I have made a mistake. Maulana RahmatuAllah Keerwani Makki did not endorse al-Dawla al-Makiyya of Imam Ahmad RaDa Khan but endorsed another work Al-Durr al-Munazzam fi Mawlid al-Nabiy al-A'zam as Sidi Shaykh Munawwar 'Atiq Rizvi says below, which I have copied from the above link "Shah `Abd al-Haq Ilahabadi Makki Shah `Abdul Haq Ilahabadi Muhajir Madani (d.1333h), a dear friend of Haji Imdadullah who resided in the Two Holy Sanctuaries, authored ‘Al-Durr al-Munazzam fi Mawlid al-Nabiy al-A`zam’ in support of ‘Al-Anwar al-Sati`ah’ on the desirability of celebrating Mawlid gatherings and performing Qiyam. The following scholars endorsed Al-Durr al-Munazzam, . Mawlana Haji Rahmatullah Keerwani . The Mureed of Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki, Sayyid Hamza Naqawi Dihalwi who studied under Shaykh Rasheed Ahmad Gongohi for some time . Mawlana `Abd al-Samee`, Khalifa of Haji Imdadullah Makki and author of Al-Anwar al-Sat`iah . Mawlawi `Abdullah, Shaykh Qasim Natotwi’s son in law"
The above article by Sidi Shaykh Munawwar is under revision. So something might be revised pertaining to Izhar al-Haq and Maulana Keerwani Makki's contributions to the Christian missionary fitna a century ago.
And another point, Izhar al-Haq, in continuation of the higher level of scholarly disposition and tradition back then (even though it is not very much back, just around a century ago), is orginially an Arabic work. This explains to me the culture in which Imam Ahmad RaDa Khan radyAllahu anhu grew up. It also explains a bit on how he wrote complete works in such a short time, with unbelievable referencing, in Arabic. However, Sidi Abu Nibras's posts on the blessed Jami'a Nizamiyya, may Allah preserve it, and its scholars, does show that the culture is alive. I still have to find out the extent in Northern India today. May be 'environment' would be a better word than 'culture'. In Pakistan, I know it is not there. I do not know about Bangladesh.
The revelance of this thread to the history aspect is that it is very interesting to me from a historical context that Maulana Keerwani, a sufi shaykh, who endorsed al-Dawla al-Makiyya of Imam Ahmad RaDa Khan, was actively involved in debating arabic/persian speaking christian missionaries (catholic/evangelist/protestant) as far away as Istanbul. This is in contrast to him being a Sunni scholar too from MuzaffarNagar in western Uttar Pradesh, north of Delhi. To me it is wow! What a history!
http://scholarspen.blogspot.com/2006/02/deobandi-controversy-on-celebrating_05.html The above is a detailed article into the history of the deobandi stance on the "Mawlid Issue". I was listening to a talk by Shaykh Yusuf Estes where he mentioned in great detail about the work 'Izhar ul-Haq'. The work translated into three volumes, and I do not know by which publisher, and available with Shaykh Yusuf Estes, is written by Shaykh Maulana RahmatuAllah Keerwani Makki. Sidi Shaykh Munawwar 'Atiq Rizvi mentions him in the above link as endorsing al-Dawla al-Makiyya of Imam Ahmad RaDa Khan radyAllahu anhu. Sidi Shaykh Munawwar 'Atiq Rizvi mentions that Maulana Keerwani was the first person to establish a madrasa in Makkah al-mukarramah from the Indian side and it was called 'madrasa sawlatiya'. Shaykh Zayni Dahlan held him in high esteem. Sidi Shaykh Munawwar 'Atiq Rizvi writes in the above link, " A Student of Shah `Abd al-Haq Muhajir Ilahabadi, `Abdullah al-Sindi Makki said, ‘‘The Sultan of Rome, may Allah guide him and us to what he pleases, called Hadhrat Mawlana and our chief, Mawlawi Rahmatullah Sahib, may Allah bless the Muslims with his long-living, by the advice of Shaykh al-Islam and the Mufti of all men, the most learned among those scholars who deepened their knowledge in the fundamentals and branches, the most noble scholar in the God-wary scholars, source of excellence and certitude, `Uryani Zaadah Ahmad As`ad Effendi, may Allah prolong his excellencies, ‘‘Pillar of the Two Noble Sanctuaries’’ and the Sultan also gave the titles ‘‘the greatest Qadhi among Muslim jurists, the most prominent guardian among the men of Tawhid, the source of excellence and yaqin, one who raised the flags of Shari`ah and Deen, and heir of the Prophetic knowledge’’.[35] Shaykh Abu Mu`azzam Sayyid A`zam Hussain, Shaykh `Asmat Ali and Muhammad Sa`eed Mutee` (teachers at Madrasa Sawlatiya) referred to Mawlana Rahmatullah Keerwani in their endorsements with the title, ‘‘the pillar of the Two Holy Sanctuaries’’ (Paya-e-Haramain Sharifayn).[36] Shaykh Khaleel Ahmad Ambetwi Saharanpuri and Shaykh Rasheed Ahmad Gongohi praised him lavishly in ‘Baraheen-e-Qati`ah’."
