Shibli Nomani

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Mawlana Shibli Nu'mani (in Arabic: شبلي نعماني) was a famous Indian Muslim scholar (1857 - 1914). He collected a huge amount of material on the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, but could write only first two volumes of the world famous book Sirat-un-Nabi. His promising disciple, Syed Suleman Nadvi, made use of the collected material and added his own and wrote remaining five volumes of the book after the death of his mentor.

At 19, Nu'mani was a well-known scholar. He went to Makkah for the Hajj and there he devoted his time to furthering his studies in Muslim theology, history, philosophy and Sufism from different scholars in Arabia. An orthordox Hanafi Muslim, he was a staunch supporter of the Shari’a and a determined opponent of the Wahhabi movement.

When he returned to India he met Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) who had just established the famous Aligarh Muslim University and asked Muslim students all over India to take up Western education and the English language. A devout Muslim, he was also attracted to the alluring program of Sir Syed Ahmed and his educational reforms and certain aspects of his cultural revolution. Sir Syed Ahmed requested him to take up a professorship in his university which he accepted. He taught at Aligarh for sixteen years where he met Thomas Arnold an other British scholars through with whom he shared modern Western ideas and thoughts. He traveled with Thomas Arnold in 1892 to Syria, Egypt, Turkey and to some other Muslim countries of the Middle East and got direct and practical experience of their societies. His deep scholarship influenced Thomas Arnold on one hand and on the other he was influenced by Thomas Arnold to a great extent, and through this there was a modern touch in his ideas and thoughts owing to his contact with Western scholars.

After the death of Sir Syed Ahmed, he left Aligarh and became an advisor in the Education Department of Hyderabad State. He initiated many reforms and changes in the Hyderabad education system. From his policy, the Osmania 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 the famous Nadwat tul-‘Ulum (Nadwa). He introduced several reforms in the school's teaching and curriculum, and injected some modern methods into its educational system. He stayed at the school for five years. 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. But the first formal meeting of the institution was held on November 21, 1914, within three days of the death of the great luminary.

Shibli was a profound and versatile scholar in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. He was also a versatile poet and in his early life he wrote many poems in Urdu and Arabic. But his genius found its real expression in the Urdu language and literature and he is remembered now as a great writer of Urdu.

Shibli’s genius had its flowering when he was a professor in Aligarh University for sixteen years when he came into contact with Sir Syed Ahmed and British scholars in Aligarh. But Shibli and Sir Syed were poles apart. Sir Syed Ahmed wanted to adapt Islam to Western thinking and style, while Shibli wanted to adapt Western thinking and style to Islam, though both desired the welfare of the Muslims. Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslimas 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. Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition. He never bowed to Western power and influence, although he had many Western friends and admirers.

Shibli was a great supporter of Pan-Islamism. He wrote several 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 Cawnpur Mosque, Shibli stood against the British and wrote many poems condemning them for which he was harassed.

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 his famous books, Sirat an-Nu'man, al-Faruq, al-Ma’mun, al-Ghazali, Imam Ibn-e-Tamia (Edited by Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini ),Mawlana Rumi and the immortal Sirat an-Nabi. This last book, Sirat an-Nabi, is a unique book on the life of the Prophet and is acclaimed as one of the best books in the world. He wrote only two volumes of this book and the remaining five volumes were written by his disciple, Sayyid Sulaiman Nadvi.

[edit] Family

Allama Shibli had only one son, Hamid Hassan Nu'mani. He was born in 1882 and died in 1942. He had no sons but five daughters. They are:

A) Dr Nasim Jehan, retired director of health, Bangladesh, died in Karachi in 1997. She was married to Dr Zafrul Huda of Dhaka University. He died in 1978 at Dhaka. They have one daughter Shahla living in the US.

B) Shamim Jehan, married to Ehtesham Ahmed, who died in Azamgarh in 1982. They have eight sons and seven daughters all married and living in Pakistan, except one, who is in Kuwait.

C) Tahsin Jehan, married to Shaukat Sultan, principal of Shibli College, Azamgarh. He died in 1986. They have three sons and four daughters, living in India, the UAE and Karachi. The above three daughters were married in 1940 at Azamgarh.

D) Mohsina Sultana, married in 1950 to Amanullah Khan, director of industries, India. They have five children, all married, one daughter and three sons living in the US and one son in India.

E) Momna, the youngest, was born in 1935 and married in 1952 to Capt. Khan Sohail Sultan, who retired as general manager of Pan-Islamic Steamship Co., Karachi in 1993, now living in North Nazimabad. They have four sons, all married. Eldest Maj Khalid Sultan, Sitara-i-Jur’at, met ‘Shahadat’ at Siachin in 1992, Capt. Danish Sultan is managing director of Pac Marine Singapore, Wamiq Sultan, MD, living in the US, youngest Capt. Toaha Sultan is serving in the Pakistan Army.

[edit] See also

References: http://www.islamic-paths.org/Home/English/History/Personalities/Content/Normani.htm Most of the above material has been obtained from "Personalities in Islam" at the above website, which generously offers free use of its material.

[edit] External links

Aligarh - Muslim University & the Movement
History:	1857 War of Independence - Hindi-Urdu controversy - Aligarh Movement - MAO College - Aligarh Muslim University - Pakistan movement
Pioneers:	Sir Syed - Mohsin-ul-Mulk - Viqar-ul-Mulk - Maulana Hali - Shibli Nomani - Hakim Ajmal Khan - more...
Alumni:	Ross Masood - Maulana Mohammad Ali - Liaquat Ali Khan - Khawaja Nazimuddin - Zakir Hussain - Abdur Rab Nishtar - Sheikh Abdullah - Ziauddin Ahmed - Maulana Shaukat Ali - Zafar Ali Khan - more...