Ubaidullah Sindhi
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Ubaidullah Sindhi (Urdu: مولانا عبیداللہ سندھی) was a noted religious leader and political activist. Born in Sikh family of Sialkot and converted to Islam. He received education in Sindh. Sindhi in his early career was a pan-Islamic thinker. He spent seven years in Afghanistan, a few months in Russia, two years in Turkey and then passing through many countries eventually reached Hijaz (Saudi Arabia). Where he spent about fourteen years learning and pondering over the philosophy of Islam especially in the light of Shah Waliullah's works. From that point on, Ubaidullah Sindhi emerged as NON-Pan-Islamic scholar. He was one of the most active and prominent members of the faction of Indian Freedom Movement lead by Muslim Clergy chiefly from Islamic School of Deoband. Ubaidullah Sindhi died on August 22, 1944.
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[edit] Conversion to Islam and Education
When he was at school, a Hindu friend gave him a book "Tufatul hind" to read. It was written by a convert scholar Maulan Ubaidullah of Malerkotla. After reading this book and others like Taqwiyatul Eeman and Ahwaal ul Aakhira, he was inclined towards Islam. This eventually led to his conversion to Islam. In 1887, he left for Sindh and became a student of Hafiz Muhammad Siddque of Chawinda. Then he went to Maulana Ghulam Muhammad of Deen pur for further education and training in mystical order. In 1888 he was admitted to Darul Uloom Deoband and he was instructed in various islamic disciplines by Maulana Abu Siraj, Maulana Rasheed Gangohi and Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan, Sheikhul Hind. He read Bukhari and Tirmidhi from Maulana Nazeer Husain Dehlvi and read Logic and Philosophy from Maulana Ahmad Hasan Cawnpuri. He graduated in 1891 and started taching in Amrote Shareef. He got married during this time and in 1901 stared his own Madrassa in Goth Peer Jhanda in Sindh.
[edit] Politics, Career and Death
- See also: Indo-German Conspiracy
He was very active in covert anti-British propaganda activities during this time. This led to his alienization by Deoband leaders. In 1912 he moved to Delhi and started another institution by the name of Nazaaratul Ma'aarif.
With the onset of the WW I, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi and Mahmud al Hasan (principle of the Darul Uloom Deoband) had proceeded to Kabul in October 1915 with plans to intiate a Muslim insurrection in the tribal belt of India. For this purpose, Ubaid Allah was to propose that the Amir of Afghanistan declares war against Britain while Mahmud al Hasan sought German and Turkish help. Hasan proceeded to Hijaz. Ubaid Allah, in the meantime, was able to establish friendly relations with Amir. At Kabul, Ubaid Allah, along with some students who had preceded him to make way to Turkey to join the Caliph's "Jihad" against Britain, decided that the pan-Islamic cause was to be best served by focussing on the Indian Freedom Movement.[1]
The Berlin committee was also at this time in touch with the Khairi brothers (Abdul Jabbar Khairi and Abdul Sattar Khairi), who had at the onset of the war, settled at Constantinopole and later in 1917 proposed to the Kaiser a plan to lead tribes in Kashmir and NWFP against British interests. Another group led by the Deobandi This group was met by the Indo-German-Turkish mission to Kabul in December 1915 headed by Oskar von Niedermayer and including in its members Werner Otto von Hentig, the German diplomatic representative to Kabul, as well as Raja Mahendra Pratap, Barkatullah and other prominent nationalists from the Berlin group. The mission, along with bringing members of the Indian movement right to India's border, also brought messages from the Kaiser, Enver Pasha and the displaced Khedive of Egypt, Abbas Hilmi expressing support for Pratap's mission and inviting the Amir to move against India[2][3] The mission's immediate aim was to rally the Amir against British India[2] and to obtain from the Afghan Government a right of free passage.[4] It was on course of these works that Maulana Ubaidullah's letters to Mahmud al Hasan were discovered in the famous Silk Letter Conspiracy in 1916.[5]
Ubaidullah travelled to Moscow and later Turkey and eventually came home after living in Mecca for 13 years. It is thought that Sindhi was impressed by Communist ideals during his stay in Russia.
He came home from Mecca in 1939 and passed away in 1944 in Deen pur.
[edit] Maulana Sindhi's connection with Hakeem Noor ud Deen
Sindhi has been recorded in books as being a great admirer of Hakeem Noor ud Deen. It is only because Maulvi Noor-ud-Deen is an unmatched scholar and has a commanding personality. He has the deepest attachment to the Holy Qur'an. He was ever thinking how best the message of the Holy Qur'an could be taken and how best the people could be familiarized with the beauties and the excellences of the Holy Qur'an. He was also thinking of how to invite people to the Holy Qur'an and how their lives could be moulded in the ideal mould of the Holy Book. He was also great admire of Hazrat-ul-Imam shah Walliullah. Once upon a time when he reached at Bombai he purchased the book of Imam Shah Walliullah titled: " Fooz-ul-Kabir". It shows his faith that no single verse of Holy Quran is canceled.
When the son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was invited to Deoband in 1912, Ubaidullah was along side Muhammad Ahmad Nanutawi (son of Qasim Nanutawi)to welcome them to the seminar. He often used to visit Qadian himself. He states (Irshaadaat by Hadhrat Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, p. 400): [6]
[edit] References
- ^ Ansari 1986, p. 515
- ^ a b Sims-Williams 1980, p. 120
- ^ Seidt 2001, p. 1,3
- ^ Ansari 1986, p. 516
- ^ Engineer 2005, p. 107
- ^ Ifādāt va malfūẓāt-i Ḥaz̤rat Maulānā ʻUbaidullāh Sindhī; von Muḥammad Sarvar; ʻUbaidullāh Sindhī; Verleger: Sindh Sāgar Akādemī, 1972; OCLC: 23564206
- Ansari, K.H. (1986), Pan-Islam and the Making of the Early Indian Muslim Socialist. Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3. (1986), pp. 509-537, Cambridge University Press.
- Seidt, Hans-Ulrich (2001), From Palestine to the Caucasus-Oskar Niedermayer and Germany's Middle Eastern Strategy in 1918.German Studies Review, Vol. 24, No. 1. (Feb., 2001), pp. 1-18, German Studies Association.
- Sims-Williams, Ursula (1980), The Afghan Newspaper Siraj al-Akhbar. Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 7, No. 2. (1980), pp. 118-122, London, Taylor & Francis Ltd.
- Engineer, Ashgar A (2005), They too fought for India's freedom: The Role of Minorities., Hope India Publications., ISBN 8178710919. YEah Forget Youre own Dharam
