Syed Naeem-ud-Deen Muradabadi (1887–1948), also known as Sadr ul-Afazil, was an Indian jurist, scholar, mufti, Quranic exegete, and educator. He was a scholar of philosophy, geometry, logic and hadith and leader of All India Sunni Conference. He was also a poet of na`at.[1]
Early life
He was born on 1 January 1887 (21 Safar 1300 AH) in Moradabad, India to Mu'in al-Din. His family originally came from Mash'had, Iran. Sometime during the rule of King Aurangzeb, they travelled from Iran to India, where they received a land grant from the ruling monarchy. They eventually reached Lahore and settled near Abul-Hasanat'.
Muradabadi memorised the Qur'an by the age of 8. He studied Urdu and Persian literature with his father and studied Dars-i Nizami with Shah Fadl Ahmad. He subsequently earned a degree in religious law from Shah Muhammad Gul and pledged allegiance to him.
Religious Activities
Naeemudin wrote in defense of Prophet Muhammad’s knowledge of the unseen, in addition to works attacking Wahhabism, and thereby quickly gained acceptance among Sunni Barelvi scholars. He also developed a reputation as a skilled debater, taking on Deobandis and others as his opponents.[2]
One of his first moves was to find the Jamia Naeemia Moradabad long-lasting legacy which became a regional center of Sunni Barelvi activities.
He organised conferences, debates and door to door programmes under the Jama’at-e-Raza-e-Mustafa, to control and reverse, the wave of re-conversions which was threatening the Muslim community in the wake of the Shuddhi movement. He through JRM successfully prevented around four hundred thousand re-conversions to Hinduism specially in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh and in Rajasthan.[3]
He was elected as Nazim-e-AIa (General Secretary) of All India Sunni Conference AISC in 1925 at Jamia Naeemia Moradabad. AISC under him arose as a response to the Deobandi-dominated Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind. An important resolution passed against the Nehru Committee Report which was described as dangerous for the interests of the Muslims and also targeted Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind leadership as “working like puppets in the hands of the Hindus. [4]
Allama Naeem Uddin took part in Islamic movements and was also a part of the Khilafat Committee, an organization aimed at strengthening the Sultanate in Turkey, which had existed since the beginning of the Ottoman era. He taught students and gave lectures.
After the separation of Pakistan from British India on 18 September 1948, Muradabadi delivered a speech at the opening of the All India Sunni Conference. He contributed to the passing of the resolution for a separate Muslim state at Minto-Park (Lahore Resolution). He was the Chief Organizer at the Banaras Conference held in 1942.[5][6]
He wrote fourteen books and numerous treatises, including Khaza'in-al-Irfan, which is the Tafsir (Exegesis) of Kanz al-Iman based on a translation of the Qur'an by Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi in Urdu.[7] He also left a collection of poems called Riyaz-e-Naeem (Garden of Comfort).[8]
^Jackson, William Kesler, "A Subcontinent's Sunni Schism: The Deobandi-Barelvi Rivalry and the Creation of Modern South Asia" (2013). History - Dissertations.page 187. https://surface.syr.edu/hst_etd/102Archived 6 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine
^ abJackson, William Kesler (2013), page 188 and 189
