A true islamic scholar

Islahi was born in 1904 at Bamhur, a small village in Azamgarh (U.P.), India. He passed out from the Madrasah al-Islah around 1922. The teacher which influenced him the most during his student life at the Madrasah was ‘Abd al-Rahman Nigrami, himself a versatile genius. Nigrami’s attention helped him in developing a profound inclination towards Arabic literature. After graduating from the Madrasah, he entered the field of journalism. For a while, he edited a newspaper Madinah at Bijnawr and also remained associated with Sach, a newspaper edited by the luminary ‘Abd al-Majid Daryabadi.
From 1925-1930, he remained with Farahi like his shadow. It was in this forming period of his life in which he developed a deep understanding of the Qur’an and learnt from Farahi the principles of direct deliberation on the Book of Allah. After Farahi’s death, Islahi studied Hadith from a celebrated scholar of this discipline, ‘Abd al-Rahman Muhaddith Mubarakpuri. In 1936, he founded the Da’irah-i Hamidiyyah, a small institute to disseminate the Qur’anic thought of Farahi. Under the auspices of this institute, he brought out a monthly journal, al-Islah, in which he translated many portions of Farahi’s treatises written in Arabic.
Islahi was among the founder members of the Jama‘at-i Islami, a religious party founded by the eminent Islamic scholar, Mawdudi, in 1941. In 1958, he abandoned the Jama‘at, after serious differences arose between him and Mawdudi on the nature of the constitution of the Jama‘at.
After leaving the Jama‘at, he finally got the chance to fulfill his cherished goal of writing a commentary on the Qur’an. He also launched a monthly journal Mithaq in which portions of this commentary, Tadabbur-i Qur’an, were published. In 1961, he established a small study circle Halqah Tadabbur-i Qur’an for college students to whom he taught Arabic language and literature, the Holy Qur’an and the al-Jami‘ al-Sahih of Imam Muslim. He also taught Shah Wali Ullah’s Hujjatullah al-Balighah and Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddamah to some pupils.
It was on the 29th of Ramadan 1400/ 12th August 1980 when the great day arrived – the day when a monumental effort reached its culmination: the Tadabbur-i Qur’an had taken twenty-two long years to complete. In the Tadabbur-i Qur’an, he produced a masterpiece of tafsir which does not simply reflect the principles of his illustrious mentor, Farahi: it also bears the stamp of originality. It is indeed a unique work that has ushered in a new era in the field of scriptural interpretation. Islahi proved from a Qur’anic verse that the Almighty has divided the Qur’an in seven discrete groups keeping in view the preaching mission of the Prophet Muhammad (sws). Each of these groups has a theme and surahs are arranged in a group keeping in view this theme. Within a group, the surahs themselves generally occur in pairs with regard to the subject discussed in them. Each surah also has a specific theme which is the most comprehensive statement of its contents.
In 1981, Islahi founded the Idarah Tadabbur-i Qur’an-o Hadith, which remained until his death (15th December 1997) the centre of his intellectual activities. A quarterly journal Tadabbur was taken out in 1981 as its organ. He gave weekly lectures on the text of the Qur’an. Later, he took up deep study on the principles of Hadith and began teaching the Mu’atta’ of Imam Malik in weekly sittings to a close circle of students and associates. After completing the Mu’atta’, he also taught some portions of Imam Bukhari’s al-Jami‘ al-Sahih.
Besides writing the Tadabbur-i Qur’an, Islahi has authored a number of books in Urdu on various topics of Islam. They include Tazkiyah-i Nafs (Purification of the Soul), Haqiqat-i- Shirk-o Tawhid (The Essence of Polytheism and Monotheism), Da‘wat-i Din awr us ka Tariqah-i Kar (Islamic Message and the Mode of its Preaching), Islami Riyasat (The Islamic State), Mabadi Tadabbur-i Qur’an (Principles of Understanding the Qur’an), Mabadi Tadabbur-i Hadith (Principles of Understanding the Hadith), Islami Riyasat mayn Fiqhi Ikhtilafat ka Hal (Solution of Juristic Differences in an Islamic State) and Islami Qanun ki Tadwin (Codification of Islamic Law).
Islahi also translated Farahi’s commentary consisting of fourteen surahs of the Qur’an, as well as his following books from Arabic: Fi Man huwa al-Dhabih (Which of Abraham’s son was Sacrificed?) and Aqsam al-Qur’an (Oaths of the Qur’an).

Shehzad Saleem