Maqsudullah completed the
memorisation of the
Qur'an at an early age. His grandfather then took him to the nearby Kachua Madrasah where he entrusted him to the supervision of Saeed Ahmad of Kalkini. Among the other Barisali students at Deoband during his time were Zainul Abedin, Muhammad Yasin, Mansur Ahmad and Fajruddin. Maqsudullah became a student and
murid of
Ashraf Ali Thanwi. Thanwi later sent him to study under Ali Ahmad of Hasanpur. After spending some time studying in Hasanpur and
Saharanpur, Maqsudullah returned to Deoband in 1916 where he received
khilafat (spiritual succession) from Thanwi within a few days in the four
tariqas. ==Career==