Idris Kandhlawi (Urdu: ادریس کاندھلوی; 20 August 1899 – 28 July 1974) was a Pakistani Sunni scholar during the mid-twentieth century, widely recognized for his contributions to various fields of Islamic studies, including hadith, Quranic studies, Islamic jurisprudence, Prophetic biography, and theology.

This experience enabled him to produce a five-volume Arabic commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih titled Al-Taleeq al-Sabeeh, of which the first four volumes were published in Damascus.

He wrote over a hundred works, including an eight-volume Quran commentary called Maarif al-Quran, which aimed to counter the influence of Western-oriented exegesis trends in South Asia.

"[1][2] Elsewhere, in one of his Arabic works, he writes, "as-Siddiqi al-Faruqi by nasab, al-Bawfali by birth and origin, al-Kandahlawi by home, al-Hanafi by madhhab, an-Naqshbandi, al-Mujaddidi.

However he is commonly known by the nisbat "Kandhlawi", referring to his home, Kandhla, a north-Indian town known for producing many Islamic scholars.

[1][3][4] Ismail, an Islamic scholar and a disciple of Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki, worked in Bhopal in the State's Forest Department.

[1][3] When Kandhlawi was a few years old, Ismail resigned from his post and began teaching hadith in the Jami Masjid in Kandhla.

[1][3][4] After Kandhlawi completed hifz (memorization) of the Qur'an, his father entrusted him to Ashraf Ali Thanawi for religious education at Khanqah Imdadiyah Ashrafiyah in Thana Bhawan.

[1][3][4][6] At the madrasah there he completed his primary education in the Dars-i Nizami curriculum with Thanawi as well as with Maulana Abdullah Gangohi.

[1][4] Then, as Madrasah Ashrafiyah only had arrangements for the primary curriculum, Kandhlawi was admitted to Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur for further training in the Islamic sciences.

His career can be summarized as follows:[1] Upon completing his education, in 1921[1][3][4] / 1338 AH[1][4] he was appointed to his first teaching post at Madrasah Aminiyah, Delhi.

Attended by both intermediate and advanced students, in these lessons difficult issues in tafsir, hadith, ilm al-kalam, and fiqh were discussed.

[1][4] In 1929, due to disagreements with the Darul Uloom's leadership, Anwar Shah Kashmiri and Shabbir Ahmad Usmani left the madrasah followed by other teachers and students.

[1][6] There, in addition to teaching, he engaged in the writing and compilation of various works, including at-Ta'liq as-sabih, an Arabic commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih in several volumes.

Other friends and contacts included Manazir Ahsan Gilani and Abdul Bari Nadwi, in whose gatherings many learned individuals would congregate.

[1] In 1936 and 1937 He was twice invited to take up a post at Madrasah Islamiyah Arabiyah in Dabhel, where Kashmiri and Usmani had shifted, but he refused both offers.

He was invited to take the post of Shaykh al-Hadith at Darul Uloom Hathazari in Chittagong, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).

[1] At Jamia Ashrafia he served as Shaykh al-Hadith wa-at-Tafsir and taught Sahih al-Bukhari, Jami at-Tirmidhi, and Tafsir al-Baydawi.