Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi

Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi (born 10 May 1965) is an Indian Muslim scholar and preacher. He is great grandson of the Tablighi Jamat founder Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi. He heads one faction of the Tablighi Jamat.
Early life.
Saad Kandhlawi was born on 10 May 1965 (1385 AH) in Western Uttar Pradesh's Kandhla town in Shamli District. He is great grand son of the founder of Tablighi Jamat, Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi through former ameer of the Tablighi Jamat Muhammad Yusuf Kandhlawi.
He completed his Dars-e-Nizami studies from Madrasa Kashiful Uloom at Nizamuddin Markaz, New Delhi in 1987.
Career.
Former head of the Tablighi Jamat Inamul Hasan Kandhlawi had formed a 10-member legislation before his death in 1995 to look after the Jamat affairs and this legislation (commonly shura) was intact until 2015. Most of the scholars in this group died during these 20 years including Zubair ul Hassan Kandhlawi. A meeting was held in Raiwind Markaz on 16 November 2015 to fill up the vacant spaces of the shura legislation and a new shura consisting of 13 members including Muhammad Abdul Wahhab was formed. Kandhlawi did not agree with this shura and declared himself as the head of Jamat.
Kandhlawi leads the Nizamuddin Markaz faction of the Jamat.
Reception.
Some of Kandhlawi's statements lead the Deobandi scholars to issue fatawa against him. South African Mufti Ebrahim Desai published a fatwa on his website "AskImam". The Islamic seminary of India Darul Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa against Kandhlawi, questioning his leadership.
Zaid Mazahiri of the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama also wrote many treatises over this issue including "Tablighi Jamat Ka Bahami Ikhtelaf awr Ittehad-o-Ittefaq awr Sulah-o-Safaii Ki ek Koshish" (Internal Dispute of Tablighi Jamat: An attempt to mutually unite, and reconcile). Following these reactions, British scholar Yusuf Motala wrote and spoke in the defence of Kandhlawi.
Nizamuddin Markaz COVID-19 hotspot.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in India, a number of patients from Nizamuddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus, which resulted in the Delhi Government registering an FIR against Kandhlawi for organizing a Tablighi Jamat religious event at the Markaz, despite the restriction of such gatherings after 16 March. They had also sought help from authorities for vacating the premises on 25 March.
Family life.
Kandhlawi is son-in-law of Salman Mazahiri.