Minnatullah Rahmani (7 April 1913 – 20 March 1991) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar who served as the first General Secretary of

All India Muslim Personal Law Board The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is a non-government organisation constituted in 1973 by that time Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi to adopt suitable strategies for the protection and continued applicability of Muslim Personal ...

. He was an alumnus of

Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama (translated as, House of Knowledge and Assembly of Scholars University) is an Islamic seminary in Lucknow, India. It was established by the Nadwatul Ulama, a council of Muslim scholars, on 26 September 1898. This edu ...

and Darul Uloom Deoband, and a member of

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952. The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated ...

. He also served as the General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama Bihar. His father

Muhammad Ali Mungeri Muḥammad Ali Mungeri (28 July 1846 – 13 September 1927) was an Indian Muslim scholar who was the founder Nadwatul Ulama and first chancellor of its Darul Uloom, a major Islamic seminary in Lucknow. He extensively wrote against Christianity a ...

was the founder of

Nadwatul Ulama Nadwatul Ulama is a council of Muslim theologians in India which was formed in 1893 in Kanpur. The first manager of the council was Muhammad Ali Mungeri and the incumbent is Rabey Hasani Nadwi. The council established the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ul ...

and his son

Wali Rahmani Wali Rahmani (5 June 1943 – 3 April 2021) was an Indian Sunni Islamic scholar and academician who founded Rahmani30. He was a member of the Bihar Legislative Council from 1974 to 1996. He served as the general secretary of the All India Muslim ...

established the

Rahmani30 Rahmani30 is an Indian educational movement that was started in Patna, Bihar, India under the banner of 'Rahmani Program of Excellence', by Hazrat Wali Rahmani Sahab with Abhayanand Ji former DGP Bihar as the academic head. It is modelled afte ...

institute.

Biography

Minnatullah Rahmani was born in

Munger Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern ...

on 7 April 1913. His father

was a founding figure of the

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. Rahmani received his primary education in Munger and went to

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

, where he studied Arabic grammar, syntax and logic with Mufti Abd al-Lateef. He enrolled at the

and studied there for four years. In 1349 AH, he moved to Darul Uloom Deoband, where he studied ''

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 ...

'' with

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.

and graduated from there in 1352 AH. His other teachers included Asghar Hussain Deobandi and

Muhammad Shafi Usmani 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''; ...

. In 1935, Rahmani was appointed the General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama Bihar. Abul Muhasin Muhammad Sajjad founded the

Muslim Independent Party The Muslim Independent Party was a political party founded in India in 1935 by Abul Muhasin Muhammad Sajjad. History The party was founded in 1935 by Abul Muhasin Muhammad Sajjad, the Amir of Imarat-e-Sharia, Bihar, to represent Muslims in Bihar ...

in 1935 and Rahmani was appointed as its member. Through it, he was elected as a member of

in 1937. He was appointed as the

Sajjada Nashin The ''Sajjāda nashīn'' ( fa, سجاده نشین; lit. "ne whosits t aprayer mat") is a term of Persian origin, used chiefly within the Sufi traditions of South Asia referring to the successor or hereditary administrator of a Sufi master who t ...

of Khanqah-e-Rahmani, Munger in 1361 AH and a member of the executive council of Darul Uloom Deoband in 1955, a post he served until his death. Alongside

Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi 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 Darul ...

, he played a key role in establishing the

and was appointed its first General Secretary on 28 December 1972, in the inception meeting. In 1964, he participated in the

World Muslim Congress The World Muslim Congress (''Motamar al-Alam al-Islami'') (Arabic: مؤتمر العالم الإسلامي) is an Islamic organization based in Karachi. Its co-founder and Secretary-General for over four decades was Inamullah Khan. It was the ...

as a delegate of India. In 1945, Rahmani re-established the Jamia Rahmania, a well known

madrassa 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 '' ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He died on 20 March 1991.

Legacy

Rahmani's son

established the

and formerly served as the general secretary of the

. Shah Imran Hasan wrote his biography ''Hayat-e Rahmani: Maulana Minnatullah Rahmani ki Zindagi ka Ilmi aur Tarikhi Mutala’a'' ( en, The Life of Rahmani: A Study of Maulana Minatullah Rahmani’s Scholarly and Historical Legacy) which has a foreword from Akhtarul Wasey.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahmani, Minnatullah 1913 births 1991 deaths People from Munger district Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama alumni Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Deobandis