Imad ud-din Lahiz (1830–1900) was an Islamic writer, preacher and Quranic translator, who converted to (Masihiyt) Christianity.

Background

Imad ud-din Lahiz was among the fourth generation of Islamic scholars in the family. His father, Mohammed Siraj ud-din, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been maulvis (Muslim doctors of law or imams). The Lahiz family hailed from

Panipat Panipat () is a historic city in Haryana, India. It is 95 km north of Delhi and 169 km south of Chandigarh on List of National Highways in India, NH-1. The three major battles fought in First Battle of Panipat, 1526, Second Battle of ...

, a town situated in the modern day

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

state of India. The Muslims of

had a reputation for being zealous in the faith of Islam and were well-versed in

Islamic jurisprudence ''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 e ...

. Imad ud-Din Lahiz was a prolific writer. He translated the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

into

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

commentaries. In addition to Lahiz’s writings about Islam, its history, faith and practices, his translation of the

into

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

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 metaphoric ...

, the founder of the

Ahmadiyyah 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 ...

movement in

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. He assisted

Rahmatullah Kairanawi Rahmatullah Kairanawi (also known as Rahmatullah Kairanawi Al-Hindi; 1818–1891) was a Sunni Muslim scholar and author who is best known for his work, ''Izhar ul-Haqq''. Background Kairanawi was born in Kairana, Muzaffarnagar in 1818. He is a ...

alongside Muhammad Wazîr Khân to represent the Muslim side in a widely publicised Muslim-Christian debate featuring German Christian

Karl Gottlieb Pfander Karl Gottlieb Pfander (1803–1865), spelt also as Carl Gottlieb Pfander or C.G. Pfander, was a Lutheran Christian priest, missionary and apologist; he served as a missionary in Central Asia and Trans-Caucasus under the Basel Mission, and as a pol ...

in Agra, 1854. The interest of the debate aroused, led a number of Muslims to read Pfander's literature and consider the questions that had been discussed. Some, such as Imad ud-Din Lahiz himself and Sufi Maulvi

Safdar Ali Safdar Ali }, ur, ; 1830–1899) was a convert from Islam to Christianity. He was born in the native state of Dholpur, and was the son of an orthodox Syed gentleman. Ali's father personally saw to his education which was deeply rooted in the r ...

who was also in attendance and a close friend, subsequently converted to Christianity. Imad ud-din Lahiz was so impressed with Pfander's arguments in his work Mizan Al Haqq (The Balance of Truth) that he noted upon his conversion to Christianity:

"We can now, I think, say that the controversy has virtually been complete ...
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
the Christians have obtained a complete victory, while our opponents have been signally defeated."

Conversion

Lahiz converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

on 29 April, 1866, together with his aged father and brother. The primary cause behind his conversion was to ensure his attainment of salvation. His conversion was followed by that of his wife, five sons and four daughters. This is his own account from the document referred to: "The writer became a Christian on April 29, 1866, simply for the sake of attaining salvation. But many people, among them my elders, friends, acquaintances and others, have expressed various ideas of their own about me. There are those who say that Imad ud-Din is merely a fictitious person, a doubt shared by some persons in Peshawar. Others say, that I became a Christian for worldly gain. Some orthodox Muslims cannot believe that I have really become a Christian, an opinion expressed by people in Qaroli and elsewhere. Thus, I have deemed it necessary to relate my full story in such a way that all who know me may know that the subject of this account is truly I."

Works

Imad-ud Din Lahiz wrote his autobiography in 1866. After becoming a Christian, Lahiz wrote a book entitled ''Tahqiq ul-Iman,'' criticizing those Maulvis who he felt were unnecessarily putting faith in Islam.

Bibliography

*''Tahqiq ul-lman'', *''Hidayat ul-Muslimin'', *''Haqiqi Irfan'', *''Naghma-i Tamburi'', *''Talim-i Muhammadi'', *''Tarikh-i Muhammadi'', *''Ittifaqi Mubahatha'', *''Athar-i Qiyamat'', *''Tafsir-i Mukashafa'', *''Waqiat-i Imadiyya''

References

Sources

*''History of the Church Missionary Society'' Vol.11, pp. 561–572. *''Heirs of the Prophets: An account of the clergy and Priests of Islam'',

Samuel Marinus Zwemer Samuel Marinus Zwemer (April 12, 1867 – April 2, 1952), nicknamed The Apostle to Islam, was an American missionary, traveler, and scholar. He was born at Vriesland, Michigan. In 1887 he received an A.B. from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, ...

, Moody press, 1946, p. 127

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lahiz, Imad ud-Din 1830 births 1900 deaths Indian former Muslims Converts to Protestantism from Islam Indian Protestant missionaries Christian scholars of Islam Protestant missionaries in India People from Panipat Urdu-language writers from India