Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi

Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi was born in 1833 in Nanauta, a Town near Saharanpur, India.[1]

He established Darul Uloom Deoband in 1866 with the financial help and funding of the Muslim states within India and the rich individuals of the Muslim Indian community.[2][6]

He conformed to the Shari'a and worked to motivate other people to do so. It was through his work that a prominent madrasa was established in Deoband and a mosque was built in 1868. Through his efforts, Islamic schools were established at various other locations as well.[7]

He completed his early education in his hometown Nanauta and then he was sent to Deoband[1], where he studied in Mahtab Ali's madrassa. Then he traveled to Saharanpur, where he lived with his maternal grandfather. There he studied elementary books (kitabs) of Arabic grammar and syntax under Maulvi Nawaz. At the end of 1843, Mamlook Ali escorted him to Delhi. There, he studied various Islamic books. Later he was admitted to Madrassa Gaziuddin Khan.[8]

His close relative, Muhammad Yaqub Nanautavi wrote:

My late father enrolled him at the Arabic Madrasa and said, 'Study Euclid yourself and complete the arithmetical exercises.' After a few days, he had attended all of the ordinary discourses and completed the arithmetical exercises. Munshi Zakatullah asked a few questions of him, which were difficult. Because he was able to solve them, he became well-known. When the annual examination drew near, he did not write it and left the madrasa. The whole staff of the madrasa, particularly the headmaster, regretted this very much.

Prior to his enrollment at Madrassa Gaziuddin Khan, he had studied books on logic, philosophy, and scholastic theology under Mamlook Ali at his house. He joined a study circle, which possessed a central position in India with regards to the teaching of the Qur'an and hadith. He studied hadith under Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi and he became a formal follower of Imdadullah Muhajir Makki.[7]

After the completion of his education, Nanautavi became the editor of the press at Matbah-e-Ahmadi. During this period, at Ahmad Ali's insistence, he wrote a scholium on the last few portions of Sahihul Bukhari. Before the establishment of Darul Uloom Deoband, he taught Euclid for some time at the Chhatta Masjid. His lectures were delivered at the printing press. His teaching produced a group of accomplished Ulama, the example of which had not been seen since Shah Abdul Ghani's time.

In 1860, he performed Hajj and, on his return, he accepted a profession of collating books at Matbah-e-Mujtaba in Meerut. Nanautavi remained attached to this press until 1868. He performed Hajj for the second time and then accepted a job at Matbah-e-Hashimi in Meerut.

He participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 in the Battle of Shamli between the British and the anti-colonialist ulema. The scholars were ultimately defeated at that battle.[6][3]

His greatest achievement was the revival of an educational movement for the renaissance of religious sciences in India and the creation of guiding principles for the madaris (schools). Under his attention and supervision, madaris were established in areas such as Thanabhavan, Galautti, Kerana, Danapur, Meerut, and Muradabad. Most of them still exist, rendering educational and religious services in their vicinity. Funding of these religious schools initially was done by the rulers of the Muslim states and the rich individuals of the Muslim Indian community.[2][7]

Under Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi's guidance, these religious schools, at least in the beginning, remained distant from politics and devoted their services to providing only religious education to Muslim children. The curriculum at these schools was studying the Quran, Hadith, Islamic law, and logic.[2]

Qasim Nanautavi died on 15 April 1880 at the age of 47. His grave is to the north of the Darul-Uloom. Since Qasim Nanautavi is buried there, the place is known as Qabrastan-e-Qasimi, where countless Deobandi scholars, students, and others are buried.[9]

Well-known Muslim educationist of that time Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had great respect for Muhammad Qasim Nanottvi and wrote an emotional and long article on his death.[9]

• Aab-i Hayat (commentary on the life of the prophet Muhammad[7][9]
• Tahzir al-Nas[10]
• Mubahisah Shahjahanpur[10][9]
• Tasfiyat al-Aqa'id[10]
• Tauseeq-ul-Kalam[9]

Maulana Abd al-Hayy Lucknowi writes regarding Maulana Qasim Nanautavi:

He was the most ascetic of people, the most pious amongst them, and the most frequent in dhikr and contemplation from them, and the furthest of them from the dress of the ‘ulama’ and clothes of the students of jurisprudence, like the turban, shawl etc. At that time he would not issue fatwa or preach, but engaged in the remembrance of Allah (Glorified is He) and His meditation, until the doors of the realities and sciences were opened to him. The aforementioned Shaykh Imdad Allah bestowed successorship to him, and praised him saying that “the like of Qasim is not found except in a bygone age.”[11]

• Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari
• Jamia Qasmia Madrasa Shahi, Moradabad
• Qari Muhammad Tayyib
• Muhammad Salim Qasmi
• Muhammad Sufyan Qasmi

• "Aab E Hayat- Autobiography of Maulana Qasim Nanautavi"
• "Ajwiba Kamila" by Maulana Qasim Nantauvi RA
• Related Books on Archive.org
• Deoband Madrassa Website