Sayed Kafeel Ahmad Qasmi (born 25 December 1951) is an Indian

Islamic scholar 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 ...

, academician, and litterateur of Arabic and Urdu. He has also served in several positions in the Arabic Department of

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 ...

for 45 years.

Early life and education

Sayed Kafeel Ahmad Qasmi was born on 25 December 1951, in Jairampur,

Cuttack district Cuttack district is one of the 30 districts of Odisha state in India. It is located in the coastal part of the state and its administrative headquarters are located in the city of Cuttack. As of 2011 Census, after Ganjam district, Ganjam, it is t ...

, Orissa (now Odisha), to Sayed Muhammad Saleh. He received his primary education at home, then up to Arabic IV in Madrasa Arabia Islamia (now Jamia Islamia Markazul Uloom, Sungra). His teachers at Sungra included Muhammad Ismail Katki, Abdul Quddus Katki, Abdul Ghaffar (of Dharamshala, Jajpur), Muhammad Irfan Dhamnagari, Muhammad Ishaq Katki, Muhammad Ismail Patnavi, and Muhammad Yahya Mungeri. He began his secondary and further education at

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 1962 and graduated in 1965. His teachers at Deoband included Basheer Ahmad Khan Bulandshahri,

Ibrahim Balyawi Muhammad Ibrahim Balyawi (1887–1967), also spelt as Muhammad Ibrahim Balliavi, was an Indian people, Indian Sunni Muslim scholar who served as the 6th Principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. He spent almost 50 years instructing Hadith, Logic in Isla ...

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 ...

, Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad, Fakhrul Hasan Moradabadi, Islamul Haq Azmi, Akhtar Hussain Deobandi, Sharif Hasan Deobandi, Merajul Haq Deobandi,

Naseer Ahmed Khan Sardar Naseer Ahmad Khan Tareen The Markhor hero of Balochistan ( 1936-2020) was a well-known Pashtun tribal chieftain, and a social activist and public philanthropist from Baluchistan, Pakistan. Background Naseer Khan was the head, or chief, of ...

, Abdul Ahad Deobandi,

Anzar Shah Kashmiri Anzar Shah Kashmiri (1927–2008) was an Indian Islamic scholar who established the Jamia Imam Anwar Shah and co-founded the Darul Uloom Waqf in Deoband. He was an alumnus of the Darul Uloom Deoband. He was youngest son of Hanafi scholar Anwa ...

, Khurshid Alam Deobandi, Qamaruddin Ahmad Gorakhpuri, and Wahiduzzaman Kairanawi. He received his intermediate school education at

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 ...

, studying with scholars including Abdul Haleem Nadvi and Ijteba Nadwi, in 1966. He completed the Higher Secondary Examination with the First Division and Second Division in 1968. He completed his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

(honours) in Arabic from Aligarh Muslim University with first division and first position in 1971. His theology teacher was Saeed Ahmad Akbarabadi, and his medieval Indian history teacher was

Irfan Habib Irfan Habib (born 10 August 1931) is an Indian historian of ancient and medieval India, following the methodology of Marxist historiography in his contributions to economic history. He is known for his strong stance against Hindutva. He has au ...

. He completed his M.A. (Arabic) in 1973, securing first division and first position in 1973, and his

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

in 1976. In 1986, he got his

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 ...

for writing a dissertation in Arabic on the third volume of

Al-Maqrizi Al-Maqrīzī (, full name Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī, ; 1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian historian and biographer during the Mamluk era, known for his interest in the Fat ...

's Arabic manuscript, ''Kitaab al-Muqaffa al-Kabeer,'' under the supervision of Mukhtaruddin Ahmad.

Career

He was appointed a lecturer (assistant professor) at

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

from December 1975 to February 1976. On 16 August 1976, he was appointed lecturer in the Arabic department of Aligarh Muslim University. On 10 April 1988, he was promoted to reader (associate professor) in the same department. Between 19 December 1997, and 30 December 2016, he served as a professor. He also served three times as chairman of the Arabic department: the first time from 1999 to 2000; the second time from 2003 to 2006; and the third time from 2011 to 2014. Similarly, he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 10 July 2014, to 9 July 2016, and finally resigned from the post on 24 December 2016. Meanwhile, he also served as Vice Chancellor three times when the Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor went on leave for a short period of time.

Honors and positions

On 14 January 2014,

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

awarded him with the "President's Certificate of Honor, 2012" for his contributions to Arabic language and literature at a ceremony held at

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrapati Bhavana''; ; formerly Viceroy's House (1931–1947) and Government House (1947–1950)) is the official residence of the President of the Republic of India at the western end of Rajpath, Rai ...

in New Delhi. In 2017, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the All India Association of Arabic Teachers and Scholars. He was felicitated by the Indian Embassy at the Riyadh International Book Fair in 2011, as well as at the "Sheikh Zayed Islamic Center" in Karachi in November 2005, in recognition of his services. Ten researchers completed their M.Phil.s, and 18 completed their Ph.D.s under his guidance. He served as Chairman of Arabic Department in AMU, Aligarh, Dean Faculty of Arts, Coordinator of UGC Schemes, Coordinator for Foreigner Admission, Provost, Assistant, Proctor, Dean Welfare Student, and Warden in various hostels. He has also served as the President of the AMU Aligarh Swimming Club and as a member of the Education Council and Advisory Committee. Apart from these eight projects, they have been worked on under the DSA and CAS schemes of the

University Grants Commission of India University Grants Commission (UGC; ISO: ''Viś‍vavidyālaya Anudāna Āyōga'') is a statutory body under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. It was set up in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 and is c ...

under his supervision. Similarly, he has supervised tens of seminars as a convener, director, or coordinator.

Literary works

He is a well-known prose writer in Arabic and Urdu. Fifty of his articles have been published in many influential national and international magazines and journals in Arabic and Urdu. His Urdu articles include '' Palestinian Resistance Poetry'', ''Comparison of

Al-Biruni Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (; ; 973after 1050), known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern ...

's and

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

's Views on India'', and essays such as ''The Impact 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

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Odia Language Odia (;"Odia"
''Lexico''. , ISO 15919, ISO: , ; formerly rendere ...

and

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

'' and ''Postal System in Islamic State''. Also, between 2003 and 2006, he edited three issues of the Arabic Journal ''Al-Majma' Al-'Ilami Al-Hindi'' from the Department of Arabic, AMU, and his many Arabic articles were published in it.

Books

His books include: * Al-Maqrizi: Hayātuhu, Bīatuhu, Aathāruh () Arabic, 1994, Published: Jamia Salafia Press,

Banaras Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

* Aswāq e Arab Ka Mukhtasar Ta'aruf () Urdu, 2003, Published: Department of Arabic Language and Literature, AMU * Kitaab al-Muqaffa al-Kabīr, Volume III (investigation and suspension), 2008, Published: Dairatul Ma'arifil Osmania, Hyderabad * Mukhtasar Tareekh e Adab () Unpublished

Early life and education

Career

Honors and positions

Literary works

Books

See also

References

Further reading