Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera has been studying the traditional Islamic sciences and writing scholarly works for most of his life. He completed the bulk of his studies at Darul Uloom Bury, North England, where he memorized the Qur'an by age fifteen and thereafter went on to complete a rigorous, six-year Shari'a program. He graduated from this program with authentic certifications (ijaza) in numerous Islamic disciplines, including Arabic, Islamic jurisprudence, and hadith (with particular emphasis on the six authentic books of hadith (Sihah Sitta) and the Muwattas of Imam Malik and Imam Muhammad). His teachers at Darul Uloom Bury included Shaykh Yusuf Motala and other students of Shaykh al-Hadith Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi.
After graduating, the author traveled to South Africa, where he attended Madrasah Zakariyyah part-time to gain specialized training in answering legal questions (ifta') under Mufti Rada al-Haq. While in South Africa, he also completed a B.A. with honors in Islamic studies at Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, under Professor Abdur-Rahman Doi, Ph.D.
He then traveled to Syria, where he received a second certification in Qur'anic recitation and memorization, this time from Shaykh 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Halabi, who possessed a short, unbroken chain of transmission (sanad) to the Messenger of Allah in this subject. He also received a certification from Shaykh Adib Kallas after reading Mulla 'Ali al-Qari's Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar and attending lectures on other classical texts of Islamic creed ('aqida).
He spent the following year in Saharanpur, India, where he received formal authorization to issue legal rulings (fatawa), which required a close study of part or all of a number of classical jurisprudential texts, including, among others, Ibn Nujaym's Al-Ashbah wa 'l-naza'ir and 'Allama Haskafi's Al-Durr al-mukhtar (along with its commentary, Radd al-muhtar, by 'Allama Ibn 'Abidin al-Shami). During this time, Mufti Abdur-Rahman also attended classes on the principles of hadith (usul al-hadith), studying 'Allama Lakhnawi's Al-Raf ' wa 'l-takmil fi 'l-jarh wa 'l-ta'dil and parts of Imam Suyuti's Tadrib al-rawi.
The author acquired additional certifications in hadith from such great scholars as Shaykh Muhaddith Habib al-Rahman al-A'zami (through his student Shaykh Mufti Zayn al-'Abidin), Shaykh Abu 'l-Hasan 'Ali Nadwi, and Shaykh Muhammad al-'Awwama. May Allah continue to bless those of his teachers who are still alive and have mercy on those who have passed on to the next life.
To date, Mufti Abdur-Rahman has written Fiqh al-Imam: Key Proofs in Hanafi Fiqh (1996) and co-authored Reflections of Pearls (1995). He also published Provisions for the Seekers (1996), a translation and commentary of the Arabic work Zad al-Talibin, a small collection of short hadiths compiled by Mawlana Ashiq Ilahi from 'Allama Tibrizi's Mishkat al-Masabih. He is currently working on a revised, second edition of this work, which is set for release later this year. His latest published work is Prayers for Forgiveness: Seeking Spiritual Enlightenment through Sincere Supplication (2004), a translation of Al-Istighfarat al-Munqidha min al-Nar, a collection of seventy prayers for forgiveness by 'Allama Qutb al-Din al-Hanafi transmitted from Imam Hasan al-Basri. Additionally, Mufti Abdur-Rahman has completed an unpublished translation of Imam Abu Hanifa's Al-Fiqh al-Akbar, along with its commentary, written by 'Allama Maghnisawi.
He presently serves as Imam of Masjid e-Quba Stamford Hill, London and continues to work on scholarly publications through White Thread Press. Some of his fatawa can be found on the famous sunnipath.com site and his beneficial and educational lectures can be heard at Zamzam Academy website.
May Allah swt give good health and long life to Shaykh Abdur Rahman in order that the ummah continue to benefit from his lessons and knowledge. Ameen.
Also known asAl-Muhannad ala 'l-Mufannad, this concise book written in response to the slanders propagated by the Barelwi sect, was accepted and approved unanimously by the Deobandi Akaabir. It adequately defines the beliefs, practices and Maslak of the Ulama of Deoband who transmitted faithfully the beliefs and practices of Ahlus Sunnah Wa'l Jama'ah as codified by the four Madh-habs of fiqh and the two Madh-habs of Aqeedah. The Ulama of Makkah, Madinah, Damascus and Cairo, all upheld the veracity of the contents of this book.
The book holds imperative importance in this day and age when many Ulama who claim affiliation to the teachings of Deoband, have been undeniably infiltrated and influenced by a whole range of deviant beliefs and practices, mainly from, but not exclusively, the deviations of pseudo-Sufism, Salafism and modernism. Any belief or practice that conflicts with the contents defined in Al-Muhannad is baatil and has no relationship with the Ulama of Deoband.
What follows is the series of 26 questions from al-Muhannad, along with their answers. These questions were addressed to the Ulama of Deoband by the Ulama of Hijaz. The answers were written by Shaykh Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri and were approved and endorsed unanimously by the Ulama of Deoband of that time.
THE CREED OF THE ULAMA OF DEOBAND
[From the Ulama of Hijaz]
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Merciful.
Dear noble 'ulama and great scholars, [certain] people have attributed to your noble courtyard the beliefs of Wahhabis, and they have produced papers and treatises whose meanings we do not recognise due to a difference in language. So we hope you will inform us of the reality of the situation and the intents of the statements. We will ask you concerning matters on which disagreement between the Wahhabis and Ahl al-Sunnah wa l-Jama'ah is well-known.
[ANSWER FROM THE ULAMA OF DEOBAND]
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Merciful
From Him we seek help and the granting of success, and in His hand are the reigns of verification.
While praising (Allah), and sending prayers and peace (on His Prophet), (I say):
It should be known firstly, before we begin to answer, that we and our mashayikh - Allah's pleasure be on them all - and our entire group and congregation are, by Allah's praise:
- Imitators of the guide of creation, the pinnacle of Islam, the valiant Imam, the greatest Imam, Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man - Allah Exalted is He be pleased with him - in the peripherals;
- And followers of the noble Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and the noble Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (Allah be pleased with them) in creed and the fundamentals;
- And affiliates, from amongst the paths of the Sufis, to the lofty path ascribed to the Naqshbandi masters and to the pure path ascribed to the Chisti masters and to the glorious path ascribed to the Qadiri masters and to the approved path ascribed to the Suhrawardi masters (Allah be pleased with them all).
Then, secondly, we do not pronounce a statement regarding the religion unless we have evidence for it from the Book, Sunnah and the consensus of the ummah or the statement of the Imams of the [Hanafi] madhhab, and despite this we do not claim that we are free from error and forgetfulness in the erring of the pen and slip of the tongue.
Thus, if it is manifest to us that we erred in a statement, whether from the fundamentals or the peripherals, shyness will not prevent us from going back on it, and we will publicise the retraction. Why not, when our imams - Allah's pleasure be on them - have indeed gone back on many of their statements such that the Imam of the respected Haram of Allah - Exalted is He - our Imam, al-Shafi'i - Allah be pleased with him - left no issue but he has therein a new statement, and the Sahabah - Allah be pleased with them all - retracted in issues to the statements of some [others] from them as is not hidden to the observer of hadith.
Hence, if one of the 'ulama were to claim that we made an error in a ruling, if it is from beliefs, he must establish [it] with a clear text from the imams of Kalam, and if it is from the peripherals, he must substantiate his explanation on the preponderant opinion of the imams of the madhhabs. When he does this, there will not be from us, if Allah - Exalted is He - wills, but wilful acceptance with the heart and tongue, and abundant thanks with the heart and limbs.
reliablefatwas.com/aqaaid-creed-ulama-deoband/
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