Molvi Ahmed Mallah ( sd, مولوي احمد ملاح) was born on first February 1877 in village Kundi, Deh Lohan,

Badin District The Badin District ( sd, ضلعو بدين, ur, ) is a district in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The total area of the district is 6,726 square kilometers.

. His father's name was Nangio Mallah. He was a moderate Islamic

Mullah Mullah (; ) is an honorific title for Shia and Sunni Muslim clergy or a Muslim mosque leader. The term is also sometimes used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and sharia law. The title has also been used in some Miz ...

and had translated

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, ...

in Sindhi in poetic way. Mallah was a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and national poet of

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

. He died on 19 July 1969.

Early life

He belonged to a poor family, but quite well-mannered in his attitude, intelligence, behavior, and character. He looked after his

herd A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals. The term ''herd'' is ...

of animals. Mallah used to sing old songs and tried to fix his own

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

in the melodies.

Education

Molvi Ahmed Mallah received education in a religious school of Hafiz Abdullah Mandhro. To acquire further education, he went to

Badin Badin ( Sindhi and ur, ) is the main city and capital of Badin District in Sindh, Pakistan. It lies east of the Indus River. It is the 87th largest city in Pakistan. Badin is often called 'Sugar State' due to its production of sugar. Badin ...

, Bugra Memon, Toha,

Sujawal Sujawal ( ur, ), town is headquarter of Sujawal district of Sindh. Previously, it was Sub Divisional Headquarter of Sujawal Sub Division of Thatta District, Sindh, Pakistan. The Government of Sindh has granted Sujawal the status of a distric ...

and other cities, from where he received the education of Sindhi,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Jurisprudence and

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

. Finally, he was given a religious degree to impart religious education. His Last teacher was Molana Khair Muhammad Magsi.

Political career

Mallah chose to teach as a profession. When the

Khilafat Movement The Khilafat Movement (1919–24), also known as the Caliphate movement or the Indian Muslim movement, was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajma ...

started, he enthusiastically participated in it and delivered very emotional speeches. Believing it to be a threat to the government, he was imprisoned. After being freed from the jail, he started to teach in the religious school Mazhar-ul-Uloom of Pir Ali shah. In 1932, due to the Sunni-Wahabi movement, he bid farewell to the school and purchased his own plot in

, where he established his own religious school and appointed renowned religious scholars like Mumtaz Alam, Molvi Gul Muhammad, Molvi Abdul Wahab, and Molvi Abdul Ghafoor. Nowadays, it is known as Muslim School Gharibabad. The adjacent mosque to this religious School gives memories of this great man.

Literary career

Molvi Ahmed Mallah gained a good name in Sindhi poetry and prose, when he actually started writing. His poetic qualities gave him an elevated literary status. He fought against useless

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

s, social evils of

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

. His poetry is an essential part of Friday discourses in Sindhi mosques.

Publications

Molvi Ahmed Mallah wrote books in

and

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

. Some of his published works are: ''Marafatallah'' (1936), ''Hakiraee Haq'' (1951), ''Fateh Lawari'' (1958), ''Bayaz Amed'' (1964), ''Pagham Ahmed'' (1969), ''Dewan Ahmed'' (1974) and ''Israr Ellahi''. He translated Islamic holy book

in a poetic way with the title of “Noor ul Qur’an”. He was the first person who translated the complete Quran into Sindhi in a poetic way, which was first published in 1969 by Arbab Allah Jurio. His poetic songs are sung all over Sindh.

Radio Pakistan Radio Pakistan serves as the national public broadcaster for radio in Pakistan. Although some local stations predate Radio Pakistan's founding, it is the oldest existing broadcasting network in Pakistan. The network was established on 14 August ...

often broadcast his songs in the voice of many different local singers.

Award and recognition

In 1978, Mallah was posthumously awarded

Pride of Performance The Pride of Performance ( ur, ), officially known as Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sports, an ...

award by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

in recognition of his literary services. A school was named after Mallah called 'Molvi Ahmed Mallah School' by the provincial

Government of Sindh The Government of Sindh ( sd, حڪومت سنڌ) ( ur, ) is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions un ...

Death

Mallah died on 19 July 1969 at hospital in Badin. He is buried in his native village.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallah, Molvi Ahmed 1877 births 1969 deaths Sindhi people People from Badin District Sindhi-language writers Writers from Sindh Pakistani writers