Allamah Shibli
Nomani (Urdu: علامہ شبلی نعما نی) (June 3, 1857 - November 18, 1914,
Azamgarh) was an Indian scholar on Islam. He was born at Bindwal in
Azamgarh district of present-day Uttar Pradesh. He is known for the
founding the Shibli National College in 1883 and the Darul Mussanifin in
Azamgarh. Shibli was a versatile scholar in Arabic, Persian, Hindi,
Turkish and Urdu. He was also a poet. He collected much material on the
life of Prophet of Islam, Muhammad but could write only first two
volumes of the planned work the Sirat-un-Nabi.
His disciple, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi,
made use of this material and added his own and wrote remaining five
volumes of the work, the Sirat-un-Nabi after the death of his mentor.
He
was born in a Rajput family to Shaikh Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon.
Although his younger brothers went to Aligarh for education, Shibli
received a traditional Islamic education. His teacher was Maulana
Muhammad Farooq Chirayakoti, a rationalist scholar.
He went to Makka for the Hajj
and there he devoted his time to furthering his studies in Islamic
theology, history, philosophy and Sufism from different scholars in
Arabia. An orthodox Hanafi Muslim, he was a staunch supporter of the
Shari’a.
When he returned
to India he met Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898) who had just
established Aligarh Muslim University. Nomani was offered and joined a
teaching position at the university on February 1, 1882.
He taught Persian and Arabic
languages at Aligarh for sixteen years where he met Thomas Arnold and
other British scholars from whom he learned firsthand modern Western
ideas and thoughts. He traveled with Thomas Arnold in 1892 to Syria,
Egypt, Turkey and other countries of the Middle East and got direct and
practical experience of their societies. His scholarship influenced
Thomas Arnold on one hand and on the other he was influenced by Thomas
Arnold to a great extent, and this explains the modern touch in his
ideas. In Cairo, he met noted Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad Abduhu.
After the
death of Sir Syed Ahmed in 1898, he left Aligarh and became an advisor
in the Education Department of Hyderabad State. He initiated many
reforms in the Hyderabad education system. From his policy, the Usmania
University of Hyderabad adopted Urdu as the medium of instruction.
Before that no other university of India had adopted any vernacular
language as the medium of instruction in higher studies. In 1908 he left
Hyderabad and went to Lucknow to become the principal of Nadwat
tul-‘Ulum (Nadwa). He introduced reforms in the school's teaching and
curriculum. He stayed at the school for five years but the orthodox
class of scholars became hostile towards him, and he had to leave
Lucknow for his birthplace, Azamgarh, in 1913.
Earlier
at Nadwa he wanted to establish Darul Musannifin or the House of
Writers but there he could not do this. He bequeathed his bungalow and
mango orchard and motivated the members of his clan and relatives to do
the same and succeeded. He wrote letters to his disciples and other
eminent persons and sought their cooperation. Eventually one of his
disciples, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
fulfilled his dream and established Darul Musannifin at Azamgarh. The
first formal meeting of the institution was held on November 21, 1914,
within three days of his death.
Shibli’s genius had its
flowering in Aligarh University when he came into contact with Sir Syed
Ahmed and British scholars. Both Shibli and Sir Syed Ahmed wished for
the welfare of Muslims, and wanted to have Western thinking and style
come along with it. However, Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslims from
the wrath of the British rulers after their active participation in the
War of Independence, called the "Sepoy Mutiny" by the British
colonialist rulers, whereas, Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and
self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition.
Shibli was a
staunch supporter of Pan-Islamism. He wrote poems and articles decrying
the British and other Western powers when Turkey was defeated in the
Balkan Wars and he urged the world Muslims to unite. In 1913, when the
British Administration in India stormed the Kanpur Mosque, Shibli
condemned them.
Maulana Shibli Nomani – whose
ancestor converted from Hindu Rajput into Islam - also had casteist
mindset. Mr. S.M. Ikram writes that he humiliated his own step mother
calling her names like “chhawni / arbabe chhawni” (It is a camp like
army camp where Nawab used to live outside the house) because she was
from low caste. Syed Sulaiman Nadvi also mentioned the same thing, but he also says that in the last
Maulana Shibli asked for forgiveness from her mother and she forgave
him.
According
to some scholars, Shibli was against the Aligarh movement. He opposed
the ideology of Sir Syed and that is why he was debarred from the
services of MAO College. Kamleshwar wrote an excellent novel ‘Kitne
Pakistan’ (How Many Pakistan?) and in that novel he counts Maulana
Shibli Nomani as one of the narrow minded Muslim theologians. In another
book, ‘Ataturk Fi Karbala’, the author alleged that Shibli was not
happy with Sir Syed’s policies and ideologies and was involved
vehemently against Aligarh movement. It is a false propaganda that he
was till his last breath closely associated with Aligarh Muslim
University. Only few people from his community and region exaggerate
that he was a great Muslim theologian, a great admirer of Sir Syed and
an earnest principal at Darul-uloom Nadwatul Ulama.
There
does not appear to be evidence of any difference of opinion between
Shibli and Sir Syed either in the former's writings or correspondence
during the life-time of the latter.Shibli's first critical reference is
not to Sir Syed but of Hali with reference to "Hayat-i-Javed" which Shibli referred as "sheer hagiography" (sarasar madah sarai).
It was only later, i.e. after
1907 that Shibli made many critical references to 'Aligarh College' and
occasionally to the founder Sir Syed.
From these writings one is inclined to agree with the reasons assigned by Shaikh Ikram for this change of attitude. These are;
- Shibli's desire to show that the traditionalist model of Nadwa was superior to that of Nadwa.
- Shibli's affection and reliance on Abul Kalam Azad who was allergic to Aligarh and Sir Syed. One of the primary objectives of 'Al Hilal' was "Aligarh ke Aiwan-i-Ghulami ko girana. Shibli and Azad's desire that promoters of the proposed Muslim University should not give up the demand for an all India affiliating jurisdiction.
- Lack of equation between Shibli and Viqarul Mulk unlike his deep relations with Mohsinul Mulk who had appointed Shibli as the first Secretary of the Anjuman Taraqq-i-Urdu which started as a subsidiary of the All India Muslim Educational Conference.
- The effect of pro Congress Muslim families of Bombay on Shibli.
Allama Shibli
had two daughters, Rabia Khatoon and Fatima Jannutul , and one son,
Hamid Hassan Nu'mani. He was born in 1882 and died in 1942. He had a son
who died soon after birth, and five daughters who lived their life.
They are:
- Dr Naseem Jehan, retired director of health, Bangladesh, died in Karachi in 1994. She was married in 1940 to Dr Zafrul Huda of Dhaka University. He died in 1978 at Dhaka. They have one daughter.
- Shamim Jehan (died in Karachi in 2005), married in 1940 to Ehtesham Ahmed, who died in Azamgarh in 1982. They have eight sons and seven daughters.
- Tehseen Jehan, married in 1940 to Shaukat Sultan, principal of Shibli College, Azamgarh. She is living in Karachi Pakistan these days. They have three sons and four daughters.
- Mohsina Sultana, married in 1950 to Amanullah Khan, director of industries, India. They have five children.
- Momna Sultan, married in 1952 to Capt. Khan Sohail Sultan. They have four sons.
Shibli was
well aware of the progress of science and education in the West. He
wanted to inspire the Muslims to make similar progress by having
recourse to their lost heritage and culture, and warned them against
getting lost in Western culture. In keeping with this goal, he wrote the
following books;
- Al-Ma’mun,
- Al-Ghazali,
- Imam Ibn-e-Tamia (Edited by Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini ),
- Mawlana Rumi
- Aurangzeb Alamgir Par Ek Nazar
- Shiʾr al-ʻAjam, a history of Persian poetry
- "Ilm-Kalam", The best book on the history of Muslim theology
“Lot
of injustice has been done to Shibli. While Maulana Aslam Jairajpuri
pointed out errors in “Sher-ul-Ajam”, it was not mentioned that Shibli
was the first to write biography of Maulana Rumi.
Though differences between Sir
Syed and Shibli are highlighted but it has not been pointed out that in
spite of Sir Syed’s opposition to the writing of “Al-Farooq”, Shibli
never complained about it.
He lamented that Shibli’s
Persian poetry was never tested on its merit and was wrongly associated
with his acquaintance and close friend with an enlightened intellectual
lady of the time Madam Atiya Faizi. He refuted Shaikh Mohammad Ikram’s
claim in this regard and subtly highlighted delicacy of Shibli’s thought
moulded into his Persian poetry”
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