A QURANIC SCHOLAR OF KOCHA CHABUK SAWARAN – ABDULLAH CHAKRALAVI AND CHUGHTAI BROTHERS

Not much is written about Kocha Chabuk Sawaran, and even more little is known, or even written. But   very important people belonged to this area and left their mark on the intellectual history of this region and beyond. This is not the time to list all those people, and we will try to do a list of them eventually. At this moment we will talk about a revolutionary Quranic Scholar of the area, who was Imam of the Chinay wali  Masjid for eight years. 

The strangest part is that this person migrated to Lahore from the village of Chakrala near Mian walli, and captured the intellectual spirit of Lahore. He was not a very healthy man, and the Chughtai brothers recall, that most of the time, he used to be lying on his  charpai in the mosque, teaching students the Quran and its values, and answering their mundane questions all the time. As this mosque was frequented by Mian Kareem Baksh Mimar all the time, he put his sons in the mosque, first, leaving the other centers aside. So both Abdur Rahman Chughtai and Abdullah Chaghatai received their initial Quranic education from this remarkable man. Not many patronized him,  but there was a shoe maker, with a factory nearby in the mosque (still there after ages), who found solace in the thinking of this scholar. His name was Muhammed Chittu Patoli and he not only funded the publication of his many books, a journal issued fortnightly, and even offered his own house in Bazaar Sirianwala for the Quranic education. A request was made to convert his house into a mosque but Mr Tapp, the Municipal administrator came on a horse, and there was a vast crowd of other sects who did not want this to happen. Permission for converting the house into a mosque was refused. But this did not stop the tenacity of Abdullah Chakralavi nor his follower Muhammed Chittu, and they continued their mission. 

Books published hundred years ago or more, are not considered worthy of publication again. But the subject of Abdullah Chakralavi was “Quran”, so a kind hearted group published, Syed Research Academy has published two of his major books. The research undertaken by Ali Usman Qasimi of LUMS is an issue that his monumental book is out of print and not printed again. So people are catching up with the works of this man and his sincerity cannot be doubted. The issue remains, is the Quran final authority or the Hadees (which are plenty) can overturn the Quran. Even erase its portions as ‘mansooq’. One cannot even imagine this kind of situation but a cabal insists on casting doubts about Quranic decisions as a conspiracy against Islam itself.

All solid scholars recall that on the death of the Prophet (PBUH), Hazrat Umar said, “The Prophet (PBUH) as a man is dead, but he has left us the Quran. For us the Quran is enough.” There can be no second thoughts on the subject after this affirmation. We sent a representative to Chakrala near Mian walli, and we found an empty house there, being swept by a maid servant. She told us the family is in Rawalpindi and one person’s name is ‘Yusuf’. If they come across this, it is requested that they contact us so that we can go further on our research efforts. Till then cheers for the heroic step of this Quranic thinker!P.S.Masjid Mulla Ghous is literally next door to Chinay wali masjid and still stands there. If a photograph of Mulla Ghous is there, photograph of Abdullah Chakralavi must be there somewhere open to our research. 

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