Syed Sulaiman Nadvi

Deobandi Movement

Key figures

Qasim Nanotvi · Rashid Gangohi
Husain Madani · Mehmud Hasan
Shabbir Usmani · Ashraf Ali Thanwi
Anwar Kashmiri · Ilyas Kandhlawi
Ubaidullah Sindhi · Taqi Usmani

Notable Institutions

Darul Uloom Deoband, India
Mazahirul Uloom Saharanpur, India
Hathazari Madrassah, Bangladesh
Darul-uloom Nadwatul Ulama, India
Darul Uloom Karachi, Pakistan
Jamia Uloom ul Islamia, Pakistan
Jamiah Darul Uloom Zahedan, Iran
Darul Uloom London, England
Darul Uloom New York, United States
Darul Uloom Canada
Madrasah In'aamiyyah, South Africa

Movements

Tablighi Jamaat
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat
Sipah-e-Sahaba
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Taliban

Allama Sayyed Sulaiman Nadvi (Urdu: سید سلیمان ندوی) (November 22, 1884 - November 22, 1953) was an eminent Indian and Pakistani historian, biographer, littérateur and scholar of Islam. He is the author of monumental works, Sirat-un-Nabi (Life of Holy Prophet) and Khutbat-e-Madras.

Contents

Early life and education

Sulaiman Nadvi was born on November 22, 1884 in Desna village of Patna, British India. His father, Hakeem Sayyed Abul Hasan was a pious Sufi.

His first teachers were Khalifa Anwar Ali of Desna and Maulvi Maqsood Ali of Ookhdi. Later he received his education from his elder brother, Hakeem Sayyed Abu Habeeb and his father, who was a physician at Islampur near Patna. In 1899 he went to Phulwari Sharif (Bihar) where at the famous Khanqah-e-Mojeebia he became a disciple of Maulana Mohiuddin and of Shah Sulaiman Phulwari. From there he went to Darbhanga where he studied for a few months at Madrasa-e-Imdadia.

In 1901, he was admitted into Dar-ul-Uloom Nadva at Lucknow. He studied for seven years at Nadva. He was also appointed sub-editor of the journal, An-Nadwa. Young Sulaiman's first article, Waqt (Time) was published in the monthly Urdu Journal Makhzan edited by Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir. In 1906, he graduated from the Nadva. In 1908, Sulaiman Nadvi was appointed an instructor of Modern Arabic and Dogmatic Theology at Dar-ul-Uloom Nadva.

Aligarh Muslim University conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctorate of Literature (DLitt) in 1940.

Contribution to Islamic literature

In 1910, Shibli Nomani had begun the monumental task of writing Sirat-un-Nabi {biography of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings upon Him)in Urdu}, but could not complete it. Sulaiman Nadvi after death of his mentor Maulana Shibli on November 18, 1914, left the job of Professor in Deccan College, Pune and came over to Azamgarh. Sulaiman not only edited and published the two volumes of Sirat-un-Nabi penned by Shibli but also himself wrote and published third, fourth, fifth and sixth volume of this Magnum Opus. The work started through the munificence of late Nawab Sultan Jehan Begum of Bhopal and later through the aid of Nizam of Hyderabad. It is the grandest biography of Prophet Muhammed(Peace and Blessings upon Him) ever attempted in any language of the world.

In October–November 1925, Sulaiman Nadvi delivered a series of eight lectures on the life of Prophet Muhammad (sallalah-u-alayh-e-wa-sallam صلی اللہ علیہ والہ وسلم) at Madras. These lectures which are a masterpiece of erudition later published as Khutbat-e-Madras.

In 1940, he published Rahmat-e-Aalam, a book written for children on the life of Prophet Muhammad (sallalah-u-alayh-e-wa-sallam صلی اللہ علیہ والہ وسلم).

In 1933, he brought out his monumental work, Khayyam. The nucleus of this book was an article on noted Persian scholar and poet Omar Khayyam.[1][2].

Syed Sulaiman Nadwi and some other thinkers who wanted Hindu-Muslim unity in British India even suggested that the term ‘Urdu’ be abandoned in favour of ‘Hindustani’ because the former conjured up the image of a military conquest and war whereas the latter had no such symbolic baggage.[3]

Sulaiman Nadvi founded Dar-ul-Mosannefeen (Academy of Authors) also known as the Shibli Academy at Azamgarh. The first book published was Ard-ul-Quran (2 volumes).

Migration to Pakistan

After partition of India, Sayyaed Sulaiman Nadvi migrated to Pakistan in June 1950 and settled in Karachi. He was appointed Chairman of Taleemat-e-Islami Board to advise the Islamic aspects of Pakistan's constitution. He died on November 22, 1953 in Karachi at the age of 69.

Work

Notes

  1. ^ Syed Sulaiman aur Tibb Unani by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Mutallae Sulaimani, Edited by Prof. Masoodur Rahman Khan Nadvi and Dr. Mohd. Hassan Khan, Darul Uloom, Tajul Masajid, Bhopal, 1986, p. 285-293
  2. ^ Syed Sulaiman Aur Tibb Unani by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Akhbar-ul-Tibb, Karachi, Pakistan, Nov. 1987, p. 9-12
  3. ^ "Myths about Urdu". DAWN. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/myths-about-urdu-619. Retrieved 2009-11-26. 

External links