Anwar Shah Kashmiri


Muḥammad Anwar Shāh ibn Mu‘az̤z̤am Shāh Kashmīrī was a Kashmiri Islamic scholar. He taught at several institutions, including the Darul Uloom Deoband, which contains a gate named in his honor. He authored books on Islam published in Arabic and Persian. He was first Principal at Madrasa Aminia and served Darul Uloom Deoband as Principal for twelve years.

Early life and education

Anwar Shah Kashmiri was born in Kashmir on 27 Shawwal 1292 AH in a Sayyid family. Aged four, he started reading the Quran under the instruction of his father, Muazzam Ali Shah. In 1889, he relocated to Deoband, where he studied at the Darul Uloom for three years. In 1892, he moved to Darul Uloom Deoband where he studied with Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and others. Then, in 1896, he went to Rashid Ahmad Gangohi and obtained a teaching certificate in Hadith and esoteric knowledge.

Career

After graduating from Darul Uloom, he taught in Madrasa Aminia, Delhi, serving as its first Principal. In 1903 he went to Kashmir, where he established Faiz-e A'am Madrasah. In 1905 he performed Hajj. Four years later, he returned to Deoband. Until 1333, he taught books of Hadith without taking a salary. He held the guardianship of Darul Uloom for nearly twelve years. He resigned in 1927 and went to the Madrasah of Dabhel in western India, where, until 1932, he taught Hadith. He left his family in 1887 and moved into the Madrasah in India.
He began his career teaching at Madrasa Aminia in Delhi in 1897 before returning to Kashmir when his mother died in 1901. There, he taught at the Madrasah Fay'm for three years before embarking on his Hajj to Mecca and Medina. He visited his Deoband instructor Mahmood Hasan, who persuaded him to take a position teaching in Deoband. When Mahmood Hasan himself subsequently relocated to Medina in 1908, Shah began teaching Hadith.He retained the position until 1927, when he departed after a disagreement with management.
Kashmiri moved to Jamia Islamia Talimuddin along with Azizur Rahman Usmani in 1927 where he taught Hadith until 1932.

Death and legacy

In 1933, Shah became ill and traveled to Deoband for medical care. He continued addressing students there until he died on 28 May 1933. He was survived by his elder son Azhar Shah Qaiser and younger son Anzar Shah Kashmiri. Muhammad Iqbal arranged a condolence ceremony, at which he described Kashmiri as the greatest Islamic scholar of the last five hundred years.
Jamia Imam Muhammad Anwar Shah, Deoband is an Islamic school named after Kashmiri. Syrian scholar Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda has written a biography of Kashmiri in Arabic. Yunoos Osman wrote his D.Phil thesis Life and Works of Allamah Muhammad Anwar Shah Kashmiri at the University of Durban-Westville.
A book about Kashmiri enitled The Pride OF Kashmir was released in December 2015. During the release of the book, Engineer Rashid, then MLA of Langate renamed Student of the year award of Kupwara to "Moulana Anwar Shah Kashmiri Award for excellence".

Literary works

Between 1929 and 1946, the Majlis-i-Ὶlm educational academy in Delhi published Kashmiri‘s writings on Islam. Among other topics, his books discussed Qur'an, metaphysics, the fundamental beliefs of Islam, jurisprudence, zoology, and politics.
Kashmiri also wrote poetry and often put his scholarly writings in that form. Some of his articles and manuscripts remain unpublished.
His works include:
In 1908, Kashmiri married a woman of Gangoh, with whom he had three sons and two daughters.

Students

Kashmiri's students include Manazir Ahsan Gilani, Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi, Hifzur Rahman Seoharwi, Saeed Ahmad Akbarabadi, Zayn al-Abidin Sajjad Meerthi, Muhammad Miyan Deobandi, Manzur Nu'mani, and Muhammad Shafi Deobandi.