Shabbir Ahmad Usmani (11 October 188713 December 1949) was an

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

who supported the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...

in the 1940s. He was a religious

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...

, orator, politician, and expert in

Tafsir Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...

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 approva ...

. Born in 1887 in

Bijnor Bijnor is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India 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 Qas ...

. He was the son of

Fazlur Rahman Usmani Fazlur Rahmān Usmāni (1831 – 15 June 1907) was an Indian Muslim scholar and poet who co-founded the Darul Uloom Deoband. He was father of the scholars, Aziz-ur-Rahman Usmani and Shabbir Ahmad Usmani. His grandson Atiqur Rahman Usmani was ...

. His brother Azizur Rahman Usmani was the first Grand Mufti of Darul Uloom Deoband. His nephews include Atiqur Rahman Usmani and Shams Naved Usmani. Usmani was the first to hoist the

Flag of Pakistan The flag of Pakistan ( ur, ) traces its current form back to a meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11 August 1947, three days before the Partition of British India, when it was adopted by the All-India Muslim League as the of ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

on 14 August 1947, and led the funeral prayers of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

. He died in 1949. His major work is the ''Tafsīr-e-Usmāni'', which he co-authored with his teacher

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 ...

Early life

He was born on 11 October 1887 in

Bijnor Bijnor is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquere ...

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 ...

. His father,

, was a deputy inspector of schools and had been sent on assignment to

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The ...

, when his son Shabbir was born.

Education and career

He was educated at

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 Qas ...

, where he became a disciple of

, and graduated in 1908. After his graduation, he was appointed as a teacher at Darul Uloom Deoband. In 1915, when Mahmud Hasan went into self-exile in

Hijaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provinc ...

, Saudi Arabia, Usmani filled his position as the teacher of '' Sahih al-Muslim'', a book of teachings of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...

. In 1925, Sultan Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia scheduled a conference for prominent religious scholars from all over the world. A deputation of a number of 'ulama' from India participated in this conference. It is believed that they chose Usmani as their leader after having a short conversation with him. In 1926, he moved to

Dabhel Dabhel is a town in Gujarat state of India. It is famous for its Islamic education, most notably given in Jamia Islamia Talimuddin. Dabhel lies south of Surat and north of Navsari, to the east is Vesma crossroad on National Highway 8 (India) ...

, a small predominantly Deobandi town in the Indian state of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, and became a teacher at Jamiah Islamiah Talimuddin Dabhel. In October 1929, when the foundation committee decided to establish

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia () is a central university located in New Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British Raj in 1920, it moved to its current location in Okhla i ...

, he was elected as a member of the founding committee. Many other Islamic scholars also were members of the Foundation Committee including Husain Ahmad Madani,

Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali (1878–1926) was an Indian Muslim scholar and writer from the Firangi Mahal palace in Lucknow. History His family moved from Sihali, Barabanki to the Firangi Mahal around 1692. In 1915, he was residing in Lucknow. P ...

, Kifayatullah Dihlawi, and Abdul Haq Akorwi. In 1933, when Anwar Shah Kashmiri died, Usmani became the teacher of

Sahih al-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. A ...

, a book of teachings by Muhammad.

Literary works

Political career

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani was one of the founding members of

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

as he was a member of the Foundation Committee of the Jamia (University) that met on Friday, 29 October 1920. In 1944, he became a member of the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcont ...

and led a small group of Deobandis who supported the creation of Pakistan. As a leader of this pro-Pakistan faction of Deobandis of the old

Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Fi ...

party, which was originally founded in Deoband in 1919, he went ahead and founded a new and separate political party called the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in 1945, along with other like-minded pro-Pakistan religious leaders. He joined Muslim League in 1944 at a critical juncture of Pakistan movement when most of the feudals of N.W.F.P. and Punjab came under the influence of the Congress. Shabbir Ahmad Usmani with a team of 500 Ulema eliminated the influence of these corrupt feudals from these regions and converted the sentiments of common people toward Pakistan movement. The importance of Maulana Usmani is also conspicuous from the fact that the Quaid-i-Azam consulted him on all important matters after independence. He served JUI as its first president until his death in 1949. Usmani, with a team of approximately 500 other religious leaders, actively campaigned to convert the sentiments of common Muslim people in favor of the

Pakistan movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...

. He played a key role in steering people away from some of the corrupt feudal lords and tribal chiefs in

Punjab, British India Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British ...

and N.W.F.P. who were previously supporting

All India 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 those regions. In fact, he became a close consultant of Jinnah after the

independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the pe ...

in 1947. He is also notable for having led the funeral prayer of

, the founder of Pakistan in September 1948. When Pakistan became independent, its first flag hoisting was also done (in West Pakistan) by him in the presence of

and Liaqat Ali Khan (while in East Pakistan, his fellow, Allama Zafar Ahamd Usmani, did the flag hoisting in the presence of Khwaja Nazimuddin). After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

, Usmani became a member of the

Constituent Assembly of Pakistan The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan ( bn, পাকিস্তান গণপরিষদ, Pākistān Goṇoporishod; ur, , Aāin Sāz Asimblī) was established in August 1947 to frame a constitution for Pakistan. It also served as its first ...

, and remained a member until his death in 1949.First Constitute Assembly From 1947–1954
at
Pakistan National Assembly, Former members
/ref> He is best remembered for having spearheaded the ''Qarardad-i-Maqasid'' Objectives Resolution for Pakistan, which was passed by the

on March 12, 1949.''Constituent Assembly adopts Objectives Resolution (1949)''
in ''

The Friday Times ''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani English-language independent newsweekly, based in Lahore, Pakistan. History and profile ''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor Najam Sethi and publisher Jugnu Mohsin, ...

'' newspaper, Published August 26, 2011, Retrieved 8 Jan 2017

Death and legacy

Usmani died at Baghdadul Jadid in Bahawalpur State on 13 December 1949, and was buried at

Islamia Science College (Karachi) Government Islamia Science College is located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is one of the largest colleges in Pakistan. The college provides faculties of Science, Law, Commerce and Arts. It is located just opposite Dawood College of Engineering and ...

the next day.

Pakistan Postal Services Pakistan Post ( ur, ) is a state enterprise which functions as Pakistan's primary and largest postal operator. 49,502 employees through a vehicle fleet of 5,000 operate traditional "to the door" service from more than 13,419 post offices acros ...

issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in 1990 in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series.Commemorative postage stamp in honor of Shabbir Ahmad Usmani issued by the Pakistan Postal Services in 1990 in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series
Retrieved 29 August 2019

References

Sources

Hassan, Hafiz Muhammad
* * * Rizwan Hussain.
Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan
'. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005 , {{DEFAULTSORT:Usmani, Shabbir Ahmad 1887 births 1949 deaths Muhajir people Sunni Muslim scholars Pakistani Islamic religious leaders Pakistani scholars Hanafi fiqh scholars Hanafis Maturidis Deobandis 20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Pakistani Sunni Muslims People from Uttar Pradesh Quranic exegesis scholars People of British India Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam politicians Pakistani MNAs 1947–1954 Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Darul Uloom Deoband faculty Students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Usmani family Founders of Indian schools and colleges Jamia Islamia Talimuddin faculty Disciples of Ashraf Ali Thanwi Members of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan