Husain Ahmad Madani

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Husain Ahmad Madani (Hussaini)
Born 1879
Died 1957
Era Modern era
Region Islamic scholar
School Chisti-Sabiri branch of the Chisti order
Main interests
Hadith, Tafsir, Fiqh

Syed Husain Ahmad Madani (6 October 1879 - 1957) was an Islamic scholar from the Indian subcontinent. His followers called him Shaykh al-Islām to acknowledge his expertise in hadith and fiqh.

Early Life[edit]

He was born in Bangarmau Dist Unnao where his father was a teacher. He was originally from Tanda Dist Faizabad. His father was Sayyid Habibullah, descendant of Muhammed. [1]

Education and spiritual training[edit]

In 1892, at the age of thirteen, he went to the Darul Uloom Deoband, where he studied under Mehmud Hasan. After completing the exoteric sciences, he became a disciple of Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi, who later authorised him to initiate others in the Sufi path. Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi was also the pir (or spiritual teacher) of Mehmud Hasan and it was Mehmud Hasan who told Husain Ahmed to become Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi's disciple too. He was held among the senior khulafa (or successors) of Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi. Through him his spiritual lineage goes back to Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari who was the originator of the Chisti-Sabiri branch of the Chisti order. This spiritual chain is however strongly linked with the Naqshbandi order of Sufism as well, because one of the ancestral pirs of Husain Ahmed had also accepted Syed Ahmad Shaheed as his master who belonged to the Naqshbandi order. Thus Husain Ahmed had the benefit of being linked to both the Naqshbandi and the Chisti order. While the former stressed on the exoteric, the latter was more focused on the esoteric aspects of Islam. His main school of thought, of whose litanies he practiced, was however Chisti-Sabiri.


After graduating from the Darul Uloom Deoband, he migrated to Medina with his family. He began teaching Arabic grammar, usul al-fiqh, usul al-hadith, and Quranic exegesis. He spent 18 years teaching these various Islamic sciences in Medina. He was then appointed as head teacher and "Shaikhul Hadith" of Darul Uloom Deoband. He filled this position for approximately 28 years.

His efforts for independence[edit]

After his teacher Mehmud Hasan was sentenced by the British for his role in the Silk Letter Conspiracy to a prison in the Island of Malta, Madani volunteered to go with him so that he could look after him. He had personally not been convicted. He was imprisoned for three years. It so happened that holy Islamic month of Ramadan came and neither Mehmud Hasan nor Madani was Hafiz of the Qur'an. At this instance, Mehmud Hasan said to his student (Madani) that in all of his life, he didn't have a Ramadan without listening to the complete Qur'an in the special night prayers calles as Tarawih. Hussain Ahmed Madani, who respected his teachers very much, took this very sentence of his teacher seriously and started to memorize the Holy Quran in the prison itself. Daily, Madani used to memorize one Juz of the Holy Quran and recite it in the Tarawih. Continuing doing so, he memorized the whole Quran in the 30 days of Ramadan, thus saving his teacher Mehmud Hasan form being deprived of listening to the Holy Quran, like every Ramadan. Such an example of respect of teachers.


He was against the inception of Pakistan.[3] He was of the view that in the present times, nations are formed on the basis of homeland and not on ethnicity and religion.[4]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Barbara Daly Metcalf, Husain Ahmad Madani: The Jihad for Islam and India's Freedom, Oneworld Publication, Oxford, England, 2009
  2. ^ How Indians see Jinnah. BBC News. Retrieved on August 19, 2009.
  3. ^ Ulema and Pakistan Movement. Retrieved on 12 May 2011.
  4. ^ Zamzam 17.7.1938 cited by Pakistan Struggle and Pervez, Tulu-e-Islam Trust, Lahore, p-614
  • Al-E’tidaal Fi Maraatib ar-Rijaal (English Translation), Islamic Book Service, Pages 34–35
  • Aap Beeti (English Translation), Darul Isha’at, Pages 375-376

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