Azhar Shah Qaiser was an IndianIslamic scholar, journalist and writer. He wrote articles and books in Urdu. He was the elder son of the Indian hadith scholar, Anwar Shah Kashmiri.
Birth and education
Azhar Shah Qaiser was born in December 1920 at Deoband. His father Anwar Shah Kashmiri was a hadith scholar. Qaiser enrolled in the Darul Uloom Deoband. When his father resigned from the Darul Uloom Deoband in 1927, and moved to Jamia Islamia Talimuddin, Dabhel, Qaiser went with him to Dabhel and continued his studies there. Qaiser was about 12 years old when his father Anwar Shah Kashmiri died in 1933. Facing consequences, Qaiser was not able to complete his studies.
Career
When his father died, people throughout the country offered condolences, including Zafar Ali Khan, an Urdu author and journalist. A condolence ceremony was organised at Jama Masjid in Deoband and the welcome address was prepared by 12 year old Qaiser. Qaiser presented a copy of this address to Zafar Ali Khan and it was also read aloud in the congregation. Zafar Ali Khan liked this laudatory address so much that he published it on the front page of his Zamindar. Thus began Qaiser's literary life. Qaiser's articles featured firstly in Monthly Guncha which was published from Bijnor and Monthly Payam-e-Taleem of the Jamia Millia Islamia. Weekly Sadaqat, Saharanpur was released in 1936 and Qaiser became its permanent writer and a member of its editorial board. Qaiser started a weekly journal Isteqlal along with Sultan-ul-Haq Qasmi Bijnori. It is difficult to state when it was firstly released although its famous Eid Number edition appeared in December 1937. In 1939, when Qaiser was 19, a collection of 16 of his articles were published in Sadaqat. In November 1940, Qaiser released Bi-monthly al-Anwar from Deoband. The journal focused on the life and works of Anwar Shah Kashmiri. Before 1940, in 1939 Qaiser worked for Zamindar honorarily. Besides Sadaqat Saharanpur and al-Anwar, Deoband, Qaiser took the editorial responsibilities of Haadi, Deoband. First edition of Haadi appeared in May 1949. The names of Syed Azhar Shah Qaiser, Muhammad Salim Qasmi and Syed Mehboob Rizwi are found up to editions of April 1950. Qaiser wrote 87 articles from 1936 to 1942. Short stories and tales like Tuta Huwa A'ina, Inqelab, Sharabi Shayar and Azaadi are some notable ones. In 1951, Qaiser edited Darul Uloom, the monthly journal of Darul Uloom Deoband, until 1982. He also edited Bi-monthly Ijtemah, Saharanpur, Monthly Khalid, Deoband, Monthly Tayyib, Deoband, Bi-monthly Isha'at-e-Haq, Deoband.
Qaiser died on 27 November 1985 in Deoband. He was buried next to the grave of his father Anwar Shah Kashmiri in Mazar-e-Anwari, Deoband. His son Naseem Akhtar Shah Qaiser is an author of Urdu and a professor at Darul Uloom Waqf, Deoband. He has written a concise biography of his father and his uncle Anzar Shah Kashmiri in his book Do Gohar Aabdaar. He has also written Syed Muhammad Azhar Shah Qaiser Ek Adeeb, Ek Sahafi about his father.
