Mazahir Uloom ( ur, ) is an Islamic seminary located 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 ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. Started in November 1866 by Sa'ādat Ali Faqīh, and developed further by Mazhar Nanautawi and Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri; it is regarded as the second most influential and major Deobandi seminary in India. The earliest graduates of the seminary include famous Hadīth scholar

Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri Abū Ibrāhīm K͟halīl Aḥmad ibn Majīd ‘Alī Anbahṭawī Sahāranpūrī Muhājir Madanī ( ur, ; December 185213 October 1927) was a Deobandi Hanafi Islamic scholar from India who authored ''Badhl al-Majhud'', an 18-volume commentar ...

. The seminary split in 1983 into Mazahir Uloom Jadeed and Mazahir Uloom Waqf Qadeem. The incumbent rectors are Muhammad Aaqil Saharanpuri and Muḥammad Saeedi respectively.

History

Mazāhir Uloom was established as "Mazhar Uloom"; on 9 November 1866, six months after the foundation of the Deoband seminary. Its founding figures included Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri, Mazhar Nanautawi, Qādhi Fazlur Rahmān and Sa’adat Ali Faqih. Mazahir Uloom is thought to be the second major

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

after Darul Uloom Deoband. The first generation teachers, apart from the founders; include, Aḥmad Hasan Kanpuri, Sa'adat Hussain Bihari, Sakhāwat Ali Ambethwi and Muḥammad Siddīq. The first generation students include

, Mushtāq Aḥmad Anbethwi and Qamruddīn Sahāranpuri. In

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after ...

1338 AH; the seminary established its Darul Ifta (the fatwa institute). The seminary's jurists include Ashfāqur Rahmān Kāndhlawi, Mahmood Hasan Gangohi, Abdul Qayyūm Raipuri and Muḥammad Shuaib Bastawi.

Recent developments

Following the split of Darul Uloom Deoband in 1982; Mazahir Uloom split into Jamia Mazahir Uloom Jadeed and Mazahir Uloom Waqf Qadeem in 1983. Mazāhir Uloom Jadeed adopted the position of "Ameen-e-Aam" (General Secretary) in 1988 appointing Muhammad Talha Kandhlawi as the first General Secretary who served the position until 1993.

Program

The seminary teaches the

dars-e-nizami Dars-i Nizami is a study curriculum or system used in many Islamic institutions ( madrassas) and Dar Ul Ulooms, which originated in the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century and can now also be found in parts of South Africa, Canada, the United ...

curriculum. The former rector of the seminary Abdul Latīf wrote a detailed defense of the dars-e-nizami curriculum; when some scholars asked the syllabus to be updated. The seminary has changed few books in the curriculum timely, but they did not modify it completely and they do not agree with the changes, or systems otherwise.

Administration

Mazāhir Uloom follows the dogma of Sunni Islam and the jurisprudence of Abu Hanifa. It adheres to the

Chishti order The Chishtī Order ( fa, ''chishtī'') is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Chisht, a ...

of Sufism, following Rashid Ahmad Gangohi and Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri. The seminary focuses on educational purposes only. It has stayed away from discussing politics. The management of the seminary was controlled by its local members. Owing to their differences,

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 ...

was appointed the senior patron of the seminary in 1896. Gangohi resigned from the position in 1319 AH; and an executive council called "Majlis Shūra Sarparastān" was formed to look after the seminary affairs on 3 January 1903. The first such council included Abdur Rahīm Raipuri,

Ashraf Ali Thanwi Ashraf Ali Thanwi (often referred as Hakim al-Ummat and Mujaddid e Millet; 19 September 1863 – 20 July 1943) was a late-nineteenth and twentieth-century Sunni scholar, jurist, thinker, reformist and the revival of classical sufi thought from ...

and Zulfiqar Ali Deobandi. Scholars such as Abdur Rahīm Raipuri, Ashraf Ali Thanwi,

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 ...

, Fazlur Rahmān Sahāranpuri,

, Abdul Qadir Raipuri, Aashiq Elāhi Meerthi,

Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi Muḥammad Ilyās ibn Muḥammad Ismā‘īl Kāndhlawī Dihlawī (1885 – 13 July 1944) was an Indian Islamic scholar who founded the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic revivalist movement, in 1925, in Mewat province. Early life and education Muhammad ...

, Muhammad Zakariya Kandhlawi, Muhammad Yusuf Kandhlawi, Inamul Hasan Kandhlawi, Iftikhar-ul-Hasan Kandhlawi, Mahmood Hasan Gangohi and Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi have been the members of the executive council.

Publications

Jamia Mazahir Uloom Jadeed publishes ''Mazāhir-e-Uloom'', a monthly journal, since 1993. Mazahir Uloom Waqf Qadeem publishes ''Ā'īna-e-Mazāhir-e-Uloom'' monthly. The religious edicts issued by the seminary's Dārul Ifta are kept in record. The edicts issued by Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri were compiled by Muhammad Zakariyyah Kāndhlawi, and published as ''Fatāwa Khalīliya''.

Rectors

Sa'ādat Ali Saharanpuri was appointed as the first rector of the seminary. Following the division of the seminary; Muzaffar Hussain who was the last rector of the unified seminary; occupied on the position at the Mazahir Uloom Waqf Qadeem till his death in 2003. He was succeeded by Muḥammad Saeedi. In the early years of the seminary, the administrative tasks of the seminary were also performed by a vice-rector; Abd al-Wāhid Khān served on the position from 1881 to 1896, and thus there appears to be confusion in dates, until a permanent position of rector was adopted which follows in sequence after Munshi Maqbool Aḥmad. The new offshoot, Mazahir Uloom Jadeed appointed Abdul Azīz as the rector who served the position from 1986 to 1991.

Salman Mazahiri Salman Mazahiri (10 October 1946 – 20 July 2020) was an Indian Muslim scholar who served as chancellor of Mazahir Uloom Jadeed. Early life and education Mazahiri was born on 10 October 1946. Aged 15, he entered Mazahir Uloom, Saharanpur in ...

served on the administration from 1996 to 20 July 2020. The following is a list of unified seminary's rectors.

Notable alumni

Alumni include: *

Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera (born 1974) is a Sunni Islamic scholar, author, and founder of Whitethread Institute and Zamzam Academy. He authored ''Fiqh al-Imam'' and ''Healthy Muslim Marriage''. He featured in the 2020 edition of The 500 Mo ...

* Mahmood Hasan Gangohi * Muhammad Zakariya Kandhlawi *

Saeed Ahmad Palanpuri Saeed Ahmad Palanpuri (also written as Saʻīd Aḥmad Pālanpūrī) (1940 – 19 May 2020), was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar and author who served as Shaykh al-Hadith and Principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. A number of his books are required ...

Zafar Ahmad Usmani ) , office1 = Ameer of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam , term_start1 = 1949 , term_end1 = Unknown , predecessor1 = Shabbir Ahmad Usmani , successor1 = Abdullah Darkhawasti , title = , religion = Islam , ...

References

Bibliography

* * * {{cite book , author1=Muḥammad Zakariyyah Kāndhlawi , author1-link=Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi , title=Tārīk̲h̲-i Maẓāhir , publisher=Kutub K̲h̲ānah Ishāʻat al-ʻUlūm , location=Saharanpur , edition=1972 Educational institutions established in 1866 Deobandi Islamic universities and colleges Madrasas in India Saharanpur 1866 establishments in India