Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu" '' (23 September 1892 – 21 August 1961), was a Muslim
Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
scholar, religious and political leader from the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. He was one of the
Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) on 29 Dece ...
's founding members. His biographer,
Agha Shorish Kashmiri
Agha Shorish Kashmiri (1917–1975; ) was a Pakistani scholar, writer, debater, and a leader of the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam party. He was a figure of the freedom movement in the British Raj, as well as the chief editor of the weekly ''Chattan'' m ...
, states that Bukhari's greatest contribution had been his germination of strong anti-British feelings among the Indian Muslims. He is one of the most notable leaders of the Ahrar movement which was associated with opposition to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and opposition to the establishment of an independent Pakistan, as well as opposition to the
Ahmadiyya Movement
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 ...
. He is considered as a legendary rhetoric, which made him famous among the Muslims.
Birth and education
Born in
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
,
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 ...
, in 1892, he received his early religious education in what is now Gujrat,
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 ...
and learned the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard 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 from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
by heart from his father Hafiz Syed Ziauddin. He migrated to Amritsar in 1914 when he was 22 years old. He completed his early education by subscribing to a purist view of Islam, and remained associated with the Deoband School in
Saharanpur
Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district.
Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti.
Saharanpur is declared as on ...
district. Bukhari began his career as a religious preacher in a small mosque in Amritsar, and taught the Quran for the next 40 years. He shared friendship with a section of socialists and communists but did not accept their ideology completely. He was ‘imbued with a brilliant exposition of romantic socialism, and led Muslims to a restlessness activism'. He studied the
Sahih Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari ( ar, صحيح البخاري, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), group=note is a ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (810–870) around 846. Al ...
in jail when he was imprisoned for an anti-government religious speech.
Religious and political career
He started his religious and political career in 1916. His speeches graphically portrayed the sorrows and sufferings of the poor, and would promise his audience that the end of their sufferings would come about with the end of British rule. As the first step of his political career, he began to participate in the movements of the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
in 1921 from
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
where he delivered a loaded speech and was arrested on 27 March 1921 because of that speech. He became an eyesore to the administration, and an official view about him said:
''Ata Ullah Shah is a man, who it is better to lock up in jail, away from Congress leaders than to parley with. He has spent a considerable part of his life preaching sedition. He is an amusing speaker, who can influence a crowd.'' After Nehru report Bukhari created All India
Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) on 29 Dece ...
with
Mazhar Ali Azhar
Mazhar Ali Azhar (13 March 1895 – 4 November 1974) was a politician in British India and later Pakistan, and one of the founders of Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam. He was elected three times to the Punjab Assembly, took part in the Madhe Sahaba Agi ...
,
Chaudhry Afzal Haq
Chaudhry Afzal Haq (1891–8 January 1942) was born in a Muslim family, a writer, humanitarian, leader and co-founder of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam, and a senior political figure in the history of Indian subcontinent. He worked to help the poor an ...
,
Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi
Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi (3 July 1892 – 2 September 1956) was one of the founders of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam. He belonged to an Arain (tribe) and was a direct lineal descendant of Shah Abdul Qadir Ludhianvi, the freedom fighter against Br ...
Zafar Ali Khan
Zafar Ali Khan (1874– 27 November 1956) ( pnb, – ), also known as Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, was a Pakistani writer, poet, translator and a journalist who played an important role in the Pakistan Movement against the British Raj. He is genera ...
on 29 December 1929. Later on the prominent Brelvi orator
Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah
Faiz-ul Hassan Shah, known by some as Khatib ul Islam, was a Pakistani Islamic religious scholar, orator, poet, and writer.
Political and social contribution
He was president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan for ten years, and struggled to establi ...
also joined them too. He was also the founding father of Majlis-e-Ahrar, Indian nationalist Muslim political movement in India. In 1943, Ahrar passed a resolution opposing the partition of India and "introduced a sectarian element into its objections by portraying Jinnah as an infidel in an attempt to discredit his reputation." He led a movement against Ahmadis and held an ''Ahrar Tableegh Conference'' at
Qadian
Qadian (; ; ) is a city and a municipal council in Gurdaspur district, north-east of Amritsar, situated north-east of Batala city in the state of Punjab, India.
Qadian is the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya m ...
in 21–23 October 1934. In 1949 he founded
Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwwat
Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwwat ( ur, عالمی مجلس تحفظ ختمِ نبوت) is an international Islamic organization. Founded by Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari in 1954 in Multan when Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam was banned due to Khat ...
and served as first Emir. Bukhari was a central figure in the Khatme Nabuwwat Movement of 1953, which demanded that government of Pakistan declare the Ahmadis as non-Muslims.
Oratory and poetry
He became known for his oratory. He was also a poet and most of his poetry was in
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 ...
. His poetic verses were compiled by his eldest son Syed Abuzar Bukhari in 1956 under the name of ''Sawati-ul-ilham''.
Death
Bukhari died on 21 August 1961.Janbaz Mirza, last chapter, ''hayat-e-ameer-e-Shariyat'' He is buried in Multan, Pakistan. on Tareen Road near Gultex Showroom near Children Complex.