A salafi claims that it is shirk to address anyone with the title, maulana.

Answer

Salafis are stupid and arrogant, hence they speak drivel. The word maula has several meanings in Arabic. It means friend, protector, master, freed slave. The term maulanaa consists of two words: maula and naa which is a pronoun meaing our. Thus, maulana means 'our friend'. The term is used as a title of respect for a learned person who is regarded as a 'friend' because he safeguards one's Deen. He is also the protector of our Deen and Imaan by virtue of the Deeni Ta'leem he imparts.

M a u l a n a R u m i (rahmatullah alayh) was not an Indian. This title existed centuries before it was adopted in India. There is no Shar'i prohibition to calling someone 'our friend' or 'our protector'.

Whilst Allah Ta'ala is the Sole source of our livelihood, it is not prohibited to say that we earn our livelihood from Zaid who has employed us. If the police protects a person against a robber, it is not prohibited to say that the police was our protector. Translated into Arabic, our friend will be maulana.

Besides personal opinion, Salafis have no Islamic evidence for his contention. No matter how logical and how nice a view may seem, it is essentially personal opinion if unsubstantiated by Shar'i proof. The use of maulana for Allah Ta'ala in the Qur'aan is not proof or a basis for saying that the term may not be used for a person. This is neither mentioned in the Qur'aan nor anywhere in the Hadith.

The word Rabb is used for Allah Ta'ala. However, it is permissible to use it for others as well, such as Rabb-ul-Maal (one who invests money); rabbika (your rabb meaning your master, i.e. a human master or king).

The kitaabs are replete with the word maula used for a slave-master. If slaves say that their master is maulana (our master), it will be perfectly permissible. All the books of Fiqh from the earliest age of Islam, including the Hadith, use maulaa for the master of slaves. There is no Shar'i prohibition to refer to a person as my maulaa or our maulaa.

To clinch this argument and to demolish the baseless claim of the article, is the following Hadith: "Anas Bin Maalik (radhiyallahu anhu) was asked about a mas'alah. He responded: 'Refer incumbently (for answers) to Maulana (Our Maulana) Al-Hasan. They asked him: 'We ask you, O Abaa Humzah!, and you say: 'Ask Maulana Al -Hasan.' Then he said: 'We have heard and he (Al-Hasan) has heard. We forgot, and he remembered." (Musannaf Ibn Abu Shaybah).

H a d h r a t A n a s (radhiyallahu anhu) was a very senior Sahaabi. He was not an inhabitant of India and Pakistan. When even he used the term Maulana for a learned person, then there is no need to pursue this argument further.