Abdullah Darkhawasti

Hazrat Shaikh Hafiz-e-Hadis Moulana Muhammad Abdullah Darkhawasti (1887–1994) ) was an eminent Deobandi Islamic scholar of Pakistan. He became the Amir of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in 1962 and, in 1988, he issued a fatwa which declared that a female ruler is haraam. During his lifetime, Hazrat established five hundred and patronised four thousand madaris.

Hazrat was born in Darkhawast, a village in the city of Khanpur in the Rahim Yar Khan district of southern Punjab, British India. His father, Moulana Hafiz Mahmud ud Din Arain, was a learned and pious scholar. Hazrat commenced the memorization of the Qur'an at the age of nine and completed it at the age of eleven. Thereafter, he commenced his Arabic and Persian studies under Moulana Abdul Ghafur Hajipuri and Moulana Muhammad Siddeeq Hajipuri. By the age of eighteen, he had completed his studies in Arabic, Persian, and hadith and acquired a sanad in hadith from Moulana Muhammad Siddeeq Hajipuri. Hazrat also studied tafsir under Shaikhul Qur'an Moulana Husain Ali Waanbachaaran. Hazrat then became a murid of Moulana Ghulam Muhammad Dinpuri. He also became a murid of Moulana Ahmad 'Ali Lahori, who later bestowed khilafah upon him. Upon Moulana Ghulam Muhammad Dinpuri's instructions, Hazrat founded Jamia Makhzan ul Uloom in Darkhawast, where he taught Qur'an and hadith for fifteen years. The madrasa was shifted to Chawlsan for five years and then to the 'Idgah of the Shahi Masjid in Khanpur in 1946. From then onwards, it became his habit to teach tafsir in Sha'baan and Ramadaan only. Hazrat died in 1994 at the age of one hundred seven.