Muḥammad Mazhar Nanautawi (1821–1885) was an Indian Muslim scholar and a freedom struggle activist who played a crucial role in the development

Mazahir Uloom Mazahir Uloom (also known as Mazahir Uloom Waqf Qadeem) is an Islamic seminary located in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Started in November 1866 by Saadat Ali Faqih, and developed further by Mazhar Nanautawi and Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri; it is reg ...

. He participated in the

Battle of Shamli The Battle of Shamli or Battle of Thana Bhawan was fought on 10 May 1857 between the forces of Imdadullah Muhajir Makki and the East India Company. It was part of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. On 10 May 1857, local Muslims under the leadership ...

Biography

Muḥammad Mazhar was born into the

Siddiqi family of Nanauta The Siddiqi family of Nanauta are the descendants of the first Rashidun Caliph, Abu Bakr, based primarily in the town of Nanauta in India. The notable people of this family include Mamluk Ali Nanautawi, Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Muhammad Yaqub ...

in 1821. His father Lutf Ali was a cousin brother of

Mamluk Ali Nanautawi Mamluk Ali Nanautawi (also written as Mamluk al-Ali Nanautawi) (1789 – 7 October 1851) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar who served as the head teacher of Arabic language at the Zakir Husain Delhi College. His notable students include Muhamma ...

. Mazhar memorized the ''

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 ...

'' and received his primary education from his father. He studied with Mamluk Ali Nanautawi at the Delhi College. He studied ''

Muwatta Imam Malik ''Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ'' (, 'the approved') or ''Muwatta Imam Malik'' () of Malik ibn Anas, Imam Malik (711–795) written in the 8th-century, is one of the earliest collections of hadith texts comprising the subjects of Sharia, Islamic law, compile ...

'' and few other

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 ...

books with Shah Abd al-Ghani Dehlawi and ''

Sahih Bukhari () is the first hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar al-Bukhari () in the format, the work is valued by Sunni Muslims, alongside , as the most authentic after the Qur'an. Al-Bukhari organized the bo ...

'' with Shah Muḥammad Ishāq Dehlawi. He was an authorized disciple of

Rashid Ahmad Gangohi Rashīd Aḥmad ibn Hidāyat Aḥmad Ayyūbī Anṣārī Gangohī (12 June 182611 August 1905) was a Deobandi Islamic scholar from Indian subcontinent, a leading figure of the Deobandi jurist and scholar of hadith, author of '' Fatawa-e-Rash ...

in Sufism. Mazhar was appointed the head teacher of Arabic department of the Government College in

Varanasi 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 ...

Aloys Sprenger Aloys Sprenger (born 3 September 1813, in Nassereith, Tyrol; died 19 December 1893 in Heidelberg) was an Austrian Orientalist. Sprenger studied medicine, natural sciences as well as oriental languages at the University of Vienna. In 1836 he ...

. He later headed the Arabic department of Government College, Ajmer. He also taught at the

Agra College Agra College is an government aided college, which is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in India. Pandit Gangadhar Shastri, a noted Sanskrit scholar, founded the college in 1823, long before the first university in India was e ...

. Mazhar participated in the

Indian freedom struggle The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

and fought alongside

Imdadullah Muhajir Makki Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (1817 – 1899) was an Indian Muslim Sufi scholar of the Chishti Sufi order. His disciples include Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and Ashraf Ali Thanwi. In the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he led the Musl ...

in the

. His views about working in government institutes changed after 1857. He joined the

Nawal Kishore Press The Nawal Kishore Press (also spelled Newal Kishore Press) was a publishing house founded by Munshi Nawal Kishore in Lucknow, British India, in 1858. It grew rapidly between 1865 and 1872 from its modest beginnings as a small printing press, ad ...

as a copy editor and worked there for more than seven years. His copyedited works include

Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

's ''Ihya al-Ulūm'' and Tāhir Patni's ''Majma' al-Bahhār''; the latter being the major academic work of that time. In February 1867, Mazhar joined the

; where he taught the subjects including

tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

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

, literature and history. He is credited as the founder of Mazahir Uloom for his role in its development. Mazhar died on 3 October 1885. His students included

Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi (1832 – 15 April 1880) () was an Indian Sunni Hanafi Maturidi Islamic Scholar, theologian and a Sufi who was one of the main founders of the Deobandi Movement, starting from the Darul Uloom Deoband. Name and line ...

and

Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri (; December 185213 October 1927) was an Indian Islamic scholar of the Deobandi movement. He authored '' Badhl Al-Majhud Fi Hall Abi Dawud'', an 18-volume commentary on the hadith collection ''Sunan Abi Dawud''. He was ...

References

Citations

Works cited

* * * * {{Siddiqi family of Nanauta 1821 births 1885 deaths Academic staff of Mazahir Uloom Deobandis Indian independence activists Zakir Husain Delhi College alumni