Book Review: 'Life and Thoughts of Hujjat al-Islam Imam Muhammad Qasim al-Nanawtawi'

Book Title:     Life and Thoughts of Hujjat al-Islam Imam Muhammad Qasim al-Nanawtawi
Author:          Atif Suhail Siddiqui (Ph.D.)
Publisher:      Deoband Institute of Islamic Thought (DIIT) Deoband
YoP:                Jan 2016
ISBN:              9788189857660
 
The new year 2016 dawned at us with a unique gift that was much awaited of its kind from the intelligentsia of Deoband School of Thought around the globe. This year Darul Uloom Deoband is entering into its 150th anniversary. Established on 31 May 1866, Darul Uloom Deoband became the centre of Islamic educational and intellectual revolution led by Imam Muhammad Qasim al-Nanawtawi (1831-1880 CE). This movement reinstated the legacy of Shah Waliullah Muhaddith of Delhi (1703-1762) and thus became the of  seat pure and higher Islamic education, hub of Islamic heritage as well as a school of thought representing the pristine Islamic beauty.
 
Imam Muhammad Qasim al-Nanawtawi is the towering personality of the Post-Mughal India who is the torchbearer of Islamic renaissance in the subcontinent that later spread across the world. He was the most influential Islamic philosopher, theologian and reformer in the Indian subcontinent after Imam al-Hind Shah Waliullah of Delhi as he was the last bearer of the intellectual legacy of Shah Wali Allah. Al-Nanawtawi is revered as a Mujaddid and having a title Hujjat al-Islam stands on the third step in the process of Islamic revivalism after Mujaddid Alf-Thani (1564-1624) and Shah Waliullah of Delhi.
 
The Qasmi philosophy and literature is among the most precious hidden treasures of Deoband which needs to be brought to the world intelligentsia in beautiful attire and different international languages. I congratulate Dr Atif Suhail Siddiqui to produce this worthwhile work to introduce the philosophy and legacy of Imam al-Nanawtawi to world in English language.
 
I hope this work will be followed by other works of value under Deoband Institute of Islamic Thought (DIIT).
 
Muhammadullah Khalili Qasmi
Darul Uloom Deoband
19/01/2016, Tue

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