Ashraf Ali Thanwi

Ashraf Ali Thanwi (often referred as Hakimul

Hakim al-Ummat, Mujaddidul
Ummat[a][5] and Mujaddidul Millat[b] (19 August 1863
Millat
– 20 July 1943) was a late-nineteenth and twentieth-
century Sunni scholar, jurist, thinker, reformist and the Ashraf Ali Thanwi
revival of classical sufi thought from Indian subcontinent ‫اﺷﺮف ﻋﻠﯽ ﺗھﺎﻧﻮی‬
during the British Raj,[6][7] one of the chief proponents of Personal details
Pakistan Movement.[5] He was a central figure of Islamic
Born Abd al-Ghani
spiritual, intellectual and religious life in South Asia and
continues to be highly influential today.[5] As a prolific 19 August
author, he completed over a thousand works including 1863[1]
Bayan Ul Quran and Bahishti Zewar.[5] He graduated from Thana
Darul Uloom Deoband in 1883 and moved to Kanpur, then Bhawan,
Thana Bhawan to direct the Khanqah-i-Imdadiyah, where Muzaffarnagar,
he resided until the end of his life.[5] His training in Quran, British India
Hadith, Fiqh studies and Sufism qualified him to become a Died 20 July 1943
leading Sunni authority among the scholars of Deoband.[8]
(aged 79)
His teaching mixes Sunni orthodoxy, Islamic elements of
Thana
belief and the patriarchal structure of the society.[8] He
Bhawan,
offered a sketch of a Muslim community that is collective,
patriarchal, hierarchical and compassion-based.[8] Muzaffarnagar,
British India
Spouse 2
Views and thoughts
Parent Abdul Haq
(father)
Political ideology
Alma mater Darul Uloom
Deoband
Thanwi was a strong supporter of the Muslim League.[9] He
maintained a correspondence with the leadership of All Personal
India Muslim League (AIML), including Muhammad Ali
Nationality British Indian
Jinnah. He also sent groups of Muslim scholars to give
religious advice and reminders to Jinnah.[10] His disciples Denomination Sunni
Zafar Ahmad Usmani and Shabbir Ahmad Usmani were key Jurisprudence Hanafi
players in religious support for the creation of Pakistan.[11]
Creed Maturidi[2]
During the 1940s, many Deobandi Ulama supported the
Congress but Thanwi and some other leading Deobandi Movement Deobandi
scholars including Muhammad Shafi Deobandi and Shabbir Main Sufism, Moral
Ahmad Usmani were in favour of the Muslim League.[12][13] interest(s) Philosophy,
Thanwi resigned from Darul Uloom Deoband's Islamic revival,
management committee due to its pro-Congress stance.[14] Tafsir, Fiqh,
His support and the support of his disciples for Pakistan
Hadith,
Movement were greatly appreciated by AIML.[10]
Prophetic
biography
Works and contribution Notable Majlis-e
work(s) Dawatul Haq
He led a very active life teaching, preaching, writing,
lecturing and making occasional journey. He belonged to a Senior posting
period when Muslims were physically intellectually under
Disciple of Imdadullah
attack by the western colonial powers and the Arya
Muhajir Makki
Samaj.[15] His literary life began at Darul Uloom Deoband
and that he wrote a Mathnawi titled as "Zeero-bam", in Disciples
Persian language at the age of eighteenth. For fourteenth Abdul Hai Arifi, Athar Ali
years he was a teacher in Madrasa Faiz e Aam, in Kanpur, Bengali, Abdul Majid Daryabadi,
taught, wrote, and gave sermons and issued Fatwa. From Aziz al-Hasan Ghouri, Abrarul
the early days of his educational life, he was very much
Haq Haqqi, Shah Ahmad Hasan,
impressed by Rashid Ahmad Gangohi.
Muhammadullah Hafezzi, Khair
Most of his books are in Urdu, Arabic and Persian. There is Muhammad Jalandhari,
no branch of Islam in which his book may not be present. It Masihullah Khan, Maqsudullah,
is said that the number of his works is nearly one thousand. Muhammad Shafi Deobandi,
The rights of printing of all his books were public. He never Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri,
earned a single paisa from his books. Millions of individual Habibullah Qurayshi, Sulaiman
derived educational and practical benefit from his books Nadvi, Shah Abd al-Wahhab,[3]
and predicatory lectures.
Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi, Zafar
His sermons were written, while they were delivered from Ahmad Usmani
city to city and shown to him and published, Muslims Influenced
benefitted from them. These contained Islamic rules and
Muhammad Iqbal,[4] Shabbir
regulations, stoppage of innovations, facts and figures
Ahmad Usmani, Hakeem
interesting topics etc. Normally, lectures discussed were
Muhammad Akhtar
about Islamic worship, but he also talked about morals,
dealings, practical daily life in his sermons. He kept this in Literary Bayan Ul
mind in his training of Sulook and Tariqah as well. A list of works Quran (1908)
his major works is given here:
Bahishti Zewar
1. Bayan Ul Quran: It is a three volume tafsir Imdad-ul-
(exegesis) of the Quran. The compilation of this Fatawa
exegesis was started in 1320 AH. It was
published in twelve volumes from Matb'a Mujtabai, Delhi in 1908 (1326 AH).
2. Bahishti Zewar: It is comprehensive handbook of fiqh, Islamic rituals and morals,
it is especially aimed at the education of girls and women. The volume describes
the Five Pillars of Islam and also highlights more obscure principles. For years it
has remained a favorite with the people of the Indian subcontinent as well as
Indian Muslim diaspora all over the world.[16]
3. Imdad al-Fatawa: It is the collection of Thanwis fatwas, which is a compendium
of Hanafi Fiqh containing research-oriented fatwas and fiqhi discourses. [17]
4. Nashr al-Tib fi Zikr-un-Nabi Al Habib Sallalahu 'alaihi Wa Salam: During
1911-1912, Thanwi wrote this book on Prophetic biography Sallalahu 'alaihi Wa
Salam. He has professed obeisance to the Prophet Sallalahu 'alaihi Wa Salam in
the 41 chapters of this book. He has presented him as a boon for the entire
universe.[18]

Influence and legacy

He produced near about 1000 trainees, to whom he permitted for Bay'ah and those spread their
influences of Thanwi. Among them are: Sulaiman Nadvi, Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, Zafar Ahmad
Usmani, Abdul Hai Arifi, Athar Ali Bengali, Shah Abd al-Wahhab, Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Aziz
al-Hasan Ghouri, Abrarul Haq Haqqi, Muhammadullah Hafezzi, Khair Muhammad Jalandhari,
Masihullah Khan, Muhammad Shafi Deobandi, Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri, Habibullah
Qurayshi, Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi. His edicts and religious teachings have been deemed
authoritative even by many of his opponents. Muhammad Iqbal once wrote to a friend of his
that on the matter of Rumi's teachings, he held Thanwi as the greatest living authority.[4]

See also
▪ Bibliography of Ashraf Ali Thanwi
▪ Political views of Ashraf Ali Thanwi

References

Notes
a. Spiritual physician of the Muslim Ummah.
b. Reformer of the Nation.

Citations
1. "Maulana Muhammad Ashraf Ali Thanwi" (https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL3189
450A/Maulana_Muhammad_Ashraf_Ali_Thanwi).
2. Bruckmayr, Philipp (2020). "Salafī Challenge and Māturīdī Response:
Contemporary Disputes over the Legitimacy of Māturīdī kalām" (https://brill.com/
view/journals/wdi/60/2-3/article-p293_6.xml?language=de#FN000073). Die Welt
des Islams. Brill. 60 (2–3): 293–324. doi:10.1163/15700607-06023P06 (https://do
i.org/10.1163%2F15700607-06023P06).
3. Ullah, Ahmad; Qadir, Ridwanul (February 2018). "কু তুবুল আলম হাকীমুন নফস, খলীফােয় থানভী
আ�লামা শাহ আব�ল ওয়াহহাব রহ. (১৮৯৪—১৯৮২) - এর সংি��ত জীবনচিরত". মাশােয়েখ চাটগাম (https://www.rok
omari.com/book/115714/alhillul-mufham-asshahihu-limuslim). Vol. 2 (1 ed.).
11/1, Islami Tower, Bangla Bazar, Dhaka-1100: Ahmad Prakashan. pp. 35–54.
ISBN 978-984-92106-4-1.
4. Wahid, Abdul (1982). Maqalat-e-iqbal (https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/detail/maq
alat-e-iqbal-abdul-wahid-ebooks) (in Urdu). Lahore: Tufail Art Printers. p. 180.
5. Naeem, Fuad (2009), "Thānvī, Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī" (https://www.oxfordreferenc
e.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-11
08), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0-19-530513-5
6. Esposito, John L. (2003), "Thanawi, Ashraf Ali" (https://www.oxfordreference.com/
view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-2372),
The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0-19-512558-0
7. Faruque, Muhammad U. (2021). "Eternity Made Temporal: Ashraf ʿAlī Thānavī, a
Twentieth-Century Indian Thinker and the Revival of Classical Sufi Thought" (http
s://brill.com/view/journals/jss/9/2/article-p215_3.xml). Journal of Sufi Studies. 9
(2): 215–246. doi:10.1163/22105956-bja10009 (https://doi.org/10.1163%2F2210
5956-bja10009). ISSN 2210-5948 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2210-5948).
S2CID 242261580 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:242261580).
 8. Belhaj, Abdessamad (2014), "Thānvī, Ashraf ʿAlī" (https://www.oxfordreference.c
om/view/10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199812578.001.0001/acref-9780199812578-e-
236), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science and Technology in Islam,
Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-981257-8
9. Koreishi, Samiullah (13 September 2013). "What's wrong with Pakistan?" (https://
www.dawn.com/news/1042583). Dawn.
10. Khan, Munshi Abdur Rahman (1992). Tehreek e Pakistan aur Ulama e Rabbani (ht
tps://archive.org/details/toobaa-research-library-TameerEPakistan) (in Urdu).
Pakistan: Idara-i Islamiya.
11. Naeem, Fuad (2009), "Thānvī, Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī" (https://www.oxfordreferenc
e.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-11
08), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Oxford University Press,
doi:10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Facref%
2F9780195305135.001.0001), ISBN 978-0-19-530513-5, retrieved 7 November
2022
12. Svanberg, Ingvar; Westerlund, David (6 December 2012). Islam Outside the Arab
World (https://books.google.com/books?id=Jt8rBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA224).
Routledge. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-136-11322-2.
13. Jetly, Rajshree (27 April 2012). Pakistan in Regional and Global Politics (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=ojQznTkR09kC&pg=PA156). Taylor & Francis.
pp. 156–. ISBN 978-1-136-51696-2.
14. Robinson, Francis (2000). "Islam and Muslim separatism." (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=NN0m_c8p6fgC&pg=PA930). In Hutchinson, John (ed.).
Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science. Anthony D. Smith. Taylor &
Francis. pp. 929–930. ISBN 978-0-415-20112-4.
15. "A Brief Biography of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi" (https://islamqa.org/hanafi/daru
liftaa-birmingham/171457/a-brief-biography-of-maulana-ashraf-ali-thanwi/). 9
November 2021.
16. Ansari, Usamah (2009). "Producing the Conjugal Patriarchal Family in Maulana
Thanvi's Heavenly Ornaments: Biopolotics, 'Shariatic Modernity' and Managing
Women" (https://journal.equinoxpub.com/CIS/article/view/9386). Comparative
Islamic Studies. 5 (1): 93–110. doi:10.1558/cis.v5i1.93 (https://doi.org/10.1558%
2Fcis.v5i1.93). ISSN 1743-1638 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1743-1638).
17. Ullah, Mohammed (2018). The Contribution of Deoband School to Hanafi Fiqh A
Study of Its Response to Modern Issues and Challenges (PhD). India: Jamia
Hamdard University. p. 116. hdl:10603/326073 (https://hdl.handle.net/10603%2
F326073).
18. Fakharuddin, Muhammad (2020). "An Analytical Study of the " Nashr al-Tīb fi
Zikr-un-Nabi Al-Habib" " (https://www.alamir.com.pk/index.php/ojs/article/view/1
3). Al-Amīr (in Urdu). 1 (1). ISSN 2790-9328 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2790
-9328).

External links

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