for the teachers to reply them in their part time, Darul Uloom set up this department in 1310 H (1892). Darul Ifta has always been center of attraction and held great respect and trust in public and court circles. So far more than 7 Lakh fatwas have been issued from this department. The present Darul Ifta was built in 1368 H (1949) while the adjoining hall has been recently added.
THE EMINENT MUFTIS OF DARUL ULOOM
 It has already been mentioned in the foregone that at the time the Darul Uloom was established, old religious schools in India had almost faded out of existence. After the tumultuous upheaval of 1857, a sufficiently large number of Ulema were consigned to the rope and the gibbet, and some of the Ulema, for their crime of participation in the war of independence, were sentenced for life and sent to Andaman Nicobar Islands. Some of them, eluding capture and imprisonment by the English, gave them the slip and migrated to other countries. The old generation of the remaining Ulema was gradually coming to an end. Under such circumstances those who could explain propositions were few and far between. However the people saw a ray of hope when Darul Uloom came into being. The practice of the common run of Muslims with Darul Uloom has always been such that whenever any problem arose in the country and the Muslims felt any difficulty, they have automatically looked up to Darul Uloom. Accordingly, enquirers of propositions began to refer to it and hence the work of fatwa-writing, along with the work of teaching, is being done from the very inception. First of all Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi who was principal in Darul Uloom was rendering this service, which he continued from A. H. 1283 till before his death, that is, up to A. H. 1301. After his demise this work was being taken from different teachers and in this way this work went on til1 A. H. 1309. But when the number of queries reached an extraordinary limit, in A. H. 1310 a regular Darul Ifta was established in Darul Uloom, and Hazrat Maulana Muti Azizur Rahman Deobandi was appointed on the post of Mufti. Darul Ifta, besides guiding in religio-legal matters, is also a very forceful means of rapport between Darul Uloom Deoband, and the common run of Muslims. The Fatwas of Darul Uloom have been highly esteemed in and outside the country; besides, the masses the law court in the country also honour them and consider them decisive.
1. HADHRAT MAULANA MUFTI AZIZUR RAHMAN
The year of his birth is A. H. 1275 and the chronogrammatic name given him was Zafaruddin. The name of his august father was Maulana Fazlur Rahman. In the late A. H. 1284 when the class for reading the Holy Quran was started in Darul Uloom, he was admitted to this class for memorizing the Quran. In Sha'ban, A. H. 1285, he took the test for having committed half of the Quran to memory and in A. H. 1287 he memorized the entire Quran. The teacher of that class then was Hafiz Namdar Khan. In A. H. 1295 he took the examination for Bukhari Sharif, Muslim Sharif and Sharh-e Aqa'id and graduated from Darul Uloom. The teachers of Darul Uloom then were Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi, Hadhrat Maulana Syed Ahmed Dehlawi, Hadhrat Shaikhul Hind and Maulana Abdul Ali (Allah's mercy be on all of them!). In the commencement function (Jalsa Dastar Bandi) of A H. 1298, he was awarded the Sanad and the turban at the hands of Hadhrat Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi.
<more..> |
