DARUL IFTAA
Mufti Husain Kadodia was born in 1978 in South Africa to a household known for its commitment to Islam. After graduating from high school, he spent a few months in the Indian Subcontinent in the tabligh effort. Upon returning from this journey he enrolled in Madrasah Arabia Islamia, an Islamic University, in Azaadville (near Johannesburg), South Africa to pursue an in-depth study of the Islamic sciences, namely the Tafsir of the Qur’an, Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence according to the Hanafi school of Islamic Law, Principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh), Aqidah, Mantiq (Logic) and Kalam (theology), Arabic Grammar and other subjects.
Some of his respected Asatidhah (teachers) while studying there include:
Shaykh Fadhlur-Rahman Azmi, under whom he studied Sahih al-Bukhari and the third quarter of al-Hidayah (on Hanafi fiqh); Mufti Muhammad Saeed Motara, under whom he studied Sahih Muslim, Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar (in the Hadith sciences) and al-Siraji fi ‘l-Mirath (in Islamic inheritance law); Moulana Hasan Dockrat, Moulana Moosa Patel, Mufti Muhammad Patel (Rahimahullah), Moulana Abdullah Molvi, Moulana Abdullah Amejee, Moulana Abdullah Dhabelia, Mufti Zakaria Pandor, Qari Ismail Ishaq (Rahimahullah), Qari Yunus Desai, Moulana Muhammad Chotia.
While a student in Azaadville, Mufti Husain Kadodia excelled academically and due to his habit of spending long hours in the library, the keys of the library were entrusted to him and he gained a reputation among students and teachers alike for being a dedicated student. During his stay in Madrasah Arabia Islamia Azaadville, he developed a close relationship with his teachers. One of those teachers was the Shaykh al-Hadith (senior hadith lecturer) of the Madrasah, Shaykh Fadhlur Rahman Azmi, who is also his spiritual guide (Shaykh) in the science of tasawwuf (sufism).
Mufti Husain graduated from Azaadville in the year 2001 and was awarded the ʿAlimiyyah certification. He then left for Mauritania where he spent some time studying the Islamic sciences. He studied in the Mahzarah (Madrasah) of Tuwaymarat. Here, his teachers included the head of the institute at the time: Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj (Rahimahullah), as well as Shaykh Muhammad Amin (commonly known as Shaykh Haddamin) and Shaykh ʿAbdullah (the grandson of Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj). He also studied in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, under Shaykh Yadali ibn al-Hajj Ahmad (a scholar known for his prolific memorisation of Hadith 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 returning from Mauritania, he enrolled in the Iftaa course at Madrasah In’amiyyah in Camperdown, South Africa under Mufti Ebrahim Desai in the year 2003. He successfully completed the Takhassus fi’ al-Iftaa course in 2004 which culminated in his answering of approximately 1,500 fatwas.
Mufti Husain Kadodia has also completed a course in the study of Islamic manuscripts. He is one of the leading collectors of Islamic manuscripts around the world. He has travelled extensively in the Arab world as well as the Indian Subcontinent in order to obtain rare and valuable manuscripts.
At present, he conducts research in Islamic law and has taught Iftaa students of Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah, Sherwood – Durban, South Africa until July, 2021. He also teaches in Darul Uloom Hameediyyah in Durban and is currently working on reproducing ancient manuscripts through his Maktab at-Tahqiq. [1]
He was the Ameer (President) of Sunniforum.com, an online discussion forum and community and a contributor to the Deoband blog. Additionally, he runs an Islamic bookshop – Tahawi Books.
Mufti Husain has worked on a number of books and has research papers on various topics, one of which he compiled during his student days: “The Crown of a Believer”. [2]
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[1] For example, Luʾayy al-Khalili in his Asbab ʿUdul al-Hanafiyyah ʿan al-Futya bi Zahir al-Riwayah writes: “When I mention the letter Haʾ in the footnote, I mean to reference some beneficial points of my brother Husain Kadodia.” (Asbab ʿUdul al-Hanafiyyah, p. 22) Many of Mufti Husain Kadodia’s beneficial insights are included in the footnotes to this book. In fact, Luʾayy al-Khalili based an entire section (on the books of the Zahir al-Riwayah) on an unpublished manuscript by Mufti Husain (ibid. p. 64)
In his brilliant dictionary on books of the Hanafi madhhab (Laʾali al-Maharr), Luʾayy al-Khalili writes: “Before finishing, I must mention and thank my brother Husayn Yaʿqub 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 Allah reward him on my behalf with all goodness.” (Laʾali al-MaHarr, 1:16)
As another example, the Turkish editors of the excellent Dar al-Fath edition of Nazurat al-Haqq write in the introduction: “We also thank our dear friend Husain Kadodia from South Africa for guiding us to the biography of al-Baqqali which we were unable to find, and which is found in the book Yatimat al-Dahr by Majd al-Aʾimmah al-Tarjumani, and for [also] providing us with a digitised copy of his manuscript.” (Nazurat al-Haqq, Dar al-Fath, p. 10)
[2] A PDF version of the book is available HERE
Source: Original biography taken from ilmhub, additional info added from markazulfiqh and other sources.