Glorious personality
Maulana Taki Usmani
The name of Maulana Qazi Mujahidul Islam Qasemi, the eminent
jurist of India, is at the top of the list of the most respected scholars of
the Islamic world who left us a few days ago. He was one of those glorious
figures of our time whose service will never be forgotten.
He had been suffering from cancer for several years. But due
to the strength of faith, extraordinary morale and intoxication of service that
Allah gave him, he continued his knowledge, jurisprudence and educational
activities in spite of that deadly disease. The severity of the disease did not
affect the speed of his work and he was finally engaged in the service of Ilmi
and Deeni till the last moment when he finally came close to his Lord. Inna
lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiyun.
I first heard the name of Hazrat Maulana in the last part of
1400 AH, when I had the opportunity to visit South Africa for the first time
with my elder brother Hazrat Maulana Mufti Rafi Usmani. During his stay in
Durban, the Muslims there uttered the name of Maulana Mujahidul Islam with
great respect and said that he had stayed here for some time. Muslims have
benefited a lot from him. My dear friend Muhammad Shuaib Umar Sahib (a
prominent lawyer in Durban, later also received Islamic education from our
Darul Uloom) had a special education from Hazrat Maulana and learned the law of
inheritance well from him. He was especially five-faced in acknowledging and
praising his knowledge and wisdom. In this way an indirect acquaintance was
formed with Hazrat Maulana and there was also an interest in meeting him. But
the first meeting with him was when he arrived in Pakistan. After a few
meetings, it was assumed that what I had heard from him about his knowledge and
wisdom was true. Hazrat Maulana was a resident of Bihar province of India. In
the capital Patna, the ulama established an Islamic judiciary called Sharia in
the Keram Emirate, he was the lifeblood of it.
Allah Almighty gave him a fancy nature to find new ways to
serve the religion. In 1979, he set up an institute called Majmaul Fiqhil
Islami (India) for the discussion and research of jurisprudence on the new
masalas of the present age and thereby aroused the interest and motivation of
young scholars in India to conduct research and study. He used to hold a
nationwide conference in a city of India every year. The research-oriented
issues for the conference were selected a few months ago and essays were
written by ulama and fuqaha'i keram on them, and those essays were generally
discussed at the annual conference. In the end, the proposals were approved by
the conference. I also had the opportunity to attend those conferences twice.
Once in Hyderabad Deccan and once in Patna. On the contrary, Hazrat Maulana,
due to his reform and affection, bestowed on him the status of presiding over
both conferences. It is gratifying to see in both conferences that Hazrat
Maulana, especially the young ulama from all parts of India, are participating
in the discussions and research work with great enthusiasm and interest.
On behalf of Majmaul Fiqhill Islami (India), he started a
quarterly magazine called 'Bahas O Najar'. It used to publish research articles
of contemporary scholars, especially on new jurisprudential issues, and thus
the valuable treasures of scholarly and jurisprudential matters in the form of
volumes of ‘debate and attention’ have been preserved by the grace of Allah.
The entire credit for this goes to the late Maulana.
While attending the sessions of the internationally
established Majmaul Fiqhil Islami on behalf of Munajjamatul Mutamaril Islami in
Jeddah, I felt that none of the Indian scholars were invited. So I called its
secretary general Shaikh Jeb Balkhuja and specially invited Maulana Mujahidul
Islam Qasemi. Since then he has attended sessions every year. Not once was he
absent. Thus an occasion was made for an annual meeting with him. He showed
great sincerity in the work of Majmaul Fiqhil Islami, for which he wrote
articles, participated in reviews, and invited special scholars from among the
Arab scholars who attended the conference to take turns in his Majmaul Fiqhil
Islami conferences. In this way, Hazrat Maulana gradually became known among
the Arab scholars as a learned researcher. As a result, he gained special
acceptance among the Arab scholars of the International Academy of Fiqh.
He also left a valuable collection of writings for the
Muslim Ummah He had a great deal of experience in the field of jurisprudence
through the Emirate and it was appropriate for him to write about the Islamic
judiciary. So he wrote a very detailed book called 'Islamic Court'. Which is
the only detailed book in Urdu on this subject. In it he discusses the
judiciary with highly interpretive analysis and aims at the tastes of the
present age in its format and structure. Moreover, his works in Arabic under
the titles of Fiqhul Mushkilat, Al Waqf, Azzabayeh, etc. are very valuable
research. His pamphlets on Khutubah in Urdu in Bangalore, Fatawa Imarat in
Shariah and some fiqh topics are very useful for the ulama.
About a year ago. I received brief news about the illness of
Hazrat Maulana. Couldn't find out the details. The conference of Majmaul Fiqhil
Islami was held in Bahrain. There he was met. Then he said, he has been
diagnosed with cancer. I almost shivered. But he spoke of the disease as if he
had a cold. Alhamdulillah, no effect of the disease was felt in his movements.
I asked him for details. He said: Allah has been gracious to me. Doctors say it
is a deadly disease and the treatment is not very beneficial. But by the grace
and mercy of Allah, medicine is proving to be beneficial for me. I was told to
refrain from the tour. But look, I have come here after a long journey and
Alhamdulillah my urgent work is on. He then informed me that he was writing a
commentary on the book 'Sinwanul Qaya and Unwanul Ifta' by Qazi Al-Furqani (648
AH). Its manuscript was still with the tour. He went on to say that he wished
that this valuable library on the judiciary would be published in my lifetime.
He ordered me to write an introduction to the book. The library is written by
Kashiul Kuyat or Chief Justice of Delhi and has not yet been published. For the
first time, it was published in four volumes by the Awqaf Ministry of Kuwait
with the commentary of Hazrat Maulana. His affection for the library suggests
that he was highly regarded in the field of knowledge despite his terminal
illness. Even after that he made big tours. At that time he also went to
America and South Africa.
The following year, a session of Majmaul Fiqhil Islami was
held in Riyadh. I met him there too and by the grace of Allah I saw him in good
condition. The activities of Mazmaul Fiqhil Islami (India) continue as usual.
During his meeting in Riyadh, he strongly ordered that I seriously attend the
Majma's conference in Patna two months later. After Eid-ul-Azha in Sem, I went
to Delhi and from there to Patna as promised and joined the conference. Then
the signs of his illness were visible. But he was taking part in the conference
lying on a stool in a room adjacent to the stage. During the conference, he
called me once and said, "I don't know how many days are left in my
life." But Alhamdulillah, I am sure that these young people who are
engaged in this work on my orders, InshaAllah will continue after me. But they
will need the patronage and guidance of the educators.
Coincidentally, after hearing the sudden news of the death
of Muhtaram Ustad Hazrat Maulana Subhan Mahmud Sahib Quddisha Chirruhu, I had
to shorten my tour and return to Karachi and I could not stay till the end of
that conference. That was my last meeting with Hazrat Maulana.
Maulana Mujahidul Islam Sahib was born on Friday, October 9,
1938 in the village of Jale in Darbhanga district of Bihar province. He
received his primary education in Bihar and completed his hadith in 1955 at
Darul Uloom Deoband. At the suggestion of Shaykhul Hadith Hazrat Maulana
Hussain Ahmad Madani, he was in charge of teaching at Jamia Rahmania Munger
till 1974. Shariat Ameer of Bihar Hazrat Maulana Minnatullah Rahmani appointed
him as the Qazi of Sharia in the building in 1981 and in the middle of it he
also held the post of Naib Ameer Shariat. His contribution to making the
management of Shariah in the building fruitful and effective is not to be
forgotten. Moreover, when Keram Muslim Personal Law Board was established by
the Ulama of India in 1982, Hazrat Maulana was an important member. Finally,
after the death of Hazrat Maulana Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi Quddisha Chirruhu
in 2000, he was nominated as its president. But in the end it was the focus of
all his activities. Majmaul Fiqhil Islami (India) which was established in 1969
and held thirteen jurisprudential seminars till the death of Hazrat Maulana.
Through these, research articles on forty titles were created and proposals
were published.
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