Shabbir Ahmad Usmani

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Shabbir Ahmad Usmani

| image = Shabbir Ahmad Usmani.jpg

| office = Ameer of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam

| term_start = 1945

| term_end = 1949

| predecessor = Position established

| successor = Zafar Ahmad Usmani

| office1 = Member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan

| term_start1 = 11 August 1947

| term_end1 = 13 December 1949

| office2 = Member of the Constituent Assembly of India

| term_start2 = November 1946

| term_end2 = 11 August 1947

| module = {{Infobox religious biography|embed=yes

|religion = Islam

|background = #e6e8fa

|denomination = Sunni

|jurisprudence = Hanafi

|movement = Deobandi

| birth_date = 11 October 1887

| birth_place = Bijnor, North-Western Provinces, British India

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1949|12|13|1887|10|11}}

| death_place = Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur State, Pakistan

|citizenship = {{Flag|British India|name=British Indian}} (1887-1947)
{{Flag|Dominion of Pakistan|name=Pakistani}} (1947-1949)

| resting_place = Islamia Science College (Karachi), Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

| party = All-India Muslim League
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam

| father = Fazlur Rahman Usmani

|relatives =Usmani family of Deoband

| students = Athar Ali Bengali, Azizul Haque, Shah Abd al-Wahhab,{{cite book|url=https://www.rokomari.com/book/115714/alhillul-mufham-asshahihu-limuslim |title=মাশায়েখে চাটগাম|volume=2|author1=Ullah, Ahmad|author2=Qadir, Ridwanul|chapter=কুতুবুল আলম হাকীমুন নফস, খলীফায়ে থানভী আল্লামা শাহ আবদুল ওয়াহহাব রহ. (১৮৯৪—১৯৮২) - এর সংক্ষিপ্ত জীবনচরিত |date=February 2018|publisher=Ahmad Prakashan|location=11/1, Islami Tower, Bangla Bazar, Dhaka-1100|pages=35–54|isbn=978-984-92106-4-1|edition=1}} Badre Alam Merathi, Sharif Hasan Deobandi

| founder = Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam

| notable_works = Fath al-Mulhim bi-Sharh Sahih al-Imam Muslim, Tafseer-e-Usmani

}}

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani{{Efn|{{lang|ur|شبیر احمد عثمانی}}}} (11 October 1887{{spaced ndash}}13 December 1949) was an Islamic scholar and an activist of the Pakistan Movement, who served as the {{Transliteration|ar|Shaykh al-Islām}} of Pakistan in 1949.

He was the first to demand that Pakistan become an Islamic state.{{Citation |last=Hussain |first=Rizwan |title=Pakistan |date=2009 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0616 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |access-date=2023-06-14 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-530513-5}} He was a religious scholar, writer, orator, politician, and an expert in Tafsir and Hadith.{{cite web|url=https://storyofpakistan.com/maulana-shabbir-ahmad-usmani |title=Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani's profile |website= storyofpakistan.com website|date= 4 January 2008|access-date= 29 August 2019}}

Born in 1887 in Bijnor, Usmani was an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was the son of Fazlur Rahman Usmani. His brother Azizur Rahman Usmani was the first Grand Mufti of Darul Uloom Deoband. Usmani was the first to hoist the Flag of Pakistan at Karachi on 14 August 1947, and led the funeral prayers of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. His major work is the Tafseer-e-Usmani, which he co-authored with his teacher Mahmud Hasan Deobandi.

Early life

He was born on 11 October 1887 in Bijnor, a city in North-Western Provinces, British India. His father, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, was a deputy inspector of schools and had been sent on assignment to Bareilly, when his son Shabbir was born.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} His nephews include Atiqur Rahman Usmani and Shams Naved Usmani.

Education and career

He was educated at Darul Uloom Deoband, where he became a disciple of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, and graduated in 1908. After his graduation, he was appointed as a teacher at Darul Uloom Deoband.

In 1915, when Mahmud Hasan went into self-exile in Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, Usmani filled his position as the teacher of Sahih al-Muslim, a book of teachings of Muhammad. In 1925, Sultan Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia scheduled a conference for prominent religious scholars from all over the world. A deputation of a number of 'Ulema' from India participated in this conference. It is believed that they chose Usmani as their leader after having a short conversation with him.

In 1926, he moved to Dabhel, a small predominantly Deobandi town in the Indian state of Gujarat, and became a teacher at Jamiah Islamiah Talimuddin Dabhel. In October 1920, when the foundation committee decided to establish Jamia Millia Islamia, he was elected as a member of the founding committee. Many other Islamic scholars also were members of the Foundation Committee including Hussain Ahmad Madani, Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, Kifayatullah Dihlawi, and Abdul Haq Akorwi. In 1933, when Anwar Shah Kashmiri died, Usmani became the teacher of Sahih al-Bukhari, a book of teachings by Muhammad. {{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} His disciples include Badre Alam Merathi.

Political career

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani was one of the founding members of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi as he was a member of the Foundation Committee of the Jamia (University) that met on Friday, 29 October 1920. In 1944, he became a member of the All-India Muslim League and led a small group of Deobandis who supported the creation of Pakistan.

As a leader of this pro-Pakistan faction of Deobandis of the old Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind party, which was originally founded in Deoband in 1919, he went ahead and founded a new and separate political party called the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in 1945, along with other like-minded pro-Pakistan religious leaders. He joined Muslim League in 1944 at a critical juncture of Pakistan movement when most of the feudals of N.W.F.P. and Punjab came under the influence of the Congress. Shabbir Ahmad Usmani with a team of 500 Ulema eliminated the influence of these corrupt feudals from these regions and converted the sentiments of common people toward Pakistan movement. The importance of Maulana Usmani is also conspicuous from the fact that the Quaid-i-Azam consulted him on all important matters after independence. He served JUI as its first president until his death in 1949. Usmani, with a team of approximately 500 other religious leaders, actively campaigned to convert the sentiments of common Muslim people in favor of the Pakistan movement. He played a key role in steering people away from some of the leaders in Punjab, British India and N.W.F.P. who were previously supporting All India National Congress in those regions. In fact, he became a close consultant of Jinnah after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. He is also notable for having led the funeral prayer of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan in September 1948.[https://www.dawn.com/news/1356979 From Dawn's Archives: The Father of the Nation laid to rest] Dawn (newspaper), Published 11 September 2017, Retrieved 2 March 2020{{cite web|url=https://epaper.dawn.com/print-textview.php?StoryImage=07_04_2017_001_007|author=Qasim A. Moini|title=Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam at One Hundred (actually old Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind party's 100th anniversary in 2019)|newspaper=Dawn (newspaper)|date=4 July 2017|access-date=29 August 2019|archive-date=29 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829181534/https://epaper.dawn.com/print-textview.php%3FStoryImage%3D07_04_2017_001_007|url-status=dead}}

When Pakistan became independent, its first flag hoisting was also done (in West Pakistan) by him in the presence of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan (while in East Pakistan, his fellow, Allama Zafar Ahamd Usmani, did the flag hoisting in the presence of Khwaja Nazimuddin).{{Cite web|url=https://musingsofamuslimdoctor.wordpress.com/2018/11/22/asia-bibi-case-pakistanis-need-to-bridge-the-mister-mulla-divide/|title=Asia Bibi case: Pakistanis need to bridge the 'mister-mulla' divide|last=Talhah|first=Sayyid|date=2018-11-22|website=Musings of a Muslim Doctor|language=en|access-date=2019-09-24}}

After the Partition of India, Usmani became a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, and remained a member until his death in 1949.[http://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/former-members/1st%20Constituent%20Assembly.pdf First Constitute Assembly From 1947–1954] at [http://www.na.gov.pk/en/content.php?id=121 Pakistan National Assembly, Former members]

He is best remembered for having spearheaded the Qarardad-i-Maqasid Objectives Resolution for Pakistan, which was passed by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on March 12, 1949.[https://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110826&page=30 Constituent Assembly adopts Objectives Resolution (1949)]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} in The Friday Times newspaper, Published August 26, 2011, Retrieved 8 Jan 2017

In 1946 Usmani furnished the Quranic basis for the establishment of Pakistan by citing the distinction between momin (believer) and kafir (non-believer).{{Cite book |last=Deepak |first=J Sai |title=India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of a Sandwiched Civilisation (Kindle Edition) |publisher=Bloomsbury India |year=2022 |isbn=9789354354526 |edition=1st |location=New Delhi |pages=837 |language=}}

Death and legacy

Usmani died at Baghdadul Jadid in Bahawalpur State on 13 December 1949, and was buried at Islamia Science College (Karachi) the next day.

Pakistan Postal Services issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in 1990 in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series.[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJrIiNNNtWI/SozygjD7KvI/AAAAAAAABAU/qjOmKwOsXtA/s1600-h/1990-7b.JPG, Commemorative postage stamp in honor of Shabbir Ahmad Usmani issued by the Pakistan Postal Services in 1990 in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series], Retrieved 29 August 2019 His death is seen as the end of an important phase in the movement for the establishment of an Islamic constitution in newly independent Pakistan, as noted by Sayyid A. S. Pirzada, a scholar from Quaid-i-Azam University.{{Cite book |last=Pirzada |first=Sayyid A. S. |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofjamiat0000pirz |title=The Politics of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan 1971–77 |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195793021 |location=Karachi |pages=18 |language=en}}

Books

class="wikitable"

!Title

!Description

Tafsir-e-Usmani

|an Urdu translation of the tafsir of the Quran written by Mahmud ul Hasan

Fath al-Mulhim bi-Sharh Sahih al-Imam Muslim

|a commentary on Sahih Muslim

Al-‘Aql wan-Naql

|a philosophical study on the relation between faith and reason from an Islamic perspective

I’jaz ul-Qur’an

|on the miraculous nature of the Qur’an

Mas’alah-yi taqdir

|on predestination in Islam

Notes

References

Sources

{{Cite thesis |last=Jackson |first=William |date=2013 |title=A Subcontinent's Sunni Schism: The Deobandi-Barelvi Rivalry and the Creation of Modern South Asia |page= |url=https://surface.syr.edu/etd/41 |degree=PhD |publisher=Syracuse University |place=Syracuse, New York|pages=262–291}}
[http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/handle/123456789/16642 فتح الملہم از مولانا شبیر احمد عثمانیؒ اور منتہ المنعم از مولانا صفی الرحمن مبارکپوریؒ کے مناہج کا تقابلی مطالعہ]
[https://religion.asianindexing.com/images_religion/9/9b/Al-Idah_32_1_24.pdf Allama Sahabbir Ahmed Uthmani's Efforts for Islamization in Pakistan]
[http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/handle/123456789/16642 Hassan, Hafiz Muhammad]
{{Cite journal |last=Ghouri |first=Syed Abdul Majid |date=2011 |title=Al-muhaddith Shabbeer Ahmed Al-Usmani & His Contribution In The Field Of Hadis |url=https://oarep.usim.edu.my/jspui/handle/123456789/14037 |journal=Hadis Jurnal Ilmiah Berwasit |language=ar |pages=97–123 |issn=2550-1585}}
{{Cite thesis |title=علامہ شبیر احمد عثمانیؑ کا تحریک آزادی مین کردار |url=http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/handle/123456789/8490 |publisher=University of Sindh, Jamshoro |date=2000 |degree=Thesis |language=ur |first=علی |last=ارشد}}
Rizwan Hussain. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TRW_M_xybyYC&q=shabbir+ahmad+usmani+pakistan+movement&pg=PA56 Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan]. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005

{{ISBN|0-7546-4434-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7546-4434-7}}

Category:1887 births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:Muhajir people

Category:Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam

Category:Pakistani Islamic religious leaders

Category:Pakistani scholars

Category:Hanafi fiqh scholars

Category:Hanafis

Category:Maturidis

Category:Deobandis

Category:20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam