Muḥammad Ijteba Nadwi (29 September 1933 – 20 June 2008) was an Indian Islamic scholar, who formerly headed the Arabic departments of

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

Kashmir University University of Kashmir (UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate public state university located in the Hazratbal neighbourhood, on the western side of Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar, in Jammu and Kashmir, India, w ...

and the

Allahabad University The University of Allahabad is a Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). It is the 4th oldest mode ...

. Nadwi 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 ed ...

Damascus University Damascus University () is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus, with campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 as the Syrian University () through the merger of the Faculty of Medicine of Dama ...

and the

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

. He was an author of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and authored books such as ''Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi: al-Daaiya al-Hakeem wa al-murabbi al-Jaleel'' and ''Islam aur Huquq-e-Insani''.

Early life and education

Ijteba Nadwi's grandfather Sayyid Jafar Ali was a disciple of Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed. He had participated in the

Battle of Balakot The Battle of Balakot was fought between the forces of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Syed Ahmad Barelvi in Balakot on 6 May 1831. Barelvi had declared ''jihad'' against the Sikhs and established a camp in Balakot along with Shah Ismail Dehlvi and hi ...

in 1831 and later relocated to

Basti, Uttar Pradesh Basti is a city, municipal board and administrative headquarters of Basti district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The district is part of Basti division. It is situated 202 kilometres east of the state capital, Lucknow. History Basti wa ...

. Nadwi was born on 29 September 1933 in Majhawwa Meer, a village located in the

Basti district Basti district is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state, India, and a part of Basti Division. Basti city is the district headquarters. The district is bordered by Sant Kabir Nagar to the east and Gonda to the west. To the south, the ...

. He began studying at the

and graduated in the traditional "

dars-e-nizami Dars-i Nizami () is a study curriculum or system used in many Islamic institutions (madrassas) and Darul 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 ...

" in 1955.He received a B.A degree in Arabic literature from the

in 1960, and an M.A (1964) and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

(1976) from the

. His teachers included Mustafa al-Siba'i, Hasan Habanaka, Ali al-Tantawi,

Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi Syed Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi (also known as Ali Miyan; 5 December 1913 – 31 December 1999) was a leading Indian Islamic scholar, thinker, writer, preacher, reformer and a Muslim public intellectual of 20th century India and the author of ...

and

Rabey Hasani Nadwi Mohammad Rabey Hasani Nadwi (; 29 October 1929 – 13 April 2023) was an Indian Sunni Islamic scholar, who served as the president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board and as the chancellor of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, an Islamic seminary i ...

Career

Nadwi was appointed as a teacher of Arabic language, literature and Islamic jurisprudence at the

in 1960. In 1965, he joined the then Department of Arabic, Iranian and Islamic Studies of Jamia Millia Islamia as a faculty member and later became an associate professor and then the head professor. In 1979, Nadwi was appointed as an associate professor at the

Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) (), commonly known as Al-Imam University (IMAMU) (Arabic: إمامو), is a public university in the sub-municipality of Shemal in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1950 as an Islamic semin ...

. He taught at the

Islamic University of Madinah The Islamic University of Madinah () is a public Islamic university in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Established by King Saud bin Abdulaziz in 1961, Sayy’id Abul Ala Maududi had played a significant role of establishing and running of Islamic Univers ...

until 1987 and returned to India in 1987. He served as the rector of Jamiat ul-Hidaya in

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

for a short while before joining the Arabic department of

University of Kashmir University of Kashmir (UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public State university (India), state university located in the Hazratbal neighbourhood, on the western side of ...

as Head professor in 1988. He later became the Head professor in the Arabic department of the

University of Allahabad The University of Allahabad is a Central university (India), Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). ...

in March 1990, from where he retired on 30 June 1994. Nadwi was among the founding members of World League of Islamic Literature (''Rābtah Adab-e-Islāmi'') and served as the president of its branch in India. He was also a member of the executive council of Nadwatul Ulama. Aiming to aid in research and translation of Arabic language, literature and Islamic teachings, he founded "Markaz Ilmi" in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. He received the Certificate of Honor from the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

in 1991.

Literary works

Nadwi wrote books including ''al-Ameer Syed Siddiq Hasan Khan: Hayatuhu wa Aasaruhu'' (), ''Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi: al-Daaiya al-Hakeem wa al-murabbi al-Jaleel'' (), ''al-Imam Ahmad ibn Abdul Rahim: al-maroof bih al-Shah WaliUllah al-Dehlawi'' (), ''Al-Tabeer wal Muhadatha'', ''Aurat Islam Ki Nazar Mai'' (), ''Islam aur Huquq-e-Insani'' (), ''Nuqush-e-Tabinda'' and ''Tarikh Fikr-e-Islami''.

Death and legacy

Nadwi died on 20 June 2008 in New Delhi, after having a heart surgery. He was buried in the Jamia Millia Islamia cemetery. Muhammad Idrees wrote ''Contribution of Dr Muhammad Ijteba Nadwi to Arabic Literature'' Qasim Adil wrote ''Dr. Ijteba Nadwi: A Great Scholar of 20th Century in India''.

References

Notes

Citations

General bibliography

* * ** ''Āh,! Birādar Azīz Dr Sayyid Muḥammad Ijteba Nadwi'', by

, pp. 14–15 ** ''The demise of Mawlana Sayyid Muhammad Ijteba Nadwi'', p. 30 ** ''Condolence ceremony held at

after Ijteba Nadwi's death'', p. 31 ** ''Condolence ceremony held in

Raebareli Raebareli () is a city in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Raebareli district, and a part of Lucknow Division and comes under the Uttar Pradesh State Capital Region (UP-SCR). The city is situated on the ...

after Ijteba Nadwi's death'', p. 32 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nadwi, Ijteba 1933 births 2008 deaths Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama alumni Damascus University alumni Aligarh Muslim University alumni Academic staff of Jamia Millia Islamia Academic staff of the University of Kashmir Academic staff of the University of Allahabad Deobandis