Qamaruzzaman Azmi
{{Short description|Islamic scholar and leader of World Islamic Mission}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| religion = Islam
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Qamaruzzaman Azmi
| image = Allama Maulana Qamaruzzaman Azmi.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Azmi in 2011
| title =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age |df=yes |1946|03|23}}
| birth_place = Khalispur, Sagri, Azamgarh
| death_date =
| death_place =
| children =
| other_names =
| era = Modern
| region = Europe
| occupation = Islamic Scholar
| denomination = Sunni
| jurisprudence = Hanafi
| creed = Maturidi
| movement = Barelvi
| main_interests = Islamic theology, Hadith, Tafsir, Hanafi jurisprudence, Urdu poetry, Tasawwuf, Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Astronomy
| notable_ideas = Opposition to terrorism
| notable_works =
| alma_mater = *Madarsa Arbiya Anwarul Uloom, Jiyanpur, Azamgarh
- Al Jamiatul Ashrafia, Mubarakpur, Azamgarh
- Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow
| Sufi_order = Qadri
| nationality = Indian
| disciple_of = Mustafa Raza Khan Qadri
| influences = Abu Hanifa
Abdul Qadir Gilani
Mu'in al-Din Chishti
Nizamuddin Auliya
Al-Suyuti
Ibn Abidin
Qadi Iyad
Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi
Akhtar Raza Khan
| influenced =
| awards = Mufti-e-Azam Gold medal
| module =
| website = {{URL|allamaazmi.com}}
| signature =
| teachers = Hafiz-e-Millat Allama Shah Abdul Azeez Muradabadi
| background = green
}}
Qamaruzzaman Azmi (born 23 March 1946),{{citation |url=https://hijazmuslimcollege.com/his-eminence-allama-qamaruzzaman-khan-azmi/ |title=His Eminence Allama Qamaruzzaman Khan Azmi is a prominent Islamic scholar |work=Hijaz Muslim College |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-date=11 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611144430/https://hijazmuslimcollege.com/his-eminence-allama-qamaruzzaman-khan-azmi/ |url-status=usurped }} also known as Allama Azmi, is an Indian Islamic scholar, philosopher and speaker. He is president of the World Islamic Mission. From 2011 to 2021, he was listed in The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought due to his efforts to build organisations and institutions, mosques, colleges, and universities for over five decades.The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, 2016 'The Muslim 500', The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan, http://themuslim500.com/profile/h-e-hazrat-allama-maulana-qamaruzzaman-azmi {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018021751/http://themuslim500.com/profile/h-e-hazrat-allama-maulana-qamaruzzaman-azmi |date=18 October 2015 }}[http://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/Kavakci_500.pdf The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901172633/https://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/Kavakci_500.pdf |date=1 September 2016 }}, pg. 116. Amman: Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought.{{Cite web|title=The Muslim 500 2011|url=https://themuslim500.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TheMuslim500-2011-low.pdf|access-date=21 December 2020|archive-date=26 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126040105/https://themuslim500.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TheMuslim500-2011-low.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=The Muslim 500 2021|url=https://themuslim500.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/TheMuslim500-2021_Edition-low_res_20201028.pdf|access-date=21 December 2020|archive-date=11 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111010552/https://themuslim500.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/TheMuslim500-2021_Edition-low_res_20201028.pdf|url-status=live}} He is the patron in chief of Sunni Dawat-e-Islami, an Islamic movement having branches around the world.
Life
Azmi was graduated from Al Jamiatul Ashrafia in 1966. He studied all Islamic sciences in depth with his honourable teachers. His grasp on Fiqh, Hadith and History is well known. He was commissioned in 1966 by Abdul Aziz Muradabadi to go Faizabad (near Lucknow) to start his missionary work. There at the age of eighteen years he established the Islamic university, Al-Jame-atul-Islamia.Khalid Razvi (2011) Tajalliyat-e-Qamar, page 32, Mumbai: Raza Academy He is also considered by some to be the spiritual heir of Mustafa Raza Khan, son of Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi.
On 7 August 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron, along with Faiths Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, met Azmi.Murtaza Ali Shah, Friday, 9 August 2013, 'PM Cameron helps prepare big iftar, listens to Muslim concerns', The News International, LondonMuslim Mirror, 26 August 2013,'UK PM meets Hazrat Allama Qamaruzzaman Azmi in Manchester', Muslim Mirror News, New Delhi, http://muslimmirror.com/eng/uk-pm-meets-hazrat-allama-qamaruzzaman-azmi-in-manchester/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105221743/http://muslimmirror.com/eng/uk-pm-meets-hazrat-allama-qamaruzzaman-azmi-in-manchester/ |date=5 November 2014 }}
Islamic missionary activities
Azmi has helped to build organisations and institutions including mosques, colleges and universities in the United Kingdom, America, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Belgium and India.Shahid Raza (2011) Tajalliyat-e-Qamar, page 19, Mumbai: Raza Academy
These centers were established with his direct support and supervision.Allama Azmi: The Great Enabler of Islamic Institutions
By Mohammed Khalid Razvi Nagauri, https://web.archive.org/web/20170409143727/http://allamaazmi.com/articles-3.asp{{Cite web|url=https://hijazmuslimcollege.com/his-eminence-allama-qamaruzzaman-khan-azmi/|title=His Eminence Allama Qamaruzzaman Khan Azmi – Hijaz Muslim College|access-date=3 April 2020|archive-date=11 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611144430/https://hijazmuslimcollege.com/his-eminence-allama-qamaruzzaman-khan-azmi/|url-status=usurped}}
- India
- Al-jamiat-ul-Islamia (Islamiya University) Rounahi, Faizabad, India -affiliated to the prestigious Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
Bradford
- Islamic Missionary College (IMC) Bradford
- International Dar-ul-Ifta Bradford
Manchester
- Ibad-ur-Rehaman Trust{{Cite web |title=Ibad Ur Rahman Trust |url=https://hsm.manchester.gov.uk/kb5/manchester/directory/service.page?id=7N7zdsFH9mg |access-date=2022-03-10 |website=hsm.manchester.gov.uk |archive-date=2 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602193636/https://hsm.manchester.gov.uk/kb5/manchester/directory/service.page?id=7N7zdsFH9mg |url-status=live }}
- North Manchester Jamia Mosque -with capacity to hold 2,500 worshipers
- Institution Kulliyat-ud-Dirasatil Islamiya (College of Islamic studies)
His continuous speeches helped become Jamat-e-Islami influenced, Southerland Mosque part of part the Sunni Barelvi. He also participated in the establishment of Masjid Noor-ul-Islam Bolton and in the establishment of Ghamkol Shariff Masjid at Birmingham.{{cite web |url=http://allamaazmi.com/articles-3.asp |title=Allama Azmi | Great Religious Leader of the 21st Century |website=allamaazmi.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409143727/http://allamaazmi.com/articles-3.asp |archive-date=9 April 2017 |url-status=dead}}
- United States
He participated in the construction of Masjid-e-Al Noor, Houston, America and in Islamic Center Chicago.
- Norway
The World Islamic Mission's mosque in Oslo, Norway was established in 1980.{{Cite news |date=2016-05-20 |title=Woman attempted to set fire to Oslo mosque |url=https://www.thelocal.no/20160520/woman-attempted-to-set-fire-to-oslo-mosque/ |access-date=2022-03-10 |work=The Local Norway|archive-date=28 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128014421/https://www.thelocal.no/20160520/woman-attempted-to-set-fire-to-oslo-mosque/ |url-status=live }}
Hejaz Conference
The 1985 Hejaz Conference at the Wembley Centre, London marked a watershed for Sunni Muslims which was attended by key religious leaders from around the world with the aim to discuss the barbaric treatment of Sunni pilgrims by Wahabi Saudi police and the ban in Saudi Arabia on Kanzul Iman the translation of the Quran by Imam Ahmed Raza. The Conference was widely covered by British Media and made a huge impact.Guardian, London, page 4 Tuesday 7 May 1985 It forced Saudi King Fahad and with in two years Saudi government allowed the Muslims of all movements/sects to perform the religious rituals in Makkah and Medina, according to their respective beliefs.Dawn Karachi, Sunday 20 March 1987;The Nation, Lahore, 29 March 1987Daily Jang, Lahore, 29 March 1987
View about him
Times of India wrote about him, There are two kinds of Sunni Muslims in the world: those who have met or heard Allama Qamaruzzaman Azmi and those who haven't. His lucid speeches peppered with repeated references to Quranic commandments and the life of the Prophet and his companions have a charismatic effect; they go straight to the heart. Unlike many rabble-rousing parochial preachers and Islam-supremacist televangelists Azmi uses words to calm nerves, close breaches and salve wounds.The Times of India 2 November, Mumbai Edition 2010:
Jim Karygiannis M.P., House of Commons, Canada on 13 July 2002 awarded a certificate of commendation to Allama Azmi for his services and wrote: In my capacity as Member of Parliament it gives me great pleasure to commend the renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Qamaruzzaman Azmi.{{cite web |url=http://allamaazmi.com/articles-2.asp |title=Allama Azmi | Great Religious Leader of the 21st Century |website=allamaazmi.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409143717/http://allamaazmi.com/articles-2.asp |archive-date=9 April 2017 |url-status=dead}}
His views
Phillip Lewis quotes Azmi in his 1994 book Islamic Britain: Religion, Politics and Identity among British Muslims, that Islam and secular society can co-exist and "the widely shared perception that secular necessarily implies irreligion is simply wrong. In India, he contends, a secular state can offer security to Muslims since it is compatible with acknowledging that religion is important and, that in a religiously plural environment the state does not allow believers in one religious tradition to enjoy a privileged status. All are citizens with equal rights. Indeed, in India, Muslims are allowed to conform to their own Muslim family law".Phillip Lewis (1994) Islamic Britain: Religion, Politics and Identity among British Muslims (p.127. London: I.B. Tauris.
Azmi has opposed the practice of female genital mutilation.Haseena Lockhat, Female genital mutilation: treating the tears, pg. 29. Middlesex University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|9781898253907}} Azmi also holds that Aisha, the third wife of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, was an example of a strong and intelligent female role model.[http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_TOINEW&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=TOIM/2010/10/30&ID=Ar00805 Women must lead the way: Clerics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829212825/http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_TOINEW&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=TOIM/2010/10/30&ID=Ar00805 |date=29 August 2012 }}. Epaper.timesofindia.com (30 October 2010). Retrieved on 12 September 2013.
He has also opposed extremism and terrorism and argues that those who use the name of Islam for such acts are, in fact, Islam's enemies.[https://web.archive.org/web/20181112061008/http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Layout/Includes/TOINEW/ArtWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM%2F2010%2F10%2F31&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T&PageLabel=6&EntityId=Ar00602&AppName=1 Mohammed Wajihuddin in The Times of India, THE PEACEMAKER – ‘Muslims have failed to PROJECT TRUE ISLAM’] – UK-based preacher Allama Qamruzzaman Khan Azmi, who was in Mumbai this week, talks about terrorism, Islamophobia and his own peace mission He endorsed a fatwa against Britons joining Islamic extremists.Winer, Stuart. "British imams put fatwa on Islamic State". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
On the murder of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, he said "we condemn this act of evil by people who are pure evil. There is no legitimacy for such evilness in Islam".Richard Wheatstone, 16 September 2014, 'Hammond: We can't send in the SAS to rescue Alan Henning because we don't know where he is', Manchester Evening News, Manchester, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/hammond-cant-send-sas-rescue-7780139 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140918034609/http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/hammond-cant-send-sas-rescue-7780139 |date=18 September 2014 }}
He condemns the persecution of Christians and other non-Muslims, arguing that the perpetrators "are not Muslims because Islam teaches the importance of ensuring a good place in society for all people".Le Mauricien, 16 August 2014 'La violence et la guerre n’ont rien à faire avec la pratique religieuse', Le Mauricien, http://www.lemauricien.com/article/allama-maulana-qamarruzaman-azmi-et-dr-waqar-azmi-la-violence-et-la-guerre-n-ont-rien-faire- {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105142928/http://www.lemauricien.com/article/allama-maulana-qamarruzaman-azmi-et-dr-waqar-azmi-la-violence-et-la-guerre-n-ont-rien-faire- |date=5 November 2014 }}
His teachers
His teachers include following scholars.{{cite web |url=http://allamaazmi.com/articles-4.asp |title=Allama Azmi | Great Religious Leader of the 21st Century |website=allamaazmi.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408173214/http://allamaazmi.com/articles-4.asp |archive-date=8 April 2017 |url-status=dead}}
- Hafiz-e-Millat Allama Abdul Aziz Muradabadi (Founder of Al Jamiatul Ashrafia)
- Ustadhul Ulama Allama Hafiz Abdul Raoof Balyawi
- Bahrul Uloom Allama Mufti Abdul Mannan Azmi
- Ashraful Ulama Allama Sayyid Hamid Ashraf
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120316061740/http://allamaazmi.com/ Allama Qamaruzzaman Azmi]
- [http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Allama-Maulana-Qamaruzzaman-Azmi/161394797254627?sk=info#!/pages/Allama-Maulana-Qamaruzzaman-Azmi/161394797254627?sk=wall Qamaruzzaman Azmi] On Facebook
- [https://twitter.com/AllamaAzmi Qamaruzzaman Azmi] On Twitter
{{Hanafi scholars}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azmi, Qamaruzzaman}}
Category:World Islamic Mission
Category:20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
Category:20th-century Indian poets