Following the paternal grandfather's death, he was taken by his mother to the care of her father, at his maternal grandfather's house. Later, young Buta Singh was entrusted to the care of his uncle at Jampur Tehsil, Punjab, British India, when his maternal grandfather died. Buta Singh Uppal converted to Islam at age 15 and chose "Ubaidullah Sindhi" as his new name, and later enrolled in the Darul Uloom Deoband, where he was, at various times, associated with other noted Islamic scholars of the time, including Maulana Rasheed Gangohi and Maulana Mahmud al-Hasan.