Amin Ahsan Islahi

Timeline

1. 1904 Born at Bamhur, a village in Azamgarh district, in what is now Uttar Pradesh.
2. 1922 Graduates from Madrasatul Islah at Sarai Mir, then enters journalism, editing the newspapers Madinah and Sach.
3. 1925 Leaves journalism to study the Qur’an with Hamiduddin Farahi at Sarai Mir, remaining with him until Farahi’s death in 1930.
4. 1936 Founds the Arabic-and-Urdu journal al-Islah, which runs until 1939.
5. 1941 Among the founder members of the Jama‘at-i-Islami under Mawdudi; later resigns over differences on the party’s constitution.
6. 1958–1980 Writes Tadabbur-i-Qur’an, his nine-volume commentary, completed after twenty-two years.
7. 1981 Founds the Idara-i-Tadabbur-i-Qur’an-u-Hadith at Lahore, the centre of his later teaching.
8. 15 December 1997 Dies at Lahore.

Early life and journalism

Islahi was born in 1904 at Bamhur, a small village in Azamgarh, into a family of modest landholders; his father was Hafiz Muhammad Murtada. He entered Madrasatul Islah at Sarai Mir in 1915, and it was there, while the madrasah marked the graduation of its first class, that he first came to the notice of Hamiduddin Farahi. The teacher who shaped him most in those years was Mawlana ‘Abd al-Rahman Nigrami, who turned him toward Arabic literature. After graduating in 1922 he went into journalism, editing the newspaper Madinah at Bijnawr and working with Sach, the paper of Mawlana ‘Abd al-Majid Daryabadi.

Under Farahi, 1925–1930

In 1925 Farahi invited Islahi to come and study the Qur’an with him, and Islahi left journalism without hesitation. For the next five years he read the Qur’an with Farahi at Sarai Mir, absorbing his method of coherence and teaching Arabic literature at the madrasah himself. The relationship was the decisive event of his intellectual life: it turned a journalist into the scholar who would complete what Farahi had only begun.

Hadith, and the founding of al-Islah

After Farahi’s death in 1930, Islahi studied Hadith with the celebrated traditionist ‘Abd al-Rahman Muhaddith Mubarakpuri. In 1936 he founded al-Islah, a journal in which he translated many of Farahi’s Arabic treatises into Urdu. It was published until 1939.

The Jama‘at-i-Islami years, 1941–1958

Islahi was among the founder members of the Jama‘at-i-Islami, the religious party established by Mawdudi in 1941. He was for years one of its leading figures, but differences arose between him and Mawdudi over the nature of the party’s constitution, and he eventually resigned. Leaving the Jama‘at freed him to return to the work he had set aside.

Tadabbur-i-Qur’an, 1958–1980

After leaving the Jama‘at, Islahi took up the goal he had long held: a full commentary on the Qur’an. He launched the journal Mithaq, in which portions of the commentary first appeared, and in 1961 formed a study circle, the Halqa-i-Tadabbur-i-Qur’an. On the twelfth of August 1980 the work was finished. Tadabbur-i-Qur’an had taken twenty-two years to complete.

Idara-i-Tadabbur, and final years

In 1981 Islahi founded the Idara-i-Tadabbur-i-Qur’an-u-Hadith, which remained the centre of his intellectual work until his death, and took out the journal Tadabbur as its organ. He gave weekly lectures on the text of the Qur’an, and later taught the Mu’atta of Imam Malik, and portions of Bukhari’s Sahih, to a close circle of students. Many of these lectures were transcribed and published. He died at Lahore on 15 December 1997.

The works

Besides Tadabbur-i-Qur’an, Islahi wrote a number of books in Urdu across the disciplines of the Qur’an, Hadith, and Islamic thought. The principal ones are listed below; several are available in full in the library.

The Urdu books →
His mentor, Hamiduddin Farahi →