A colleague asked me to share my memories of my late teacher, ʾash-Shaykh Ṭāhā Karān. This is neither an obituary, nor any pretence at a biographical sketch. It is merely what I was asked to share, some memories, and my memories are fading with old age at that. However, those who did not know him might gain a glimpse of his character.  

I was never going to study under the Shaykh. Mawlānā ʾIbrāhīm ʾĀdam was arranging to send me to Dār ʾal-ʿUlūm Azaadville. Mawlānā Sharīf ʾĀdam advised me to study under Mawlāna Ṭahā and made the arrangements. All three have now passed, Allāh’s mercy be upon them.

• The same colleague mentioned above also requested recordings of his lessons. Allāh have mercy. That was literally in the previous millennium. We were in a small simple overcrowded house. It was used as Mawlānā’s family house, student accommodation and classes. The plumbing was so inadequate we were asked to not use the drains, but take a jug of water and make ablutions outside even in the bitterest winter. It was not a place the rich sent their kids to. In short, what seems natural and simple today, such as recordings and owning a device for such, was never something we even thought of.
• Mawlānā was perhaps the ultimate expert in Shiasm in this century and had produced much literature in exposing and refuting them. His first formal publication was ʿal-ʾIstiqāmah, in magazine form. He appointed me as his assistant and secretary.
• I am perhaps the least of his students in terms of knowledge acquisition, but the above appointment gave me a unique opportunity of interaction and intimacy which other students did not have, at least at the time.
• The first edition of the magazine had a verse of the Qurʾān on the cover. Mawlānā A.S. Desai wrote to him that that is inappropriate. People in all states will touch it. Mawlānā accepted the advice and changed the cover. The correspondence was private and respectful. I do not know why there is so much public mudslinging amongst Muslims these days. (To this day it irritates when scholars print verses on covers or even use images thereof as a decoration in a magazine or web article).
• After telling me about this, with great joy on his face, Mawlānā recited a verse. I did not know at the time that it was the end of a poem. Years later I learnt the words of the full poem when my teacher, Muftī Muḥammad ʿAlī told us that his teacher, ʾash-Shaykh ʾAbū ʾal-Ḥasan ʾan-Nadwī used to pause during lessons and with deep emotion recite this poem, which Muftī Muḥammad ʿAlī then recited:

الى الله أشكو أننا بمنازل**تحكم في أسادهن كلاب

فليتك تحلو والحياةُ مريرةٌ**وليتك ترضى والأنامُ غِضابُ
وليتَ الذي بيني وبينك عَامرٌ**وبيني وبين العالمين خَرابُ

To Allāh I complain that we stop in such a place; where dogs rule over the lions.

As long as you are sweet it matters not how bitter life be; As long as you are pleased it matters not if people are angry.

As long as what is between you and me thrives; it matters not that what is between me and all the worlds falls in ruins.

[Composed by the Iraqi prince Abū Firās ʾal-Ḥamdānī when in Byzantine captivity]

• An abandoned drug rehabilitation centre was up for sale. Mawlānā had his heart set on it. He took some of us to see it. I noted that a certain room would make a good Shīʿah torture chamber. A bemused Mawlānā responded, “What will people think I’m teaching you?”
• Mawlānā instructed me to send a letter to another senior scholar on his behalf. I took the opportunity to spice up the letter and added something like, “From Hazrat Mawlānā Ṭāhā bin Yūsuf Karān ʾash-Shāfiʿī ʾal-Jāwī, dāmat barakātuhu.” Mawlānā was furious. Another teacher, Mawlānā Sulaymān Abrahams had to intercede.
• When I learnt of the Shia concept of Marjaʿ ʾat-Taqlīd, I called Mawlānā my Marjaʿ.   This irritated Mawlānā and he forbade me from this.
• Mawlānā did not put away books for visitors as the overly formal would do. “They are where they are because I am working. Not on shelves for decoration.”
• He told me the story about how he started his library, but I forgot, except that he ended, “If anything should happen, if my books get burnt, I’m just going to sit and do nothing but cry.”
• Once Mawlānā was absolutely distraught. We could not type on the document we were working on. Instead there was a blank space that kept expanding. A layman cannot understand the horror of losing work which is not words, but a labour into which you put your soul into. Even today something I write may be helped from something I researched years or decades ago. The collation of a simple sentence of Islamic knowledge can have loads of tears and sweat behind it. It was not a bug in this case. Mawlānā’s desk was a volcano covered with his friends, i.e. his books. One of these books slipped onto the secondary enter key of the computer. It was slight enough not to be noticed, but enough to keep the enter function going continuously.
• I went through an ʾal-ʾImām ʾash-Shāfiʿī fan phase. Mawlānā reacted with the praises of ʾal-ʾImām ʾAbū Ḥanīfah. I protested, “The ʾAḥnāf do that enough as if he was the only ʾImām and our ʾImām was nothing.” He replied, “You are like a bent paper. I’m going to bend you the other way until you become straight and love both of them.”
• My next hero was Ṣalāhuddīn ʾal-ʾAyyūbī. Mawlānā mentioned that he was a drunkard in his youth. I protested, “You keep shooting down my heroes.” He replied, “Make Muḥammad ṣallāllāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam your hero. Nobody can shoot him down.” I haven’t thought about this incident in years, and I’m not sure why I am weeping specifically at this memory.
• Perhaps this is the correct place to mention that he told me that in his youth he went through a phase in which he was drawn to Shiasm. What drew him and what saved him I do not recall him mentioning. Yet it is Allāh’s favour to the Muslims that He saved him and used him against the filthy heresy.  
• Mawlānā insisted that I accept payment for my services. A better student would have at least bought stationary, for later there would come a time when I would have to ask a cousin for money to buy a pen. Instead, this unworthy bought a strategy game, Civilization.
• Mawlānā discovered the fantasy novel I had snuck in from the public library. He took it and read it overnight. He then tore the plot and writing style of my reading choice to shreds with a deep literary analysis.  
• The way Mawlānā spoke about ʾal-ʾImām ʾan-Nawawī, I gather that he held him as the greatest scholar.
• He mentioned a Saudi Salafi friend who was disillusioned with Salafism bereft of taqleed. Now which school to choose? He listed the scholars who made the greatest contribution to Islām. The Shāfiʿī list just wouldn’t come to an end, and thus he accepted that School.
• I used to accompany Mawlānā to deliver his magazine all over Cape Town. That his old simple car never died on us is perhaps his miracle.
• It was through these deliveries that I discovered his culinary weakness, a love for the Portuguese style chicken, Nando’s. I do not recall which flavour in particular, but we on one occasion we had Nando’s for Ifṭār. (Sorry if this note about Nando’s upsets SANHA. I can’t be bothered when the PRO, Mr Lockat, bans me from SANHA social media for objecting to his racist and downright heretical writings. Then the higher up brushes me aside on the issue in a way he would not have done with a non-Muslim like Debora Patta. This is the same higher up who had previously tried to use me for political manoeuvring and told me to object to Lockat’s unislamic writing).
• Mawlānā was very excited about the encyclopaedia of Shāfiʿī scholars he was compiling. I do believe that it was completed or published.
• Mawlānā was a committed Shāfiʿī of orthodox faith. Mischief mongers called him a Salafī (intending Ghayr Muqallid) because of his broadmindedness in applying principles within our framework. They have a right to disagree, and Mawlānā was not a prophet, but slander is unacceptable.
• It is very sad that those who seek sensationism and fame already use his death for their ends.  Specifically Mr Kazee of Houston should not use the broadmindedness and hospitality of my teacher as a cover for being “kindred spirits” in his deviance.
• When I asked why he did not study his full course at Deoband he replied that his father did not want him to become a paan (betel leaf) addict.  
• I once called Mawlānā. There was a national issue at the time which I shall not mention, but I called for another reason. Mawlānā was extremely hurt and upset at the behaviour of people. What I thought would be a short chat from my side became a long talk from Mawlānā. I cannot remember if it lasted an hour at least, or was it two. He spoke and then would ask, “Are you there? Why are you not talking?” Then, before I could reply, he continued letting out his feelings due to his upset. Mawlānā might have shown dignified composure to the public, but that does not mean he did not have human feeling. It is sad that those who sacrifice the most for the Muslims are the most unappreciated. The obituaries and false claims love will now flow. I suppose it is mark of my own lack of appreciation that I did not consider how much he had to let out, and that he confided in me.  

More could be said, but let me stop, for as his hero, ʾan-Nawawī wrote, “These days people have no capacity for lengthy books.”

سليمان الكندي

@sulayman_Kindi