Abu-al-Tayyab Shams-ul-Haq Azimabadi, (18 July 1857 - 21 March 1911), also known as Muhammad Shams-ul-Haq Azeemabadi, was a

muhaddith A muhaddith () is a scholar specialized in the study, collection, and interpretation of hadiths, which are the recorded sayings, actions, and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. The role of a muhaddith is central to the science of hadith (ʻilm a ...

mujaddid A ''mujaddid'' () is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" () to the religion. According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every century of the Islamic calendar to revitalize Islam, clean ...

and commentator 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 ...

from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He is best known for writing the main commentary upon

Sunan Abi Dawud ''Sunan Abi Dawud'' () is the third hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. It was compiled by scholar Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (). Introduction Abu Dawood compiled twenty-one books related to Hadith and preferred those (plural of ...

Biography

Azimabadi was born on 18 July 1857 in Azimabad, present day known as

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. and received his Islamic education from

Syed Nazeer Husain Syed Nazeer Husain Dehlawi (1805 – 13 October 1902) was an Islamic scholar and leader of the reformist Ahl-i Hadith movement in India. Earning the appellation ''shaykh al-kull'' (teacher of all, or the shaykh of all knowledge) for his authority ...

and Lutf-ul-Ali Bihari (d. 1879 ce), a class fellow of Fazl Haq Khairabadi. In 1894 he traveled to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

to perform the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

, and while there, he also had a chance to meet a number of scholars. Among the most important contributions of Azimabadi was the popularization and distribution 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 ...

and its literature. Azimabadi had a very extensive library of Islamic manuscripts, which was considered to be among the best in India. He is the author of many books, but his most well known are the commentaries of ''Sunan Abi Dawood'', which is called ''Ghayat ul-Maqsood'' in 32 volumes and ''Awn ul-Ma'bood'' in 14 volumes. Azimabadi was also known for his views on the qualifications for a

Mujaddid A ''mujaddid'' () is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" () to the religion. According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every century of the Islamic calendar to revitalize Islam, clean ...

, or redeemer, in Islam; by his reckoning,

Al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptians, Egyptian Sunni Muslims, Muslim polymath of Persians, Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading Hadith studies, muh ...

and Murtaḍá al-Zabīdī were two prominent redeemers. In 1910–11 the entire country was in the grip of an epidemic of plague. In

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, Azimabadi’s district, Patna was severely hit by this disease. After visiting the city of Dianwan on 15 March he had himself an attack of plague and after six days, on 21 March 1911 he died at the age of 53.

Works

Awn al Mabud: a commentary on Abu al-Tayyib Muhammad Shams al-haqq al-azim Abadi's interpretation of Sunan Abi Dawud
3rd ed.

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

: Dar al-Fikr, 1979.

References

Citations

* * * *

External links

Website dedicated to promote his life and works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azimabadi, Muhammad Shams-ul-Haq 1857 births 1911 deaths Writers from Patna Indian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Indian Salafis Atharis 19th-century Indian philosophers Ahl-i Hadith people