Alahazrat’s Memory

Once, he borrowed Úqūd al-Durriyyah fī Tanqīĥ al-Fatāwā al-Ĥamidiyyah of Ibn Áābidīn from the muĥaddith, Mawlānā Waşīy Aĥmad Sūratī.[1] He read both volumes all through the night, until noon the next day and returned it. When Mawlānā Sūratī asked him in amazement: “Is one reading enough?” Alahazrat replied: “At least for the next two or three months, I will be able to cite the text [from anywhere in the book] in my fatāwā – and as far as the information therein is concerned, InShā’Allāh, I will remember it for the rest of my life.”

The book Al-Dawlatu’l Makkiyyah, penned in Makkah, was written largely out of memory.

[1] Shaykh al-Muĥaddithīn, Mawlānā Waşīy Aĥmad Sūratī [1252-1334/1836-1915] is the teacher of many úlamā; known for his marginalia on Máānī al-Aāthār of Imām Ţaĥāwī.