It was through the barkat of solitude that he remained totally engrossed in acquisition of knowledge. His fervour for acquiring knowledge can be gauged simply from this that he learnt some Kitaabs which were not included in the Madrasah syllabus due to a tight schedule, by some Asaatizah whilst they would make wudhu and he would be reading. This extraordinary passion and fervour caused the Asaatizah to have a high regard for him. In fact, they would even boast about him.
5.15 Brilliance and Wit
Where the fervour for knowledge distinguished him above all his fellow class students it also made him brilliant and witty. Even his Asaatizah acknowledged this. In consequence, when Hazrat Moulana Gangohi (Quddisa Sirruhu) came to take imtihaan, Shaikhul Hind Moulana Mahmoodul Hasan (Rahmatullahi alaih) lauded praise of his brilliance and wit. Due to the words of Hazrat Shaikhul Hind, that is the praise lauded on Hazrat Moulana Thanwi, Hazrat Moulana Gangohi posed extremely difficult questions to him. The answers he gave, however, pleased Moulana tremendously. When his Ustaad, Moulana Sayyid Ahmad Saheb took his examination of Sikandar Naamah he could not recall the explanation which the Ustaad gave of a certain poem. He therefore gave his own explanation. Moulana enquired: “Can there be another explanation?” Upon this he put forward another explanation from his own side. Moulana asked again: “Besides this can there be another explanation?” He gave a third explanation. Thereupon Moulana commented: “None of the explanations you gave was correct. However, I will pass you solely on account of your brilliance.” His reputation among the students was largely on account of this brilliance, wit and his memory.
5.16 Power of Retention
By virtue of his extraordinary memory he was bestowed the power of retention through which he drew excellences from his accomplished Asaatizah to perfection. For a stranger it became difficult to recognize the Ustaad from the Shaagird. An example of this was given under Qiraat Training [5.5]. Thus, he was the complete manifestation of his honourable tutors and why not, when the Asaatiza-e-Kiraam whom Haq Ta’ala gave him were the Ghazaalis and Raazis of their time. This will be expounded on in the following chapter.
