Shabbir Ahmad Usmani (11 October 188713 December 1949) was an Islamic scholar and an activist of the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

, who served as the of Pakistan in 1949. He was the first to demand that Pakistan become an

Islamic state The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

. He was a religious scholar, writer, orator, politician, and an expert in Tafsir and Hadith. Born in 1887 in

Bijnor Bijnor () is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.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 ...

. He was the son of Fazlur Rahman Usmani. His brother Azizur Rahman Usmani was the first Grand Mufti of Darul Uloom Deoband. Usmani was the first to hoist the

Flag of Pakistan The national flag of Pakistan, also known as the Flag of the Star and Crescent (), is made up of a green field with a stylized tilted white descending Star and crescent, crescent moon and five-pointed star at its centre, and a vertical white st ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

on 14 August 1947, and led the funeral prayers of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. His major work is the '' Tafseer-e-Usmani'', which he co-authored with his teacher Mahmud Hasan Deobandi.

Early life

He was born on 11 October 1887 in

Bijnor Bijnor () is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British Raj, British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Cede ...

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 ...

. His father, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, was a deputy inspector of schools and had been sent on assignment to Bareilly, when his son Shabbir was born. His nephews include Atiqur Rahman Usmani and Shams Naved Usmani.

Education and career

He was educated 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 ...

, where he became a disciple of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, and graduated in 1908. After his graduation, he was appointed as a teacher at

. In 1915, when Mahmud Hasan went into self-exile in Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, Usmani filled his position as the teacher of '' Sahih al-Muslim'', a book of teachings of

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 1925, Sultan Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia scheduled a conference for prominent religious scholars from all over the world. A deputation of a number of 'Ulema' from India participated in this conference. It is believed that they chose Usmani as their leader after having a short conversation with him. In 1926, he moved to Dabhel, a small predominantly Deobandi town in the Indian state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, and became a teacher at Jamiah Islamiah Talimuddin Dabhel. In October 1920, when the foundation committee decided to establish

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 ...

, he was elected as a member of the founding committee. Many other Islamic scholars also were members of the Foundation Committee including Hussain Ahmad Madani, Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, Kifayatullah Dihlawi, and

Abdul Haq Akorwi Abdul Haq (, ; 11 January 19127 September 1988), also known as Abdul Haq Akorwi was a Pakistani Deobandi Islamic scholar and the founder, chancellor, and Shaykh al-Hadith of the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania. He also served as vice-pr ...

. In 1933, when Anwar Shah Kashmiri died, Usmani became the teacher of Sahih al-Bukhari, a book of teachings by Muhammad. His disciples include Badre Alam Merathi.

Political career

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani was one of the founding members of

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

as he was a member of the Foundation Committee of the Jamia (University) that met on Friday, 29 October 1920. In 1944, he became a member of the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslims, Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim L ...

and led a small group of

Deobandi The Deobandi movement or Deobandism is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that adheres to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. It was formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the nam ...

s who supported the creation of Pakistan. As a leader of this pro-Pakistan faction of Deobandis of the old Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind party, which was originally founded in Deoband in 1919, he went ahead and founded a new and separate political party called the

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (, abbreviated as JUI, translated as Assembly of Islamic Clergy) is a Deobandi Sunni Muslim organization that was founded on 26 October 1945 by Shabbir Ahmad Usmani as a pro-Pakistan offshoot of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH ...

in 1945, along with other like-minded pro-Pakistan religious leaders. He joined Muslim League in 1944 at a critical juncture of Pakistan movement when most of the feudals of N.W.F.P. and Punjab came under the influence of the Congress. Shabbir Ahmad Usmani with a team of 500 Ulema eliminated the influence of these corrupt feudals from these regions and converted the sentiments of common people toward Pakistan movement. The importance of Maulana Usmani is also conspicuous from the fact that the Quaid-i-Azam consulted him on all important matters after independence. He served JUI as its first president until his death in 1949. Usmani, with a team of approximately 500 other religious leaders, actively campaigned to convert the sentiments of common Muslim people in favor of the

Pakistan movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

. He played a key role in steering people away from some of the leaders in Punjab, British India and N.W.F.P. who were previously supporting All India National Congress in those regions. In fact, he became a close consultant of Jinnah after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. He is also notable for having led the funeral prayer of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan in September 1948. When Pakistan became independent, its first flag hoisting was also done (in West Pakistan) by him in the presence of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan (while in East Pakistan, his fellow, Allama Zafar Ahamd Usmani, did the flag hoisting in the presence of Khwaja Nazimuddin). After the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, Usmani became a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, and remained a member until his death in 1949.First Constitute Assembly From 1947–1954
at
Pakistan National Assembly, Former members
/ref> He is best remembered for having spearheaded the ''Qarardad-i-Maqasid'' Objectives Resolution for Pakistan, which was passed by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 12 March 1949.''Constituent Assembly adopts Objectives Resolution (1949)''
in ''

The Friday Times ''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani English-language online publication based in Lahore, Pakistan. History ''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor Najam Sethi and publisher Jugnu Mohsin, a husband-and- ...

'' newspaper, Published August 26, 2011, Retrieved 8 Jan 2017 In 1946 Usmani furnished the Quranic basis for the establishment of Pakistan by citing the distinction between ''momin'' (believer) and ''kafir'' (non-believer).

Death and legacy

Usmani died at Baghdadul Jadid in Bahawalpur State on 13 December 1949, and was buried at Islamia Science College (Karachi) the next day. Pakistan Postal Services issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in 1990 in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series. His death is seen as the end of an important phase in the movement for the establishment of an Islamic constitution in newly independent Pakistan, as noted by Sayyid A. S. Pirzada, a scholar from Quaid-i-Azam University.

Books

Notes

References

Sources

*
فتح الملہم از مولانا شبیر احمد عثمانیؒ اور منتہ المنعم از مولانا صفی الرحمن مبارکپوریؒ کے مناہج کا تقابلی مطالعہAllama Sahabbir Ahmed Uthmani's Efforts for Islamization in PakistanHassan, Hafiz Muhammad
* * * Rizwan Hussain.
Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan
'. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005 , {{DEFAULTSORT:Usmani, Shabbir Ahmad 1887 births 1949 deaths Muhajir people Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Pakistani Islamic religious leaders Pakistani scholars Hanafi fiqh scholars Hanafis Maturidis Deobandis 20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Pakistani Sunni Muslims People from Uttar Pradesh Quranic exegesis scholars People from British India Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam politicians Pakistani MNAs 1947–1954 Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Academic staff of Darul Uloom Deoband Students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Usmani family Founders of Indian schools and colleges Academic staff of Jamia Islamia Talimuddin Disciples of Ashraf Ali Thanwi Members of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan People from Bijnor Muslim scholars