Obituary: Mawlana Ismail Kawthar Kosadi Falahi
There is a famous hadith that knowledge will disappear with the death of scholars. This is a dire eventuality that as people affiliated with sacred knowledge we pray and hope we do not have to witness in our lifetimes. Last Friday (11 June 2021 / 1 Dhu al-Qa‘dah 1441), however,
The Real Story of Mawlana Thanawi’s Marriage
In a recent diatribe, Nahiem Ajmal (“Mufti” Abu Layth al-Maliki) alleged that Hakim al-Ummah Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (d. 1943/1362), may Allah have mercy on him, married a 10 year old girl, referring to it as the “rape of an innocent underaged girl” and “forcing himself on her.” Ajmal, a
An East India Company massacre in British Gujarat in 1810
It was at daybreak on Friday 19 January 1810 (corresponding to 13 Dhu ’l-Hijjah 1224 AH) when the people of the village of Bodhan, a quiet, unassuming and unfortified village situated on the banks of the Tapi River in the Surat district of Gujarat, came to realise a sudden calamity
Academic ‘khutputs’ and UK Darul Ulooms
In the preface to the second edition of his book published in 1959, Islam in India and Pakistan, Murray T. Titus, a US academic and Christian missionary, gives thanks to several people who helped him write his book which was originally written as a PhD thesis undertaken at the Hartford