The Upbringing of Moulana Ilyas (ra) and the Political Climate of India
Moulana Ilyas (ra) was born in 1885 and completed hifz (memorization of the Holy Quran) at a young age under his father Moulana Ismail (ra).The family had their own masjid and at the time of salaah nearly 2 complete saff (rows) would be full of huffaz of his family. This was the dedication and love his family had for the Holy Quran. Imagine in your masjid for every salaah nearly 2 rows are full of huffaz all from the same family - that says something about the family overall. Also, the family of Moulana Ilyas (ra) had their own masjid. This shows their love and dedication to the House of Allah swt. Rarely you see in the world a family build their own family masjid. So not only they had their own family masjid but every salaah had 2 full rows of huffaz from their own family; if this is not a sign of acceptance in the court of Allah swt I dont know what is. In the late 1800s remember that British had now transitioned to a monarch rule over India, the British rule in India at this point was at its peak, and Queen Victoria was now declared "Empress of India", a title that was held by the Moghals. India was said to be the "Brightest jewel in the imperial crown" of Britain.
The rise of the Indian nationalist movement started in the 1880s with the formation of the Indian National Congress. However, within 20 years of the party forming, smaller groups of nationalists called the "Extremists", dissatisfied with party policy, formed and some carried out terrorist attacks on British and Indians who worked for the British. They used a very aggressive approach against the British. The late 1800s also saw a very long drought in India which caused great economic turmoil, the famine which followed the drought further caused chaos throughout the country. Lord Curzon was now the viceroy of India and he had implemented policies such as the Indian University Act, The Calcutta Corporation Act, The Official Secrets and enforced such harsh regulation in every department that further caused great dislike for the British. So on one side all of this turmoil was going on while at the same time the spiritual condition of majority of Muslims, especially in the villages, was deplorable, it was bad and getting worse day by day. Many Muslims had completely left the fold of Islam only keeping their Muslim names; many Muslims were Muslims only by name. They were unfamiliar with the basic doctrines of faith. By the time Moulana Ilyas was 20 his esteemed teacher Moulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (ra) had passed away and Moulana Ilyas had become a recluse spending hours in meditation and daily spending the time after Maghrib untill Isha in nafil salaah. Moulana Ilyas at this age was teaching students such as Moulana Zakariyyah (ra) the begining books of Islamic academics. He would sit quietly in meditation, the students would come and sit before him then open their books and recite their lesson and as soon as they made a mistake he would just point with his finger for them to close their books meaning that they had to go back and relearn the lesson. It is my personal opinion that this small turn of the finger indication of Moulana Ilyas (ra) was the begining of turning the condition of many Muslims from deplorable to praise worthy.
Moulana Ilyas (ra) was born in 1885 and completed hifz (memorization of the Holy Quran) at a young age under his father Moulana Ismail (ra).The family had their own masjid and at the time of salaah nearly 2 complete saff (rows) would be full of huffaz of his family. This was the dedication and love his family had for the Holy Quran. Imagine in your masjid for every salaah nearly 2 rows are full of huffaz all from the same family - that says something about the family overall. Also, the family of Moulana Ilyas (ra) had their own masjid. This shows their love and dedication to the House of Allah swt. Rarely you see in the world a family build their own family masjid. So not only they had their own family masjid but every salaah had 2 full rows of huffaz from their own family; if this is not a sign of acceptance in the court of Allah swt I dont know what is. In the late 1800s remember that British had now transitioned to a monarch rule over India, the British rule in India at this point was at its peak, and Queen Victoria was now declared "Empress of India", a title that was held by the Moghals. India was said to be the "Brightest jewel in the imperial crown" of Britain.
The rise of the Indian nationalist movement started in the 1880s with the formation of the Indian National Congress. However, within 20 years of the party forming, smaller groups of nationalists called the "Extremists", dissatisfied with party policy, formed and some carried out terrorist attacks on British and Indians who worked for the British. They used a very aggressive approach against the British. The late 1800s also saw a very long drought in India which caused great economic turmoil, the famine which followed the drought further caused chaos throughout the country. Lord Curzon was now the viceroy of India and he had implemented policies such as the Indian University Act, The Calcutta Corporation Act, The Official Secrets and enforced such harsh regulation in every department that further caused great dislike for the British. So on one side all of this turmoil was going on while at the same time the spiritual condition of majority of Muslims, especially in the villages, was deplorable, it was bad and getting worse day by day. Many Muslims had completely left the fold of Islam only keeping their Muslim names; many Muslims were Muslims only by name. They were unfamiliar with the basic doctrines of faith. By the time Moulana Ilyas was 20 his esteemed teacher Moulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (ra) had passed away and Moulana Ilyas had become a recluse spending hours in meditation and daily spending the time after Maghrib untill Isha in nafil salaah. Moulana Ilyas at this age was teaching students such as Moulana Zakariyyah (ra) the begining books of Islamic academics. He would sit quietly in meditation, the students would come and sit before him then open their books and recite their lesson and as soon as they made a mistake he would just point with his finger for them to close their books meaning that they had to go back and relearn the lesson. It is my personal opinion that this small turn of the finger indication of Moulana Ilyas (ra) was the begining of turning the condition of many Muslims from deplorable to praise worthy.
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