Sayyid Mumtaz Ali

Sayyid Mumtaz Ali Deobandi (27 September 1860 – 15 June 1935) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar and an advocate of women rights in the late nineteenth century. He was an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband. His book Huquq-e-Niswan and the journal Tehzeeb-e-Niswan that he started with his wife Muhammadi Begum are said to be pioneering works on women rights.[1]

This article is about the social reformer. For other people, see Mumtaz Ali (disambiguation).

Mawlānā
Sayyid Mumtaz Ali
TitleShams al-Ulama
Personal
Born27 September 1860
Deoband, British India
Died15 June 1935(1935-06-15) (aged 74)
Lahore, British India
ReligionIslam
SpouseMuhammadi Begum
ChildrenImtiaz Ali Taj (son)
DenominationSunni Islam
MovementDeobandi
Notable work(s)Tehzeeb-e-Niswan, Huquq-e-Niswan, Tafṣīl al-bayān fī maqāṣid al-Qurʼān
Alma materDarul Uloom Deoband
TeachersMuhammad Yaqub Nanautawi and Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi
RelativesNaeem Tahir (grandson), Faran Tahir (great-grandson)
Founder ofRifah-e-Aam Press

Biography

Sayyid Mumtaz Ali was born on 27 September 1860 in Deoband, British India.[2] He was a fellow and contemporary of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and studied at Darul Uloom Deoband with Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi and Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi.[3]

After graduating from the Deoband seminary, Mumtaz Ali moved to Lahore and established a publishing house "Darul Isha'at". On 1 July 1898, he released a journal Tehzeeb-e-Niswan under the editorship of his wife Muhammadi Begum.[4] This journal later discontinued in 1949.[5] In 1898, he started a publishing house called "Rifah-e-Aam Press" in Lahore which is said to the first press in Lahore whose owner was a Muslim.[5] In 1905, he started a journal, called, Mushīr-e-Mādar (Advisor to the mother), and then the children's journal Phūl (Flower) in 1909,[2] and laid the foundation of children's literature in Urdu.[4]

Mumtaz Ali was honoured with title of "Shams-ul-Ulama" by the Government of British India in 1934.[5] He died on 15 June 1935 in Lahore.[2]

Literary works
  • Huquq-e-Niswan
  • Taz̲kiratulanbiyā
  • Tafṣīl al-bayān fī maqāṣid al-Qurʼān (6 volumes)
  • Naqsh bo uṭhe

Legacy

American historian, Gail Minault argues in her article "Sayyid Mumtaz Ali and 'Huquq un-Niswan': An Advocate of Women's Rights in Islam in the Late Nineteenth Century" that, Mumtaz Ali's "Huquq-e-Niswan was undoubtedly too far in advance of its times. Given the current debate about the importance of Muslim personal reform, however, it is well to remember this early champion of women rights in the shar'iat."[6] Commending Mumtaz Ali's work, Tafṣīl al-bayān fī maqāṣid al-Qurʼān, former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, comments that "such book does not exist even in the Arab world".[4] This 6 volume work of Mumtaz Ali on the Quran also received praise from scholarly figures including Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Abul Kalam Azad and Syed Sulaiman Nadwi.[4]

References
  1. Moaddel, Mansoor (1998). "Religion and Women: Islamic Modernism versus Fundamentalism". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 37 (1): 116. doi:10.2307/1388032. JSTOR 1388032.
  2. Asir Adrawi. Tazkirah Mashāhīr-e-Hind: Karwān-e-Rafta (in Urdu) (2 April 2016 ed.). Deoband: Darul Moallifeen. p. 246.
  3. Sarkar, Sumit; Sarkar, Tanika (2008). Women and Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253352699. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  4. Nayab Hasan Qasmi. "Mawlana Sayyid Mumtaz Ali Deobandi". Darul Uloom Deoband Ka Sahafati ManzarNama. Idara Tehqeeq-e-Islami, Deoband. pp. 147–151.
  5. Tahir Kamran (8 July 2018). "Re-imagining of Muslim Women - II". thenews.com.pk. The News International. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  6. Minault, Gail (1990). "Sayyid Mumtaz Ali and 'Huquq un-Niswan': An Advocate of Women's Rights in Islam in the Late Nineteenth Century". Modern Asian Studies. 24 (1): 147–172. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00001190. JSTOR 312505.
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