

He studied Sunan Ibn Majah with Ghulam Rasul Hazarwi. With Azizur Rahman, head of the Darul Uloom's Fatwa Department, Shafi studied the Muwatta of Imam Malik in the transmission of Yahya ibn Yahya and the transmission of ash-Shaybani, at-Tahawi's Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar, Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Mishkat al-Masabih, Ibn Hajar's Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar, and Hisn-i Hasin. With Mian Asghar Hussain Deobandi he studied the hadith collections Sunan Abu Dawud, Sunan an-Nasa'i, and the remainder of Jami' at-Tirmidhi. Shafi studied Sahih Muslim and half of Hidayah with Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, whom he would later accompany in the movement to create Pakistan. Shafi was among Kashmiri's closest students, and Kashmiri would later select Shafi for assistance in refuting the Ahmadiyya Movement. Some of the books Shafi studied with him were Sahih al-Bukhari, Jami' at-Tirmidhi (with the exception of a small part), at-Tirmidhi's Shama'il and ' Ilal, al-Falsafah al-'Arabiyah on modern philosophy, and Sharh an-Nafisi on medicine ( tibb). The teachers under whom Shafi formally studied included: Īmong his teachers was Anwar Shah Kashmiri, who was the school's head teacher. He did Daurah Hadith in 1335 AH (1916/1917) under the supervision of Anwar Shah Kashmiri, and completed his education in 1336 AH (1917/1918).

In 1330 AH (1912) or 1331 AH (1913) Shafi was formally enrolled in the upper level Arabic classes of Darul Uloom Deoband. Along with teaching Shafi the Persian books, Maulana Yasin also instructed him in the elementary Arabic books of sarf (morphology), nahw (grammar), and fiqh (jurisprudence), up to Fusul-i Akbari, Hidayat an-Nahw, and Munyat al-Musalli. He studied arithmetic and Euclid from his uncle Munshi Manzur Ahmad and Quranic recitation from Muhammad Yusuf Miruthi. In 1907 or 1908 (1325 AH), he commenced the study of Urdu, Persian, mathematics and other subjects at Darul Uloom Deoband, which he completed within the next five years under the supervision of his father. Education Īged five, Shafi began memorising the Qur'an with Muhammad Azim and Namdar Khan at the Darul Uloom. As a child he played in the courtyard of Darul Uloom Deoband and sat in the company of his father, who was a teacher at the school. Shafi grew up in a religious environment. He was given the name "Muhammad Shafi" ( محمد شفيع) by his father's sheikh, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, though he was originally named "Muhammad Mubin" ( محمد مبین) by his grandfather, Khalifah Tahsin Ali. Muhammad Shafi, son of Muhammad Yasin, was born on 25 January 1897 (21 Sha'ban 1314 AH) in Deoband, British India, to an Usmani family. See also: Usmani family of Deoband § Miyānji Shukrullah
