Ashraf Ali Thanwi (often referred as Hakimul Ummat and Mujaddidul Millat; 19 August 1863 – 20 July 1943) was an Indian

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

scholar,

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

, thinker,

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

and a revivor of classical

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. He was a central figure of Islamic spiritual,

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

and religious life in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

and continues to be highly influential today. He wrote over a thousand works including '' Bayan Ul Quran'' and '' Bahishti Zewar''. He was also one of the chief proponents of the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

. He graduated from

Darul Uloom Deoband Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic university and seminary ( darul uloom) in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, India, at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. Established in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, Sayy ...

in 1883 and moved to

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

, then

Thana Bhawan Thana Bhawan is a town in Shamli district (formerly part of Muzaffarnagar district) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was known as Prabuddhnagar first time, when this district came into focus. It is situated on Delhi–Shamli national h ...

to direct the Khanqah-i-Imdadiyah, where he resided until his death. His training in

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

studies and

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

qualified him to become a leading Sunni authority among the scholars of

Deoband Deoband is a town and a municipality in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, about 150 km (93 miles) from Delhi. Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary and one of the largest Islamic Institutions of India is located ther ...

. His teaching mixes Sunni orthodoxy, Islamic elements of belief and the patriarchal structure of the society. He offered a sketch of a Muslim community that is collective, patriarchal, hierarchical and compassion-based.

Views and ideology

Thanwi was a strong supporter of the Muslim League. He maintained a correspondence with the leadership of

All India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim League lat ...

(AIML), including

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 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 inception of Pa ...

. He also sent groups of Muslim scholars to give religious advice and reminders to Jinnah. His disciples

Zafar Ahmad Usmani Zafar Ahmad Usmani (also known as Zafar Ahmad Thanwi) () (4 October 1892 – 1974), was a 20th Century Sunni Muslim Jurist who became an influential figure of the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence's Deobandi Movement. He also was a prom ...

and

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Shabbir Ahmad Usmani (11 October 188713 December 1949) was an Islamic scholar and an activist of the Pakistan Movement, who served as the of Pakistan in 1949. He was the first to demand that Pakistan become an Islamic state. He was a religio ...

were key players in religious support for the creation of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. During the 1940s, many

Deobandi The Deobandi movement or Deobandism is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that adheres to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. It was formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the nam ...

Ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

supported the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

but Thanwi and some other leading Deobandi scholars including

Muhammad Shafi Muhammad Shafi (24 January 1897 – 6 October 1976), often referred to as Mufti Muhammad Shafi, was a Pakistani Sunni Islamic scholar of the Deobandi school, a Hanafi jurist and mufti, he was also an authority on shari'ah, hadith, Qur'anic ...

and

were in favour of the Muslim League. Thanwi resigned from

's management committee due to its pro-Congress stance. His support and the support of his disciples for

were greatly appreciated by AIML.

Teaching and Education

After completing his education, with the permission of his father and teachers, he went to

and began teaching at Madrasa Faiz-e-Aam. For fourteen years, he continued to spread knowledge (faiz) there. In 1315 AH, he left Kanpur and returned to his ancestral home in

. There, he revived the Khanqah of Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki and established an educational institution named Madrasa Ashrafiya, where he devoted himself until the end of his life to teaching, spiritual purification (tazkiya-e-nufoos), and social reform. Upon his return, Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki sent him a letter, which stated: "It is better that you have moved to Thana Bhawan. I hope that many people will benefit from you, both outwardly and inwardly. You will restore our madrasa and mosque anew. I pray for you at all times."

Influence and legacy

He produced near about 1000 trainees, to whom he permitted for

Bay'ah ''Bayʿah'' (, "Pledge of allegiance"), in Islamic terminology, is an oath of allegiance to a leader. It is known to have been practiced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In Bedouin culture it was a procedure for choosing the leader of the trib ...

and those spread their influences of Thanwi. Among them are: Sulaiman Nadvi,

, Abdul Hai Arifi,

Athar Ali Bengali Athar Ali (; 1891 – 6 October 1976) was a Bangladeshi Islamic activist, author, teacher and politician. He participated in the Indian independence movement, and was former president of the Nizam-e-Islam Party. Ali was also a ''khalifah'' of As ...

, Shah Abdul Wahhab,

Abdul Majid Daryabadi Abdul Majid Daryabadi (16 March 1892 – 6 January 1977) was an influential Ulama, Islamic scholar, Philosophy, philosopher, writer, critic, researcher, journalist, and Quranic exegete active in the Indian subcontinent during the 20th century. ...

, Aziz al-Hasan Ghouri, Abrarul Haq Haqqi, Muhammadullah Hafezzi, Khair Muhammad Jalandhari, Masihullah Khan,

, Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri,

Habibullah Qurayshi Ḥabībullāh Qurayshī (; 1865 – 1943) was a Bengali Islamic scholar and educationist of the Deobandi movement. He was the founding director-general of Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam. Early life and family Habibullah Qurayshi ...

, Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi.

Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

once wrote to a friend of his that on the matter of Rumi's teachings, he held Thanwi as the greatest living authority.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanwi, Ashraf Ali Ashraf Ali Thanwi 1863 births 1943 deaths Indian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Deobandis Chishtis Hanafis Maturidis Mujaddid 19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam People from British India People from Shamli district Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Indian writers Translators of the Quran into Urdu Urdu-language writers Indian Islamic religious leaders Islam in India Founders of Indian schools and colleges Muslim reformers Quranic exegesis scholars Indian Sufis Hadith scholars Sunni Sufis Supporters of Ibn Arabi Patrons of Darul Uloom Deoband Members of the Majlis-e-Shura of Darul Uloom Deoband