Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi

Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi (d. 1163 AH / 1750 CE) was a hadith scholar from Sindh who settled in Medina, where he taught in the Prophet's Mosque and authored treatises promoting adherence to prophetic hadith Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1.

Origin and Education

He was Muhammad Hayat ibn Ibrahim al-Sindi, and his father was also recorded as Mulla Filaria from the Jajar tribe residing near Adilpur, a locality of Bakkar in Sindh Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1. He was raised in Sindh and began his pursuit of knowledge there before moving to Thatta, the regional center of learning, where he studied under Muhammad Mu'in ibn Muhammad Amin Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1.

He subsequently migrated to the Hejaz and settled in Medina, where he became a close student of the hadith scholar Abu al-Hasan al-Sindi (the elder) and studied law with Salih al-Zanjani Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1. He received licenses (ijazas) to transmit hadith from prominent scholars of the holy cities, including Abd Allah ibn Salim al-Basri, Abu al-Tahir Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Kurani, and Hasan ibn Ali al-Ujaymi, as well as Ahmad al-Nakhli and Ahmad al-Qattan Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1.

Teaching and Scholarly Stance

Following the death of his teacher Abu al-Hasan al-Sindi in 1138 AH, al-Sindi assumed his teaching circle in the Prophet's Mosque, which he maintained for twenty-four years Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1. He also delivered public admonitions before the dawn prayer in the mosque, attracting students and scholars from across the Islamic world Abjad al-Ulum. Among his notable students were Shah Wali Allah al-Dahlawi, who attended his readings of Sahih al-Bukhari and received transmission of the major hadith collections from him, as well as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Ghulam Ali Azad al-Bilgrami, and Muhammad Fakhir al-Ilahabadi Abjad al-Ulum+1.

Though formally affiliated with the Hanafi school of law, al-Sindi strongly opposed strict school factionalism (ta'assub) and rejected religious innovations (bida'), advocating direct reliance on the texts of the Quran and authentic hadith Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1. His methodological stance was reflected in his treatise Tuhfat al-Anam fi al-Amal bi-Hadith al-Nabi (Gift to Mankind Regarding Acting upon the Hadith of the Prophet) and in his study Al-Iqaf ala Sabab al-Ikhtilaf (Arresting Attention on the Cause of Disagreement), alongside his hadith commentary Tuhfat al-Muhibbin fi Sharh al-Arba'in on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi Fihris al-Faharis+1.

Reception and Death

Biographers praised al-Sindi for devotion, modesty, and seclusion, noting that he rarely mingled with people outside his teaching hours and was constant in attending congregational prayers in the first row of the Prophet's Mosque Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…. His student Abd al-Qadir al-Kawkabani stated that he accompanied him for an extended period without ever hearing him engage in idle speech Fihris al-Faharis. Conversely, the Iraqi traveler Abd Allah al-Suwaydi criticized him after meeting him in Medina, alleging that he displayed an outward appearance of asceticism while accepting gifts indiscriminately and seeking worldly gain al-Nafha al-Miskiyya fi a….

Al-Sindi died in Medina on the night of Wednesday, 26 Safar 1163 AH (a variant report places his death in 1165 AH), and was buried in the cemetery of al-Baqi Silk al-Durar fi Ayan al-…+1.