[2][3][4] Kairanawi had been appointed as a lecturer at the Masjid al-Haram by the Sheikh al-Ulama (Leading Scholar) Ahmad Zayni Dahlan.
He started teaching and felt that lessons were delivered as sermons rather than planned academic lectures.
According to historian Rosie Bsheer, the school represents a critical and under-explored history of anti-colonial intellectualism and politicization in Mecca that reached across continents and the Indian Ocean to other geographic locales.
"Graduates of Sawlatiyya and other schools founded by Asian and African intellectuals in the city [Mecca] contributed to the intellectual, cultural, social and political life in the Arabian Peninsula and other parts of the world.
"[4] The Book Izhar ul-Haqq, written by the school's founder Ramatullah Kairanawi, was the main reason behind Ahmed Deedat's active interest in debates on Christianity.