The Sunni Voice

Shah Abdul Aziz; ‘The Sun of India’ the eldest son of Shah Waliullah was only 17 years old when Shah Waliullah died. After the death of Shah Waliullah, his son, Shah Abdul Aziz gradually became an outstanding figure among the Indian Muslims. Shah Abdul Aziz, having completed his necessary education assumed the responsibility of the principalship of the Madrash Rahimiya (Delhi). Thereafter, Shah Abdul Aziz devoted his life to teaching, to spiritual guidance, to delivering sermons and to writing books. Every Tuesday and Friday, he used to give public sermons on the premises of the Madrasah which was attended by Muslims and non-Muslims both. The Madrasah was a centre of traditional Islamic learning. As was the custom in those days, he started his education at the age of five with the study of Holy Quran. Every biographer of Shah Abdul Aziz seems to have agreed that he finished his education in Tafsir, Hadith, sarf (accidence), Nahw (Syntax), Fiqh, Usul-i-Fiqh (Principles of Jurisprudence), Mantiq (logic), Kalam and Aqaid (theology), Astronomy and Mathematics at the age of about fifteen years. He was taught especially by his father and by two of his father’s disciples, Shah Muhammad Ashiq and Khwajah Aminullah. His father held authority (ijazah) in all four existing mystic orders, the Naqshbandi, the Qadiri, the Suhrawardi and the Chisthti. Shah Abdul Aziz too obtained such Ijazah in all these orders from his father. He was also a poet of high merit and used to write poems and Ghazals……..[continue reading]