Mahmud Hasan Deobandi: Difference between revisions

|honorific_prefix = Shaykh al-Hind, Maulana

|death_place = [[Delhi]], [[British Raj|British India]]

|main_interests = Tafseer, [[Indian Freedom Movement]], [[Politics]]

|notable_ideas = Fatwa on non-cooperation with British, [[Silk Letter Movement]]

|notable_works = ''Tarjuma Shaykh al-Hind'', ''Adilla-e-Kamilah'', ''Idaahul Adillah''

|disciple_of = [[Rashid Ahmad Gangohi]]<br/>[[Haji Imdadullah]]

| disciples = [[List of students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi]]

|Sufi_order = [[Chishti Order|Chishtiya]]-[[Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari|Sabiriya]]-[[Haji Imdadullah Muhaajir Makki|Imdadiya]]

'''Mahmud Hasan Deobandi''' also known as '''Shaykh al-Hind''' (1851&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;30 November 1920) was a [[Sunni Muslim]] [[ulama|scholar]] who was active against [[British Raj|British rule]] in [[India]].

Born in [[Bareilly]] in 1851, Hasan completed his studies from [[Darul Uloom Deoband]] where he was the first student. He became the principal of Darul Uloom in 1890. He began the [[Silk Letter Movement]] and was arrested afterwards for it in [[Hejaz]] in December 1916 and was released in the first half of 1920. He was given the title of "Shaykh al-Hind" by the [[Khilafat Movement|Central Khilafat Committee]] upon his arrival in India in June 1920. He presided the foundation ceremony of [[Jamia Millia Islamia]] in [[Aligarh]]. He laid the foundation stone of this university on 29 October 1920. Deobandi moved to Delhi at the request of [[Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari]] where he died on 30 November 1920. He was buried in [[Mazar-e-Qasmi]] in [[Deoband]].

Deobandi's major students include [[Ashraf Ali Thanwi]], [[Anwar Shah Kashmiri]], [[Hussain Ahmad Madani]], [[Kifayatullah Dehlawi]], [[Sanaullah Amritsari]] and [[Ubaidullah Sindhi]].

Mahmud Hasan was born in 1851 in the town of [[Bareilly]] (in modern [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]]) into the [[Usmani family of Deoband]].<ref name=MG>[http://www.milligazette.com/news/13779-shaikhul-hind-mahmood-hasan-symbol-of-freedom-struggle Shaikhul-Hind Mahmood Hasan: symbol of freedom struggle on The Milli Gazette (newspaper)] Published 12 February 2016, Retrieved 23 November 2019</ref><ref name="rizwi"/><ref name=tabassum>{{cite book|last=Tabassum|first=Farhat|title=Deoband Ulema's Movement for the Freedom of India|year=2006|publisher=Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in association with Manak Publications|location=New Delhi|isbn=81-7827-147-8|page=98|edition=1st}}</ref> His father, Zulfiqar Ali Deobandi, who co-founded the [[Darul Uloom Deoband]], was a scholar of the [[Arabic language]] and worked in the education department of the [[British East India Company]]'s administration in the region.<ref name=JMI>{{cite web|title=Maulana Mahmud al-Hasan (1851–1920)|url=http://jmi.ac.in/MaulanaMehmudHasan.htm|website=Jamia Millia Islamia website|date=11 November 2004|archive-date=14 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060714105427/http://jmi.ac.in/MaulanaMehmudHasan.htm | access-date=23 November 2019}}</ref>

As a child, Mahmud Hasan was with his father in [[Meerut]] during the [[Mutiny of 1857]].<ref name=tabassum/> He received traditional Islamic education with a strong emphasis on the study of [[Islam]], the [[Persian language]] and [[Urdu]]. His primary education was under his uncle Mahtab Ali.<ref name="adrawi">{{Citation |author1=Asir Adrawi |author-link=Asir Adrawi |title=Hazrat Shaykhul Hind: Hayat awr Karname|trans-title= Shaykhul Hind: Life and Works|pages=38–39 |edition= April 2012 |language=ur}}</ref><ref name=tabassum/> While Mahmud al-Hasan was studying the books ''Mukhtasar al-Quduri'' and ''Sharh-i-Tahdhib'', the college known as [[Darul Uloom Deoband]] was established in 1866.<ref name="rizwi"/> His father sent him to the newly established school, where he was the first student. There he studied with [[Mahmud Deobandi]]<ref name="adrawi"/> and completed his basic studies in 1286 [[Hijri year|AH]] (1869/1870), after which he studied under the guidance of [[Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi]], with whom he studied [[hadith]]. After that, he studied higher level books under his father. He graduated from Darul Uloom Deoband in 1873.<ref name="rizwi">{{cite book |last1=Rizwi |first1=Syed Mehboob |translator=Murtaz Husain F Quraishi |author-link1=Syed Mehboob Rizwi |title= Tarikh Darul Uloom Deoband

|trans-title= History of the Dar al-Ulum Deoband |chapter=Shaikh al-Hind Maulana Mahmud Hasan|pages=19–21 |volume = 2 |publisher=[[Darul Uloom Deoband]] |location=[[Deoband]] |edition=1981}}</ref><ref name=JMI/>

In 1874, Mahmud Hasan joined Darul Uloom Deoband as a teacher and later got promoted to the position of the college principal in 1890.<ref name="rizwi"/><ref name=JMI/><ref name=MG/>

==Revolutionary activities==

{{main|Silk Letter Movement|Khilafat Movement}}

Although focused on his work at the school, Maulana Mahmud Hasan developed an interest in the political environment of [[British India]] and the world. When the [[Ottoman Empire]] entered [[World War I]] against the [[British Empire]] in 1914, Muslims across the world were concerned of the future of the [[Sultan]] of Ottoman Empire, who was also the [[caliph]] of Islam and spiritual leader of the global Muslim community. Known as the Khilafat movement, its leaders [[Mohammad Ali Jouhar]] and [[Maulana Shaukat Ali]] organised protests across the country (see: [[partitioning of the Ottoman Empire]]). Mahmud al-Hasan was fervently active in encouraging Muslim students to join the movement. Hasan organised efforts to start an armed revolution against British rule from both within and outside India. He launched a programme to train volunteers from among his disciples in India and abroad who joined this movement in a large number. The most eminent among them were Maulana [[Ubaidullah Sindhi]] and Maulana [[Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari]]. Sending Sindhi to [[Kabul]] and Ansari to the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|North-West Frontier Province]] to mobilize popular support and recruit volunteers, Mahmud Hasan himself traveled to [[Hijaz|Hejaz]] to secure Turkish support in 1915.<ref name="rizwi"/><ref name=JMI/><ref name=MG/>

Obtaining the Turkish governor Ghalib Pasha's signature on a declaration of war against the British, Mahmud Hasan planned to return to India via [[Baghdad]] and [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] to start the rebellion. The plan, referred to as the [[Silk Letter Conspiracy]], however, was leaked and captured by the Punjab CID, and he was arrested in [[Mecca]]. He was imprisoned in [[Malta]], for more than three years before his release in 1920.<ref name=JMI/><ref name=MG/> [[Muhammad Miyan Deobandi]] writes in his ''Tehreek Reshmi Ruman'' (''Silk Letter Movement'') that "Sharif Hussain betrayed the Turks and allied with the English. He detained Mahmud Hasan and his companions and took them to Jeddah. From there the English took them to Egypt

and then imprisoned them in Malta. They were brought to Bombay, three years and seven months later and were released on 8 June 1920".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deobandi |first1=Muhammad Miyan |author1-link=Muhammad Miyan Deobandi |translator=Muhammadullah Qasmi|title=Tehrīk Reshmi Rumāl |year=2013 |trans-title=Silk Letter Movement|publisher=Manak Publications and Shaikhul Hind Academy |isbn=978-93-7831-322-6 |page=61 |edition=1st, 2013 |language=en}}</ref>

He laid the foundation stone of the [[Jamia Millia Islamia]] in October 1920, a university founded by Indian nationalists [[Hakim Ajmal Khan]], [[Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari]] to develop an institution independent of British control.<ref name=JMI/><ref name=MG/> Mahmud Hasan supported modern education and also supported [[Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama]] established in 1893 in [[Lucknow]].<ref name=MG/>

==Death and legacy==

Mahmud Hasan died on 30 November 1920.<ref name=MG/> His endeavours won him the admiration not only of Muslims but also of Indians across the religious and political spectrum. He became an icon of the [[Indian independence movement]], and was given the title of "Shaykh al-Hind" by the Central Khilafat Committee.<ref name=tabassum/> Hasan issued a ''[[fatwa]]'' making it the duty of all Indian Muslims to support and participate with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and the [[Indian National Congress]], who had prescribed a policy of [[Non-Cooperation Movement|non-cooperation]] &mdash; mass [[civil disobedience]] through [[non-violence]].<ref name=tabassum/>

[[File:Maulana Mahmud Hasan gate at JMI.jpg|thumb|Bab-e-Maulana Mahmud Hasan of the [[Jamia Millia Islamia]] is named after Mahmud Hasan Deobandi]]

[[Shaikh-Ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan Medical College]] in Saharanpur is named after him. [[Asir Adrawi]] has written his biography entitled ''Shaykh al-Hind Hayat Aur Karname'' which is published by Shaikhul Hind Academy, Deoband. Darul Uloom Deoband has set up a research institute Shaikhul Hind Academy, named after him.

At the [[Aligarh Muslim University]].Muhammad Tayyab wrote a [[Master of Philosophy]] thesis in Political science entitled ''The Role of Shaikh-Ul-Hind Maulana Mahmud-Ul-Hasan in the Indian Freedom Movement''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Role of Shaikh-Ul-Hind Maulana Mahmud-Ul-Hasan in the Indian Freedom Movement |url=http://ir.amu.ac.in/7137/ |website=ir.amu.ac.in |publisher=AMU Library |access-date=9 December 2020}}</ref>

Mahmud Hasan Deobandi's major work is his translation of ''Qur'an'' in the Urdu language. He wrote incomplete annotations to this translation, as he had just completed the fourth chapter ''[[An-Nisa]]'', that he died in 1920.<ref name="books">{{Citation|title=Shaykhul Hind: Hayat awr kārnāme|chapter=Tasānīf awr tarjumah Qur'ān|author=[[Asir Adrawi]]|pages=332–370}}</ref> This work was completed by his student [[Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]], and is published as ''Tafsir-e-Usmāni''.<ref name="books"/><ref name=MG/> His other works include:<ref name="books"/>

==Notable students==

{{main|List of students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi}}

Mahmud Hasan is regarded as one of the main figures of [[Deobandi movement]], every Deobandi scholar anywhere in the world traces back his educational lineage to Mahmud Hasan Deobandi. [[Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]] in the science of [[tafsir]], [[Anwar Shah Kashmiri]] in hadith, [[Ubaidullah Sindhi]], [[Husain Ahmad Madani]] and [[Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari]] in the politics, [[Kifayatullah Dihlawi]], [[Mufti Shafi Usmani]] in fiqh, [[Ashraf Ali Thanwi]] in Tasawwuf are notable students of Mahmud Hasan.<ref name="aziz1">{{cite book |author1=Azizur Rahman Usmani |author-link=Azizur Rahman Usmani |title=Tadhkirah Mashayikh-e-Deoband |publisher=Madeena Press |location=[[Bijnor]] |page=206}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

* {{cite book |last1=Adrawi |first1=Asīr |author1-link=Asir Adrawi |title=Hazrat Shaykhul Hind Hayāt awr Kārnāme |trans-title=Shaykhul Hind: Life and works|publisher=Shaykhul Hind Academy |location=[[Deoband]] |edition=`April 2012 |language=ur}}

* {{cite book |author1=Mawlāna Abdur Rasheed Arshad |editor1-last=Deobandi |editor1-first=Nawaz |editor1-link=Nawaz Deobandi |title=Sawaneh Ulama-e-Deoband |publisher=Nawaz Publications |location=[[Deoband]]|volume = 2 |pages=434–522 |edition=January 2000 |language=ur |chapter=Shaykhul Hind Mawlāna Mahmūd Hasan}}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060714105427/http://jmi.ac.in/MaulanaMehmudHasan.htm JMI biography]