He was the authoritative scholar of the Islamic sciences, the Qur’anic exegete, Hadith expert, jurist, and Sufi, Zafar Ahmad ibn Latif ‘Uthmani al-Thanawi. He was born the 13th of Rabi’ al-Awwal, 1310 ah. His mother died when he was only three, so his grandmother raised him. She was a righteous woman who had performed the hajj. She raised him well, and he benefited from her rectitude and piety (taqwa).

At the age of five, he began studying and memorizing the Qur’an with the principal reciters. At age seven, he began studying Urdu and Persian, as well as mathematics, with the great scholar and author, Mawlana Muhammad Yasin, the father of Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Shafi’ ‘Uthmani. Later, he studied the various Islamic sciences with the foremost scholars of India under the direct guidance and supervision of his uncle, Imam Ashraf ‘Ali al-Thanawi. He gave particular emphasis to Sacred Law (fiqh) and hadith studies, became highly proficient in both, and distinguished above other students by his intellectual ability, and the benefit of his great uncle’s tutelage.

After gaining his authorization (ijaza) in the Islamic sciences, he moved to Saharanpur and attended the hadith classes of the knower of Allah, hadith master and jurist, Mawlana Khalil Ahmad al-Saharanpuri. Following a period of close study with this great scholar, Mawlana Zafar ‘Uthmani received the Certificate of Completion in Higher Studies in 1328 AH, when he was 18; a certificate only awarded the most brilliant students at such a young age.

Given Mawlana Zafar ‘Uthmani’s talent and intellectual skill, he was appointed teacher at the madrasa in Saharanpur. There he remained for seven years, teaching Sacred Law, fundamentals of jurisprudence (usul), logic, and philosophy. He then moved to Madrasa Imdad al-‘Ulum in Thana Bhawan, where he taught all the hadith works on the curriculum. He also taught Qur’anic exegesis. Being a gifted teacher, a vast number of distinguished scholars graduated under his guidance, and went on to spread sacred knowledge in the lands.

At this point, Imam Ashraf ‘Ali al-Thanawi commissioned him to write I’la’ al-Sunan, answer legal questions, and teach in his stead. It took Imam Zafar roughly twenty years to author the eighteen large volumes of the I‘la’ al-Sunan. He also wrote a two-volume preface and added a volume in which he compiled detailed biographies of Imam Abu Hanifa, his students, and the scholars of the Hanafi school, limiting himself to the jurists who were recognized hadith specialists.

He wrote many other great works, both in Arabic and Urdu. These include a large collection of legal verdicts (fatawa), Ahkam al-Qur’an, and a legal exegesis (tafsir) of the Qur’an in praise of which scholars and jurists said, “Reading it is a lasting blessing; authoring it is like a tremendous feat (fath).”

When the subcontinent gained independence and India was divided, he moved to Pakistan and became head-teacher at Dar al-‘Ulum, Hyderabad, Sind, benefiting students with his speech, spiritual state, and righteous works.

During the last years of his life, he remained constant in his remembrance and invocations, despite weak health and sickness. He performed all obligatory prayers in the mosque even though this required extreme physical exertion. In the month of Ramadan, 1394 AH, he fell very ill and doctors forbade him from fasting. He turned down their advice, saying, “Our master ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) did not leave fasting when he was ninety, and would undergo many hardships to be able to fast.” Allah took his soul that very year. May Allah be well pleased with him.

Faraz Rabbani is a scholar of Hanafi fiqh and the Islamic sciences. While completing his Bachelors in Economics and Commerce at the University of Toronto, Shaykh Faraz developed a deep interest in Islamic learning, studying with local scholars such as Shaykh Talal al-Ahdab and Shaykh Faisal Abdur-Razak. After graduating from the University of Toronto in 1997, he and his wife (Ustadha Shireen Ahmed) travelled to Damascus and then to Amman, where he studied with leading Islamic scholars, including Shaykh Adib Kallas (Allah have mercy upon him), Shaykh Hassaan al-Hindi, Shaykh Muhammad Jumuah, Shaykh Akram Abd al-Wahhab, and Shaykh Nuh Keller. In 2001, Shaykh Faraz began answering questions for his family and friends online; this grew into the Hanafi Fiqh list at Yahoo Groups. On the advice of his teachers, the SunniPath web site was created, which featured both a question/answer service and online Islamic courses.

After ten years overseas, Shaykh Faraz returned to Canada in the Summer of 2007. In May 2008 he founded SeekersGuidance to deal with the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner.
With fellow SeekersGuidance teachers Shaykh Yahya Rhodus and Shaykh Omar Qureshi, Shaykh Faraz hopes to establish a model Islamic seminary that will produce Islamic scholars of the highest caliber, through excellence in teaching, curriculum, spiritual training, and a deep spirit of service–with knowledge of both religion and contemporary social and intellectual realities. Shaykh Faraz also serves as a partner and legal advisor with StraightWay Ethical Advisory.
He is the author of Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) In 2009, Shaykh Faraz was named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.