Minnatullah Rahmani (7 April 1913 – 20 March 1991) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar who served as the first General Secretary of

All India Muslim Personal Law Board All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in India that represents the interests of Muslims in matters of personal law. It was formed in 1973 with the objective of protecting and promoting the appli ...

. He 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 ...

and

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 ...

, and a member of

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

. He also served as the General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama Bihar. His father

Muhammad Ali Mungeri Muḥammad Ali Mungeri (28 July 1846 – 13 September 1927) was an Indian Muslim scholar who was the founder Nadwatul Ulama and first chancellor of its Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Darul Uloom, a major Islamic seminary in Lucknow. He extensively ...

was the founder of

Nadwatul Ulama Nadwatul Ulama is a council of Muslim theologians in India which was formed in 1893 in Kanpur. The first manager of the council was Muhammad Ali Mungeri and the incumbent is Bilal Abdul Hai Hasani Nadwi. The council established the Darul Uloom ...

and his son Wali Rahmani established the

Rahmani30 Rahmani30 is an Indian educational movement that was started in Patna, Bihar, India under the banner of 'Rahmani Program of Excellence', by Wali Rahmani with Abhayanand, former DGP Bihar as the academic head. It is modelled after the Super 30 ...

institute.

Biography

Minnatullah Rahmani was born in

Munger Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern ...

on 7 April 1913. His father

was a founding figure of the

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. Rahmani received his primary education in Munger and went to

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, where he studied Arabic grammar, syntax and logic with Mufti Abd al-Lateef. He enrolled at the

and studied there for four years. In 1349 AH, he moved to

, where he studied ''

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

Hussain Ahmad Madani Hussain Ahmad Madani (; 6 October 1879 – 5 December 1957) was an Indian Islamic scholar, serving as the principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1954. ...

and graduated from there in 1352 AH. His other teachers included Asghar Hussain Deobandi and

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 ...

. In 1935, Rahmani was appointed the General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama Bihar. Abul Muhasin Muhammad Sajjad founded the Muslim Independent Party in 1935 and Rahmani was appointed its member. Through it, he was elected as a member of

in 1937. He was appointed the Sajjada Nashin of Khanqah-e-Rahmani, Munger in 1361 AH and a member of the executive council of Darul Uloom Deoband in 1955, a post he served until his death. Alongside

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 ...

, he played a key role in establishing the

and was appointed its first General Secretary on 28 December 1972, in the inception meeting. In 1964, he participated in the

World Muslim Congress The World Muslim Congress (''Motamar al-Alam al-Islami'') (Arabic: مؤتمر العالم الإسلامي) is an Islamic organization based in Karachi. Its co-founder and Secretary-General for over four decades was Inamullah Khan. It was the r ...

as a delegate of India. In 1945, Rahmani re-established the Jamia Rahmania, a well known

madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He died on 20 March 1991.

Legacy

Rahmani's son Wali Rahmani established the

and formerly served as the general secretary of the

. Shah Imran Hasan wrote his biography ''Hayat-e Rahmani: Maulana Minnatullah Rahmani ki Zindagi ka Ilmi aur Tarikhi Mutala’a'' () which has a foreword from Akhtarul Wasey.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahmani, Minnatullah 1913 births 1991 deaths People from Munger district Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama alumni Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Deobandis