Zafaruddin Bihari was a scholar who had his education from Madrasa Ghausia Hanafi and later graduated from Manzar-e-Islam, founded by Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, known as a Mujaddid of era and founder of the Barelvi movement in South Asia.
Malik-ul-Ulama Hazrat Fazil-e-Bihar Zafaruddin Razvi Bihari is recorded among the great personalities of Bihar and the country. He also has the title of Mujaddid from the name of Aala Hazrat Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi. Zafaruddin Bihari himself was a Mureed of Aala Hazrat and also became Caliph later.
Zafruddin Bihari had excellent command over “Ilm al-Tawqith”, which means he had the knowledge to know and understand the timing of Namaz. Imam Ibn Hajr Makki Shafi’i has mentioned this science in his book ‘Zawazir’ in the section ‘Fard al-Kifaya’. Zafaruddin Bihari’s birth name was Muhammad Zafaruddin Wald Abdul Razzaq Ashrafi Hanafi Bihari.
He was born on 10 Muharram year 1303 Hijri i.e. 19 October 1886 AD in the area of Bihar, at that time Bihar was also a part of Bengal. Zafaruddin Bihari’s grandfather Syed Ibrahim came to India when Firoz Shah Tughlaq was ruling India. Syed Ibrahim died in 1353 near Rohtasgarh Fort, in Bihar. He received his early training in Arabic and Persian from your father. In 1898, he went to Madrasa Ghausia Hanafia, and started studying there from Wasiuddin Ahmed Muhaddis Surti.
He studied at Darul Uloom Manzar-e-Islam, Bareilly Sharif, his teacher was Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi. He visited Bareilly Sharif in 1903 and became a mureed of Aala Hazrat. Zafaruddin Bihari worked at Darul Uloom Manzar-e-Islam till 1911 and from there at Madrasa Hanafiya in Allahabad till 1911-12.
Zafaruddin Bihari as a teacher
He started teaching at the Madrasa Islamia Shamsul Hoda, built in 1912 on Ashok Rajpath, Patna, and worked there as Shaykh-al-Fiqh and Shaykh-al-Hadith till 1916. It is believed that if Madrasa Islamia Shamsul Hoda had not been formed in Bihar, then Madrasa Board would not have been formed in Bihar.
He went to teach at Madrasa Khanquah Kabeeriya in 1916 and taught there till 1920, when he was invited to teach there by Syed Shah Malihuddin. At the end of 1920, he returned to Government Madrasa Islamia Shamsul Hoda and remained in his old post. At the time of independence in 1947, he was made Shaikh al-Kul (Head or the Principal) of the Madrasa and he remained there till 1951.
On the call of Syed Shah Shahid Hussain of Katihar, Bihar, Zafaruddin Bihari inaugurated Jamia Latifiya Bahar-ul-Uloom in the year 1953 and became its President and remained in that post till the year 1960. Although Bihari had written more than 100 books, since we could not get information about all of them, let me tell you a little about those which i got.
1. Sahih-ul-Bihari – This book was written in 6 volumes which contains more than 9000 hadiths justifying Hanafi Fiqh. Zafaruddin Bihari died on 19 Jumadus Sani 1382 Hijri Per 18 November 1962 at his home in Patna and was buried in a nearby graveyard.
