THE DECLINE AND FALL OF OUR BASTIONS OF THE HAQQ AND SUNNAH
It is with profound grief that we publish the following article and information authored by a Brother from the U.S.A.:
As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum Wa-Raḣmatullāhi Wa-Barakātu
25 Ramadhān 1446 | Mar 26, 2025
Respected ‘Ulamā,
As part of a personal project, I’ve been documenting how Deobandis gradually embraced photography over the last 25 years. Based on my findings, I’d like to provide some background information on the issues discussed in Ḣażrat’s recent article: A HARAAM KHATM-E-BUKHARI’ JALSAH.
1) The videoing of Miftāhul ’Ulūm’s Bukhārī Jalsahs has practically become a tradition at this point. It started back in 2019, when one of its former graduates, Mol. Bilal Bijrolvi Miftāhī, came to Jalālabād to livestream the Madrassa’s Bukhāri Khatm on YouTube. Mol. Bilal had actually switched fields and become a journalist after graduating from Miftāhul ‘Ulūm in 1984. Motivated by his belief in the power of media, he decided to create a YouTube channel (“The Voice of Islām”) in 2018 to propagate Dīn.
VOI’s earliest productions featured a number of prominent personalities. It’s debut video starred Mol. Najmul Ḣassan Thānwī, the present Nāżim of Ḣażrat Thānwī’s Khānqah and the son of Hażrat’s Mujāz-e-Suhbat, Marhūm Mawlānā Zuhūrul Hasan Ṡāḣib Thānwī. Sitting inside VOI’s studio, Mol. Najmul Hasan commended Mol. Bilāl for having undertaken the necessary and belated task of starting a Muslim-run news service. Various notables from Jalālabād also responded positively to Mol. Bilāl’s initiative. In one video, a senior Mudarris of Miftāhul ’Ulūm, Mol. Riżwān Nasīm, arrived at the studio for the filming of the first episode of a Rabī’ al-Awwāl Sīrat series. In another video, Mol. Bilāl took a tour of his alma mater, spoke with the then-vice Muhtamin (Qārī Walīullāh Khān), and showed viewers two photographs of Ḣażrat Masīhullāh (ID photo) and his late son, Mawlānā Safīullāh Khān.
Thereafter in 2019, Mol. Bilal filmed Miftāhul ‘Ulūm’s Bukhārī Khatm with the permission of its Muhtamim, Marhūm Mol. Hafīullāh Khān (Ḣażrat Masīhullāh’s grandson). Since it was the first time that this annual event was being videoed, the elderly ‘Ālim conducting the Khatm, Mawlānā ‘Aqīl ar-Rahmān, was at pains to explain that photography is Ḣarām, and that the cameras were there only to live-stream (i.e. without permanently recording) the event for people who couldn’t attend in person. He said this new arrangement had come about by the order of the Muhtamim and that Muftī Taqī ‘Uthmānī had ruled it (i.e. live video) permissible. The disclaimer notwithstanding, the proceedings were, in fact, recorded and can still be found on YouTube along with recordings of Miftāhul ‘Ulūm’s subsequent Khatm-e-Bukhārī Jalsahs.
The happenings described in the article are a consequence of the changes instated in Mol. Hafiullāh’s time, which in turn were precipitated by the increasingly liberal outlook adopted by the Intiżāmīyah in preceding years. While the public was already allowed to video these functions on their cellphones prior to 2019, the new setup gave them further impetus to do so, and the resulting footage eventually flooded social media. Even students got in on the act, with two going so far as to misappropriate the “Miftāhī” Nisba for their YouTube channels, “Miftāhī TV” and “Miftāhī Media Services”.
2) One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the article is the glaring lack of Purdah on these occasions. Large numbers of women gather around the men over the course of the program. While there’s shrubs/hedges separating male and females at the center, they’re found mingling at spots further away. The fact that this transpires every year indicates that the Intiżāmiyah isn’t too concerned about it.
(Our comment: The Majlis had not made reference to the ‘glaring lack of Purdah’ because in the several pictures sent to us there were no females nor the ‘shrubs/hedges’. We did not have the slightest clue to even suspect that this fake jalsah was further bedevilled with the Satanism of intermingling or men and women. May Allah Ta’ala have mercy on this fallen, rebellious, treasonist Ummah. – The Majlis)
3) With regards to “No Miftahi Molvi should defend the haraam shenanigans which had transpired at the fake Khatm-e-Bukhari jalsah”, I wanted to highlight how senior Miftāhī ‘Ulamā have both mirrored and facilitated Miftāh al-‘Ulūm’s lamentable metamorphosis.
- A) Muftī Shuaibullāh Khān Miftāhī is a well known ‘Ālim based in Bangalore. In 2017 Ḣażrat had advised me to seek admission at his Madrassa (Jāmi’ah Islāmīyah Masīh al-‘Ulūm) since he’d gotten excellent reports about it. He’s the Khalīfah of Marhūm Muftī Mużaffar Ḣussain Ṡāḣib (the last Nāżim of undivided Mażāhir al-‘Ulūm) and a reputed “Tilmīż-e-Rashīd” of Ḣażrat Masīhullāh (Rahimahullāh).
Muftī Shuaibullāh‘s writings on the prohibition of photography have become something of a standard reference in other works on the subject. One publication in particular (ٹیلی ویژن اسلامی نقطہ نظر سے) featured recommendations by Ḣażrat Masīhullāh and Miftāhul ‘Ulūm’s senior-most Mudarrissīn like Muftī Nasīr Ahmad, Mawlānā Muḣammad Yāsīn, and the aforementioned Mawlānā ‘Aqīl ar-Rahmān. Later Akābirīn have also appreciated his efforts to reinforce the traditional consensus regarding Tasāwīr, an instance of which is given below.
In 2017 he invited the Ḣażrat Muftī Sa’īd Aḣmad Pālanpūri (Rahimahullāh) to speak at a program at Masīh al-‘Ulūm. Before beginning his talk, Muftī Pālanpūrī sought to set the record straight on the Ḣurmat of taking photos, as one of the speakers before him, Mol. Salmān Hussain Nadwī, had taken exception to the ban on photography at the event and had forcefully argued that Muslims should be using cameras and the like to promote and defend Islām. Muftī Palanpuri lambasted Mol. Nadwī’s various justifications, particularly the mention of Pākistānī ‘Ulamā, in tackling his argument. Inferring that Mol. Nadwī was likely referring to Muftī Taqī ‘Uthmānī, Muftī Palanpuri exclaimed that:
حضرت مولانا تقی عثمانی صاحب زیدہ مجدہم نے ایک فتوی لکھا تھا ڈیجیٹل فوٹو کے بارے میں، یہ ہمارے مفتی شعیب اللہ خان صاحب بیٹھے ہوئے ہیں، انہو نے اس کا زبردست رد لکھا ہے
(Translation: Hadhrat Maulana Taqi had written a fatwa regarding digital photography. Here is sitting our Mufti Shuaibukkah Khan Sahub who had written a powerful refutation of it (i.e. of Mufti Raqi’s view).
Yet incredibly enough, after having been a stalwart of the anti-Taswīr camp for decades, Muftī Shuaibullāh recently reversed gears and is now championing (not merely condoning) the opposite view – that digital photography doesn’t fall under the definition of Taswīr. His about-face wasn’t widely known until he clarified his stance at a televised Jalsah in 2022, after which the media carried the news far and wide (India Ke Bade Mufti Sahab Ka Tasveer Or Videography Per Bada Fatwa).
Since adopting the view of permissibility he’s advocated for greater Muslim representation in media, believing that anti-Islam propaganda is one of the gravest challenges facing the Ummah today. In this vein he’s headlined promotional events for “Oonchi Awaz” and “Seedhi Baat”, two VOI-like news outlets founded by Madrassa graduates to cover Muslim affairs. He also has an eponymous YouTube channel broadcasting his ‘Ilmī Durūs and Khānqahī Majālis. When he was the chief guest at Miftāhul ‘Ulūm’s Khatm-e-Bukhāri Jalsah in 2023, then besides the videoing arranged by the Intiżāmīyah, somebody was recording the event for Muftī Shuaibullāh’s own channel as well.
B) Another prominent Miftāhī who’s developed a tolerance for photography is Muftī Nawāl ar-Rahmān. The head of Shariah Board of America, the closest equivalent to the South African Jamiats in the U.S., he’s long maintained a reputation for being averse to all types of Tasāwīr. In recent years, however, the New York division of his organization, Shariah Board New York (SBNY), has started incorporating videos into its activities.
I went to see him in connection with this when he was here for the Nizāmuddīn Ijtima’ last year (he also met with Ḣażrat afterwards in PE). In the context of our discussion – showing clips of chickens being slaughtered incorrectly for a program on Ḣalāl meat – he told me that SBNY is only using videos on an as-needed basis, not merely for the sake of it. I objected that others wouldn’t differentiate between necessity and superfluity, they would simply take the fact that Shariah Board is using videos as proof for it’s permissibility. He didn’t say anything in reply and the conversation then turned to something else.
Muftī Nawāl ar-Rahmān also has an elder brother, Muftī Jamāl ar-Rahmān Miftāhī, who’s one of the Akābir ‘Ulamā of Hyderabad (India). He’s another statistic of the unfortunate trend of Miftāhīs explicitly and implicitly legalizing photography. Since he only started appearing in videos at a late age, it’s possible that he considered such things to be Ḣarām until a few years ago.
It was Muftī Jamāl ar-Rahmān who made the concluding Du’ā at this year’s Khatm-e-Bukhārī Jalsah in Miftāh al-‘Ulūm, after Muftī Shuaibullah Khān had delivered the final Dars (Mol. Bilal Bijrolvi was on hand to film the event, as usual). Prior to the Khatm he, Mufti Shuaibullāh, Mawlānā ‘Aqīl ar-Rahmān, Qari Walīullāh, and a few other seniors had participated in a videoed Mashwara at the Madrassah. It slipped my mind to ask Muftī Nawāl ar-Rahmān about his brother during our talk, as both he and Muftī Jamāl ar-Rahmān are connected to the Silsilah of Ḣażrat Masīhullāh via the Khilāfat of Ḣażrat’s Mujāz, Marhūm Dr. Tanvīr Aḣmad Khān Ṡāḣib. It was expected from those authorized in this Silsalah that they would totally abstain from photos and videos.
C) The Ustādh of Muftī Shu’aibullāh and scores of other Miftāh al-‘Ulūm Fużalā, Mawlānā Muḣammad Yāmīn is perhaps the most senior Miftāhī ‘Ālim to have gotten involved in photography. After a decades-long teaching tenure at Miftāh al-‘Ulūm, he established Dār al-‘Ulūm Jalālābād in 2015. The Madrassah grew quite quickly, and in a video segment with Tahaffuz-e-Deen Media, Mawlānā Yāmīn attributed the fact to the blessings of his Asātiżah, namely ‘Allāmah Rafīq Ahmad, Mawlānā Muḣammad Yāsīn, and Mawlānā Wājid Ḣussain (Rahmatullāh ‘Alayhim). The Madrassah’s website has an image gallery depicting its personnel, and various programs held there have been uploaded to YouTube over the years.
(End of the Brother’s article)
OUR COMMENT
This Brother, the author of the aforementioned article, has brought to the fore information about our formerly sacred Institution and of its personnel, of which we at The Majlis were totally in the dark despite this satanic evolution spanning 25 years. Our extremely belated condemnation of the recent fake ‘Bukhari Khatam’ jalsah of Miftahul Uloom evidences our ignorance regarding the declining Ilmi and Roohaani situation of Miftahul Uloom – a decline spanning 25 years. This ignorance stems from the fact that all our information emanates from others, not from computer media. We are computer jaahil.
In the 25 years mentioned by the author of the article, no one had ever drawn our attention to the haraam shenanigans mentioned by the author. The information of the fake jalsah was received by us a day before the publication of our recent condemnation. It is surprising that in more than two decades while even the decline and drift from the Haqq of Darul Uloom Deoband was brought to our attention, nothing of Miftahul Uloom’s decline and fall was ever mentioned.
Indeed we are in the era in close proximity of Qiyaamah. We are witnessing the materialization of the predictions of Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) who has expressed greater fear for the deviated Ulama – more fear than fear for even Dajjaal.
The damage, harm and destruction to the Deen and Ummah caused by all of these deviated Dajjaali molvis is worse and more destructive than the damage caused by the entire conglomerate of kuffaar enemies of Islam. Indeed today if someone is searching for Islam, he will find it only in books, and if he is searching for Muslims, he will find them only in graves – the Graves of the Akaabir. May Allah Ta’ala have mercy on us.
25 Ramadhaan 1446 – 26 March 2025