Shams-ul-haq Azeemabadi
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Imam Shams-ul-haq Azeemabadi (July 1857 - March 21, 1911) was considered one of the most important Islamic scholars and authors in India.
He was born at Azimabad (the city's name was later changed to Patna) and received his Islamic education from Imam Syed Nazeer Husain. In 1894 he traveled to Mecca and Medina to perform the Hajj, and while there, he also had a chance to meet a number of notable scholars. Among the most important contributions of Imam Azeemabadi was the popularization and distribution of hadith and its literature. Imam Azeemabadi was also an active member and leader of the Salafi Organization in India. He had a broad knowledge of importance of Islam, literature, logic, history and full understanding of the controversies among the schools of thought (madhab) set by the Imams of fiqh and their arguments. His writings are witness to his wide knowledge and deep insight.
Imam Azeemabadi 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 (32 Volumes) and Awn ul-Maboob (4 Volumes). Al taleeq ul-mughni ala sunan al-Darqutni is an also great work. In 1910-11 the entire country was in the grip of an epidemic of plague. In Bihar, Imam Azimabadi’s district, Patna was severely hit by this disease. After visiting the city of Dianwan on March 15 he had himself an attack of plague and after six days, on March 21, 1911 he expired at the age of 56. Sheikh Muhammad Ozair Shams and Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini both wrote biographies on the life of Imam Shams-ul-haq Azeemabadi.