Maulawi Muhammad Fazal Khan Changawi (1868–1938) was a writer in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, who wrote numerous books on Islam, and was the translator of '' Futuhat Makkiya'' by

Ibn Arabi Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , ' Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influen ...

and some of his other works. His best known original contribution to

Islamic literature Islamic literature is literature written by Muslim people, influenced by an Islamic cultural perspective, or literature that portrays Islam. It can be written in any language and portray any country or region. It includes many literary forms incl ...

is '' Asrar-i Shari'at'' (''The secrets of the Muslim creed''). Changawi was a native of

Changa Bangial Changa Bangial is a town and Union Council, an administrative subdivision, of Gujar Khan Tehsil in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Location It is the collective name of 17 Dhoks (settlements) with distinctive names, such as Bharole, Dhanda ...

in Rawalpindi district (now

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

). By the age of 17 Changawi was educated in religious studies and had a good command of Arabic, Persian and Urdu. In 1885, he was admitted to the Mission School in Rawalpindi and studied there for three years, acquiring working knowledge of English, in which he later published numerous works. Changawi compiled the

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...

during the life-time of

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metaphori ...

, whose pronouncements ( Fatwas) pertaining to the rituals and later those of his successors were compiled in Fatawa Ahmadiyya in two volumes. This compendium was later expanded into a multi-volume book on the same subject. Changawi also pursued his studies of Sufi literature, the culmination of which was his translation of the '' Futuhat Makkiya'' by Ibn Arabi. Eventually only two volumes were published. In 1999 a new edition of this work was released in one volume in Lahore.Futuhat Makkiya. Tarjuma wa tashri': Maulavi Muhammad Fazal Khan. Lahore: Tasawwuf Foundation. 1999 The second part of this translation came out in 2013. Changawi said that he had compiled and translated another book about the experiences of Ibn Arabi, to be published under the title of ''Mushahadat-i Ibn Arabi'', but this book was not printed.

References

External links

Urdu biography of Maulavi Muhammad Fazal Khan by Muniruddin Ahmed (.pdf)
1868 births 1938 deaths Writers in British India People from Rawalpindi District Indian Ahmadis {{translator-stub