Nizamuddin Asir Adrawi

Nizamuddin Asir Adrawi was born in 1926 in Adari, Mau, then in the United Provinces of British India.[1] He was schooled at Madrasa Faydh al-Ghuraba, in Adari, and then at the Jamia Miftahul Uloom where studied with Habib Al-Rahman Al-Azmi, Munshi Zahīr-ul-Haq Nishāt Simābi and Abdul Latīf Nomāni. He then went to Madrassa Ehya-ul-Uloom in Mubarakpur, where he studied with scholars such as Shukrullah Mubarakpuri. He then moved to Darul Uloom Mau where he studied Mishkat with Abdur Rasheed al-Hussayni and Jalalayn with Qari Riyasat Ali.[1] He applied for admission to Darul Uloom Deoband but was unsuccessful and thus went to Madrasa Shahi for higher studies and graduated in 1942.[2][3] He studied Sahih Bukhari with Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad, Sahih Muslim with Ismail Sambhali and Tirmidhi with Muhammad Miyan Deobandi.[4]

Asīr participated in the Quit India Movement.[2] He was associated with the Indian National Congress until 1948, when he joined the Congress Socialist Party.[4] He established Madrassa Darus Salam in Adri, Mau in 1954, and taught in Adri for around sixteen years.[1]He served as Officer In Charge of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow from 1974 to 1978 and thereafter taught Islamic Sciences at the Madrasa Jamia Islamia in Rewri Talab, Varanasi from 4 February 1978 till he was bedridden due to senescence.[5]

Asīr was the editor of 3 monthly Tarjumān and wrote hundreds of articles for it. He was a columnist and a writer for the Weekly Al-Jamiat and Daily al-Jamiat of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind.[6] He wrote short stories and legends including Itnā, Do LāsheiN, Nashīb-o-Farāz and Aetirāf-e-Shikast. His legends such as Hand bag and Aspatāl were published in the Nawai Pakistan, Lahore. He also contributed to the Kāmyāb, Delhi and the Risālā Dārul Uloom of the Darul Uloom Deoband.[4] Several of his works have been considered primary sources for various Darul Uloom Deoband related issues.[2]

Asīr died on 20 May 2021 in Adari, Mau, Uttar Pradesh.[7] Arshad Madani expressed grief on his death and said that "Asīr Adrawi's death is an irreparable loss."[3]

Asīr wrote biographies of Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, Imamuddin Punjabi, Rahmatullah Kairanawi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi and Hussain Ahmed Madani.[6] He abridged the four-volume Tarīkh-e-Islām of Muinuddin Ahmad Nadwi into four thin volumes.[8] His book Taḥrīk-i āzādī aur Musalmān (transl. The Independence Movement and the Muslims) is part of the curricula of the Darul Uloom Deoband and several other affiliated madrasas.[2] His other books include:[1][9]

• Afkār-e-Aalam
• Dabistān-i Devband kī ʻilmī k̲h̲idmāt
• Dārulʻulūm Devband, iḥyā-yi Islām kī ʻaẓīm taḥrīk
• Fun asma-ur-Rijal
• Maʼās̲ir-i Shaik̲h̲ulislām (Biography of Hussain Ahmed Madani)
• Tafāsīr mai Isrā'īli Riwāyāt
• Tārīkh Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
• Tārīkh-e-Tabri ka tehqīqi jayzah
• Urdu sharah Dīvān-i Mutanabbī