Muhammad Jabir Qasmi
{{Short description|Indian Islamic scholar, Sufi sheikh and Muslim leader}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Muhammad Jabir Qasmi
| native_name = محمد جابر قاسمی
| native_name_lang = ur
| image =
| honorific_prefix = Mawlana
| office1 = 1st President of Jamiat Ulama-e-Odisha (M)
| term_start1 = 2008
| term_end1 = 17 November 2020
| predecessor1 = "office established"
| successor1 = Muhammad Ghufran Qasmi
| office2 = 5th President of United Jamiat Ulama-e-Orissa
| term_start2 = February 2008
| term_end2 = March 2008
| predecessor2 = S. S. Sajideen Qasmi
| successor2 = "office bifurcated" {{bulleted list||Himself, as the president of Jamiat Ulama-e-Odisha (M)|Muhammad Jalal Qasmi, as the president of Jamiat Ulama-e-Odisha (A)}}
| office3 = President of Odisha state unit of All-India Association of Islamic and Arabic Seminaries, Darul Uloom Deoband
| term_start3 = December 2006
| term_end3 = 17 November 2020
| predecessor3 = S. S. Sajideen Qasmi
| successor3 = Muhammad Farooq Qasmi
| module = {{Infobox religious biography|embed = yes
|birth_date = 1943
|birth_place = Binjharpur, Jajpur district, Orissa {{small|(Odisha)}}, India
|death_date = {{death date and age|2020|11|17|1943|df=y}}
|death_place = Binjharpur, Jajpur district, Odisha, India
|alma_mater = {{ubl|Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur|Darul Uloom Deoband}}
|nationality = Indian
|religion = Islam
|denomination = Sunni
|Madh'hab = Hanafi
|creed = Maturidi
|movement = Deobandi
|Sufi_order = Chishtiya-Sabiriya-Imdadiya
|occupation = Islamic scholar, Sufi shaykh, muslim leader
|main_intrests =
|teachers = {{ubl|Zakariyya Kandhlawi|Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad|Wahiduzzaman Kairanawi}}
|students =
|disciple_of = Asad Madani
}}
}}
Muhammad Jabir Qasmi (1943–17 November 2020) was an Indian Islamic scholar, Sufi sheikh, and Muslim leader. He was the first president of Jamiat Ulama-e-Odisha (M){{Cite news |date=2015-12-24 |title=Odisha to probe Abdur Rahman’s visit to Secretariat, says Minister |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/odisha-to-probe-abdur-rahmans-visit-to-secretariat-says-minister/article8027158.ece |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}{{Cite news |date=2015-12-24 |title=Odisha Muslim body asks madrasas to cooperate with govt|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/odisha-muslim-body-asks-madrasas-to-cooperate-with-govt-115122400456_1.html |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=Business Standard|language=en}} and a member of the working committee of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (M).
Early life and education
Muhammad Jabir Qasmi was born in 1943 in Binjharpur, Jajpur district, Orissa.{{cite journal|editor1-last=Rahmani|editor1-first=Saeed|editor2-last=Quresh|editor2-first=Shaikh|editor3-last=Begum|editor3-first=Hasina|title=Aah Maulana Muhammad Jabir Qasmi Nahi Rahe|trans-title=Ah! Maulana Muhammad Jaber Qasmi is no more|url=https://archive.org/details/the-sada-e-orissa-december-2020 |journal=Sada-e-Orissa|volume=15|issue=9|date=December 2020|publisher=Shaikh Quresh|location=Ghamadia New Colony, Cuttack|page=6|language=ur}}
He received his primary education from Maulana Irfan in his village, memorized only ten verses of the Quran due to his ill health, then traveled to Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur for higher education and stayed there to study up to the fifth grade of Arabic. At the Saharanpur seminary, his teachers included Zakariyya Kandhlawi and Yahya Saharanpuri, the father of Salman Mazahiri.
Following Saharanpur, he moved to Deoband, enrolled in Darul Uloom Deoband, and graduated from there in 1966 (1366 AH). He studied Sahih al-Bukhari with Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad at Darul Uloom Deoband.{{cite web |last=Mayurbhanji |first=Muhammad Rūhul Amīn |date=29 November 2023 |title=Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Jabir Sahib Qasmi Binjharpuri (1943–2020): Mukhtasar Sawānihi Khaka |trans-title=Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Jabir Sahib Qasmi Binjharpuri (1943–2020): Brief biographical sketch |url=https://qindeelonline.com/maulana-mohd-jabir-qasmi-by-mohd-ruhul-amain/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215024104/https://qindeelonline.com/maulana-mohd-jabir-qasmi-by-mohd-ruhul-amain/ |archive-date=15 February 2024 |access-date=15 February 2024 |website=Qindeel Online |language=ur}}{{cite book |last1=Qasmi|first1=Muhammad Tayyib|title=Darul Uloom Diary: Faizān-e-Fakhr-ul-Muhaddithīn Number|publisher=Idara Paigham-e-Mahmood|location=Deoband |pages=42–46|edition=2017|language=ur}}
Career
After graduation, Qasmi started his teaching career at a madrasa in Begusarai, Bihar, and served there for five years. After that, on the insistence of Amanullah Binjharpuri and Abdul Ghaffar Binjharpuri, he served as the teacher at the Senior Madrasa in Binjharpur, Jajpur district, and taught Sahih Muslim there for years. He also served as a teacher at Madrasa Mishkat-ul-Uloom, Binjharpur.
He was a lifelong member of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, having served it both before and after its split. In the year 2008, he was elected as the president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Odisha,{{Cite web |last= |date=11 February 2008 |title=Jamiat Ulema-e Hind elects its Orissa office bearers |url=https://twocircles.net/2008feb11/jamiat_ulema_e_hind_elects_its_orissa_office_bearers.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215052123/https://twocircles.net/2008feb11/jamiat_ulema_e_hind_elects_its_orissa_office_bearers.html |archive-date=15 February 2024 |access-date=15 February 2024 |website=Two Circles |language=en-US}} and then, after the split of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind on March 6, 2008, he was elected as the president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Odisha (M) and continued to serve for it till his lifetime. He also served as Ameer Shariat of Odisha Province; however, his emirate was confirmed by Osman Mansoor Puri at the beginning of his emirate period, i.e., 2010. Apart from this, he was a member of the working committee of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (M) and was also its special invitee for life. Being associated with the Jamiat, he performed social and welfare services in Odisha. He was also active during the 1999 Odisha Cyclone. He also organized a meeting on the occasion of an anti-terrorism conference organized by Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (M) in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, in which Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was also invited as a special guest.
He was an authorised disciple of Asad Madani in Sufism,{{cite book |last1=Mansoorpuri|first1=Muhammad Salman|title=Zikr-e-Raftagāñ|publisher=Al Markaz Al Ilmi Lin Nashri Wat Tahqeeq|location=Lalbagh, Moradabad|pages=503–504|date=April 2020|chapter=Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Jabir Sahib Qasmi, Orissa|url=https://archive.org/details/an-article-on-maulana-jabir-qasmi-binjharpuri-in-zikr-e-raftagan-vol.-4 |volume=4|language=ur}}{{cite journal |editor1-last=Jami'i|editor1-first=Muhammad Salim|title=Fida-e-Millat Number|url=https://archive.org/details/al-jamiat-fida-e-millat-number |journal=Al-Jami'at weekly|date=April 2007|volume= |issue= |page=581|publisher=Al-Jami'at office|location= Madani hall, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi|language=ur}} and for this reason, he also established a khanqah (Islamic monastery) in Binjharpur for the reform and education of the nation. Apart from this, their khanqahs were also established in other areas.
In the working committee meeting of the All-India Association of Islamic and Arabic Seminaries, Darul Uloom Deoband [held: December 4, 2006, 12 Dhu Qa'da 1427 AH], after Sirajussajidin Katki, he was appointed as President of its provincial branch and elected its working committee member.{{cite journal |date=May 2007 |editor-last=Azmi |editor-first=Habibur Rahman |title=رپورٹ اجلاس ششم مجلس عاملہ رابطہ مدارس اسلامیہ عربیہ دارالعلوم دیوبند: شوکت علی قاسمی بستوی، ناظم کل ہند رابطۂ مدارس اسلامیہ عربیہ، دار العلوم دیوبند |trans-title=Report of the 6th meeting of the Working Committee of the All-India Association of the Islamic and Arabic Seminaries, Darul Uloom Deoband: Shaukat Ali Qasmi Bastawi |url=https://darululoom-deoband.com/urduarticles/archives/657 |url-status=live |journal=Monthly Darul Uloom |language=ur |publisher=Darul Uloom Deoband |volume=91 |issue=5 |page=49 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216101911/https://darululoom-deoband.com/urduarticles/archives/657 |archive-date=16 December 2023}}
Death
Qasmi died on November 17, 2020 (1st Rabi al-Thani 1442 AH) on Tuesday after a long illness. The funeral prayer was led by his son Arshad Zaki Qasmi in Binjharpur the same day after the Isha prayer, and he was buried there in Binjharpur.{{Cite web |last= |date=2020-11-17 |title=جمعیۃ علماء اڈیشہ کے صدر امیر شریعت مولانا محمد جابر قاسمی کا انتقال |trans-title=President of Jamiat Ulama-e-Odisha Ameer-e- Sharia'at Maulana Muhammad Jabir Qasmi passed away |url=https://qindeelonline.com/jamiat-ulama-odisha-ke-sadar-ameer-shariyat-maulana-muhammad-jabir-qasmi-ka-intiqal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215042756/https://qindeelonline.com/jamiat-ulama-odisha-ke-sadar-ameer-shariyat-maulana-muhammad-jabir-qasmi-ka-intiqal/ |archive-date=15 February 2024 |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=Qindeel Online |language=ur}} Usman Mansoorpuri and Mahmood Madani delivered their condolences on his demise and stated that it was a loss to the Jamiat.