Qazi Mazhar Qayyum 'Raees-Azam Naushera', came from a qadi's family which had, since the 16th century, been prominent among the landed aristocracy of the Soon Valley. He belonged to Awans[1] tribe of ancient repute. He was the famous "Hakeem" (herbal medicine practitioner), especially of Muslim medicine and unani medicine of Soon Valley. He was the authority on these subject in his time. He was consulted by many notable Hakeem from all British India. He never took fees for his medical practice from any poor or rich patient. A private man, without wealth, without jagir, without official title or office, yet he exercised great influence over the people. He was known as "Raees Azam Naushera".
He was one of those Muslim rural elites who during the 1946 Punjab Provincial Assembly Election, supported Punjab Muslim League, and, without its victory in Punjab in that election", in the words of Ian Talbot, "the Muslim League would not have gotten Pakistan".[2] Being as a son of a famous academic Sufi, he was considered Sajjada Nashin by the people of his area. In the Punjab, the Sajjada Nashin or Pir families were not so rich in terms of land as the great land lords of Punjab but these Sajjada Nashin or Pir families exerted great political and religious influence over the people.[3] The British could not administer the area without their help and no political party could win the election without their help. "Sajjada nashins", David Gilmartin asserts, "claimed to be the descendants of the Sufi,[4] ‘saints’, intermediaries between the Faithful and their God, and this cut against the grain of Islamic orthodoxy......in kind, of their special religious status, these Sajjada Nashins had become men of local standing in their own right."[5] However he never claimed to be a Sajjada Nashin or Pir. As his father, Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad forbade his descendants to establish Dargah, and made a will to bury him in the ordinary grave, he made every effort to stop the people from making Dargah of the grave of his father. Instead, much to the horror of his tribe, he considered this as superstition.
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He was born to a famous qadi's family of Naushera, Soon Valley. He was the eldest son of Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad, and the eldest brother of Khan Sahib Qazi Zafar Hussain. He was a descendant of Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam from Al-Abbas ibn Ali. He was great great grand son of Qazi Kalim Ullah, the famous Muslim qadi and jurist of Naushera in the time of Mughal Emperors.
He got his religious and medical education from his learned father. He learned Qur'an, hadith, Fiqh, Muslim, but gave up Fiqh, and devoted his whole time to Muslim and Unani medicine. He studied all the classics of Muslim medicine including Avicenna (Ibn Sina) The Canon of Medicine, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī's Kitab-al-Saidana, Ibn al-Nafis, Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb (The Comprehensive Book on Medicine), Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu's surgical atlas, Cerrahiyyetu'l-Haniyye (Imperial Surgery), Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi (Haly Abbas)'s Kitab Kamil as-sina'a at-tibbiyya ("Complete Book of the Medical Art"), and Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari's Firdous al-Hikmah.
Like Dr. Joseph Bell of Arthur Conan Doyle, he could diagnose any illness by looking at a patient's face. Like Joseph Bell, he emphasized the importance of close observation in making a diagnosis.[6] According to one tradition the British wife of the then British Deputy Commissioner of District Shahpur, now District Sargodha got ill, and as there was not a British or Indian doctor was available, in that remote area of Punjab at that time, The Deputy Commissioner after hearing the fame of Qazi Mazhar Qayyum consulted him. Thereafter he became physician to many Britishers of higher administration of District Shahpur. This added much increase in his political position.
He supported the Unionist Muslim League, for the political interest of his tribe, and used his political and social influence to help the people of his area. After 1937, he began to support[7] Punjab Muslim League in the greater interest of Muslims of his area. He used his family and political influence to help the people of his area. After 1923, when Unionist party was formed by Sir Fazl-e-Hussain, he supported the Unionist Muslim League,[8] Malik Umar Hayat Khan, Sir Sikander Hayat Khan. He believed, like other leaders of the party, that economic liberation should precede political liberation or else it would fail. The party won all the elections between 1923 and 1937. During this time, when the Unionist Party formed governments in the Punjab Province, lot of constructive work was done towards debt relief and irrigation system, and a province like Punjab was much dependent on the this irrigation system for its agricultural land.
Sufi Sarwar, though a great admirer of his father, in his book The Soon Valley[9] criticized him and his brother for supporting the Unionist party, but we must not forget that during that period (1923–1937) the Muslim League was not active in the Punjab. Sir Muhammad Iqbal himself was also a supporter of Unionist Party at that time.[10] According to Ian Talbot, Iqbal and other urbanite Muslim members of PLC (1927–30) shared Fazl-i-Hussain views that Muslim interests could be better served through the Unionist Party, than by adopting a purely Muslim political platform. Samina Yasmeen writes in Communal Politics in Punjab (1925-1947) that "the birth of Unionist Party though was a tool to implement British policy, yet it would be not fair to ignore the contribution of those people who had joined the party with the belief that it will stand for the development of rural masses and would play its role for equitable distribution of monetary resources. They were also optimistic that not only the party would deal with the debt problem but would also take steps to achieve rightful share in services and educational institutions for rural youth. It was propagation of these issues that enabled Unionist rural elites to win over the support of common peasantry who joined the party with the hope that their problems would be resolved."[11]
When, in May 1936, Sir Muhammad Iqbal appealed[12] to the Muslims of Punjab to support Muslim League, he started thinking about the support of Muslim League, and when in 1937 Sikander-Jinnah pact was signed he started supporting Muslim League.[13][1]
He supported Sajjada Nashin Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi,[14] who was president of District Shahpur Muslim League. He was also very influential in his region. They appealed to their people to vote against Tiwanas[15] who were trying to defeat the Punjab Muslim League candidates in their constituencies. It was their efforts that Muslim League candidates won 100% seats in the constituencies of their area. Ian Talbot, writes "Another leading Chisti, Sajjada Nashin, Pir Qamaruddin of Sial Sharif held a meeting on the outskirts of the Kalra estate in which he publicly challenged Khizr and Allah Baksh to come to terms with the Muslim League. ‘I have never begged for anything in my life before’, he declared, ‘but today I have come out of my home to beg for votes, believing God is present here (the meeting was being held in a mosque) it is Islamic to ask for vote and "religious" to give them. The Muslim League is purely a religious movement in which all the rich, poor, sufis and scholars are participating. Not as a Pir but even as a Muslim, I have repeatedly advised Nawab Allah Baksh who is my Murid not to desert the Muslims at this critical time."[16]
He died on 26 October 1953. He was buried in Naushera, Soon Valley