Asghar Hussain Deobandi (also known as Mian Sayyid Asghar Hussain) (16 October 1877 — 8 January 1945) was an IndianSunni Muslim scholar who co-founded Madrasatul Islah.
Mian Asghar Hussain's ancestors came to India from Baghdad and are descended from Abdul Qadir Jeelani.[1] During the era of Shah Jahan, Sayyid Ghulam Rasool had moved to India along with his family.[1] He was entrusted the imamat and khitabat at the Shahi Masjid of Deoband. He had two sons, Ghulam Nabi and Ghulam Ali. Both brothers married daughters of Shah Ameerullah.[1]
Sayyid Ghulam Ali had three daughters and two sons. The elder son Alam Meer was the grandfather of Mian Asghar Hussain. Alam Meer married Azeemun Nisa, the daughter of Shah Hafeezullah. They had a daughter Wajeeh-un-Nisa and son Muhammad Hasan, who was the father of Mian Asghar Hussain.[2] Muhammad Hasan married twice, first to Maryam-un-Nisa, who whom he had a son, Sayyid Khursheed, and a daughter Masum-un-Nisa. After Maryam-un-Nisa's death, Muhammad Hasan married her sister Naseeb-un-Nisa;[a] they had a son, Asghar Hussain.[3]
Birth and education
Birth
Mian Asghar Hussain was born on 16 October 1877 in Deoband to Sayyid Muhammad Hasan and Naseebun Nisa bint Sayyid Mansub Ali.[3]
Name and lineage
His ism (given name) was Asghar Hussain. His nasab (patronymic) is: Sayyid Asghar Hussain ibn Sayyid Shah Muhammad Hasan ibn Sayyid Shah Alam Meer ibn Sayyid Ghulam Ali ibn Sayyid Ghulam Rasool Baghdadi ibn Sayyid Shah Faqeerullah Baghdadi ibn Sayyid A’zam Saani ibn Sayyid Nazar Muhammad ibn Sayyid Sultan Muhammad ibn Sayyid A’zam Muhammad ibn Sayyid Abu Muhammad ibn Sayyid Qutbuddin ibn Sayyid Baha’uddeen ibn Sayyid Jamalauddin ibn Sayyid Qutbuddin ibn Sayyid Dawud ibn Muhi’uddin Abu Abdullah ibn Sayyid Abu Saleh Nasr ibn Sayyid Abdur Razzaq ibn Abdul Qadir Jilani.[4]
Education
Aged eight, he began studying with Muhammad Abdullah, alias Miyanji Munne Shah[b] and studied Quran from his father and then started to study Persian from him. Later he was enrolled in Darul Uloom Deoband. He continued with the Persian class and studied Persian from Muhammad Yaseen, the father of Muhammad Shafi Deobandi. He studied mathematics from Manzoor Ahmad. He passed the class of Persian with first position and soon received Muwatta Imam Malik as an honorary gift. As Asghar Hussain turned 17 or 18 and reached the Arabic classes in Darul Uloom Deoband, his father died on 20 September 1894. He discontinued his studies for almost one year and started to teach in his ancestral madrasa.
After graduating from the Darul Uloom Deoband, he worked in the office department of the Darul Uloom for more than one year. Then his teachers Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad sent him to the madrassa of the Atala Masjid, Jaunpur for the post of head-teacher and he served there for seven years. In the meantime in 1327 AH, he laid the foundation stone of Madrasatul Islah in Sarai Meer, Azamgarh in 1908.[9] He was called to Darul Uloom Deoband and was entrusted with co-editorship of the journal Al-Qasim of the Darul Uloom, while the editor was Maulana Habeebur Rahman. He was entrusted the teaching of Sunan Abu Dawud in Darul Uloom Deoband and he also taught the books of tafsir and fiqh like Jalalayn and Durr-e-Mukhtar.[8][5] His notable students include Muhammad Shafi Deobandi,[10]Manazir Ahsan Gilani.[11] and Mufti Naseem Ahmad Fareedi. He restarted his ancestral madrasa which had been closed since the death of his father. The madrasa came later under the care of his son Sayyid Bilal Hussain Mian (d. 9 February 1990) and is now known as Madrassa Asgharia Qadeem whilst its historical name is Darul Musafireen, Madrasa Taleemul Quran.[8]
Literary works
Asghar Hussain has written about thirty books in the Urdu language, including:[12]
During his student days at Darul Uloom Deoband, Hussain married the daughter of Mushtaq Hussain. They had two sons, Sayyid Akhtar Hussain and Mian Bilal Hussain, and one daughter, Fehmeeda.[18] Fehmeeda died eight years after her marriage, and was survived by her son Syed Farhat Hussain who had been associated with Hamdard Dawakhana in Karachi.[18] Hussain's son Sayyid Akhtar Hussain was a teacher of hadith at Darul Uloom Deoband, and served in the seminary's administration.[18] Hussain's another son Sayyid Bilal Hussain is survived by three sons, Sayyid Jameel Hussain, Sayyid Khaleel Hussain, and Sayyid Jaleel Hussain; and two daughters, Sajida Khatun and Aabida Khatun.[18]
Death
Mian Asghar Hussain died of cardiac arrest on 8 January 1945 (22 Muharram 1364 AH). He is buried in Rander, Surat.[8][5]
^Maryam-un-Nisa and Naseeb-un-Nisa were daughters of Sayyid Mansab Ali
^Miyanji Munne Shah is brother of Azeemun Nisa, the wife of Syed Alam Meer, so he comes to be maternal uncle of Asghar Hussain's father Sayyid Muhammad Hasan and Sayyid Muhammad Hasan is his nephew.[5] At the request of Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, he had laid the first stone of the new building of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was then preceded by Sayyid Muhammad Abid, and then Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi. Finally all of them laid down stones along with Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi.[6]
References
^ abcHussayn, Sayyid Jameel, Tadhkirah Hadhrat Miyan Saheb, pp. 32–33
^Hussayn, Sayyid Jameel, Tadhkirah Hadhrat Miyan Saheb, pp. 33–34
^ abHussayn, Sayyid Jameel, Tadhkirah Hadhrat Miyan Saheb, pp. 49–51
^Hussayn, Sayyid Jameel, Tadhkirah Hadhrat Miyan Saheb, pp. 191–194
^ abcdDr. Syed Jameel Hussain. Tazkirah Hazrat Miyan Saheb (in Urdu). Madrasa Islamia Asgharia, Deoband.
^Muhammad Miyan Deobandi. Ulama-e-Haq Ke Mujahidana Karname. Vol. 1. Faisal Publications, Deoband. p. 55.
^Abu Muhammad Maulana Sana'ullah Shujabadi. Ulama-e-Deoband Ke Aakhri Lamhaat (in Urdu) (2015 ed.). Maktaba Rasheediya Saharanpur. p. 51.
