| Islamic scholar Modern era |
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| Full name | Syed Husain Ahmad Madani |
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| Birth | 1879 CE |
| Death | 1957 CE |
| School/tradition | Chisti-Sabiri branch of the Chisti order |
| Main interests | Hadith, Tafsir, Fiqh |
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Syed Husain Ahmad Madani (6 October 1879 - 1957) was an Islamic scholar from the Indian subcontinent. He was conferred upon the title of Shaikhul Islam as to acknowledge his eminence in hadith and fiqh.
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Education and spiritual training
In the year 1892, at the age of thirteen years, he went to the Darul Uloom Deoband, where he was taught by Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mehmud Hasan. After completing the exoteric sciences, he became a disciple of Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi, who later authorised him to initiate others in the Sufi path. Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi was also the pir (or spiritual teacher) of Maulana Mehmud Hasan and it was Mehmud Hasan who told Husain Ahmed to become Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi's disciple too. He was held among the senior khulafa (or successors) of Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi. Through him his spiritual lineage goes back to Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari who was the originator of the Chisti-Sabiri branch of the Chisti order. This spiritual chain is however strongly linked with the Naqshbandi order of sufism as well, because one of the ancestoral pirs of Husain Ahmed had also accepted Syed Ahmad Shaheed as his master who belonged to the Naqshbandi order. Thus Husain Ahmed had the benefit of being linked to both the Naqshbandi and the Chisti order. While the former stressed on the exoteric, the latter was more focused on the esoteric aspects of Islam. His main school of thought, of whose litanies he practiced, was however Chisti-Sabiri.
Career
After graduating from the Darul Uloom Deoband, he migrated to Medina with his family. He began teaching Arabic grammar, usul al-fiqh, usul al-hadith, and Quranic exegesis. He spent 18 years teaching these various Islamic sciences in Medina. Maulana Madani, as he was also known as, was then appointed as head teacher and Shaikhul Hadith of Darul Uloom Deoband. He filled this position for approximately 28 years.
His efforts for independence
After his teacher Maulana Mehmud Hasan was sentenced by the British for his role in the Silk Letter Conspiracy to a prison in the Island of Malta, Maulana Madani volunteered to go with him so that he can look after him. He had personally not been convicted. He was imprisoned for three years.
After his release, he returned to India and became actively involved in India's freedom struggle. He had considerable influence over a section of the Muslims, more prominently those belonging to Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He was against the two-nation theory and predominantly due to this a large number of Muslims from Eastern U.P. and Bihar declined to migrate to Pakistan at the time of partition. He became the President of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, a post he held until his death in 1957. (He also held the post of Shaikhul Hadith at Darul Uloom Deoband till his death).
External links
References
- Al-E’tidaal Fi Maraatib ar-Rijaal (English Translation), Islamic Book Service, Pages 34-35
- Aap Beti (English Translation), Darul Isha’at, Pages 375-376
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