Rashid Ahmad Gangohi

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Deobandi movement
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Founders and key figures
Mamluk Ali Nanautawi Imdadullah Muhajir Makki Rahmatullah Kairanawi Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi Rashid Ahmad Gangohi Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi Sayyid Muhammad Abid Mahmud Deobandi Muhammad Ali Mungeri Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri Ashraf Ali Thanwi Ubaidullah Sindhi Anwar Shah Kashmiri Kifayatullah Dehlawi Hussain Ahmed Madani Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Muhammad Idris Kandhlawi Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi
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Darul ulooms and madrasas Deoband Mazahir Uloom Nadwatul Ulama Aminia Shahi Dabhel Hathazari Ashrafia Karachi Banuri Town Bury In'aamiyyah List of Deobandi universities
Centres (markaz) of Tablighi Jamaat
Bhopal Dewsbury Dhaka Nerul Nizamuddin Raiwind
Associated organizations
All India Muslim Personal Law Board Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasa Education Commission Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh Islamic Fiqh Academy, India Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Tablighi Jamaat
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Rashīd Aḥmad ibn Hidāyat Aḥmad Ayyūbī Anṣārī Gangohī (1826 – 11 August 1905) (Urdu: مولانا رشید احمد گنگوہی) was an Indian Deobandi Islamic scholar, a leading figure of the Deobandi jurist and scholar of hadith, author of Fatawa-e-Rashidiya.^[2] His lineage reaches back to Abu Ayyub al-Ansari.^[4][5]

Along with Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi he was a pupil of Mamluk Ali Nanautawi. Both studied the books of hadith under Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi and later became Sufi disciples of Haji Imdadullah.^[6] His lectures on Sahih al-Bukhari and Jami` at-Tirmidhi were recorded by his student Muhammad Yahya Kandhlawi, later edited, arranged, and commented on by Muhammad Zakariya Kandhlawi, and published as Lami al-Darari ala Jami al-Bukhari and Al-Kawakib al-Durri sharh Jami al-Tirmidhi.^[7]

Name[edit]

In Tazkiratur Rashid his name and nasab is given as follows: Rashīd Aḥmad ibn Hidāyat Aḥmad^{[note 1]} ibn Qāẓī Pīr Bak͟hsh ibn Qāẓī G͟hulām Ḥasan ibn Qāẓī G͟hulām ‘Alī ibn Qāẓī ‘Alī Akbar ibn Qāẓī Muḥammad Aslam al-Anṣārī al-Ayyūbī.^[8] In the biographical work Nuzhat al-Khawatir he is mentioned with the nisbats "al-Anṣārī, al-Ḥanafī, ar-Rāmpūrī then al-Gangohī".^[9][2] In the introduction to al-Kawkab ad-Durri he is mentioned as "Mawlānā Abī Mas‘ūd Rashīd Aḥmad al-Anṣārī al-Ayyūbī al-Kankawhī al-Ḥanafī al-Jishtī an-Naqshbandī al-Qādirī as-Suhrawardī".^[10]

His given name was Rashid Ahmad; Abu Masud was his kunya.^{[citation needed]} His heritage can be traced back to the Holy Prophet Muhammad's Sallallahu 'alaihi Wa Salam companion Ayub Ansari RadiAllahu 'anhu.^[1]

Biography[edit]

Rashid Ahmad was born on Monday, 6 Dhu al-Qi'dah 1244 AH (1826 AD) in Gangoh, Saharanpur District, British India (in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India).^{[2][8][9][11][12]} He was born in the mahallah of Sarai, close to the tomb of Abdul Quddus Gangohi.^[8] Both his father Maulana Hidayat Ahmad and his mother Karimun Nisa belonged to Ansari Ayyubi families, claiming descent from Abu Ayyub al-Ansari RadiAllahu 'anhu.^[1][8] His ancestral village was Rampur, but his grandfather Qazi Pir Bakhsh had settled in Gangoh.^[8]

Hidayat Ahmad was an Islamic scholar connected to the Waliullahi tradition,^[8] and in tasawwuf (Sufism) an authorized khalifah (successor) of Shah Ghulam Ali Mujaddidi Dihlawi.^[8][12] He died in 1252 AH (1836) at the age of 35, when Rashid was seven.^[8] A few years later Rashid's younger brother Sa'id Ahmad also died, at the age of nine.

After the death of Hidayat Ahmad the responsibility for Rashid's upbringing fell to his grandfather Qazi Pir Bakhsh.^[8][11] He also had four maternal uncles: Muhammad Naqi, Muhammad Taqi, Abdul Ghani, and Muhammad Shafi.^[8] He was especially close to Abdul Ghani, who took on a fatherly role for him.^{[citation needed]} He also had a close friendship with his younger cousin, Abun Nasr, son of Abdul Ghani's.^{[citation needed]}

Rashid Ahmad received his elementary education from a local teacher, Miyanji Qutb Bakhsh Gangohi.^[11] He read the Qur'an in Gangoh, probably at home with his mother.^[11] Then he studied the primary Persian books with his older brother Inayat Ahmad.^[8] He completed Persian studies in Karnal with his maternal uncle Muhammad Taqi,^[8][9] and also partly with Muhammad Ghaus.^[8] Afterwards he studied the primary books of Arabic grammar (sarf and nahw) with Muhammad Bakhsh Rampuri,^[8][9] on whose encouragement he then traveled to Delhi in pursuit of knowledge in 1261 AH (1845), at the age of 17.^[8]

After arriving in Delhi he studied Arabic with Qazi Ahmaduddin Punjabi Jehlami.^[8][9][2] Afterwards he attended the classes of different teachers before becoming a pupil of Mamluk Ali Nanautawi, a scholar of the Shah Waliullah line, and a professor at Delhi College. It was in this period that Rashid Ahmad met and developed a close companionship with Mamluk Ali's nephew, Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi. Both were private pupils of Mamluk Ali. After he completed his studies with Mamluk Ali, he stayed a few more years in Delhi to study under other teachers. He became a pupil of Mufti Sadruddin Azurdah, with whom he studied some books of the ulum-i aqliyah (rational sciences).^[12] He studied the books of hadith and tafsir under Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi. Shah Ahmad Sa'id, the older brother of Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi, was also among his teachers.^[8][9][2]

After four years in Delhi, Rashid returned home to Gangoh.^{[citation needed]} He married Khadijah, daughter of his uncle Muhammad Naqi, at the age of 21. It was not until after his marriage that he memorized the Qur'an. He then travelled to Thana Bhawan, where he gave bay'ah (allegiance) at the hand of Haji Imdadullah in the Sufi path. He remained in Imdadullah's company and service for 42 days. When he prepared to leave for Gangoh, Imdadullah held his hand and gave him permission to take disciples.^{[citation needed]}

While Nanautawi and Gangohi are often mentioned as co-founders of Darul Uloom Deoband, Rizvi writes that there is no historical evidence that Gangohi played a role in its establishment in 1283 AH.^{[citation needed]} However, due to his close relationship with Nanautawi and others involved, it is unlikely that he was unaware of its founding.^{[citation needed]} Rizvi cites a record of Gangohi's written inspection of the madrasah on 3 Rajab 1285 AH as the earliest evidence for his formal relationship with the madrasah. It was also common for graduates of the madrasah to attend Rashid Ahmad's hadith lectures in Gangoh.^{[citation needed]}

Alongside Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi, Gangohi's efforts were instrumental in fostering a transnational, pan-Islamic consciousness in the subcontinent amongst the educated middle classes; during an era of increasing connectivity and arrival of new technologies of communication.^{[citation needed]} He forbade Muslims from engaging in various customs which he regarded as stemming from Hindu culture and criticised those Muslims "who retained trappings of ‘Hindu’ culture and lifestyles"; whether in clothing or lifestyle. As a strong opponent of the British rule; Gangohi also fiercely denounced the singing of patriotic British songs in English schools; denouncing it as an act of Kufr (disbelief).^[13]

In 1297 AH, after the death of Qasim, Rashid was made sarparast (patron) of Darul Uloom Deoband. From 1314 AH he was also sarparast of the Darul Uloom's sister madrasah, Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur.^[14]

In 1314 AH he also lost his eye-sight and became blind. In 1323 AH during the Tahujjad prayers (predawn prayers), he was bitten by a highly venemous snake.^[15] This led to him later dying on (the same day) Friday, 8 Jumada II 1323 AH (1905 AD) after the Adhan (call for prayer) for the Friday prayer.^[1]

Affiliation with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad[edit]

Being a contemporary, Gangohi interacted with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who had claimed to be the Imam Mahdi and Promised Messiah of the Muslims. He labled him and his followers (Ahmadis) as kuffar (disbelievers) and labeled Ahmad as a deceiver (Dajjal).^[16] Ahmadis maintain that he lost his eye-sight and died by a snake-bite as a result of Mubahila (prayer duel) against their founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, whom Gangohi had cursed with the words, "May the curse of God be on the liars" before his death.^[17]. Deobandis hold the view that these were natural events of his life, and his death was a martyrdom, as he felt no pain as a result of the snake-bite.^[18]

Legacy[edit]

His biographical works include: Yaad Yaraan by Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Habibur Rahman Usmani,^[19] Wasl al-Habeeb ma'a Wasītat Nāmah wa Qaṣīdat Mudḥiḥa by Aashiq-e-Ilahi Mirathi,^[20] Tazkiratur Rashid by Aashiq-e-Ilahi Mirathi.^[21][22]

See also[edit]

• Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari
• Majid Ali Jaunpuri
• Hussain Ahmed Madani
• Al-Muhannad 'ala al-Mufannad
• Masjid-e-Rasheed

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The Academic Education and Spiritual Training of Ḥaḍrat Rashīd Aḥmad Gangōhi
• Books Collection
• Jones, J. (2023). "Remembrances of Rashid: life-histories as lessons in the Deoband movement". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: 1–16. doi:10.1017/S1356186322000645. ISSN 1356-1863. S2CID 259878312.