Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi

Muhammad Ilyas was born in 1303 AH (1885/1886) in the village of Kandhla, Muzaffarnagar district, North-West Provinces, British India (in present-day Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, India). His year of birth can be computed by the tarikhi (chronogrammatic) name "Akhtar Ilyas" (اختر الیاس) using abjad numerals.[2][3]

In a local maktab (school), he memorized one and a quarter ajza' of the Qur'an, and he completed memorizing the Qur'an under his father's supervision in Nizamuddin area, Delhi. Thereafter, he studied the elementary books of Arabic and Persian language mostly under his father. Later on, he lived with and studied under Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. In 1905, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi died, when Muhammad Ilyas was 20. In 1908, Muhammad Ilyas enrolled in Darul Uloom Deoband. He also studied under Mahmud Hasan Deobandi. [4]

In the early 1920s, he prepared a team of young madrasah graduates from Deoband and Saharanpur and sent them to Mewat to establish a network of mosques and Islamic schools movement. He once said that if he had to attribute a name to his movement, it would have been Tehreek-e-Imaan ('Imaan/Faith movement'). The people of South Asia started calling the devotees Tableeghi and this name eventually became popular among the common people.[5]. The Tablighi Jamaat has since gone on to become one of the most important and widespread grassroots Islamic movements in the world with a presence in hundreds of countries, including Canada, South Africa and the UK.[6]

• Nadwi, Abu'l-Hasan `Ali. Life and Mission of Maulana Muhammad Ilyas.
• "Profile of Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhlawi". Madrasa Islamia Arabia Khadimul-Uloom Baghonwali and Bajheri. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
• Yoginder Sikand (17 April 2010). "The Tablighi Jamaat in Mewat -- Part 2". TwoCircles.net. Retrieved 3 May 2017.