Abū Ibrāhīm K͟halīl Aḥmad ibn Majīd ‘Alī Anbahṭawī Sahāranpūrī Muhājir Madanī (; December 185213 October 1927) was a Deobandi Hanafi Islamic scholar from India who authored Badhl Al-Majhud Fi Hall Abi Dawud, an 18-volume commentary on the hadith collection Sunan Abi Dawud. He was also a Sufi shaykh of the Chishti order, being a disciple and successor of Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. Name and family background In one of his books he introduces himself as, "Ḥāfiz̤ Abū Ibrāhīm K͟halīl Aḥmad ibn Shāh Majīd ‘Alī ibn Shāh Aḥmad ‘Alī ibn Shāh Qut̤b ‘Alī." In the biographical work Nuzhat al-Khawatir it is written, "K͟halīl Aḥmad al-Anbeṭhawī as-Sahāranpūri: The Shaykh, the ‘Ālim, the Faqīh, K͟halīl Aḥmad ibn Majīd ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad ‘Alī ibn Qut̤b ‘Alī ibn G͟hulām Muḥammad al-Anṣārī al-Ḥanafī al-Anbeṭhawī, one of the righteous scholars and senior jurists and traditionists." In Mu‘jam al-Ma‘ājim wa-al-Mashyakhāt it is written, "The Shaykh, the Muḥaddith, the Faqīh, Khalīl Aḥmad ibn Majīd ‘Alī […] al-Anṣārī al-Ḥanafī al-Anbayt′hawī as-Sahāranfūri al-Muhājir al-Madanī, one of the senior scholars of India." Husain Ahmad Madani writes in the introduction to Badhl al-Majhud, "Mawlānā Abū Ibrāhīm Khalīl Aḥmad, al-Ayyūbī al-Anṣārī by lineage and origin, al-Ḥanafī ar-Rashīdī by mashrab (spiritual disposition, lit. 'spring') and madhhab (legal school), and al-Jishtī al-Qādirī an-Naqshbandī as-Suhrawardī by ṭarīqah (Sufi order) and maslak (track)." His given name was Khalil Ahmad, while Abu Ibrahim was his kunya. He was Ayyubi and Ansari, as his family claimed descent from Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was Anbahtawi (of Ambehta, referring to his family home), then Saharanpuri (of Saharanpur), then Madani (of Medina). The nisbat Muhajir Madani indicates his permanent migration (hijrah) to the holy city. He followed the Hanafi school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and in tasawwuf (Sufism) he was a disciple of Rashid Ahmad Gangohi in the Sabiri-Imdadi chain of the Chishti order, which incorporates the Chishtia, Qadiri, Naqshbandi, and Suhrawardi orders. Biography Khalil Ahmad was born in late Safar 1269 AH (early December 1852) in Nanauta, Saharanpur district, British India (in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India). He was named both "Zahiruddin" and "Khalil Ahmad", but the second name was what he became known by. The chronogram "Z̤ahīruddīn wa Aḥmad" (, "Zahiruddin and Ahmad") equates to the year of his birth, 1269, using Abjad numerals. His mother Mubarak-un-nisa was the daughter of Mamluk Ali Nanautawi and the sister of Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi, who would later be sadr