Sayyid Mumtaz Ali Deobandi (27 September 1860 – 15 June 1935) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar and an advocate of women rights in the late nineteenth century. He was an alumnus of

Darul Uloom Deoband The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic seminary (darul uloom) in India at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. It is located in Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The seminary was established by Muhammad Qasim ...

. His book ''Huquq-e-Niswan'' and the journal '' Tehzeeb-e-Niswan'' that he started with his wife

Muhammadi Begum Muhammadi Begum (also known as Sayyidah Muhammadi Begum; 22 May 1878 – 2 November 1908) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, Urdu writer and an advocate of women education. She co-founded the Islamic weekly magazine '' Tehzeeb-e-Niswan'', and was its fou ...

are said to be pioneering works on women rights.

Biography

Sayyid Mumtaz Ali was born on 27 September 1860 in

Deoband Deoband is a town and a municipality in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, about 150 km from Delhi. Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary and one of the largest Islamic Institution of India is located there. Etymo ...

, British India. He was a fellow and contemporary of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and studied at

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

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 ...

. After graduating from the Deoband seminary, Mumtaz Ali moved to Lahore and established a publishing house "Darul Isha'at". On 1 July 1898, he released a journal ''Tehzeeb-e-Niswan'' under the editorship of his wife

. This journal later discontinued in 1949. In 1898, he started a publishing house called "

Rifah-e-Aam Press Rifah-e-Aam Press (also called Matba Rifah-i 'Am) was a publishing house in Lahore. It was established by Sayyid Mumtaz Ali in 1898. The last recorded book it published was ''Dastoor-ul-Amal Bhatta'' () in 1935. Publications * ''Farhang e Asifiya ...

" in Lahore which is said to the first press in Lahore whose owner was a Muslim. In 1905, he started a journal, called, ''Mushīr-e-Mādar'' (Advisor to the mother), and then the children's journal ''Phūl'' (Flower) in 1909, and laid the foundation of children's literature in Urdu. Mumtaz Ali was honoured with title of "Shams-ul-Ulama" by the

Government of British India A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, Executive (government), e ...

in 1934. He died on 15 June 1935 in Lahore.

Literary works

* ''Huquq-e-Niswan'' * ''Taz̲kiratulanbiyā'' * ''Tafṣīl al-bayān fī maqāṣid al-Qurʼān'' (6 volumes) * ''Naqsh bo uṭhe''

Legacy

American historian,

Gail Minault Gail Minault (born 25 March 1939) is an American historian of South Asia. Life Gail Minault was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 March 1939. She was educated in the public schools of Pottstown, Pennsylvania before completing high school at th ...

argues in her article "Sayyid Mumtaz Ali and 'Huquq un-Niswan': An Advocate of Women's Rights in Islam in the Late Nineteenth Century" that, Mumtaz Ali's "''Huquq-e-Niswan'' was undoubtedly too far in advance of its times. Given the current debate about the importance of Muslim personal reform, however, it is well to remember this early champion of women rights in the shar'iat." Commending Mumtaz Ali's work, ''Tafṣīl al-bayān fī maqāṣid al-Qurʼān'', former

Grand Mufti of Jerusalem The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The position was created by the British military government led by Ronald Storrs in 1918.See Islamic Leadership i ...

, Amin al-Husseini, comments that "such book does not exist even in the Arab world".This 6 volume work of Mumtaz Ali on the Quran also received praise from scholarly figures including Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Abul Kalam Azad and Syed Sulaiman Nadwi.

References

External links

The Supremacy Myth, adapted from Sayyid Mumtaz Ali's book ''Huquq-e-Niswan''
translated to English by

Javed Anand Javed Anand (born ca. 1950) is an Indian journalist and civil rights activist who founded the Mumbai-based Sabrang Communications in 1993. He is married to Teesta Setalvad and they co-edit the monthly ''Communalism Combat''. Early years Javed ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mumtaz Ali, Sayyid 1860 births 1935 deaths Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Deobandis Indian Sunni Muslims Indian magazine founders