Religious Reform in India: Personalities in the Ahl-i-Hadis and Ahl-i-Quran Movements

For those of you who missed it, like myself, you can listen to Barbara Metcalf and Ali Usman Qasmi's speeches here.

Posted here for my convenience.

Suggested Reading List By Mufti Taqi Usmani (English)

The suggested reading list by Mufti Taqi was asked to be translated into English.  Given that a number of the recommended works have appeared in English as translations, I thought it appropriate to do so.  It would also be fitting to mention a critical and revised edition of Thānvī’s ḥayāt al-muslimīn is being prepared by Turath Publishing (London), it is forecasted to be out sometime next year.  

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Question

We keep hearing from the ‘Ulama’ that learning the fundamentals of our religion is necessary (farḍh) upon every male and female, as per ḥadīth, “learning knowledge is incumbent upon every Muslim.”  However the task to identify what constitutes as fundamentals is beyond lay Muslims like myself.

Similarly, the manner in which you have set a syllabus at the seminaries for students training as ‘Ulama’, there is no such syllabus for lay Muslims.  This is despite scholars having produced many works in Urdu with the hope to spread the teachings of Islam amongst the masses. 

My request is for you to gather a selection of Urdu works, which can constitute a syllabus, for lay Muslims wanting to learn the teachings of their religion; a syllabus after the completion of which a layperson will have acquired all the fundamental and necessary teachings of his religion and meet the criteria laid out in the above-cited ḥadīth. Bayyinū, tu’jarū.   

Response

I received your letter.  The question you ask is indeed a very important one.  Acquiring knowledge according to one’s need is definitely a duty (farḍh) upon Muslims.  According to this lowly one, the reading list should be divided into two categories: the first comprising of primary literature without which one cannot live as a true Muslim and the second, being a completion and complement to the first, literature strengthening one’s fundamentals and deepening his knowledge enough that he would not be lead astray by deviants.  

Books which I find necessary reading for the first category are as follows:

1. Ḥayāt al-Muslimīn, Mol. Ashraf ‘Alī Thānvī

2. Furū’ al-Īmān, Mol. Ashraf ‘Alī Thānvī

3. Ta’līm al-Dīn, Mol. Ashraf ‘Alī Thānvī

4. Beheshti Gohar for boys & Beheshti Zevar for girls 

5. Jazā’ al-A’māl,  Mol. Ashraf ‘Alī Thānvī

6. Sīrat khātam al-Anbiyā’,  Muftī Shafī’ Uthmānī  

7. Ḥikāyāt-i Ṣaḥābah, Mol. Zakariyyā Kāndhelvī

8. Tārīkh al-Islām, Mol. Muḥammad Miyān

9. Uswa’-i Rasūl-i Akram, Dr. ‘Abd al-Ḥayy ‘Ārifī

The second category should incorporate the following books:

1. Ma’ārif al-Qur’ān by Muftī Shafī’ Uthmānī  OR Tafsīr-i ‘Uthmānī by Mol. Shabbīr Aḥmad ‘Uthmānī
2. Ma’ārif al-Ḥadīth, Mol. Manẓūr Nu’mānī
3. Beheshti Zewar Ke Masā’il by Mol. Ashraf ‘Alī Thānvī  OR ‘Ilm al-Fiqh by Mol. ‘Abd al-Shakūr Luknowī
4. ‘Aqā’id-i Islām, Mol. Idrīs Kāndhelvī
5. Sharī’at wa Tarīqat, Mol. Ashraf ‘Alī Thānvī

After reading these books one will acquire enough knowledge to live his life properly as a devout Muslim and will not become prey to misguidance inshā’ Allah.  Wa as-salām

Fatāwā-i Usmānī (p. 158, vol. 1)

راہ اعتدال

ملک میں قدیم وجدید تعلیم یافتوں کی دو برابر کی جماعتیں قائم ہیں، ہمارے کام کا پروگرام تو ایسا تھا کہ ان دونوں کے درمیان سلسلۂ اتصال کا کام دیتا، لیکن کبھی کبھی ہم کو عجیب وغریب مشکلات کا سامنا کرنا پڑتا ہے اور وہی وقت ہوتا ہے جب ہمارے کانوں میں یہ آواز آتی ہے:

دو دل دریں رہ سخت تر عیب است سالک را

خجل ھستم ز کفر خود بوئے ایماں ھم

 فریق اول کہتا ہے کہ علوم یورپ کی آمیزش سے تم علوم قدیم کے حرم اقدس کی توہین کرتے ہو، جدید فرقہ الزام دیتا ہے کہ پرانے اور فرسودہ علوم کو زندہ کرکے تم پھر ہمارے پاؤں میں وہی زنجیریں ڈالنا چاہتے ہو جن کو پجاس برس کی محنت میں ہم نے بڑی مشکل سے کاٹا ہے۔

حقیقت حال پر نظر ہو تو دونوں پر اپنی غلطی آپ منکشف ہوجائے: یورپ کے علوم، قدیم علوم کی معصومیت میں رخنہ انداز نہیں، بلکہ اس کے حسن وجمال کی افزائش کا سامان ہیں۔ 

دوسرے فریق سے کہنا ہے کہ اسلاف کے متروکہ علوم کو ذرا صیقل کرکے دیکھو، زنجیر پا نہیں، تمہارے پائے کمال کا خلخال ہے، ورنہ سچ یہ ہے کہ یورپ کے دیس میں تم غریب ونادار والدین کی وہ ناداں بیٹی ہو جو صرف سسرال کی دولت پر نازاں ہے۔  

۔۔۔ از سید سلیمان ندوی