Muhammad Hamidullah (19 February 1908 – 17 December 2002) was an Indian Islamic scholar from the princely state of Hyderabad. He wrote dozens of books and hundreds of articles on Islamic science,

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

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Early life and education

Hamidullah was born in Hyderabad, the capital city of Hyderabad State, (now

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 ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

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 ...

) the youngest amongst three brothers and five sisters. Both his great-grandfather and his grandfather were Islamic scholars who authored commentaries on 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 ...

. Hamidullah's father Mufti Abu Mohammad Khalilullah, was a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence, a director of revenue in the government of the

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

, and a pioneer in establishing an interest-free banking system in Hyderabad. Hamidullah obtained the degree of Maulawi Kamil with distinction from Madrasah Nizamiyah, followed by a BA, LLB and MA in international law from

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate university, collegiate Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, issued a ''firman'' calling f ...

. He then travelled to Germany and was awarded a D.Phil. by Bonn University in 1932. After serving in the faculty of Bonn as a lecturer in Arabic and Urdu for a short time, he registered at Sorbonne University in France for his second doctorate. He was awarded D.Litt. by the university after 11 months. He taught international law at Osmania University between 1936 and 1946.

Career

In 1948, Hamidullah was appointed by the Nizam as a representative of Hyderabad at the United Nations. Following India's annexation of Hyderabad in 1948, Hamidullah rejected both Pakistani and Indian citizenship. Classed as a ''Refugee of Hyderabad'' by the French Government, he lived in exile in Paris. Hamidullah was a research fellow at the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

from 1954 until he retired in 1978. He also gave regular lectures at Turkish universities during this time. He is known for his contributions to the research of

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 ...

, translating the Quran into multiple languages, and for his biography of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

in French. Hamidullah received the Hilal-i-Imtiaz award from the government of Pakistan in 1985. He donated the award's prize money to the Islamic Research Academy at the International Islamic University in Islamabad.

Later life and death

In 1996, Hamidullah moved to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

in the United States of America. He died on 17 December 2002.

Literary works

Having "authored over 100 books in English, French, German, Arabic and Urdu, and about 1000 scholarly essays and articles on the various aspects of Islam and related areas", Abdul Azim Islahi, ''Muhammad Hamidullah and His Pioneering Works on Islamic Economics'', King Abdulaziz University Press (2015), p. 13 Muhammad Hammidullah's notable publications include : * ''The Muslim Conduct of State: Being a Treatise on Siyar (Siyar), General Introduction'' (1941, 1953) * ''The First Written Constitution in the World'' (1941, 1975 and 1986) * ''Islamic Notion of Conflict of Laws'' (1945) * ''Die Rezeption Europaischen Rechts in Haiderabad'' (1953) * ''Le "Livre des genenalogies" 'al-Baladuriy by al-Baladuri' (1954) * ''Introduction to Islam'' (from 1957 onwards in numerous languages besides English) * ''Le Saint Coran: Traduction et commentaire de Muhammad Hamidullah avec la collaboration de M. Leturmy'' (from 1959 onwards) * ''Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, the Biographer of the Holy Prophet'' (Pakistan Historical Society) (1967) * ''Muhammad Rasulullah: A Concise Survey of the Life and Work of the Founder of Islam'' (1979) * ''Islam: A General Picture'' (1980) * ''Islam, Philosophy and Science: Four Public Lectures Organized By Unesco June 1980'' (editor) (1981) * ''Why Fast?: Spiritual & Temporal Study of Fast in Islam (Centre Culturel Islamique Paris Series)'' (1982) * ''The Prophet's Establishing a State and his Succession'' (1988) * ''The Prophet of Islam: Prophet of Migration'' (1989) * ''Kurʼân-ı Kerîm tarihi: Bir deneme (Ilmi eserler)'' (1991) * ''Battlefields of the Prophet Muhammad'' (1992) * ''Emergence of Islam'' (1993) * ''Islam in a Nutshell'' (1996) * ''The Life and Work of the Prophet of Islam'' (1998) * ''The Prophet Establishing a State'' (1986)

References

External links