Mulla Qadir Husain Sahib Karbalai

Birth & Death

Birth: 1842 in Madras, India Death: 1902

Mulla Qadir Husain Sahib Karbalai - the man who was responsible to have guided us to the right path of the Ithna-Asheri Faith.

Mulla Qadir Sahib was from his young age very much interested in Islamic studies and started a madrasah for children in Bombay (now Mumbai).

Turning point in the history of Khoja Shia Ithna Asheris

His passion for Islamic studies took him to Karbala where he was a student of Ayatullah Zaynul Abideen Mazandarani for a couple of years.

In 1873 Haji Devjibhai Jamal the philanthropist went to Iraq and requested Ayatullah Mazandarani for am Aalim. He selected Mulla Qadir for the important task. This was a turning point in the history of Khoja Shia Ithna Asheris.

Propagation in Bombay

Mulla Qadir preached and guided many Ismaili Shias onto the Ithna Asheri (Twelver) Faith. He would conduct Majalis at his house along with Jamaat Namaz. For this he had to face lots of hardships including being forced to move out of his rented apartment, not allowed to rent another apartment in Khoja Mohalla and even threatened for his life.

Students

His star students included Haji Devjibhai Jamal, Haji Gulamali Haji Ismail (Haji Naji), Noor Mohammed Meghji and Khalfan Ratansi Aladin Gulam Husain (Ain-Ghain). His students who supported him were also thrown out of the Jamatkhana and were socially boycotted. It was these students who spread the Ithna Asheri Faith to Kutch and Kathiawad in Gujarat as well as Zanzibar in East Africa.

Support by Ayatullah Mazandarani

There was lot of propaganda against Mulla Qadir. There were many false allegations against him due to which some new students started boycotting him. He was in touch with Ayatullah Mazandarani who would pray for his safety and encourage him to continue his tableegh work without fearing anyone except Allah (swt).

Very often Ayatullah Mazandarani would send letters addressed to the community at large reminding them that Mulla Qadir is their spiritual leader and that they have to take care of him, listen to him and assist him. One of his letters addressing Mulla Qadir read "Your speech is my speech and your respect is my respect".

Madresa e Mulla Qadir Husain Sahib

In 1893 a khoja by the name of Ibrahim Hashembhai purchased a house for Mulla Qadir in Khoja Mohalla. He made this house Waqf for the Ithna Asheri Khoja to carry out activities of Madressa, Majalis and Salaah. This house was known as Ithna Asheri Madressa and is now very famously known as Madresa e Mulla Qadir Husain Sahib

Chirag e Hidayat

Mulla Qadir sahib published the first edition of Chirag e Hidayat which served as a guide book of Islamic laws. This book spread far and wide across India and to other places where there were Gujarati and Urdu speaking shias like Zanzibar, China, Muscat, Mauritius and UK.

Killu Khatau

Killu Khatau was ordered to kill Mulla Qadir by the then Chief of the main stream Khoja. He was asked to poison Mulla Qadir. Killu Khatau thought to himself that if the chief is really an authority by Allah then why does he want to get Mulla killed instead of using divine powers to silence him? This made Killu Khatau refuse to fulfill this order. He one day came across Chirag e Hidayat and started learning the true religion. He became a regular student of Mulla Qadir and started tableegh activities openly in Khoja Mohalla in Bombay. Due to Mulla Qadir's simplicity and authenticity his to-be murderer turned into his student and served the religion.

Foundation of 2 Mosques in India

Mulla Qadir founded Masjid e Haidery in Bhiwandi in Aug 1874 and Masjid e Husaini in Malegaon.

His last few days

Mulla Qadir returned back to Karbala in 1901 where he passed away in 1902

---

Written by Asad Virani Reference: Memoirs of Mulla Qadir Husain Sahib by Peer Mohammed Ebrahim Trust
and The Endangered Species by Hassan Ali M. Jaffer.