Qari Muhammad Tayyib

There is a popular Arabic proverb that “the owner of the house knows what is in it”, and this quite rightly applies to the author of this book Qārī Muḥammad Ṭayyib (d.1983), whose unique and privileged position enabled him to elucidate the way of Deoband. He was not just the grandson of Mawlānā Muḥammad Qāsim Nānautawī (d.1880), the founder of Dar al-‘Ulum Deoband, but was also Deoband’s chancellor (muhtamim) for more than half a century. Often referred to as Ḥakīm al-Islām (or the Physician of Islam), Qārī Muḥammad Ṭayyib graduated from Deoband in 1918. He studied under the luminaries of the age and traversed the path of taṣawwuf under Ḥakīm al-Ummah Mawlānā Ashraf Alī Thānawī (d.1943). He died in Deoband at the age of 85 and was buried close to his illustrious grandfather.