Shaykh al-Hind Mahmud Hasan Deobandi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 3rd Principal and Sheikh al-Hadith ofDarul Uloom Deoband | |
| In office 1890–1915 | |
| Preceded by | Syed Ahmad Dehlavi |
| Succeeded by | Anwar Shah Kashmiri |
| 1st President ofJamiat Ulema-e-Hind | |
| In office November 1920 – 30 November 1920 | |
| Preceded by | Kifayatullah Dehlawi (as an interim president) |
| Succeeded by | Kifayatullah Dehlawi |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1851 |
| Died | 30 November 1920(1920-11-30) (aged 68–69) Delhi, British India |
| Resting place | Mazar-e-Qasmi |
| Parent |
|
| Main interest(s) | Exegesis,Indian freedom movement |
| Notable idea(s) | Silk Letter Movement |
| Notable work(s) |
|
| Alma mater | Darul Uloom Deoband |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Founder of | Jamia Millia Islamia |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Teachers | Mahtab Ali DeobandiMahmud Deobandi,Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi |
| Tariqa | Chishtiya-Sabiriya-Imdadiya |
| Movement | Deobandi |
| Senior posting | |
| Disciple of | |
Influenced | |
Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (also known asShaykh al-Hind; 1851–1920) was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of theIndian Independence Movement, who co-founded theJamia Millia Islamia University and launched theSilk Letter Movement for the freedom of India. He was the first student to study at theDarul Uloom Deoband seminary. His teachers includedMahtab Ali Deobandi,Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi andMahmud Deobandi, and he was authorized inSufism byImdadullah Muhajir Makki andRashid Ahmad Gangohi.
Hasan served as the principal of the Darul Uloom Deoband and founded organisations such as the Jamiatul Ansar and the Nizaratul Maarif. He wrote a translation of theQuran inUrdu and authored books such asAdilla-e-Kāmilah,Īzah al-adillah,Ahsan al-Qirā andJuhd al-Muqill. He taughthadith at the Darul Uloom Deoband and copyedited theSunan Abu Dawud. His major students includedAshraf Ali Thanwi,Anwar Shah Kashmiri,Hussain Ahmad Madani,Kifayatullah Dehlawi,Sanaullah Amritsari andUbaidullah Sindhi.
Hasan was a staunch opponent of theBritish Raj. He launched movements to overthrow their power in India but was arrested in 1916 and imprisoned inMalta. He was released in 1920, and was honoured with the title of "Shaykh al-Hind" (The Leader of India) by theKhilafat committee. He wrote religious edicts in support of theNon-cooperation movement and travelled various parts of India, to enroll Muslims in the freedom movement. He presided the second general meeting of theJamiat Ulema-e-Hind in November 1920 and was appointed its president. TheShaikh-Ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan Medical College is named in his memory. In 2013, the Government of India released acommemorative postal stamp on hisSilk Letter Movement, also called asReshmi Rumal Movement.
Mahmud Hasan was born in 1851 in the town ofBareilly (in modernUttar Pradesh, India) into theUsmani family of Deoband.[1][2] His father,Zulfiqar Ali Deobandi, who co-founded theDarul Uloom Deoband, was a professor at theBareilly College and then served as the deputy inspector ofmadrasas.[1][3]
Hasan studied theQuran with Miyanji Manglori, andPersian with Abdul Lateef.[1] During the1857 rebellion, his father was transferred toMeerut, and Hasan was shifted toDeoband, where he studied Persian andArabic literature from theDars-e-Nizami course with his uncle,Mahtab Ali Deobandi.[1] He became the first student at theDarul Uloom Deoband;[4] and studied withMahmud Deobandi.[5] He completed his formal studies in 1869 and went toMeerut to study theSihah Sittah withMuhammad Qasim Nanawtawi.[6] He attended thehadith discourses of Nanawtawi for two years, and studied Arabic literature with his father during the vacations.[7] He graduated in 1872 and received the turban of honour in 1873 in the first convocation of the Darul Uloom Deoband.[8][9] He was an authorized disciple ofImdadullah Muhajir Makki andRashid Ahmad Gangohi inSufism.[10]
Hasan was appointed a teacher at the Darul Uloom Deoband in 1873, the same year he completed his studies.[2] He became itsprincipal in 1890,[9][11][12] succeedingSyed Ahmad Dehlavi.[13] He did not consider the Deoband seminary just a place of learning, but an institution established to compensate the loss of1857 rebellion.[4]
Hasan formed the Thamratut-Tarbiyat (The Fruit of the Upbringing) in 1878.[14] It was established as an intellectual centre to train the students and graduates of the Darul Uloom Deoband.[15] It then took the form of Jamiatul Ansar (Community of Helpers), which started in 1909 with its first session held inMoradabad and presided over byAhmad Hasan Amrohi.[16] Alongside his studentUbaidullah Sindhi, Hasan then started the Nizaratul Ma'arif al-Qur'ānia (Academy of Quranic Learning) in November 1913.[16][17] It aimed to increase the influence of Muslim scholars and to instruct and teach English-educated Muslims about Islam.[18]Hussain Ahmad Madani suggests that "the purpose behind establishing Nizaratul Maarif was to make Muslim youth stronger believers, and to instruct and guide them, specially western-educated Muslims, in the Quranic teachings in such a logical way that it would remove the poisonous impact of anti-Islam propaganda and ill-founded skepticism about practicality of Islamic belief and tenets in modern age."[19][20]
Hasan wanted to overthrow the British Raj in India; to achieve this, he focussed on two geographic areas.[21] The first was the area of autonomous tribes that lived between Afghanistan and India.[21]Asir Adrawi states, "this is the historical reality that people who came to invade India used that route, and Hasan's selection of this area for his movement was definitely the highest evidence of his prudence and insight."[22] The second area was within India; he wanted to influence all the sincere leaders who cared for the community to support his cause, and in this he was quite successful.[22] The scholars that worked on the first front included his students and companions such asAbdul Ghaffar Khan, Abdur-Raheem Sindhi,Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari,Ubaidullah Sindhi andUzair Gul Peshawari.[23] They propagated the program of Hasan into the frontier areas and into those of the autonomous tribes.[24] The scholars that worked on the second front includedMukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Abdur-Raheem Raipuri and Ahmadullah Panipati.[25]Muhammad Miyan Deobandi states, "Shaikhul Hind used to watch carefully the nature and capability of his disciples and people who approached him. He selected some persons from amongst them and commanded them to reachYaghistan and instigate the autonomous tribes to attack India."[26] The program designed to prepare the people inside India for a rebellion if the Afghani and Turkish governments provided military aid to the militia and people within the country rose up for the rebellion during the invasion by this army.[24] Yaghistan was the center of the movement of Mahmud Hasan.[27] TheProvisional Government of India was designed by Hasan's pupilUbaidullah Sindhi and his companions, andMahendra Pratap was appointed the President.[28]
Hasan himself traveled toHejaz to secure German and Turkish support in 1915.[29] He leftBombay on 18 September 1915, and was accompanied by scholars including Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari,Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri,Muhammad Sahool Bhagalpuri and Uzair Gul Peshawari.[30][31] On 18 October 1915, he went toMecca where he had meetings with Ghalib Pasha, the Turkish governor, and Anwar Pasha, who was the defense minister of Turkey.[32][33] Ghalib Pasha assured him of assistance and gave him three letters, one addressed to the Indian Muslims, the second to the governor Busra Pasha, and the third to Anwar Pasha.[33] Hasan also had a meeting with theDjemal Pasha, the governor of Syria, who concurred with what Ghalib Pasha had said.[33] Hasan feared that if he returned to India, he might be arrested by the British, and asked that he be allowed to reach the Afghanistan border from where he could reach Yaghistan.[34] Djemal made an excuse and told him that if he feared arrest, he could stop at Hejaz or any other Turkish area.[34] Subsequently, the program called theSilk Letter Movement was leaked and its members were arrested.[35] Hasan was arrested in December 1916 alongside his companions and students,Hussain Ahmad Madani andUzair Gul Peshawari, bySharif Hussain, theSharif of Mecca, who revolted against the Turks and allied with the British.[36][29] The Sharif then handed them over to the British,[37] and they were imprisoned inFort Verdala inMalta.[38]
Hasan was released in May 1920,[38] and by 8 June 1920 he had reachedBombay.[39] He was welcomed by major scholars and political figures includingAbdul Bari Firangi Mahali,Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad,Kifayatullah Dehlawi,Shaukat Ali andMahatma Gandhi.[40] His release was seen as a huge aid to theKhilafat Movement[40] and he was honoured with the title of "Shaykh al-Hind" (The Leader of India) by the Khilafat Committee.[39][41]
Hasan inspired the scholars of Deoband seminary to join the Khilafat movement.[40] He issued a religious edict on the boycott of British goods; which was sought by the students of thenMuhammadan Anglo-Oriental College.[42] In this edict, he advised the students to avoid supporting the government in any manner, to boycott the government funded schools and colleges, and to avoid government jobs.[43] Following this edict, a majority of students left the college.[44] This edict supported theNon-cooperation movement.[43] Hasan then travelled toAllahabad,Fatehpur,Ghazipur,Faizabad,Lucknow andMoradabad and guided Muslims in support of the movements.[45]
Hasan was asked to preside over the foundational ceremony of theJamia Millia Islamia, then known as the National Muslim University.[46] The university was established by Hasan alongsideMuhammad Ali Jauhar andHakim Ajmal Khan,[47] who were motivated by the demands of students ofAligarh Muslim University (AMU) who were disappointed with the AMU's pro-British bias and who wanted a new university.[46][48] Hasan's servants, however, urged him not to accept the offer as he had grown increasingly weak and pale from his time of incarceration in Malta.[49][46] Hasan stated, in response to their concerns, "If my president-ship pains the British, then I shall definitely take part in this ceremony."[46] He was subsequently brought to Deoband railway station in apalanquin, from where he traveled toAligarh.[46]
Hasan was not able to write anything, and asked his studentShabbir Ahmad Usmani to prepare his presidential speech. He then made corrections and improvements to the prepared speech, and sent it to print. On 29 October 1920, this speech was read aloud by Usmani in the foundational ceremony of the university,[50] after which Hasan laid the foundation stone of the Jamia Millia Islamia.[49] Hasan said in the speech that "the knowledgeable people amongst you are well aware that my elders and predecessors never issued an edict of disbelief over learning of a foreign language or acquiring the academic sciences of other nations. Yes, it was said that the final last effect of the English-education is that its seekers either colour themselves in that of the Christianity or they mock their own religion and co-religionists through their atheistic insolence, or they worship the current government; then it is better to remain ignorant instead of seeking such education."[51] He concurred withMahatma Gandhi's who stated that, "the higher education of these colleges is pure and clean as the milk, but mixed with a little bit of poison" and considered the Muslim National University, as an alembic which would separate this poison from academia.[51]
Hasan presided over the second general meeting of theJamiat Ulema-e-Hind, which was held in November 1920 inDelhi.[52] He was appointed the president of the Jamiat, a position he could not serve due to his death after few days [on 30 November].[53] The general meeting was held over three days starting from 19 November, and Hasan's presidential speech was read aloud by his studentShabbir Ahmad Usmani.[54] Hasan advocated aHindu-Muslim-Sikh unity and said that, if Hindus and Muslims unite, acquiring freedom was not much more difficult.[55][56] This was the last conference that Hasan attended.[56]
Hasan's students number in thousands.[57] His major students includeAnwar Shah Kashmiri,Asghar Hussain Deobandi,Ashraf Ali Thanwi,Hussain Ahmad Madani,Izaz Ali Amrohi,Kifayatullah Dihlawi,Manazir Ahsan Gilani,Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari,Muhammad Shafi,Sanaullah Amritsari,Shabbir Ahmad Usmani,Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad,Ubaidullah Sindhi andUzair Gul Peshawari.[9][58][59]Ebrahim Moosa states that his "fine cohort of students later gained renown in the madrasa network and made contribution to the public life in South Asia in fields as diverse as religious scholarship, politics, and institution-building."[60]
Hasan wrote an interlinear translation of the Quran inUrdu.[61] He later started to annotate this translation with explanatory notes, as he had just completed the fourth chapterAn-Nisa, when he died in 1920.[62] Theexegetical work was completed by his studentShabbir Ahmad Usmani, and is published asTafsir-e-Usmāni.[63] It was later translated into Persian by a group of scholars, patronized byMohammed Zahir Shah, the last king ofAfghanistan.[64]
Hasan taughtSahih Bukhari at the Darul Uloom Deoband for a long time and, when he was incarcerated in Malta, he began to write a treatise explaining its chapter-headings.[65] In thehadith studies, the assignation of the chapter-headings in a collection of traditions is seen as a separate science.[66] Hasan started the treatise with fifteen principles on the subject, and then discussed the traditions from the chapter on revelation and incompletely covered the chapter on knowledge.[67] The treatise is entitledal-abwāb wa al-tarājim li al-Bukhāri (transl. An Explanation of the Chapter Headings of Imam Bukhari's Sahih) and spreads over 52 pages.[65]
As theAhl-i Hadith movement was growing in India they started questioning the authority ofHanafi school of thought.[68] Ahl-i Hadith scholarMuhammad Hussain Batalvi compiled a set of ten questions[69] and announced a challenge with a reward for those who provided an answer, with ten rupees per answer. This was published fromAmritsar and sent toDarul Uloom Deoband.[68] The Deoband's policy had been to avoid the issues which divide the Muslim community, but the Ahl-i Hadith people forced the issue. Subsequently, Hasan, at the request of his teacher Nanawtawi,[70] in return asked a series of questions in the form of a treatise,Adilla-e-Kāmilah (transl. The Perfect Argument), promising that, "if you answer these questions, we shall give you twenty rupees per answer."[71]
After Mahmud Hasan'sAdilla-e-Kāmilah, an Ahl-i Hadith scholar Ahmad Hasan Amrohwi wroteMisbāh al-Adillah (transl. A Lantern to the Argument) in response toAdilla-e-Kāmilah.[70] TheDeobandi scholar waited for a while for any response from the original questioner, Muhammad Hussain Batalwi,[72] who then announced that Amrohwi's work was sufficient, and that he has himself had discarded the idea of writing the answers.[72] Mahmud Hasan, in response, wroteIzāh al-Adillah (transl. Elucidation of the Argument); a commentary on his earlier workAdilla-e-Kāmilah.[72]
Hasan has discussed the permissibility ofFriday prayers in villages and rural areas in this book.[73]Syed Nazeer Husain had raised this issue and published a religious edict which decreed that there is no specification of any place [for the Friday prayers]. He stated that, wherever a least of two people gather, the Friday prayers are necessary.[73]Hanafi jurist and scholar,Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, penned afatwa over 14 pages in response, called theAwthaq al-'Urā (transl. The Strongest Ring) from the perspective of theHanafi school of thought.[73]
Gangohi's work received criticism from theAhl-i Hadith scholars; most of which reproduced the same arguments.[73] Gangohi's pupil Mahmud Hasan felt that the language of these works was insolent, and wrote a lengthy book, entitledAhsan al-Qirā fī Tawzīḥ Awthaq al-'Urā (transl. The Best Discourse in The Elucidation of The Strongest Ring), in response.[74]
Shah Ismail Dehlvi and his companions who worked for the reformation of Muslims fromBidʻah (religious innovations), received wide criticism from the people who were associated with these innovations.[75] Dehlvi was in particular accused of blasphemy and wasexcommunicated from Islam.[75] Subsequently, Islamic scholarAhmad Hasan Kanpuri wroteTanzih al-Raḥmān (transl. The Glorification of the Merciful), in which he mentioned Dehlvi to be a member of extreme group of theMuʿtazila.[76] Mahmud Hasan, in response, wroteJuhd al-Muqill fī tanzīhi al-Mu'izzi wa al-Mudhill (transl. An Effort of an Insignificant on the Glorification of One who Graces and Disgraces), in two volumes.[77] The book discusses the attributes and qualities ofAllah with the terminology of theIlm al-Kalam, following the accent ofAl-Taftazani's commentarySharah Aqā'id-e-Nasafi, onal-Nasafi's creed.[76] Hasan responded to the allegations made against Shah Ismail Dehlvi and other such scholars, using Ilm al-Kalam.[77]
The written manuscripts of theSihah Sittah were preserved in the libraries of Islamic nations, with the majority held atMecca andMedina.[78] The Indian scholarAhmad Ali Saharanpuri copied the manuscripts that existed in Mecca, and then studied them withShah Muhammad Ishaq. When he returned to India he started publishing the copyedited editions of thesehadith manuscripts from his press.[79] His pupil Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi continued the practice of copyediting the hadith manuscripts until all of the books were published in India.[78]
Later there was a push to copyedit theSunan Abu Dawud, one among the six major books of thehadith. However, the editions that were published and the original written manuscripts majorly differed from each other.[78] Hasan thus collected all the available manuscripts, copyedited the text and had several editions of it published in book form. These were published in 1900 from the Mujtabai Press in Delhi.[80]
On 30 October 1920, a day after the foundation of the Jamia Millia Islamia in Aligarh, Hasan travelled toDelhi at the request ofMukhtar Ahmad Ansari. Several days later his health deteriorated and he received treatment from Ansari at his home inDaryaganj.[81][82] He died on 30 November 1920 inDelhi.[83] As the news of his death was announced, Hindus and Muslims closed their shops and gathered outside Ansari's house to pay tributes to Hasan.[84] Ansari then asked Hasan's brother Hakeem Muhammad Hasan if he preferred Mahmud Hasan to be buried in Delhi with arrangements to be made at theMehdiyan cemetery, or if preferred to bury him atDeoband with arrangements made for moving the body.[83] It was decided to bury him at Deoband because of his wish that he be buried near the grave of his teacher Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi.[85] His funeral prayers were offered multiple times. The people of Delhi offered the prayers outside Ansari's house, and then the body was moved to Deoband. As they reached the Delhi railway station, a plethora of people gathered and offered funeral prayers. Subsequently, prayers were offered at theMeerut City railway station andMeerut Cantt railway station.[85] His fifth and last funeral prayer was led by his brother Hakeem Muhammad Hasan, and he was buried in theQasmi cemetery.[85]
Mahmud Hasan has had a number of honours.Ashraf Ali Thanwi called him "Shaykh al'-'Ālam" (The Leader of the World).[86] Thanwi states that, "In our opinion, he is the Leader of India,Sindh, theArab and theAjam".[86] A medical college inSaharanpur was namedShaikh-Ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan Medical College after him.[87] In January 2013, the President of India,Pranab Mukherjee released a commemorative postal stamp on Hasan'sSilk Letter Movement.[88]
Shaikhul Hind Academy, a department of Darul Uloom Deoband, is named in his memory.[89]
TheShaykh al-Hind Program, an immersion-level Islamic Studies program taught at Darul Qasim College, is also named in his honor.[90]
Assigning chapter headings in a hadith collection is a science in itself, known among the scholars as al-abwab wa 'l-tarajim [chapters and explanations].
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