Maulana Allah Banda Abdus Salaam Niyazi RA was born at jali kothi in Meerut in between 1875-77 AD. He was educated at Madrasa Mansabiya at Meerut. After graduating from the madrasa, when he was still in his teens, he traveled in the search of truth. We do not know when he graduated from Mansabiya. We can only guess near or around 1890 AD. He himself narrated too many people that he graduated from the Madrasa very early. Some of the people narrate that Maulana belongs to the family of Ilahi Bakhsh s/o Abdul Kareem. Ilahi Bakhsh liberated the Jama Masjid Delhi from the British government in auction. The family of Ilahi Bakhsh is known as the Butcher Wala. They were the suppliers of meat to the British Indian Army. Maulvi ‘Abdul Hakeem was brother of Ilahi Bakhsh and his son ‘Abdul Qadir aka Makki was also a mureed of Hazrat Taaj-ul-auliya Shah Nizamuddin Hussayn RA. Muhammad ‘Abdul Qadir aka Makki Mian died on 7th Safar 1373/17 October 1953 and was laid to rest in the east of Hazrat Shaykh Kalimullah Shahjahanabadi RA. The family of Ilahi Bakhsh was very rich and they owned women as per the tradition of those days. It may be possible that Ilahi Bakhsh owned a concubine or mozzeille which was later owned by Nanva Teli. The richness and affluence of this family can be imagined as the King George V [died in 1936] came to Delhi in 1911 and went to see Makki Mian near Delhi. In those days in Meerut, the Qalandriya Order was very prominent. Saeen Mushtaq Ali Shah, his caliph Saeen Major ‘Ali Shah and his caliph Saeen Vilayat Shah were in the Meerut City. Apart from them Saeen Chhajju Shah was also there who took young Maulana to Bareilly to the khanqah of Hazrat Shah Niyaz Ahmad Bareilvi RA. Maulana Abdus Salaam Niyazi took the oath of allegiance on the hand of Hazrat Shah Nizamuddin Hussayn RA [-1/9/1322=9Nov.1904]. Hazrat Tajul-Auliya Shah Nizamuddin Hussayn RA had appointed Hazrat Sirajus-Salikeen Shah Muhiuddin Ahmad aka Nannhe Miyan on 4 Jamadiul akhir 1302/23 March 1885. In view of this date Maulana would have been in the majlis of Hazrat Tajul-Auliya before March 1885. At that time he would have been at least an adult. Therefore his date of birth must be around 1860. Eventhough he was a maulvi and mureed of Hazrat Tajul-Auliya still his search for the Ultimate Truth was burning. Mian Muhammad Sher at Pilibhit, Hazrat Fazlurrehman Ganjmuradabadi,Syed Ghauth ‘Ali Shah at Panipat, Haji Warith ‘Ali Shah at Dewa Shareef were the other contemporaries.Sufi Allah Bakhsh Taunsvi RA, ‘Abdus Samad [Delhi], Baba Tajuddin [Nagpur], Syed ‘Abdul Bari Shah RA at Bandel, near Calcutta are the other contemporaries. This search took him to Brindaban. He wanted to know the concept of Divine Unity in the sanatana dharma. He was doing it on his own will. However there are some anecdotes that he passed some of the unwarranted remarks on his Pir in Bareilly. He was accompanying his Shaykh and some other mureeds were also together when someone asked about the bandelay of Bareilly. Abdus Salam pointed toward his Murshid introducing as the bandelay of Bareilly. It was perhaps due to the company of qalandars that his mind in the teenage was moulded accordingly. It is apparent that he was for quite some time in the company of the qalandars of the city of Meerut. Anyhow he decided one day to travel to the major pilgrimage centres of the sanatana dharma, and he first selected Vrindaban or Brindaban in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh. He lived in a small kutiya and did not disclose his Islamic identity. One day he concluded that there is no monotheism in the sanatana dharma. He was very surprised instantly to receive the call in his name from the adjacent kutiya. A sadhu called him inside his kutiya and disclosed all about Abdus Salam. At Haridwar he spent about twelve years in the company of Sadhus. A Hindu Raja was taking the sandal wood paste from the feet of a sadhu and was applying it on his forehead. It was surprising for Maulana Abdus Salam. As this question came to the mind of Maulana instantly the Sadhu called his by his name and it was far more surprising for him that this Sadhu knows my name. Maulana asked that Sadhu the question, “as to how he knows my name”. Sadhu replied that, please come to my kutiya in the night. Some basic concepts of ashtang yoga and sankhya yoga and other principles of the yoga sidhanta were discussed. The basic thing was that the nafs has to be suppressed. Then, Maulana was invited in their special gathering. One day that sadhu arranged a special meeting of his disciples of young age of both the sexes. It was night. The boys and the girls were of the teenage. The balas and their partners of the same age undressed themselves in the light of a burning lamp. They then touched their genital organs. But there was no sexual act or activity. The sensuality at this sensitive age was at complete control. And, this was the first step towards the monotheistic path according to the sadhu. The ashtang Yoga by Patanjali is based on eight principles:1. Yama – a) ahimsa, b)satya, c) asshaya, d) brahamcharya, e)aparegya2. Niyama – a)swatch, b)santosh, c)tapa, d)swadhyaya, e) ishwarya nidhana3. asana4. pranayama – this is equivalent to paas anfaas5. pratyahaara –6. dharna – like shughl-e-naseera, shughl-e- mahmooda7. dhyana – it is a line on which chitt is concentrated, in dharna it is a point8. Samadhi -Yoga Sutra by Patanjali1. abhyasa – it is based on karma2. bayraga – it is based on gyanaMaulana Abdus Salam Niyazi later spent about twelve years at Haridwar at a Mandir. He concluded that Islam and shashvat/sanatana dharma agree on the Unity of Divine Being but has differences on the akhiret. Maulana Abdus Salam sometimes told to Syed Hyder Farooq Maudoodi that his mother which was kasbi was very tyrant upon him. Considering the tyrant and aggressive behavior of his mother with the madrassa education and the company of the qalandars of Meerut City gave his personality a particular bent. The personality of a rebel and tough revolutionary, who wanted to experience every truth, before believing,. He had a logical and deductive mind. Maybe it was because he was later renowned as the final authority on logic [mantiq]. Allah Banda aka Maulana Abdus Salaam Niyazi was patronized later by Haji Noor Muhammad aka Nanva Teli [-1313/1895], a resident of Turkman Gate of Delhi. He lived with him in the house still situated at Nanva Teli Street, inside Turkman Gate and before Kalan Masjid. Nanva Teli had two wives and seven sons. Hafiz ‘Abdur Raheem and Abu Bakr were his two sons from the first wife. Hafiz Ahmad ‘Ali, Hafiz Muhammad ‘Ali, Hafiz ‘Abdul Ghani and Hafiz Nazeeruddin were the sons from his second wife. Nanva Teli had eight daughters apart from seven sons. Mahfooz Akhtar and Nazr Ali were the grandsons [navasa] who migrated to Sukkhar. Maulana ‘Abdus Salam was married to a girl of the teli baradari, whom he later divorced and got her married to Chaudhry Abdul Ghani. Sometimed he used to recite mian bani to bani warna Abdul Ghani! The story goes that her wife asked one night as to why he returns only with the trousers on his body. Maulana replied that he gave all his belongings to the qavval in the haal. His wife asked, if you was in the haal truly, then why you remembered about your trousers! In fact Maulana was not able to give his wife that attention and care which was needed. Slowly he noticed that his wife is involved or somehow emotionally attached to Hafiz Abdul Ghani. This led Maulana to decide to free his wife from the bond of his nikah and he arranged her marriage to her lover. But he said to his ex-wife that it will not be her final settlement in marriage and she has seven husbands in her destiny. Accordingly she married and died in Sukkhar, Sind. Shahid Ahmad Dehlavi in his article on Maulana [1967] has wrongly mentioned the name as Abdul Hayy. After becoming free from the bonds of family life he completely devoted himself to the metaphysics. It was perhaps this time that he shifted to the single room in front of Uunchi Masjid[near the Kalan Masjid of Feroz Shah Tughlaq b.1371 AD and opposite to the Khanqah of Dada Pir] where he passed to his heavely abode on 10 June 1966 i.e. 10 Rabi’ul-avval 1386. In this single room he spent his sixty years without any fan or luxuries of his times. Maulana ‘Asher narrated to Afzalur Rehman. A Hindu Raja from Rajputana came to see Maulana on his room and requested for the birth of a son. Maulana asked him to bring the Rani to his room in the wedding suit and leave his wife for a night with Maulana. That Raja came with his Rani and left his wife with Maulana for the night. At mid-night Maulana asked the Rani to join the prayers with him and ask whatever she wants to ask from the Almighty. Rani asked for the son. Accordingly she became the mother of a son in due course of time. Raja came one day with the golden coins in a try. Maulana refused to accept the gold coins and gave them to a person in need of money. Someone asked Maulana about his age and he replied, “I am two years elder than Allah Mian.” It may be adopted from the famous Persian couplet:cheh khush guft Behlol farkhanda faalman az khuda besh az do saal Munshi Dharam Parkash Rawat [b janmashtami, 18 August 1924] r/o 2850, Gali Peepal Mahadfev, Hauz Qazi, remembers his teacher Ahmad Ali at Anglo Sanskrit School left him with Maulana in 1943. Munshi Dharam Parkash was born after the serial deaths of sons to his father. Khaleefa Boodi of Pahar Ganj sent his father to Ajmer Shareef and a Sufi saint of Ajmer Shareef promised his father a son. On Janmashtami he was born and the saint at Ajmer expired.Maulana sometimes recited in Urdu:noon mein nuqta na tha jabthe kahaan shams o qamarkhuda se do baras peshtarkaun tha deejyo khabar While the Holy Quran reminds of the period when the human being was nothing considerable.Hal ataa ‘alal insane heenum minaddahar lam yakun shayun mazkoora Haji Noor Muhammad aka Nanva Teli had adopted Maulana as his son and he enjoyed his rights as the family member of Nanva Teli. After he freed himself from the bonds of marital life he adopted Amtur Rauf daughter of Haji Abu Bakr son of Haji Noor Muhammad Nanva Teli. Maulana bore all the expenses on the marriage of his adopted daughter. He later adopted Abdur Rehman as his son who owns his room till date and his brother Mukhtar aka Meenu sold the books to Syed Ausaf ‘Ali for Rs Six Thousand Only. It was in the second decade of the twentieth century that on this room he taught Maulana Abul Khayr Maudoodi and his younger brother Maulana Abul A’laa Maudoodi [b 3 Rajab 1321/25 September 1903]. Maulvi Syed Ahmad Hasan [b.1273/1856] was the father of these two brothers who expired in 1339/1911. Syed Hasan was the grandfather of AbulKhayr and Abul A’la who passed top his heavenly abode on 1321/1903 and he was born in 1220/1806.At the time of the demise of his father Maulavi Syed Ahmad Hasan [1339] Maulana Maudoodi would be around 18 and his brother around 20. We do not know if Maulana started the duo befor passing away of Syed Ahmad Hasan or after. It is narrated that Maulan Abul Khayr and Abul A’la were in their early teens when Maulana Abdus Salam started teaching them at his room.His conditions were very strict for the teaching. First he had the spare time only in the midnight in the winter season and in the mid-day in the summer season. Both the Maudoodi brothers still young and and about the age of ten to thirteen had to come from Kucha Pandit. The second strict condition was not to touch the door of the house. If per chance it is touched then the door will not open for them anytime. And it happened that the door was not opened for the months. And, when it opened then the students ascended to the stairs of the house and someday Maulana himself narrated the reason. It was a cobra in the cheenka [a swinging tray] that bite Maulana and Maulana faught with that snake for about a month. Maulana Abdus Salam was very strict to his principles. He was strict and tough with his students also. He never demanded any fee for the teaching but was so tough with the students that used to bind them with the pillar and beated them. With Maudoodi Brothers he was always kind and called them Syed Badshah. In 1942 Maulana Abul A’la was in Pathankot when he wrote to Maulana a letter and expressed his desire in this letter to write a commentary on the Holy Quran entitled tafheem ul quran. Maulana asked Maudoodi to come and read Baydhavi once more. Out of mischief Abu A’la read the test and left some matter in between, and it was to test the memory of Maulana at this age. Maulana immediately stoped Abul A’la and recited the whole text from his memory. Maulana would have been around 65-70 at the time. It was around the third decade of the twentieth century that people noticed that Maulana has some extraordinary conditions. Sometimes people saw his limbs apart. His hands and feet were lying separate. This symblise the higher status of an abdaal he enjoyed. In the Chishtiya Order and in particular the Niyazia Order teaches a syllabus of dhikr bil jahr in which the saalik attains this condition sometimes. In the fourth decade while returning from the shrine of Hazrat Mehboob-e-Ilahi RA Ibrahim noticed a faqir outside Turkman Gate who was eating from the dead body of a horse or a donkey. It was a peculiar scene and Maulana offered Ibraheem his handkerchief for the collection of the sacred eatable and without talking. That faqir in the black clothes took the out the heap of meat [that was a benediction or prasad] from the dead body of the animal and packed it in the cloth of Maulana. Ibraheem put it on his shoulder and without talking followed Maulana upto the room. Astonshingly as it was uncovered in the room Ibraheem found that this sacred relic is fine smelling sweatmeat [halwa]. ‘Inayatullah advocate [b 5 Oct 1927] remembers his meetings with Maulana in 1946-1947. It was his strictly personal matter which forced him to the door of Maulana. On his first attempt he was unsuccessful due to the fearfulness in his heart. Maulana enjoyed such commanding and awe-inspiring personality that not only a common man but the persons of high caliber were to be overawed. In the second attempt he somehow controlled his energies and touched the door. Immidiately he listened a loud voice like thunder, kaun? [Who is there?]. He replied, maen hun. [I am]. mein kaun?[Who is I?] Inayatullah. darwaze ko apni taraf kheencho, uupar aajaao[Pull the door toward you and come up]. Inayatullah was not able to speak in front of Maulana and wept abruptly. Maulana stood up and took out some water from the earthen matka and offered the water to Inayatullah. After consoling him Maulana explained him his problem and asked him to offer five phials of ‘attar to the five graves in Delhi. Accordingly Inayatullah purchased five glasses of ‘Attar from Maulana for Rs. Fifty only. He applied this ‘attar on the shrine of Hazrat Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki RA, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Mehboob-e-Ilahi RA, Hazrat Naseeruddin Chiragh Delhi RA, Hazrat Shaykh Kaleemullah Shahjahanabadi RA, Hazrat Maulana Fakhruddin RA. Sometime after offering the ‘attar he noticed on one morning as if something has come out from his stomach with the nightsoil. It was a black thread with two or three cloves tied to the thread. As it happened to him he felt himself light and psychologically changed otherwise he wanted to commit suicide. His problem was solved on the same date and time within a year and within a couple of months to his meeting Maulana. A couple of months before the Independance Day on one fine Sunday morning at 10 AM in the summer season of Delhi a delegation of four officials from the Ministry of Education of the interim government of India came to see Maulana. The issue was the Hindu-Muslim Unity and the common concepts in Islam and the Indian system of religions. Maulana explained that some of the concepts are common like wahdaniyat while on some other concepts like akhirat there is difference. Inayatullah was present. Maulana Isma’il Khan of Masjid Badal Baig at Hauz Qazi was very much attached to Maulana. Isma’l Khan used black clothes only and belonged to some Sufi order which is identified with the black clothes.This order originated from Pak-Pattan Shareef and the Mosque of Mirza Badal Beg at Hauz Qazi was the centre of their activities. They offered niyaz on every 17th of the Islamic Lunar month. In 1938 a person from this order informed Muslim Ahmad Nizami the grandson of Deputy Nazeer Ahmad that Dellhi is under the control of Maulana ‘Abdus Salaam Niyazi RA. Muslim Ahmad Nizami was a daily visiter to Maulana from 1938 to the last day. During the Partition Maulana was very much disturbed and rarely used to meet anyone.He shouted from his room too much. Abdus Salam visited Meer Sahib Muhammad ‘Ali Warthi at Rodgaran before 1947. Meer Sahib lived in the mosque which is still situated opposite to the house of Mirza Mahmood Baig. Madrasa Iradatullah Khan was founded by Nawab Iradatmand Khan Sharfuddaulah, a minister in the court of Muhammad Shah. Iradatmand died in 1145AH and rests in the east of the Mosque. On his left rests his wife and on his right Nawab Musa Khan who is brother-in-law. Here in the mosque lived Maulvi Ammu Jaan Qadri who was caliph of Hazrat Ghauth Ali Shah Qalandar Panipati RA [d.1880]. Maulvi Ammu Jaan was a teacher in Persian in the Government School and rests in Menhdiyaan. Ghayathuddin s/o Kamaluddin r/o 2085 Rodgaran was in his teens when he saw Maulana. He had the impression that Maulana knows how to convert the iron into Gold [‘ilm-e-keemiya]. Ghayathuddin and his other family members were leaving for Pakistan like all the Muslims of the City of Delhi. Before leaving Delhi he went to see Maulana for the last time. Maulana shouted, “Where are you going?” To Pakistan, he replied. Who are you? Even your father cannot go to Pakistan, Maulana said, and he returned to his home. On ‘ishq-e-Rasool there are various instances from his life, mentionable and non-mentionable. Very often Maulana expressed his desire to drink even a drop of the urine of the Holy Prophet saw. A person came to inform Maulana that such and such person has committed an insult to the holy Prophet saw. Maulana hit him hard on his head with his copper pot and then asked. Why you did not killed the sinner before coming to inform me? Kunwar Mahinder Singh Bedi Sahar was the Mayor of Delhi after the partition and he recited a na’t before Maulana. Sahar wanted the praise for the poetic expressions. Instead Maulana was very displeased and felt uneasy for the artifice of Sahar. Shah ‘Alauddin meditated on the grave of Hazrat Qutbuddin Bakhtyar Kaki RA and asked, “Who is the most beloved person of Allah in Delhi? “ He was guided to Hazrat Maulana ‘Abdus Salam Niyazi RA. He alongwith Syed Hyder Farooq Maudoodi visited his room inside Turkman Gate. At that time he was busy with many people around him. As soon as Shah ‘Alauddin tried to put some currency under the carpet he soon became attentive and ordained him to leave the room immediately with the currency. The Head of the Department of Philosophy from the Muslim University, Aligarh came to see Maulana and during the conversation Maulana asked him to define the number. He was not able to define. Then Maulana defined the number as, ‘adad voh munfa’il miqdar hai jo apne donon hashiyon ke jod ka nisf hota hai A number is an afflicted quantity which ishalf to the total of the both its columns. Every year on the occasion ‘Eid Miladunnabi Maulana Hussayn Ahmad Madani RA addressed to the public at Pahari Bhojla, inside Turkman Gate. Maulana Abdus Salam Niyazi used to hear this sermon from the house of Mirza Isma’il Beg opposite to Anjuman Ittehad Manzil. On one occasion in 60s he stepped down from the house and came inside the Anjuman Ittehad Manzil toward Hazrat Madani uttering the words,subhanallah barahe rast mishkwat e nabuwwat se mustafeed hain aap Maulana ‘Abdus Salam was strict to the principle of the Nizamiya Order which asks its adherents to be away from the government. Dr Zakir Hussain was a regular visitor to Maulana. Later he became Vice President and then the President O India. Zakir Husain asked for the permission to come to see Maulana, and he refused to see him. Maulana said har shaakh pe ulluu baitha hai anjaam e gulistaan kya hoga? Syed Muhammad Qadri who has translated ta’leem ul Islam into English visited Maulana and Maulana showered at him some of the abusive words. Syed Qadri protested in response. Ultimately Maulana came downstairs and took Syed Qadri upstairs and served him. At a time someone took Ayed Ausaf ‘Ali to Maulana. Maulana did not allow sitting and recited the first part of the fiftieth ayat of Surah Add-Dhaariyat.Fa firruu ilallah inni lakum minkum nazeerum mubeenSo flee to Allah [from His Torment to His Mercy-Islamic Monotheism].Verily, I [Muhammad saw] am a plain warner to you from Him.[The Holy Qur-an 51:50] Justice ‘Abdul Hakeem alongwith Khwaja Hasan Sani Nizami went to see Maulana. A Muslim woman [name restricted] was like his daughter and had played in the lap of Maulana. Maulana during conversation aked about her and was displeased to know that she married a non-Muslim Mr Palliwal. He was angry on her and said, “if she will come to my door I will break her legs”. Josh Malihabadi writes [about Maulana ‘Abdus Salam Niyazi] as follows: He was an expert orientalist. His words were final on any oriental subject. He was a humanist and an emperor. He was a leading personality on the Holy Qur-an, Hadeeth, Ilm-ul-kalam [oratory],tareekh [history], tafseer [commentary on the Holy Qur-an], lughat [dictionary], lisani qava’id [grammar], adab [literature], sha’iri [peotery]. Though he was a great theologist, still he shaved his chin and moustache in protest of ‘ulema-e-sou. He did not like to be similer to the uluma-e-sou [pseudo theologist].Mantiq[logic], Hikmat [medical science], tasavvuf [mysticism], ‘Aruz [prosody], ‘Ilm-e-ma’ani-o-bayan [rhetorics], ‘ Maulana ‘Asher Ashrafi – Maulana was born c.1904 in Gali Takhat Wali, Choori Walan, Delhi. His father was a professor in Urdu at Patna University. Professor Abdul Ghafoor Shahbaz was in service at the archeological department ain the state of Nizam of Hyderabad. Maulana Asher was the tenth progeny of his parents. He stayed in the womb of his mnother for one year. At the time of his birth his father was at Patna. His mother died when he was just eighteen months. His aunt and maternal uncle looked after him.His father remained in Patna while he was in Delhi at Pahari Imli near the house of Mir Panja kash. Syed Ameer Saheb aka Mir Panja Kasha Khush Navees was shot by the British on Friday 4 Safar 1274/24 September 1857 [239982] in his house at Pahari Imli. He was laid to rest in the house. Mir Qutbe-‘Alam was his son. His geneology goes as Mir Pannja kash s/o Syed Muhammad Umar s/o Murtadha s/o Syed Qutb. Maulana ‘Asher was a student at Anglo Arabic School when Ghazi Abdur Rasheed was hanged at Jailkhana which is now Maulana Azad Medical College [on 27 Nov 1927]. There was curfew in the city and Maulana was arrested while coming from the school. His Murshid Maulana Kareem Redha had warned him in advance to stay at home, and he did sot obeyed therefore he was arrested. This lesson he remembered for the life. We do not know in which year he became mureed of Hazrat Kareem Redha Sahib. He was in some relation his Murshid also. Kareem Redha Gayavi resided in Chawri Bazar and hide himself. 9 Jamadi –avval 1404/12 February 1984
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