Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad (also known as Muhammad Ahmad Nanautawi) (1862-1930) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Muslim scholar, who served as the

Vice Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the Darul Uloom Deoband for thirty five years. He was the

Grand Mufti The Grand Mufti (also called Chief Mufti, State Mufti and Supreme Mufti) is the head of regional muftis, Islamic jurisconsults, of a state. The office originated in the early modern era in the Ottoman empire and has been later adopted in a num ...

of the Hyderabad State from 1922 to 1925.

Biography

Ahmad was born in 1862 in

Nanauta Nanauta is a town and a nagar panchayat (municipality) in Saharanpur district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh. Nanauta is located on Saharanpur Delhi Highway. It is from Saharanpur city. It is from Shamli ...

into the Siddiqi family; his father was Islamic scholar

Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi (1832 – 15 April 1880) () was an Indian Sunni Hanafi Maturidi Islamic Scholar, theologian and a Sufi who was one of the main founders of the Deobandi Movement, starting from the Darul Uloom Deoband. Name and ...

. He attended Madrasa Manba-ul-Ulum in Gulauthi and then Madrasa Shahi, Moradabad. He later returned to Darul Uloom Deoband where he studied with

Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (also known as Shaykh al-Hind; 1851–1920) was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of the Indian independence movement, who co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia university and launched the Silk Letter Movement for t ...

. He studied parts of the ''

Jami` at-Tirmidhi Jami at-Tirmidhi ( ar, جامع الترمذي), also known as Sunan at-Tirmidhi, is one of "the six books" ('' Kutub al-Sittah'' - the six major hadith collections). It was collected by Al-Tirmidhi. He began compiling it after the year 250 A.H. ...

'' with

Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi (1833–1884) was an Indian Islamic scholar, and one of the earliest teachers of Islamic Madrassa in Deoband, famously called Darul Uloom Deoband in India. He was the first principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. Name and li ...

and specialized in

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 approva ...

with

Rashid Ahmad Gangohi Rashīd Aḥmad ibn Hidāyat Aḥmad Ayyūbī Anṣārī Gangohī (182611 August 1905) ( ur, ) was an Indian Deobandi Islamic scholar, a leading figure of the Deobandi jurist and scholar of hadith. His lineage reaches back to Abu Ayyub al-Ans ...

. He was a disciple of

Imdadullah Muhajir Makki Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (1817 – 1899) was an Indian Muslim Sufi scholar of the Chishti Sufi order. His disciples include Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and Ashraf Ali Thanwi. In the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he led the Musl ...

. At Darul Uloom Deoband, he taught ''

Mishkat al-Masabih ''Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ'' ( ar, مشكاة المصابيح, lit=The Niche of Lanterns) by Walī ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khaṭīb at-Tibrīzī (d.1248) is an expanded and revised version of al-Baghawī's '' ...

'', ''

Tafsir al-Jalalayn ''Tafsīr al-Jalālayn'' ( ar, تفسير الجلالين, lit=Tafsir of the two Jalals) is a classical Sunni interpretation (tafsir) of the Qur'an, composed first by Jalal ad-Din al-Maḥalli in 1459 and then completed after his passing by Jala ...

'', ''

Sahih Muslim Sahih Muslim ( ar, صحيح مسلم, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim), group=note is a 9th-century ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (815–875). It is one of the most valued b ...

'', '' Sunan ibn Majah'' for ten years, and served as Vice Chancellor for 35 years. Ahmad was honored with the title of Shamsul Ulama by the

British Government of 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 ...

, which he returned in 1920. He also served

of Hyderabad State from 1922 to 1925.

Students

Ahmad's students include

Anwar Shah Kashmiri Anwar Shah Kashmiri (known with honorifics as ''Sayyid Muḥammad Anwar Shāh ibn Mu‘aẓẓam Shāh al-Kashmīrī''; 16 November 1875 – 28 May 1933) was a Kashmiri Muslim scholar and jurist who served as the first principal of Madrasa Ami ...

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Shabbir Ahmad Usmani (11 October 188713 December 1949) was an Islamic scholar who supported the Pakistan Movement in the 1940s. He was a religious scholar, writer, orator, politician, and expert in Tafsir and Hadith. Born in 1887 in Bijnor, U ...

Ubaidullah Sindhi Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi (10 March 1872 – 21 August 1944) was a political activist of the Indian independence movement and one of its vigorous leaders. According to ''Dawn'', Karachi, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi struggled for the independence ...

Hussain Ahmad Madani Hussain Ahmad Madani (6 October 1879 – 5 December 1957) was an Indian Islamic scholar, serving as the principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1954.

, Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Sayyid Asghar Hussain Deobandi,

Qari Muhammad Tayyib Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi (known as Qari Muhammad Tayyib) was an Indian Sunni Islamic scholar who served as Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband for more than half a century. He was grandson of Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, the founder of the Daru ...

Muhammad Shafi Deobandi Muḥammad Shafī‘ ibn Muḥammad Yāsīn ‘Us̱mānī Deobandī ( ur, ; ar, محمد شفيع بن محمد ياسين العثماني الديوبندي, ''Muḥammad Shafī‘ ibn Muḥammad Yāsīn al-‘Uthmānī ad-Diyūbandī''; ...

, Manazir Ahsan Gilani and Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad.

Death and legacy

Ahmad died in 1930 while travelling in a train near

Nizamabad Junction railway station Nizamabad Junction railway station (station code: NZB) is an Indian Railways station, which serves the city of Nizamabad in Telangana. It is a major station on Secunderabad–Manmad railway line, also serving as the junction point for Secund ...

and was buried in a special graveyard Khitta-e-Salihin with the consent of

Mir Osman Ali Khan Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 — 24 February 1967), was the last Nizam (ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad, the largest princely state in British India. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age o ...

. Ahmad's son

was Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband for fifty years.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{Qasmi family Darul Uloom Deoband alumni 1862 births 1930 deaths Deobandis Academic staff of Darul Uloom Deoband People from Nanauta Qasmi family Students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Vice-Chancellors of Darul Uloom Deoband