Muftī Husain Kadodia was born (in the year 1398 H/1978 CE) in South Africa to a household known for its commitment to Islām. After graduating from high school, he spent a few months in the Indian Subcontinent in the effort of Tablīgh. Upon returning, he enrolled (in the year 1997) onto the six-year ʿĀlimiyyah programme at Madrasah ʿArabiyyah Islāmiyyah, Azadville (South Africa), where he pursued a comprehensive and in-depth study of the Islāmic sciences.
His respected asātidhah (teachers) while studying there include:
1. Shaykh Mawlānā Faḍl al-Raḥman al-Aʿẓamī, under whom he studied Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and the third quarter of al-Hidāyah (on Ḥanafī fiqh);
2. Muftī Muhammad Saeed Motara, under whom he studied Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Sharḥ Nukhbat al-Fikar (in the Ḥadīth sciences) and al-Sirājī fi ‘l-Mīrāth (in Islāmic inheritance law);
3. Mawlānā Hasan Dockrat, under whom he studied Tafsīr al-Bayḍāwī, the final quarter of the Ḥadīth compilation Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, Sharḥ al-ʿAqā’id al-Nasafiyyah (in Islāmic theology), the second quarter of al-Hidāyah, al-Targhīb wa ‘l-Tarhīb (a collection of Ḥadīth focused on spiritual development) and the first half of Tafsīr al-Jalālayn;
4. Mawlānā Moosa Patel, under whom he studied Sunan Abī Dāwūd, the second half of Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī, the third quarter of Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, ʿIlm al-Ṣarf (on Arabic word forms) and the first half of Uṣūl al-Shāshī (on the principles of fiqh);
5. Muftī Muhammad Patel (may Allāh have mercy on him), under whom he studied the first half of Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī, Imām al-Ṭaḥāwī’s acclaimed masterpiece Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār (on the practical understanding of Ḥadīth and its application to Fiqh), the first half of Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, the first half of Nūr al-Anwār (on the principles of fiqh), the first half of Ḥayāt al-Ṣaḥābah (on the lives of the blessed companions of Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ) and Safīnat al-Bulaghāʾ (on Arabic rhetoric);
6. Mawlānā Abdullah Molvi, under whom he studied the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Imām Mālik, the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, the second half of Tafsīr al-Jalālayn and the first half of Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn;
7. Mawlānā Muhammad Mahomedy, under whom he studied al-Balāghah al-Wāḍiḥah (on Arabic rhetoric), the second half of Ḥayāt al-Ṣaḥābah and part three and four of Qiṣaṣ al-Nabiyyīn (on the lives of the prophets);
8. Mawlānā Ebrahim Muhammad Kadwa, under whom he studied the first quarter of al-Hidāyah, al-Fawz al-Kabīr (on the Qurʾānic sciences) and the first part of Muʿallim al-Inshāʾ (on Arabic grammar);
9. Muftī Ateequr Rahman al-Aʿẓamī, under whom he studied Qurʾān translation (with grammatical analysis) of the first third of the Qurʾān, Sharḥ al-Wiqāyah (on Ḥanafī fiqh), Nūr al-Īḍaḥ (on Ḥanafī fiqh) and Miftāḥ al-Qurʾān (on Qurʾān translation);
10. Mawlānā Abdullah Amejee, under whom he studied Qurʾān translation (with grammatical analysis) of the middle third of the Qurʾān;
11. Mawlānā Abdullah Dhabelia, under whom he studied ʿIlm al-Naḥw (on Arabic grammar), Tamrīn al-Naḥw (on Arabic grammar) and Mufīd al-Ṭālibīn (on the grammatical analysis of selected Ḥadīth);
12. Muftī Zakaria Pandor, under whom he studied al-ʿAqīdat al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah (on Islāmic theology) and Islāmic inheritance law;
13. Qārī Ismail Ishaq (may Allāh have mercy on him), under whom he studied Ḥirz al-Amānī wa Wajh al-Tahānī fi ‘l-Qirāʾāt al-Sabʿ – commonly known as Matn al-Shāṭibiyyah (on the variant readings of the Qurʾān), al-Muqaddimat al-Jazariyyah (on the science of tajwīd) and Iḥyāʾ al-Maʿānī (on the variant readings of the Qurʾān);
14. Qārī Yunus Desai, under whom he studied Qurʾān translation (with grammatical analysis) of the first third of the Qurʾān, the second half of Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn, Hadar (recitation of the entire Qurʾān to the teacher from memory over a period of three years with proper implementation of the rules of tajwīd), Khulāṣat al-Bayān, al-Fawāʾid al-Makkiyyah and Jamāl al-Qurʾān (the latter three all being on the science of tajwīd);
15. Muftī Muhammad Kadwa, under whom he studied part one and two of Qiṣaṣ al-Nabiyyīn, Zād al-Ṭālibīn (on the grammatical analysis of selected Ḥadīth), al-Fiqh al-Muyassar (on Ḥanafī fiqh), Sahl Urdū (on the Urdu language and grammar);
16. Muftī Muhammad Abubakr Minty, under whom he studied the second half of Nūr al-Anwār; and
17. Mawlānā Muhammad Chotia, under whom he studied the second half of Uṣūl al-Shāshī.
While studying at Azadville, Muftī Husain excelled academically. The keys to the Madrasah library were entrusted to him due to his habit of spending long hours in the library reading and studying. He gained a reputation among the students and teachers alike for his dedication to studies and academic excellence. During his stay at Madrasah ʿArabiyyah Islāmiyyah Azadville, he developed a close relationship with his teachers, including the Shaykh al-Ḥadīth (senior Ḥadīth lecturer) of the institute: Shaykh Faḍl al-Raḥman al-Aʿẓamī (b 1366 H/1947 CE). Shaykh Faḍl al-Raḥman al-Aʿẓamī is also his spiritual guide and mentor in the field of Taṣawwuf (spirituality and self-rectification).
Muftī Husain graduated from Azadville in the year 2002 and was awarded the ʿĀlimiyyah certification. He then left for the deserts of Mauritania where he spent some time studying the Islāmic sciences in rough and arduous conditions. He studied in the Maḥẓarah (Madrasah) of Tuwaymarāt. Here, his teachers included the head of the institute at the time: Shaykh Murābiṭ al-Ḥājj (may Allāh have mercy on him), as well as Shaykh Muḥammad Amīn (commonly known as Shaykh Ḥaddamīn) and Shaykh ʿAbdullāh (the grandson of Shaykh Murābiṭ al-Ḥājj). He also studied in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, under Shaykh Yadālī ibn al-Ḥājj Aḥmad (a scholar known for his prolific memorisation of Ḥadīth with their chains of transmission). In addition to travelling to Mauritania, he also spent some time studying informally under various scholars in Syria and a few other countries.
Upon his return from Mauritania, he enrolled (in the year 2003) in the Iftāʾ (specialisation in Fiqh and issuing legal verdicts) course at Madrasah Inʿāmiyyah in Camperdown, South Africa, under the tutelage of Muftī Ebrahim Desai (may Allāh have mercy on him). He successfully completed the Iftāʾ course, which culminated in his answering approximately one and a half thousand legal queries – an achievement which no other Iftāʾ graduate at the institute has ever made. After completion of the course, he was officially granted the title of Muftī by the institute.
Muftī Husain also completed a course in the study of Islāmic manuscripts. He is one of the leading collectors and purveyors of Islāmic manuscripts in the world. He has also travelled extensively throughout the Arab world, as well as the Indian Subcontinent, to obtain rare and valuable manuscripts and out-of-print books.
At present, he conducts research in Islāmic law, teaches Iftāʾ students at Dār al-Iftāʾ Maḥmūdiyyah, Sherwood, Durban, and is also a senior Ḥadīth lecturer at Madrasah Ḥamīdiyyah in Overport, Durban. He is also currently working on critically editing ancient manuscripts, and is consulted by leading experts and editors for his knowledge of manuscripts and the Ḥanafī madhhab.[1] Additionally, he runs an Islāmic bookshop – Dār al-Imām al-Ṭaḥāwī. Students of knowledge across the world await the release of his book catalogues and appreciate his collection of rare books, and the unique and exact insights he shares on them.
Muftī Husain has worked on a number of books, one of which he compiled during his student days: “The Crown Of a Believer”, which is printed and available.[2] This book is a detailed masterpiece on the Muslim skullcap. Muftī Husain extensively documents all aspects related to the skullcap, including an interesting section on the various types of skullcaps worn by Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ.
May Allāh ﷻ allow the ummah to benefit from the ocean of knowledge that is Muftī Husain Kadodia, give him a long and blessed life and grant him every success in this life and the next. Āmīn.
(Mufti) Bilal al-Mahmudi
[1] For example, Luʾayy al-Khalīlī in his Asbāb ʿUdūl al-Ḥanafiyyah ʿan al-Futyā bi Ẓāhir al-Riwāyah writes: “When I mention the letter ḥāʾ in the footnote, I mean to reference some beneficial points of my brother Husain Kadodia.” (Asbāb ʿUdūl al-Ḥanafiyyah, p. 22) Many of Muftī Husain Kadodia’s beneficial insights are included in the footnotes to this book. In fact, Luʾayy al-Khalīlī based an entire section (on the books of the Ẓāhir al-Riwāyah) on an unpublished manuscript by Muftī Husain (ibid. p. 64)
In his brilliant dictionary on books of the Ḥanafī madhhab (Laʾālī al-Maḥārr), Luʾayy al-Khalīlī writes: “Before finishing, I must mention and thank my brother Husayn Yaʿqūb Kadodia from South Africa who helped a lot throughout the work by making me aware of the biographies of some scholars and identifying who was meant by others and also finding some texts – may Allāh reward him on my behalf with all goodness.” (Laʾālī al-Maḥārr, 1:16)
As another example, the Turkish editors of the excellent Dār al-Fatḥ edition of Nāẓūrat al-Ḥaqq write in the introduction: “We also thank our dear friend Husain Kadodia from South Africa for guiding us to the biography of al-Baqqālī which we were unable to find, and which is found in the book Yatīmat al-Dahr by Majd al-Aʾimmah al-Tarjumānī, and for [also] providing us with a digitised copy of his manuscript.” (Nāẓūrat al-Ḥaqq, Dār al-Fatḥ, p. 10)
[2] A PDF version of the book is available HERE
The original biography was taken from ilmhub.com. However, significant amendments were then made and more information was added which was taken from Mufti Husain Kadodia Sahib directly.