Shibli Nomani
Encyclopedia
Allamah
Allamah
An Allamah , also spelled Allameh and Allama, is an honorary title carried by only the very highest scholars of Islamic thought, jurisprudence, and philosophy....

 Shibli Nomani
(June 3, 1857 - November 18, 1914, Azamgarh
Azamgarh
Azamgarh is a town in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is headquarters of Azamgarh district and Azamgarh Division.-History:Azamgarh, one of the easternmost districts of the State, once formed a part of the ancient Kosala kingdom, except the north-eastern part of it which was included in the...

) was a respected scholar of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 from Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

 during British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

. He was born at Bindwal in Azamgarh district
Azamgarh district
Azamgarh district is one of the three districts of Azamgarh Division in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-Etymology:The district is named after its headquarters town, Azamgarh. Azam, son of Vikramajit, founded the town in 1665. Vikramajit a descendant of Gautam Rajputs of Mehnagar in pargana...

 of present-day Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

. He is known for the founding the Shibli National College in 1883 and the Darul Mussanifin in Azamgarh. Shibli was a versatile scholar in Arabic, Persian
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...

, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

. He was also a poet. He collected much material on the life of Prophet of Islam, Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 but could write only first two volumes of the planned work the Sirat-un-Nabi. His disciple, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Allama Sayyed Sulaiman Nadvi was an eminent Indian and Pakistani historian, biographer, littérateur and scholar of Islam...

, made use of this material and added his own and wrote remaining five volumes of the work, the Sirat-un-Nabi
Sirat-un-Nabi
Sirat-un-Nabi is arguably one of the greatest and most authentic Sirah Rasul Allah of the Prophet Muhammad, written in Urdu by Shibli Nomani and his student, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi in 6 volumes....

 after the death of his mentor.

Early life

He was born in a Rajput family to Shaikh Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon. Although his younger brothers went to Aligarh for education, Shibli received a traditional Islamic education. His teacher was Maulana Muhammad Farooq Chirayakoti, a rationalist scholar. He went to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

 for the Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...

 and there he devoted his time to furthering his studies in Islamic theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...

 from different scholars in Arabia. An orthodox Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...

 Muslim, he was a staunch supporter of the Shari’a .

In the Middle East

When he returned to India he met Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898) who had just established Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...

. Nomani was offered and joined a teaching position at the university on February 1, 1882. He taught Persian and Arabic languages at Aligarh for sixteen years where he met Thomas Arnold
Thomas Walker Arnold
Sir Thomas Walker Arnold was an eminent British orientalist and historian of Islamic art who taught at MAO College, Aligarh Muslim University, then Aligarh College, and Government College University, Lahore. He was a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and wrote his famous book "The preaching of Islam"...

 and other British scholars from whom he learned first hand modern Western ideas and thoughts. He traveled with Thomas Arnold
Thomas Walker Arnold
Sir Thomas Walker Arnold was an eminent British orientalist and historian of Islamic art who taught at MAO College, Aligarh Muslim University, then Aligarh College, and Government College University, Lahore. He was a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and wrote his famous book "The preaching of Islam"...

 in 1892 to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 and other countries of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 and got direct and practical experience of their societies. His scholarship influenced Thomas Arnold on one hand and on the other he was influenced by Thomas Arnold to a great extent, and this explains the modern touch in his ideas. In Cairo, he met noted Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad Abduh.

In Hyderabad and Lucknow

After the death of Sir Syed Ahmed in 1898, he left Aligarh and became an advisor in the Education Department of Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...

. He initiated many reforms in the Hyderabad education system. From his policy, the Osmania University
Osmania University
Osmania University , , since 1918, is a public university located in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established and named after the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan. It is one of the oldest modern universities in India. It is the first Indian University to have Urdu and...

 of Hyderabad adopted Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 as the medium of instruction. Before that no other university of India had adopted any vernacular language as the medium of instruction in higher studies. In 1908 he left Hyderabad and went to Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

 to become the principal of Nadwat tul-‘Ulum (Nadwa). He introduced reforms in the school's teaching and curriculum. He stayed at the school for five years but the orthodox class of scholars became hostile towards him, and he had to leave Lucknow for his birthplace, Azamgarh
Azamgarh
Azamgarh is a town in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is headquarters of Azamgarh district and Azamgarh Division.-History:Azamgarh, one of the easternmost districts of the State, once formed a part of the ancient Kosala kingdom, except the north-eastern part of it which was included in the...

, in 1913.

Founding of Darul Mussanifin

Earlier at Nadwa he wanted to establish Darul Musannifin or the House of Writers but there he could not do this. He bequeathed his bungalow and mango orchard and motivated the members of his clan and relatives to do the same and succeeded. He wrote letters to his disciples and other eminent persons and sought their cooperation. Eventually one of his disciples, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Allama Sayyed Sulaiman Nadvi was an eminent Indian and Pakistani historian, biographer, littérateur and scholar of Islam...

 fulfilled his dream and established Darul Musannifin at Azamgarh. The first formal meeting of the institution was held on November 21, 1914, within three days of his death.

Shibli's ideology

Shibli’s genius had its flowering in Aligarh University when he came into contact with Sir Syed Ahmed and British scholars. Both Shibli and Sir Syed Ahmed wished for the welfare of Muslims, and wanted to have Western thinking and style come along with it. However, Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslims from the wrath of the British rulers after their active participation in the War of Independence, called the "Sepoy Mutiny" by the British colonialist rulers, whereas, Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition.

Shibli was a staunch supporter of Pan-Islamism
Pan-Islamism
Pan-Islamism is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state — often a Caliphate. As a form of religious nationalism, Pan-Islamism differentiates itself from other pan-nationalistic ideologies, for example Pan-Arabism, by excluding culture and ethnicity as primary...

. He wrote poems and articles decrying the British and other Western powers when Turkey was defeated in the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...

 and he urged the world Muslims to unite. In 1913, when the British Administration in India stormed the Kanpur Mosque, Shibli condemned them.

Casteism

Maulana Shibli Nomani – whose ancestor converted from Hindu Rajput into Islam - also had casteist mindset. Mr. S.M. Ikram writes that he humiliated his own step mother calling her names like “chhawni / arbabe chhawni” (It is a camp like army camp where Nawab used to live outside the house) because she was from low caste. Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Allama Sayyed Sulaiman Nadvi was an eminent Indian and Pakistani historian, biographer, littérateur and scholar of Islam...

 also mentioned the same thing, but he also says that in the last Maulana Shibli asked for forgiveness from her mother and she forgave him.

Aligarh movement

According to some scholars, Shibli was against the Aligarh movement
Aligarh Movement
Aligarh Movement was the movement led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, to educate the Muslims of the South Asia after the defeat of the rebels in the Indian rebellion of 1857. It had enormous success and had a profound impact on the future of the subcontinent...

. He opposed the ideology of Sir Syed and that is why he was debarred from the services of MAO College
MAO College
MAO College was founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the leader of Muslim renaissance in Indian subcontinent, in 1875 at Aligarh. This later became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920....

. Kamleshwar
Kamleshwar
Kamleshwar was a prominent 20th-century Hindi writer, and script and dialogue writer for Hindi cinema and television...

 wrote an excellent novel ‘Kitne Pakistan’ (How Many Pakistan?) and in that novel he counts Maulana Shibli Nomani as one of the narrow minded Muslim theologians. In another book, ‘Ataturk Fi Karbala’, the author alleged that Shibli was not happy with Sir Syed’s policies and ideologies and was involved vehemently against Aligarh movement
Aligarh Movement
Aligarh Movement was the movement led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, to educate the Muslims of the South Asia after the defeat of the rebels in the Indian rebellion of 1857. It had enormous success and had a profound impact on the future of the subcontinent...

. It is a false propaganda that he was till his last breath closely associated with Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...

. Only few people from his community and region exaggerate that he was a great Muslim theologian, a great admirer of Sir Syed and an earnest principal at Darul-uloom Nadwatul Ulama
Darul-uloom Nadwatul Ulama
Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama is an Islamic institution at Lucknow, India, which draws large number of Muslim students from all over the country. Nadwa's objective was reaching a middle path between classical Islam and modernity...

.

Aligarh movement

There does not appear to be evidence of any difference of opinion between Shibli and Sir Syed either in the former's writings or correspondence during the life-time of the latter.Shibli's first critical reference is not to Sir Syed but of Hali with reference to "Hayat-i-Javed" which Shibli referred as "sheer hagiography" (sarasar madah sarai). It was only later, i.e. after 1907 that Shibli made many critical references to 'Aligarh College' and occasionally to the founder Sir Syed.

From these writings one is inclined to agree with the reasons assigned by Shaikh Ikram for this change of attitude. These are;
(a) Shibli's desire to show that the traditionalist model of Nadwa was superior to that of Nadwa.

(b) Shibli's affection and reliance on Abul Kalam Azad who was allergic to Aligarh and Sir Syed. One of the primary objectives of 'Al Hilal' was "Aligarh ke Aiwan-i-Ghulami ko girana. Shibli and Azad's desire that promoters of the proposed Muslim University should not give up the demand for an all India affiliating jurisdiction.

(c) lack of equation between Shibli and Viqarul Mulk unlike his deep relations with Mohsinul Mulk who had appointed Shibli as the first Secretary of the Anjuman Taraqq-i-Urdu which started as a subsidiary of the All India Muslim Educational Conference.

(d) The effect of pro Congress Muslim families of Bombay on Shibli.

Personal life

Allama Shibli had two daughters, Rabia Khatoon and Fatima Jannutul , and one son, Hamid Hassan Nu'mani. He was born in 1882 and died in 1942. He had a son who died soon after birth, and five daughters who lived their life. They are:
  • Dr Naseem Jehan, retired director of health, Bangladesh, died in Karachi in 1994. She was married in 1940 to Dr Zafrul Huda of Dhaka University. He died in 1978 at Dhaka. They have one daughter.
  • Shamim Jehan (died in Karachi in 2005), married in 1940 to Ehtesham Ahmed, who died in Azamgarh in 1982. They have eight sons and seven daughters.
  • Tehseen Jehan, married in 1940 to Shaukat Sultan, principal of Shibli College, Azamgarh. She is living in Karachi Pakistan these days. They have three sons and four daughters.
  • Mohsina Sultana, married in 1950 to Amanullah Khan, director of industries, India. They have five children.
  • Momna Sultan, married in 1952 to Capt. Khan Sohail Sultan. They have four sons.

Works

Shibli was well aware of the progress of science and education in the West. He wanted to inspire the Muslims to make similar progress by having recourse to their lost heritage and culture, and warned them against getting lost in Western culture. In keeping with this goal, he wrote the following books;
  • Sirat-un-Nabi
    Sirat-un-Nabi
    Sirat-un-Nabi is arguably one of the greatest and most authentic Sirah Rasul Allah of the Prophet Muhammad, written in Urdu by Shibli Nomani and his student, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi in 6 volumes....

  • Sirat an-Nu'man,
  • Al-Faruq,
  • Al-Ma’mun,
  • Al-Ghazali,
  • Imam Ibn-e-Tamia (Edited by Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini
    Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini
    Mohammad Tanzeel al-siddiqi al-husaini is a Pakistani Islamic scholar and writer and the son of the Muslim scholar Mohammad Ahsanullah Dianwi Azeemabadi. He has written at least 12 books and over 100 articles relating to Islamic scholars, faith, history, current affairs and other topics...

     ),
  • Mawlana Rumi
  • Aurangzeb
    Aurangzeb
    Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...

     Alamgir Par Ek Nazar
  • Shiʾr al-ʻAjam, a history of Persian poetry
  • "Ilm-Kalam", The best book on the history of Muslim theology


“Lot of injustice has been done to Shibli. While Maulana Aslam Jairajpuri
Maulana Aslam Jairajpuri
Maulana Aslam Jairajpuri ' was a great scholar of Qur'an, Hadith, Muslim History. He was famous for his books Talimat-e-Qur'an and "History of Qur'an. He was distinuished professor of Arabic and Persian at Aligarh University and Jamia Millia Islamia...

 pointed out errors in “Sher-ul-Ajam”, it was not mentioned that Shibli was the first to write biography of Maulana Rumi. Though differences between Sir Syed and Shibli are highlighted but it has not been pointed out that in spite of Sir Syed’s opposition to the writing of “Al-Farooq”, Shibli never complained about it. He lamented that Shibli’s Persian poetry was never tested on its merit and was wrongly associated with his acquaintance and close friend with an enlightened intellectual lady of the time Madam Atiya Fyzee. He refuted Shaikh Mohammad Ikram’s claim in this regard and subtly highlighted delicacy of Shibli’s thought moulded into his Persian poetry”

See also

  • Hamiduddin Farahi
    Hamiduddin Farahi
    Hamiduddin Farahi was a celebrated Islamic scholar of Indian subcontinent known for his groundbreaking work on the concept of Nazm, or Coherence, in the Quran...

  • Abdul Bari Nadvi
  • Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
    Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
    Allama Sayyed Sulaiman Nadvi was an eminent Indian and Pakistani historian, biographer, littérateur and scholar of Islam...

  • Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi, The biographical sketches in the Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy website.
  • Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi, Urdu - The biographical sketches in the Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy website.
  • Muslim Rajputs
    Muslim Rajputs
    Muslim Rajputs or Musulman Rajputs are Muslims belonging to the Hindu Rajput Kshatriya groups of Indian subcontinent, who converted to Islam.-History:...


External links

  • Shibli Nomani, the biographical skecthes in the Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy website.
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