DR Ansari The Ghazali of His Age - Final

Dr.
Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age
His Eminence Dr Hafiz Muhammad Fazlur

Rahman Ansari Al Qadri (ra)
Mustafa Fazil Ansari
President World Federation of Islamic Missions
In a not so recent interview, Dr Ataur Rehman, an eminent

Pakistani educationist of repute, stated that the technological
advancement achieved till to date beginning the advent of Man
on earth, will be doubled in the next ten year period.
Irrespective of the authenticity or the accuracy of this
statement, the prophecy seemingly appears to be logical and
close to truth given the exponential progression of human
understanding, innovation and discoveries in all the fields of
scientific thought we bear witness today.
The phenomenal advances in the realm of modern day
physical sciences and the growing awareness of the intricacies
of creation are a tribute to the intellectual potential of the
human mind and perpetuate thought processes in affirming the
divine magnificence of the ultimate Creator. It is a pity,
however, that Muslims who were once the torch bearers of
knowledge are now almost nonexistent in that category of
scientist and researchers who probed the horizons of
knowledge and deemed it their legacy to achieve the highest
level of understanding of the universe and its Creator.
Regrettably, with the passage of time, the blessing of
constructive critical analytical research and reasoning infused
12
Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

through Quranic guidance amongst the Muslims was gradually
and unobtrusively lost in oblivion.
Viewed in this back drop, the manifestations of spiritual,
moral and physical malaise and inertia, even amongst the
intellectual elite representing the Muslim Ummah of today, is
the upshot of our misunderstood notions about religion
emerging from our divergence and callousness to draw
strength from the fountains of knowledge and wisdom
contained in the Quran and Sunnah. Despite the gigantic
strides in the field of physics, philosophy, psychology and
mind sciences, the human mind has so far failed to unravel
with certitude the deeper mysteries of the metaphysical
dimension without the aid of revealed knowledge. The
solution always lay in understanding the divine guidance and
its application in real time situations.
Dr Hafiz Muhammad Fazlur Rehman Ansari Al Qadri (ra)
spent his lifetime understanding and resolving the dilemmas
confronting the modern mind and providing exacting solutions
to the enigmas which met the critical intellectual requirements
of the day. Blessed with a colossal intellect, groomed and
nurtured in intimate details of the physical and Metaphysical
sciences, and endowed with a mighty spiritual core, he roamed
the far corners of the world, spreading the light of wisdom,
infusing and synergizing the dynamic essence of orthodox
Islam, and disseminating the message through his writings and
lectures, as the panacea of all the maladies affecting the
human race.
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Born in Saharanpur, India on 14th August, 1914,
corresponding to 14th Shaban, the illustrious scion of the
Ansari clan was a descendent of Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari (ra)
of Medina Munawwara, a companion of the Holy Prophet
(saw).
On the auspicious day of his birth, his father Muhammed
Khalil Ansari, received an epistle from one of his maternal
uncles, Maulana Mushtaq, a sufi saint, which stated that he
saw the grandfather of Dr Ansari (ra) seated next to Hazrat
Ghousul Azam Shaikh Mohiuddin Abdul Qader Al-Gilani (ra)
and eminent saints in a circle, all of whom were placing rose
flowers in his lap. On enquiry, he was told that they are
felicitating him on the arrival of a grandson who will play a
major role in illuminating and spreading the message of Islam
to the four corners of the world, as a humble devote and a true
disciple of the Holy Prophet (saw).
Maulana Mushtaq (ra) wrote that if this is the case, then the
child should be named Muhammad Fazlur Rahman and that
his formal education should begin with the memorization of
the Holy Quran, to be followed by religious and secular
education of excellence. The family of Dr Ansari (ra) was
considered highly educated, enlightened, and religious. Dr
Ansaris father was known as a strict disciplinarian. Three of
the six brothers specialized in engineering sciences in those
days.
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Dr Ansari (ra) memorized the Holy Quran at the tender age of
six and a half years. Reminiscing, my grandmother used to tell
me that the young Ansari would not repeat his morning lesson
and, when asked, he would repeat the entire lesson of the
morning with remarkable ease and without a single mistake. A
truly extraordinary child as narrated by his esteemed mother,
Husn Ara Begum. His somber countenance and sanguine
temperament as a child endeared him to his entire family. His
scholastic achievements earned laurels throughout his
outstanding educational career in which he was awarded
several gold medals in recognition of his achievements. He
was named as the best product of Aligarh Muslim University
and a refulgent star on the firmament of Islamic learning.
Here he continued to create new records of his performance,
still unsurpassed to date, and left deep impression of his
ingenious incursions in the domain of philosophy and social
sciences besides theology.
His entire life was a true portrayal of a zealous mujahid and
missionary of Islam, who raced against time to attain his life
mission. The sincerity and intense passion with which he
propounded the various facets of dynamic Islam left deep
imprints in the sand of time. Verily, the Quran states for such
Muslims: And those of faith are overflowing in the love of
Allah (2:165).
From his early childhood, his compositions bore the mark of
his budding genius as narrated by my grandmother. He wrote
beautiful poetry but later gave that up. His style of writing was
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exquisite whether it was in English, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, or
even German. His written expression was exacting and
immaculate. His eloquence, rhetoric and communication skills
were highly impressive. He was a perfectionist by nature.
His first major debut in serious writing came out in the form
of a booklet The Beacon Light of Islam at the age of 18
years. His expositions were lucid, direct, logical and
appealing. His lasting contribution to humanity was his
internationally acclaimed magnum opus The Quranic
Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society, which has no
parallel in the history of Islam and provides clear and
comprehensive interpretation of Quranic guidance to Muslims
to achieve moral excellence with the objective of attaining the
pleasure of Allah, the raison dtre of Deen-e-Islam. While
writing this book, one could not fail to observe the depth of
his concentration and the visible hurry to complete his work in
the shortest possible time. One could see that he knew the end
was near. He worked very hard throughout his life and the
comfort of rest was unknown to him. He always found his
bliss in devotion to his lifes mission.
While in his company, one could not fail to observe the
immensity of his love and intensity of his devotion to follow
in the footsteps of the Holy Prophet (saw) in furtherance of the
prophetic mission to inspire and form a single brotherhood as
stated in the Quran: The believers are but a single brotherhood
(49:10). He was deeply concerned with the problems of
disunity and emergence of factions amongst the Muslims and
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always pleaded and prayed for the unification of the Muslim
Ummah. Those who knew him well could discern his agony
and concern in this context.
It was never difficult to fathom his earnest desire to remove
the cobwebs of confusion pertaining to Islam, so blatantly
obvious in this age of doubt. The questing souls found their
elixir in his rationalistic, pragmatic approach per se in
resolving their spiritual and intellectual confusions. Highly
receptive, he had the uncanny ability and the spiritual outreach
to grasp the core of the problem as if he saw through the
individual and respond with the solution commensurate with
the intellectual capacity of that person. Modesty, nobility,
sincerity of purpose, and humility were the hallmark of his
outstanding character and added luster to his charisma and
singular charm.
His caring personality as a father to four daughters and a son,
spoke volumes about the depth of his relationship, his sense of
responsibility and the intensity of his compassion for his
family. He was impeccable in all his ways and mannerisms, an
icon of excellence for his protg, a role model to emulate. He
was extremely kind and soft spoken, and well versed in the art
of relating to individual problems with sensitivity par
excellence. He gave tremendous confidence to his children and
imbued them with wisdom, inspiring and inundating their
personalities with the love of Allah (swt) and the Holy Prophet
(saw).
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He was an ideal father who taught his children the true
meaning and essence of this earthly sojourn and succeeded
with the will of Allah (swt) to instill the understanding of the
objective of this existence and its responsibilities. One could
not fail to discern his joy and the feeling of satisfaction when
he observed the sprouting of critical reason in his children
during the dinner discourse which was more of a daily family
get together. He watched over his childrens intellectual,
moral and spiritual development with deep parental concern,
and provided inspiration and highly enlightened guidance to
establish the bases of their individual personalities.
He was an extraordinarily affectionate husband, the likes of
whom is difficult, nay, almost impossible to find in this age.
The same holds true for my wonderful mother, who would
endlessly speak of the virtuous nature of her husband, all the
while remaining grateful to Allah (swt) for having blessed her
with such a kind and caring husband. They were an adorable
couple, each trying to outdo the other in imparting limitless
kindness and compassion to all they came in contact with.
Dr Ansaris sincerity and piety, coupled with his remarkable
intellectual acumen and spiritual capacity, earned him the
profound regard and deep affection of his mentor, the highly
revered Hazrat Maulana Muhammed Abdul Aleem Siddiqui
Al Qadri (ra), under whose tutelage, he continued his spiritual
advancement and practical missionary training. Someone
asked my grandfather to elucidate the determining factor in the
selection of my father as his son-in-law from amongst the
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numerous proposals; he stated that it was my fathers
outstanding piety. Shortly before his demise in Medina
Munawwara, he wrote to my mother stating that, amongst all
of his spiritual disciples, family, and friends, his son-in-law
was the most outstanding in piety, honor and ability.
My grandfather was very fond of his eldest daughteras the
saying goes, she was the apple of his eye. Being very close
and dear to my grandfather, he confided in her about the
exemplary role that Dr Ansari (ra) was destined to play as a
Muslim missionary and reformer. Knowing to some extent the
spiritual stature of her father as a mystic, my mother asked
him to gauge and coach her husband to attain the higher
spiritual elevations in keeping with the formidable task ahead.
She was told that her husband had already attained the
eminent elevations bestowed on him while unraveling the
mysteries of divine knowledge from within the Quran and
Sunnah.
Dr Ansari (ra) had the unique privilege of having travelled
extensively to various parts of the world on his missionary
errands culminating in the establishment of numerous Muslim
associations, societies, masajids, and educational forums and
institutions in the countries that he visited. He also founded a
specialized center of academic and spiritual training for
Muslim missionaries, which he considered a necessary
prerequisite for the rejuvenation of the Muslim Ummah in
Karachi, Pakistan, and named it in memoriam of his spiritual
teacher and Shaikh - the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic
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Studies, the nexus of World Federation of Islamic Missions
principal activity.
He was an astute and visionary educationist and knew well
that the decadence and decline of the Muslim world owes its
origin to its backwardness and lack of proper education. He
was emphatic on creating centers of excellence capable and
fully equipped to impart ideal academic and spiritual
education and training based on his appraisal of the
missionary field requirement, his long multifarious experience
and deep insight of human problems. His initial program was
to pick potential, willing individuals from different parts of the
world, provide them the necessary academic, intellectual, and
spiritual discipline, subsequently sending them back to their
countries of origin to reform communities in consonance with
the principles of Islam and provide live solutions to modern
day issues in conformance with the shariah.
After completion of his final monumental work, he went on
his last missionary tour to the Seychelles Island with Brother
Dr Mohsin Ebrahim, then a student of the Aleemiyah Institute.
His strenuous efforts in writing the book had sapped his
energy and drained him physically which, coupled with his
unattended and uncared for diabetes affecting and damaging
his kidneys, provided an excuse for pulmonary edema and a
mild heart attack in May 1974.
The project that he had started concurrently while he was
giving finishing touches to the book The Quranic Foundation
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was even more complex and demanding. This work was to
focus on the Ahadith and provide incontrovertible evidence in
support of the system of life envisaged in the Quran and
amplified in his book The Quranic Foundation, thus
eliminating doubts, conflicts, and controversies which were
resulting in deviations from the path ordained by Allah (swt),
and also removing impediments to the conceptual clarity so
dear to his heart. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be. The
frailty of his physical condition cut short his lease on life, and
he was moved to the hospital where he underwent faulty
treatment resulting in further deterioration.
A week before his demise, he desired to be moved back to his
home and the treatment was changed from Allopathic to
Homeopathic. Apparently, his kidneys were beyond repair and
did not respond to the treatment. The concentration of urea in
his blood shot up to extreme levels. Dr Muhammad Ali Shah,
his disciple and attending Allopath physician, stated that he
had not come across any case in the annals of medical history,
where the mental faculties were so vibrant and active despite
the extremely high concentration of urea in the blood.
On Thursday Dr Ansari advised my mother that he would be
taking his Ghusl-e-Sehat on Monday morning. On Sunday, a
day before his departure around noon, a senior disciple of the
Qadriya Aleemiya Order and a prominent member of the
Central Halqa Aleemiya Shaikh Ghulam Hussain bhai,
approached me and desired to speak to Dr Ansari (ra) on some
serious matter of extreme urgency. I told him that his
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condition was serious. He said that during Moraqiba he has
come to know that the petition for extension of Dr Ansaris
life was not approved and he has been assigned important
responsibilities and that he will be leaving us tomorrow
morning and that he wanted to present his life instead which
he said was permissible under shariah. Dr Ansaris discourse
with Shaikh Hussain was in Arabic interspersed with Persian
so most of us could not understand. However, it was clear that
Dr Ansari declined Shaikh Hussain bhais request.
It was the wee hours of Monday, 3rd June 1974, when Dr
Ansari (ra) was in intense agony and asked the doctor Cant
you brace me up a little? In response, Dr Ansari saw a gush
of tears and despair and helplessness written large on the
doctors face. Like a brave warrior of Islam, Dr Ansari said
Ok. It is now time to leave. He asked me to open all the
doors and windows of the room and to give him space. His
thunderous voice echoed with the melody of Sura Rahman,
expressing from the core of his heart his gratitude to his Lord.
As he approached the end of the Surah, his voice started to ebb
in slower rhythm. During all this time, he raised his right hand
umpteen times as if shaking hands. The whole house appeared
to be electrified. With voice no more, one could see his tongue
uttering Allah, Allah, Allah, and then the movement
stoppedthe saintly soul had departed to meet the Owner, the
Lord Almighty, the Beneficent, the Merciful. May Allah (swt)
rest his soul in peace and reward him His choicest blessings
forever and ever, Aameen.
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Throughout his life, his efforts were directed to infuse
conceptual clarity and create conviction in the belief system of
Islam based on rationality and to develop the intensity of love
and devotion to Allah (swt) and His Prophet (pbuh) as an
outcome of appreciation of Allahs magnificence manifested
in His creation of the cosmos and the mankind. His
elucidations were always simple logically elaborate,
embellished with reasoning from Quran and Sunnah.
His uncanny insight of the Quranic text and its system of
meaning and his eloquent presentations provided a stimulus
and inspiration to his audiences to delve deeper into the
intricacies of the Quranic guidance and sunnah and to
understand the meaning of Islam, Iman and Ihsaan and to
fathom the inherent essence, significance and methodology of
performing Tazkiyyah (purification), self abnegation and
mortification considered essential for aspirants in divine
pursuit.
In his sermons to his devotees, he reiterated the need for
clarity of thought in the context of the belief system of the
deen-e-Islam and its understanding and strict compliance of
shariah before embarking on the sufi path. He was very
selective in accepting disciples, and those intending to enter
the fold had to be resolute and entrenched in the love of Allah
(swt) and the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and endowed with the spirit
of steadfastness a precondition; and taught them the
techniques to cleanse the al-nafs (self) of arrogance and riya
(the human weakness to show off) and follow the path of
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sincerity, forgiveness, mercy and love for other fellow beings
as enjoined in the Quran and sunnah.
Weekly congregations were held on Thursdays after Maghrib
prayers to perform zikr-e-Illahi generally at his residence
where his disciples gathered. Before the session started, he
would speak to the participants advising them the technique
and methodology to adopt in zikrullah: to clear their minds
and focus attention entrenched in deep yearning and devotion
to Allah while performing zikr; and during the meditative span
when one would pause essentially in soul search to reflect
inwardly and observe the effect of the repetitions of kalmia,
constantly impacting your conscious and subconscious self,
establishing the understanding of the kalima and cementing an
all pervading relationship of intense adoration and total
submission to the One and Only Master, the Magnificent Al
Mighty Allah (Subhanaho Wa Taala), the Merciful and the
Beneficent.
The narrative of the sermon each time made one aware of the
subtleties of his wisdom and the underlying philosophy
[hikma] of zikr-e-Illahi; added a new direction more advanced
than the previous one, and drew the attention of the
participants to focus inwardly to practically discover the
esoteric dimension of zikr-e-Illahi and to discover the
sensitivity in feeling and conscious realization and absorption
of the bliss when the light (nur-e-Illahi) descends on ones
heart, cleansing the soul and drenching the inner core with
peace and a sense of fulfillment.
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The sessions were intellectually enlightening and invigorating
and spiritually strengthening and intoxicating simultaneously;
developing a clear understanding of the underlying essence of
zikr in the disciple, conjoining love for Allah and the Holy
Prophet (pbuh), faith, discipline, objectivity, intellectual
clarity and spiritual strength creating God consciousness and
ensuring speedy progression on the spiritual path with clear
goals to follow in this finite temporal abode.
In the weekly congregational activity, the emphasis was on the
need to blend knowledge with spiritual experience under the
astute guidance of the able teacher. The knowledge in this
instance had to initially pass through a process of critical
enquiry to remove all conundrums and totally eliminate doubt
of any kind and attain absolute conviction as the foundation of
faith. To elucidate further, primarily the starting point is
always the basic faith, proceeding thenceforth under the
tutelage of the Shaikh, whose guidance and company were
priceless, to the realm of knowledge which would undergo
personal research, contemplation and thought provoking
enquiry in consonance with the Quranic injunctions,
culminating in conviction and further strengthening of the
belief (Iman).
Allah (swt) had uniquely and abundantly blessed him with the
capacity to understand human nature and the extraordinary
spiritual insight to see through a person or simply stated read
ones thoughts. In his discourses, it was generally observed
that while conversing he would provide exacting response to
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problems which the other person had in mind, a trait common
amongst sufi saints.
On closer scrutiny of his teachings, one could easily discern
the emphasis placed by him on the understanding and
compliance of total submission to the divine will to achieve
taqwa as God consciousness, ikhlas meaning sincerity,
tawakkul meaning absolute reliance on Allah (swt), rahma
implying mercy, tawadu meaning humility etc as embodied in
the serah of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).
The different facets of his character and his multi dimensional
personality as a Momin needs to be studied more deeply to
observe his strong love and intense passion to serve the cause
of Islam and the impact of his charming unique presentations
and his admirable technique of dawah to Muslims and non
Muslims alike. Effort will continue to do the needful in time to
follow. InshaAllah.
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THUS HE LIVED
Al-Haj (Late) Muhammmed Ja'fer Shaikh al-Aleemi al-Qaderi
The glorious month of Shaban---the month which the Holy

Prophet has elevated next to Ramadan ! It was on a Friday, the
fourteenth day of this month in the year 1333 that a child was
born in Muzaffar Nagar, U.P., India (corresponding to 14th
August, 1914).
The family that was blessed with this child was of illustrious
heritage. First of all they traced their lineage from that Noble
Companion of the Holy Prophet, Khalid Abu Ayyub alAnsari, who is distinguished in Islamic history by being the
person whose hospitality and whose home were selected by
Allah for the Holy Prophet's stay immediately after migration
to Medina (al-Hijrah).
Among their ancestors were included that illustrious Sufi,
theologian and philosopher, Shaikh-ul-Islam Khwaja Abdullah
Ansari of Herat (Afghanistan) and that saint and shaikh of the
Chishtiah order Maulana Mianji Kareem Buksh Ansari (a
great-grandfather), as well as numerous others who have been
famous in their time as brilliant exponents of Islam, luminaries
in both the spiritual and the intellectual domains and who
played their role in the propagation of Islam.
About the time when this child was born the parents received a
post-card from Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad Ansari (his mother's
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uncle), who was those days in Simla, to the effect that the
child about to be born in the family should be named
Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman.
Later when Maulana Mushtaq came to Muzaffar Nagar he
related the reason behind that name. During meditation he had
seen a masjid in which this child's paternal grandfather Ali
Hasan Sahib was present. It was an assembly of the saints and
the most eminent and famous saints of Islam were there
including Ghaus-ul-A'zam, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, Data
Ganj Bakhsh, Nizamuddin Aulia and a host of others. They
were all placing roses in the lap of Ali Hasan Sahib. This
surprised Maulana Mushtaq for he had never thought that Ali
Hasan Sahib was a saint of such a high status as to get such an
honour as was being bestowed on him. No doubt Ali Hasan
Sahib's father, Maulana Kareem Bukhsh Ansari had been an
eminent saint, but Maulana Mushtaq wondered and marvelled
at this honour being bestowed on Ali Hasan Sahib. To find out
the reason Maulana Mushtaq waited outside the door of the
masjid and when some of the saints emerged therefrom, he
enquired as to the reason for this signal honour. They told him
that they had come to give Ali Hasan Sahib glad tidings of the
birth of a grandson from whom the fragrance of Islam would
permeate the whole world just as the fragrance of roses
permeate the immediate environment and that he should be
named Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman.
From his young days throughout his educational career
Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman always stood out as a student of
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exceptional ability and attainments and his educational career
is unusual for the depth and breadth of the studies he
undertook. Finally he embodied in himself knowledge of such
a vast field that is almost unimaginable in a single human
being.
In the year 1919 at the age of just over four years he began the
memorisation of the Holy Qur'an and had completed it by
1921, obtaining the Certificate of Hafiz-ul-Qur'an from
Madrasah Islamiah Muzaffar Nagar, U.P., India.
His venerable father Maulana Muhammad Khalil Ansari then
moved the family to Meerut where young Fazl-ur-Rahman
undertook the Dars-e-Nizami course at the Madrasah Islamia
Meerut in 1921 and he continued until the year 1924 as a fulltime student. Then continuing as a part-time student he
completed the course in 1933. It was in this course that he first
studied Persian and Arabic.
During this period when he was of the tender age of only nine,
an incident of great prophecy took place. One day while
returning home, in front of the Shah Nathan Shah Masjid
someone called out to him. He looked around for the caller,
who then called out twice more. Finally he saw an old man,
whose hair, beard and eyebrows were all white, sitting under a
tree. This old man beckoned to him, and when he went to him,
the old gentleman said, "Son I know you, but you don't know
me." He then went on to narrate the lineage of this young boy
to him. He then told little Fazl-ur-Rahman that he had come to
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give some directions and instructions about him. However it
was unfortunate that his father Maulana Muhammad Khalil
Ansari was not present at home, so the old gentleman asked
little Fazl-ur-Rahman to call any elder person from his home.
Young Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman hurried home and brought his
elder brother and cousin.
The old gentleman then told them that young Fazl-ur-Rahman
had great things in store from him. He was already a Hafiz and
was doing Dars-e-Nizami course, but he was going to leave
this to pursue "Western" education to the highest degree. But
he was going to change again, to serve Islam. The old man
narrated some of the marvellous achievements this future
missionary would make. He told them that there was going to
come a period of twelve years in his life in which he would
face many trials and tribulations and that he (the old man) had
come in that connection. He then gave them a Ta'weez and
told them that it was the only one of its kind and it was made
specially for Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman. This Ta'weez had been
prepared after lifelong labours in the field of Islam and it was
not possible to make a second one. First of all young Fazl-urRahman should be weighed and his weight of grain distributed
in charity. Then the Ta'weez should be hung around his neck.
In the meanwhile it should not be put in any unclean place or
else it would disappear.
The elder brother returned home cutting jokes at his younger
brother about how great he was going to be. Actually he did
not attach much importance to things like Ta'weez. Anyhow
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he related the story to their mother who had recently given
birth and was suffering from a high fever. In that state of
mind, she told them to put it in the betel-leaf container and
when their father returns he would take up the matter.
That elder brother did not much believe that the old man was a
Holy Man. However it so happened that one of the family's
cows had run away and could not be traced. So he told Hafiz
Fazl-ur-Rahman to go to his saint and ask him about the cow,
so that it may be seen how good a saint he was. Young Hafiz
Fazl-ur-Rahman, imbued as he was with deep respect for his
elders, went to Shah Nathan Shah Mosque, but before he
could tell the saint anything, the old gentleman himself said
that the family's cow had run away, but he should not worry
but should return home as the cow was also returning. When
Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman returned he found that the cow had also
returned.
The next day when Maulana Khalil returned he was told of the
sayings of the saint so he distributed his son's weight of grain
in charity. But when they looked for the Ta'weez it was
nowhere to be found. The old man had said that if put in
unclean place it would disappear, and it had been put near a
lady who was in the state of impurity after childbirth.
When Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman was going to the Madrasah the
next day, he saw people taking out the Janazah (funeral) of the
old saint. He had said that it would not be possible to write a
second Ta'weez---there was no time!
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After this he began his "English" schooling taking his
Intermediate Science examination in 1933 from Meerut
College.
In the meanwhile he had resolved to dedicate his life entirely
to the service of Islam. Later in life this noble soul frequently
spoke of the role of his beloved parents in his training after he
had made this firm resolve:
"The deepest debt of gratitude I owe, however, to my beloved
parents of revered memory: Muhammad Khalil Ansari and
Husn Ara Begum who through their noble character and
fruitful teaching and loving concern for my well-being built up
the foundations of my personality and sponsored and guided
my education at all stages, thereby enabling me to prepare
myself for undertaking this work."
(The Qur'anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society,
Vol I, p. xix).
Consequently he joined the seat of Muslim learning and
culture in the subcontinent, the Aligarh Muslim University in
1933 and enrolled for the B.A. Course doing English
Literature, Philosophy and Arabic as main subjects and
English, Theology and Urdu as subsidiary subjects.
In 1935 he graduated with a First Class First. On that occasion
he received a Gold Medal for standing First in B.A. and B.Sc.
combined, and another Gold Medal for establishing a new
record in Philosophy (98%) in B.A Exam. This record has not
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yet been broken. In addition he received the Haqqi Prize for
being the best student in Arabic in the B.A. Exam. 1935.
Prof. Abdul Aziz al-Maimani

Prof. Abdul Aziz al-Maimani Chairman, Dept. of Arabic,
Aligarh Muslim University remarked on 23rd November,
1937 (translation of original):
"I have not seen anyone who can equal him in gentleness of
manners, excellence of character, love for knowledge,
profoundness of concern for the important Islamic problems
and courage for shouldering great tasks. Moreover in spite of
his young age, he does not stand below any seasoned elder in
experience and executive ability. . . . .
"In short I consider him capable of every good and great
pursuit and fit to prove himself equal to any grand task that
might be entrusted to him. Hardly I have seen any student at
this University who could excel or even equal him in his
attainments which seldom combine in a single person."
Prof. Maulana Syed Sulaiman Ashraf

In the meanwhile he had been pursuing post Darse-Nizami
course at the Aligarh Muslim University from 1933-1936
under the celebrated Islamic Scholar, Prof. Hazrat Maulana
Syed Sulaiman Ashraf, Chairman Dept of Theology. Herein
he undertook special studies in the Holy Qur'an, the Hadith,
Ilm-ul-Kalam and Tasawwuf and his illustrious teacher had
21

occasion to remark on 7th May, 1936.
"Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari is a young man with a
personality radiant with virtue and exceptional intelligence. As
regards his academic distinctions, he holds a place of pride
among the alumni of the Muslim University. He has studied
the Islamic theological sciences for the most part under me,
and has accomplished the task with industry and ability. In
Tasawwuf and Philosophy too he possesses an extraordinary
interest and has studied certain classics in both the subjects
from me. Islamic missionary work is his goal in life and I pray
that Allah Almighty may bestow the choicest success on his
labours in that field."
By the year 1937, he had started learning his fifth language
German (the other four being Urdu, Persian, English and
Arabic).
It was at the end of that same year 1937 that he was deputed
on his first missionary errand by His Eminence Maulana
Abdul Aleem Siddiqui, with whom by that time he had come
to have a very close relationship, as shall be seen later.
Singapore and Malaya required that the teachings of Islam be
presented with force and eloquence to counteract the activities
of non-Muslims there. Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman, by then an
accomplished scholar and writer (as we shall learn shortly)
undertook this journey to work on three fronts: a) editing the
first English-language Islamic journal in the region "Genuine
Islam", b) directing the work of the All-Malaya Muslim
22

Missionary Society, and c) organising the Far Eastern
missionary front in general.
For an insight into the manner with which he acquitted himself
this single incident would suffice. In 1938 a Bill meant to
establish the supremacy of Islamic Law in Malaya was
introduced in the Federal Malay Status Legislative Council.
The entire press launched a scorching attack on this "F.M.S.
Mohammedan (Offences) Bill."
This verbal assault was led by the Straits Times of Singapore
in an editorial captioned "Go to Mosque or go to Prison", and
this was followed by many articles. However, this illustrious
son of Islam wrote a reply in the Straits Times which was so
powerful as to refute the arguments of all the opponents of the
Bill. So masterly was this reply written that the Editor of
Straits Times wrote an editorial on it, eulogising young Fazlur-Rahman (Then less than 24 years of age) as a "subtle and
learned logician".
For one and a half years this eminent scholar of Islam
remained there rendering yeoman service to Islam.
In 1939 he was selected as Fellow of the Alexander von
Humboldt Stiftung of Berlin and was to proceed to Germany
for higher studies. However the Secong World War erupted
and put an end to these plans. So he then took up the B.Th.
(Bachelor of Theology) course of which he had already
completed one year in 1935-1936 and graduated in 1941 again
with First Class First. Principal subjects of this course were al22

Qur'an, al-Hadith, Fiqh, Usool-i-Tafsir, Usool-i-Hadith,
Usool-i-Fiqh and Faraid.
At the same time he took up the M.A. course in Philosophy
and graduated in the year 1942, as usual with a First Class
First. Herein the principal subjects were Metaphysics, Ethics,
Psychology, History of Philosophy and Muslim Philosophy
(from original sources). During this year he was also the VicePresident of the Philosophical Society of Aligarh Muslim
University.
Dr. S.Z. Hasan

The world-renowned philospher Dr. S.Z. Hasan became his
director of research (for Ph.D.) in August, 1942. The field of
research was Islamic Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. For
five years research work was carried on in an extensive
manner. When it was compiled and handed over to Dr. S.Z.
Hasan, he unfortunately left Aligarh for Karachi just preceding
the establishment of Pakistan and he was not able to present it
to Aligarh Muslim University. Dr. Hasan passed away soon
afterwards and the research script could not be found among
his belongings. The only other copy of this valuable research
work was destroyed when during Maulana Ansari's migration
to Pakistan in November, 1947 his library was looted and
destroyed at Amritsar. The fruit of years of laborious and
painstaking research had been destroyed. Even before its
completion Dr. S.Z. Hasan had this to say on 19th Spt. 1945,
"Mr. Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman M.A., B.Th. (Alig.) has now been
22

known to me intimately for 12 years. He is recognised by his
teachers and his fellow students as an exceptional student,
head and shoulders above others, always securing a First
Class, standing first and often enough scoring record marks.
For some time he has now been working with me on a
philosophico-religious theme for his Doctorate, which I am
sure is going to be a great Dissertation".
"Mr. Fazl-ur-Rahman is a very capable man and has had a vast
experience of the world. Already he has published a number of
books and pamphlets and articles on Islam and Islamic topics
which have been greatly appreciated. He is one of the very
few really promising young scholars I know of".
"In habits and manners Mr. F.R. is a perfect gentleman--who
combines in his person true Islamic culture with Occidental
learning and I am sure he will, wherever he goes, add lustre to
his own self, his teachers and his great alma mater, the Aligarh
University."
Because of circumstances, this scholar of Islam was prevented
from obtaining his Ph.D. degree, although his research work
was complete. And when such a great philosopher as Dr. S.Z.
Hasan about whom his own director of research at Oxford had
remarked that he had laid the foundations for a new school of
philosophy--when such an eminent scholar remarks that he is
sure that his pupil's research work is "going to be a great
dissertation" then we can only imagine what it would have
been. Dr. Sir Ziauddin had also said about this research that he
22

is assured it "will be a remarkable contribution to
philosophical thought".
Apart from his academic pursuits Maulana Ansari was also the
Warden of Aftab Hostel (at which only the best students were
accommodated) from 1942 to 1945.
Before we leave that phase of his educational career before
Partition, let us take note of what two eminent scholars,
Professors at Aligarh University, had to say about him.
Prof. M.B. Mirza

Prof. M.B. Mirza, Dean of Faculty of Science and Provost,
had this to say on 12th April, 1944.
"I have the pleasure to certify that Mr. Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman
Ansari is the best product of our Alma mater, the Aligarh
Muslim University. His academic career has been brilliant
throughout his stay with us. As Warden, Aftab Hostel, he has
shown great administrative capacity. He is industrious,
straightforward--a person of sterling qualities. I have nothing
but praise for him.""In regard to his good character and ability
I am confident he will have a successful future career."
Dr. Sir Ziauddin

Dr. Sir Ziauddin, that eminent and celebrated mathematician
and Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University had this to
say on 11th August, 1945.
22

"I have great pleasure in testifying to the character and
attainments of Mr. Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari, M.A., B.Th.
(Alig.). He has been a student of this University for the last
many years during which period he has made his mark as a
scholar of exceptional talent and ability. He has always
secured the first position in his Examinations, and has read
both intensively and extensively. His knowledge of Arabic
and Philosophy--both modern and Islamic would do credit to
any first class student of any Modern University."
"Besides his brilliant scholastic attainments, Mr. Ansari has
also acquired vast experience of the world having travelled
widely. He is the author of a large number of publications on
Islamic topics and is also a fine speaker. As a student he held a
number of responsible posts in which capacity he showed
organising ability of a high order. His work as Resident
warden of Aftab Hostel, which accommodates the most
brilliant students of the University, was admirable. He has
now been engaged in research work on an important topic of
philosophical and Islamic interest and his work, I am assured,
will be a remarkable contribution to philosophical thought. He
is equally at home in English, Urdu and Arabic and has an
excellent command of the three languages."
"In manner and bearing Mr. Ansari is a thorough gentleman,
combining Islamic Culture with Western Learning. In fact he
is one of the best products of this University and he gives
great promise of a brilliant career full of service to his nation."
22

"His conduct throughout his stay here has been exemplary and
he bears, to the best of my knowledge an excellent moral
character. He carries my best wishes for a successful and
prosperous career."
From the year 1933 to the year 1947, this brilliant scholar
remained at Aligarh (except for the period which he spent in
Singapore in 1938-1939). Such was the devotion of this
spiritual pilgrim to the cause of learning that even from the
days as a B.A. student, he is reputed to have read four to five
hundred pages of heavy reading every day, with the result that
he became equally at home in a diverse field of subjects. On
his own he covered the M.A. courses in many subjects like
Politics, Economics etc. and read widely in the Physical
Sciences as well as in Comparative Religion, Mythology,
History of Civilisation and Culture; he covered the Law
Courses--in short he read as much about as much, as was
possible. And this devotion to the learning he retained
throughout his life.
He had also studied the various branches of Medicine
especially the Homoeopathic System of Medicine, during his
days at Aligarh. Then his teacher was Dr. Chaudhry, a
homoeopath of considerable fame in India of those days.
Years later on 29th September, 1966 in Karachi he was
registered as an authorised Practitioner of Homoeopathy.
Years later in Pakistan he pursued research under the direction
of the late Dr. M.M. Ahmed, Chairman of Dept. of
22

Philosophy, University of Karachi. Here his topic was the
Islamic Moral Code and Its Metaphysical Background. The
degree of Ph.D. was granted to him in 1970. His thesis was
commented on by an eminent scholar as follows: "It is, indeed,
a comprehensive account of the moral code provided by the
Qur'an, a like of which, to my knowledge has not been
formulated with such an extensiveness by anyone in the
history of Muslim literature. Dr. Manzoor Ahmed exChairman Dept. of Philosophy, University of Karachi.
In the beginning he was also a sports enthusiast, with cricket,
hockey, football and tennis forming his main interest. He was
a player of ability. However after his college days he gave up
these pursuits to devote himself fully to preparation for his
life's mission.
Way back in 1932, while a student of Intermediate Science he
was returning home from college one day when he saw a
gentleman coming out of the Makhdoom Saheb Mosque,
surrounded by crowd of people who were all greeting him,
kissing his hands etc. This student asked a friend who was
with him as to who was this gentleman that the people paid so
much of respect to him. His friend told him that this was the
celebrated Muslim theologian and missionary Maulana Abdul
Aleem Siddiqui. A few days later this young scholar was
introduced to Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui, who satisfied
all queries and doubts (which had arisen due to education in
science) in a most loving manner. A strong bond of love
developed between the two and soon young Hafiz Fazl-ur23

Rahman became a regular visitor at the home Maulana Abdul
Aleem Siddiqui. Soon Maulana Abdul Aleem began to entrust
him with the task of replying to some of his correspondence
and with other jobs.
The year was now 1935. Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman had just
written his B.A. (Final) exams and was on holiday. One day
Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui showed him an article written
by a Christian priest and published in Singapore. This article
had maligned Islam and had raised certain queries. Hafiz Fazlur-Rahman requested permission to write a reply and what a
reply it proved to be! When Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui
saw it he was extremely happy, embraced him and said that
even he could not have written such an excellent reply. From
that time onwards the bond of love between the two became
much stronger. In 1936 this bond was further cemented when
Maulana Abdul Aleem gave his eldest daughter to Hafiz Fazlur-Rahman in marriage.
Just over a year later Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui deputed
him to go to Singapore and Malaya as an active missionary to
receive practical training in missionary work.
Finally at the time of partition, Maulana Abdul Aleem
Siddiqui with his family including his beloved son-in-law,
migrated to Pakistan. Here Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari
continued his work as the private secretary of Maulana Abdul
Aleem Siddiqui.
Within a short while circumstances were pressuring Maulana
22

Ansari to change his line and join the Civil Service. After a
day of long discussion with his beloved wife, Maulana Ansari
went to bed and there he had the following dream, which
strengthened his resolve to continue his service of Islam:
"He was walking bare-headed and bare-footed in a kind of
desert with no food and water. As he continued his journey he
became progressively hungrier and more thirsty. Finally he
saw a house--a very beautiful house--which had smoke being
emitted from its chimney. Here, he thought, would be
something to eat and drink. As he approached he saw his
great-grandmother standing outside and she told him that his
great-grandfather Maulana Kareem Bukhsh Ansari, had been
waiting for him for quite some time. As he went inside he saw
Maulana Kareem Bukhsh sitting on a white prayer mat in an
attitude of devotion. Maulana Kareen Bukhsh then made his
great-grandson sit beside him asked that something to eat be
brought. Sweetmeats and milk were brought the like of which
Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman had never tasted in his whole life, so
delicious they were. Then Maulana Kareem Bukhsh asked him
that after he had crossed most of the hurdles why was he
thinking of leaving the missionary line. He told his young
great-grandson that the work which was ahead could be done
only by him as he was the only one fully prepared and trained
for this particular task. For hours he spoke to him, telling him
exactly what he had to do. He also told him that at that time
they were only three saints of the status of Qutb in the
subcontinent and that Maulana Abdul Aleem siddiqui was one
21

of them. Finally he told him that his father Maulana
Muhammad Khalil Ansari wanted to meet him."
"Father embraced son. Maulana Khalil then said that he never
realised the greatness and eminence of his son until after death
and that the rewards which had been heaped on him were due
to his noble son Fazl-ur-Rahman."
So Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman woke up with renewed vigour
and strengthened resolve to continue his untiring afforts for
the cause of Islam.
Soon after in 1948 he became Editor of Sind Information,
once again displaying his great talents at editing and
journalism.
In the very next year Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui wrote a
letter from Saudi Arabia to him, saying that he felt that none
of his children could carry on his work after him and that now
even his son-in-law, the only person who could shoulder the
burden, had also forsaken him. On reading this letter tears
flowed freely from the eyes of this great scholar and even
today that tear-stained letter stands as a proof to the love and
loyalty which he had for that great saint, Maulana Abdul
Aleem Siddiqui.
Immediately he resigned his position and wrote to Maulana
Abdul Aleem that he was coming to join him.
It was at this time that Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui
22

accepted his son-in-law as his Mureed in all the silsilahs:
Qaderiyyah, Chishtiyyah, Naqshbandiyah, Suhrwardiyah and
Shazliyah. This was done within the Hateem of the Ka'bah,
and here Maulana Abdul Aleem transmitted to him the Ijazah
(authority) in all spiritual things.
Maulana Abdul Aleem said that he had wanted to go on a
world tour and that he had sought permission from the Holy
Prophet (peace be upon him) in connection with the same. It
was only after three months of patience that Maulana Ansari
was informed that permission had been granted.
And so began that epoch-making and historic missionary
journey, the like of which had never yet been undertaken by a
Muslim Missionary.
This tour covered nineteen different countries and lasted for
one and quarter years. These countries were: Ceylon,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Canada, United
States of America, Trinidad and Tobago, British Guiana,
Suriname, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Egypt, Jordan,
Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
This tour was, as can be seen, very extensive and it was here
that Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman was blessed with guidance and
training from that great missionary of long-standing, Maulana
Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. It should be noted here that Hafiz
Fazl-ur-Rahman was the only one of Maulana Abdul Aleem's
disciples, who was blessed with this great honour.
22

Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman continued to serve Maulana Abdul
Aleem as Private Secretary after the completion of that
exhaustive and exhausting tour.
Finally in the year 1954, Allah Almighty recalled his noble
servant Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. After a brief illness,
this illustrious and eminent saint passed away on Sunday 23rd
August (22nd Zil Hijj, 1373), in the holy city, Medina.
He, in accordance with the practice of the Holy Prophet (peace
be upon him), did not appoint a spiritual successor but
authorised his disciples in Karachi to elect one from among
themselves. However he had mentioned in his will that Hafiz
Fazl-ur-Rahman was the best (Aslah) and most pious (Atqa)
of all his disciples.
In addition to this, Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui had written
to the Secretary of the World Convention of Muslims and
Christians (held in Lebanon) on 13th April, 1954; "My
Secretary, Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari is a well-educated Muslim
theologian . . . . my secretary will represent me in every
respect . . . . He can thoroughly explain my views and will not
fall short of expectations."
Then Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman was the only one of the disciples
who had had practical missionary training in that epochmaking world tour, from Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui.
Also since the year 1932, to the day of Maulana Abdul
Aleem's demise, it was Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman alone who
22

stood up in the world as his right hand man in the fields of
Islamic missionary journalism, authorship of high-class and
topical Islamic missionary books and in the field of practical
missionary work.
In view of all the above the Halqa-e-Aleemiyah of Karachi
duly elected Maulana Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari as the
Chief Successor of Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui, on 30th
January, 1955.
This illustrious scholar had joined the Jamiyat-ul-Falah (an
Islamic missionary organisation) in 1952. For a period of two
years being Editor of Voice of Islam was only one of his many
duties. Other duties included being Director of their
missionary endeavours.
From the year 1954 to the year 1960 he was a Lecturer in three
different colleges. These were St. Patrick's College, St.
Joseph's College, and the College of Home Economics. Here
he taught Islamic Metaphysics, Islamic Moral Philosophy,
Islamic Politics and Islamic Economics.
In addition to these teaching duties he was also a Lecturer at
the University of Karachi from 1954 onwards. In the year
1964, he took five years leave without pay in order to establish
the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies. However in 1969,
finding that he had to devote his energies wholly to the World
Federation of Islamic Missions (to be mentioned soon), he
decided to resign from this post. In Oct. 1972, he was
appointed on the Board of Studies of Islamic Studies of
22

University of Karachi as an Expert, which post he held to the
end. He was also a Director of Research in the Dept. of
Islamic Studies.
In the year 1956 Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari had written,
"I have, therefore, decided that I should not undertake lecturetours abroad until they are absolutely necessary for the
interests of Islam and that I should spend my entire energy,
without putting any financial burden on any mureed of His
Eminence (Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui) or any friend of
mine, for building up that well-knit Islamic missionary
movement without which the future of Islam appears to be
very dark in several countries."
Invitations to go abroad on lecture-tours were being received.
Maulana Ansari was being called to different countries.
Finally in 1957 he felt that it was necessary to go on a
missionary tour and as such he undertook his second round the
world tour. This tour lasted five months and covered 17
countries, including, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong
Kong, Japan, Canada, United States of America, Trinidad and
Tobago, British Guiana, Suriname, England, Holland, Turkey,
Syria and Iraq.
In furtherance of his aim to build up a well-knit Islamic
missionary movement, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari
founded the World Federation of Islamic Missions (registered
on 28th August, 1958). Among the aims and objects of this
organisation are:
22

a) To serve humanity in all parts of the world through the
exposition, propagation and implementation of the teachings
and ideals of Islam.
b) To establish and maintain Islamic Missions and other
humanitarian institutions such as hospitals, infirmaries,
orphanages, etc.
c) To establish and maintain institutions for training
theologians, missionaries, teachers and social workers.
d) To establish and maintain educational institutions in
general, especially whose which promote the cause of Islam
and Muslims.
e) To establish and maintain institutions for the execution of
research on Islam, Comparative Religion, Modern Ideologies
and Problems having a bearing on them.
f) To establish and maintain magazines, newspapers, and
publishing concerns and to publish, sell and circulate books
and other literature.
g) To establish and maintain mosques, lecture-halls, libraries,
hostels, Islamic clubs and physical culture centres.
h) To establish branches to organise Youth and Women's
Wings and to affiliate with itself other organisations, both
local and international, inside Pakistan as well as abroad;
having similar aims and objects for purposes of co-operation
and collaboration in the attainment of the object of the
22

Association.
i) To hold annual or periodical Conferences and Conventions
at Karachi or any other suitable place in the world for the
promulgation and attainment of the objects of the Association.
j) To work for Islamic Unity and solidarity by all means
possible.
Maulana Ansari devoted the last sixteen years of his life
towards the achievement of these aims and objectives. At the
end of this article we shall take a brief look at his
achievements in this connection.
In 1960 it was once again necessary to undertake a missionary
tour and Maulana Ansari embarked on his third round the
world tour in which he visited: Malaysia, Phillipines, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, United States of America,
Trinidad and Tobago, British Guiana, Suriname, United
Kingdom, Switzerland, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. This
tour lasted eight months.
From the year 1959 Maulana Ansari began conducting short
courses on Islam in English for the instruction of students who
came from Africa, U.K., Canada and the West Indies. A
number of Pakistanis also joined them. These courses
continued to progress until a formal Institution was
established, and the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies,
named after that illustrious personage, Maulana Abdul Aleem
Siddiqui, began catering to the needs of students in July, 1964,
22

with students from different countries enrolling for fullfledged courses in Islamic Theology and Modern Thought.
In that same year this eminent and experienced Missionary of
Islam, Maulana Ansari, undertook his fourth round the world
tour which lasted for five months. At that time he visited nine
countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago,
British Guiana, Suriname, Canada and United Kingdom.
Finally the fifth round the world tour was made in 1969 and
lasted for four months; the countries visited included
Switzerland, West Germany, Holland, Belgium, United
Kingdom, United States of America, Barbados, Trinidad and
Tobago, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Jamaica, Canada,
Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
In addition to these round the world tours, this illustrious
missionary made other trips in the service of Islam. Most
notable among these were the historic visit to South Africa in
August-September, 1970 and the visit, first ever by a Muslim
missionary, to the Indian Ocean Islands, Seychelles in
December 1973.
During his life many posts of eminence were offered to him.
We may just look at a few of these: His over-all Islamic and
modern scholarship was recognised by the All-India Muslim
League when he was selected as a member of the Education
Planning Committee under the mandate given by Quaid-eAzam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a post which he held from
1944-1946.
23

He was selected and appointed Reader and Chairman of the
Department of Tasawwuf and Akhlaq at the Islamic
University of Bahawalpur in the year 1963 which appointment
he could not take up due to the pressure of other duties.
In 1962 from May to August he conducted Fiqh and Seeratun-Nabi Seminars for the Ulema at the Academy of Islamic
Studies at Quetta where he was a Professor of Islamic Studies.
He also taught Comparative Religion and Philosophy of
Religion.
The Government of Pakistan selected him to head a two-man
official delegation to Uganda in May-June, 1972.
Let us now take a look at the career of this eminent thinker,
philosopher, missionary and theologian, as an author and
journalist. Barely at the age of seventeen he started writing
articles in English for the Muslim Standard of Ceylon and the
Real Islam of Singapore. Then in 1938 he took over as Editor
of the The Genuine Islam of Singapore and continued to
write for that Journal until it ceased publication at the time of
the Japanese invasion in 1940.
In 1948-49 he was Editor of Sind Information. Then Voice of
Islam came into his charge from 1952-54. His name was
associated with "Makki Publications" of Durban, South Africa
where for years he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Muslim
Digest and Ramadan Annual, the Five Pillaras and the
Pakistan News. Then, when the World Federation of Islamic
Missions started their magazines he contributed immensely to
22

them, being the Chief Editor of the Minaret for many years.
His articles have been, and continue to be, published in
various magazines in many parts of the world.
To realise the power of expression which he commanded you
have to read his writings. You would invariably conclude that
here was a writer who wielded his pen with a mighty force.
As an author, his career is even more remarkable. Just at the
age of eighteen he wrote his first book, The Beacon Light
(published in 1932) as a reply to a vicious attack on Islam by a
Christian priest in Hong Kong.
Then over the years he continued to write books and booklets
on various topics including Islamic Theology, Philosophy and
Morals, Comparative Religion, Life of the Prophet (peace be
upon him), Philosophy of Education, Modern Ideologies like
Communism, etc.
A list of the published books and booklets he has written runs
as follows:
1. The Beacon Light (1932).
2. The Christian World in Revolution (1933).
3. Muhammad (peace be upon him): the Glory of the Ages
(1935).
4. Islam in Europe and America (1935).
21

5. Muslims and Communism (1938).
6. Humanity Reborn (1938).
7. Islam (1938).
8. Trends in Christianity (1938).
9. Islam and Christianity in the Modern World (1944).
10. The Present Crisis in Islam and our Future Educational
Programme (1944).
11. Ethics of the Qur'an (1946).
12. The Meaning of Prayer (1946).
13. The Communist Challenge to Islam (1951).
14. What is Islam (1953).
15. Islam versus Marxism.
16. Through Science and Philosophy to Religion.
17. Foundations of faith.
18. Which Religion?
19. Islam and Western Civilization.
20. Beyond Death.
21. Philosophy of Worship in Islam.
22

Maulana Ansari's services and merit as a journalist and author
received early recognition when his life-sketch was included
in the Biographical Encyclopaedia of the World (1947).
Finally, we come to his greatest and most voluminous work
The Qur'anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society
(1973), a work in two volumes covering more than nine
hundred pages.
This book is an epoch-making one. At its launching ceremony,
eminent scholars of Pakistan paid glowing tributes to it and its
writer.
Dr. I.H. Qureshi, ex-Vice-Chancellor of Karachi University
said about this book: "One of the finest contributions that have
ever been made to the understanding of Islam . . . . . . . . This
book combines orthodoxy with philosophy; it also combines
progress and dynamism with the understanding of the religion.
(He has) succeeded in a remarkable manner in interpreting
Islam to the modern mind."
Mr. A.K. Brohi, ex-Law Minister of Pakistan and one of the
leading advocates said: "I am distinctly of the opinion that it is
a very valuable contribution to the Qur'anic Literature . . . . .
after Iqbal's Lectures on the Reconstruction of Islamic
Thought (i.e., Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam),
the only other book that I can think of Is Maulana's book, in
which an attempt has been made to restate in terms of
contemporary thought and the doctrines that are having
paramount influence, the position of Islam with reference to
22

them and anyone reading the book is apt to believe that Islam
continues to occupy a transcendental position and is able to
throw light on the growth of contemporary thought, belief and
practice and at the same time to be able to co-ordinate the
results which are in accord with the grammar of its own
teachings."
This historic book was launched on 1st December, 1973 and
barely six months later Maulana Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman alAnsari al-Qaderi returned to the Mercy of his Lord and
Cherisher.
It was on Friday 3rd May, 1974 that he was admitted to the
National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases, suffering from
cardiac insufficiency and oedema of the lungs together with
his chronic ailments like diabetes. On Thursday 30th May, the
doctors gave the news that both of his kidneys were nonfunctional and non-functionable. He was therefore brought
home where homoeopathic treatment was tried. Finally, on
Monday 11th Jamadi-ul-Awwal (corresponding to 3rd June,
1974) at 10:15 am this noble soul passed away. (Inna lillahi
wa inna ilaihi raji'oon)
Let us finally take a brief look at the achievements of this
illustrious missionary of Islam in the light of the aims and
objects of the organisation which he founded and for which he
laboured during the last sixteen years of his life (The World
Federation of Islamic Missions) mentioned on page 24.
As far as service to humanity goes, the five round the world
22

tours together with his other trips took Maulana Dr. Fazl-urRahman Ansari al-Qaderi to about forty different countries in
Africa, America, Asia and Europe. There, his distinguished
oratory and encyclopaedic knowledge created a lasting
impression on the minds of all--educated and uneducated,
young and old, Muslim and non-Muslim.
In many countries he delivered learned lectures at Universities
where he addressed audiences which included eminent
professors and orientalists, whose attacks on Islam he
successfully and convincingly refuted and countered.
His exposition of Islam--dynamic orthodoxy, as he liked to
call it was most appealing to the modern mind. Wheresoever
he went crowds flocked to hear him speak.
Even "Apartheid" could not hold him back and he was asked
to address the exclusive White Stellenbosch University of the
Cape Province, South Africa in September, 1970. This
university, the largest in South Africa, is meant for the elite.
However, Dr. Ansari made history by being the first ever nonwhite to speak at that University; but more than making
history, he made a lasting impression on the minds of his
audience as to the elegance and strength of Islam.
Read any report of any of his missionary visits and you will
find evidence of a great awakening on the part of the
community. Everywhere he went he spread light, dispelling
darkness. Those who saw him in action can testify that here
indeed was a missionary.
22

In order to perpetuate his work he founded Islamic Missions in
different parts of the world e.g., the Islamic Missionaries
Guild in Trinidad and Tobago and in Guyana, South America.
It is indeed unfortunate that some of the organisations which
he founded later shifted from the ideals which he had laid
down.
This great missionary has always said that missionary tours
cannot provide lasting effects--they have got to be
supplemented by constant work by local organisations and
resident missionaries. With this in mind he founded the
Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies to train missionaries
and teachers in a novel manner so that could successfully meet
the challenges of the Modern World. In that Institute, apart
from Islamic Subjects, a grounding in Modern Thought is
given. In addition students are encouraged to pursue so-called
Western Education as far as possible in order to attain as
comprehensive knowledge as is possible.
On his tours he also tried to found educational institutions in
order to raise the educational standard of the Muslims in
particular and of the community in general. In different parts
of the world he did establish, or cause to be established,
educational institutions e.g., Dr. F.R. Ansari High School in
Suriname, South America.
One of his main interests was to have a re-statement of the
teachings of Islam in the light of Modern Thought and to have
the Islamic teachings in various fields restated in Modern
22

terminology. For this purpose research was needed so he
founded the Council of Learning of the World Federation of
Islamic Missions comprising of eminent personalities in
various fields. Then in 1970 he founded the Islamic Research
and Publications Bureau. Research works have already been
published e.g., Islam and Contemporary Science in the field of
Philosophy of Science and Islam and Buddhism in the Modern
World in Comparative Religion. In addition to these there are
other research manuscripts to be published in the fields of
Qur'anic Sociology, Mental Hygiene and Developmental
Psychology.
As far as magazines go, he has established three magazines as
organs of the World Federation of Islamic Missions. They are
Manzil (Urdu), Manzil (Gujrati) and the Minaret (English)
monthly. Of these the Minaret is still in publication in spite of
financial difficulties. Also he encouraged and inspired the
establishment of magazines and periodicals in different parts
of the world.
The publication and circulation of high quality Islamic
Literature continues to be a pressing need of the times. To fill
this need, he established the Aleemiyah Memorial Series
which has published twenty-three books and booklets in
English and ten in Urdu. Of these many have been written by
himself. In addition to these is that historic book of his, The
Qur'anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society which
every Muslim should make it a point to read.
22

English as a medium is not sufficient to reach the people of
some communities which speak different national languages.
Due to this some of the booklets of the Aleemiyah Memorial
Series have already been translated and published in different
languages e.g., Turkish and Zulu.
In the process of the upliftment of the Muslims, mosques,
lecture-halls and libraries are also essential. In this connection
he founder or due to him were founded, such institutions in
different parts of the world e.g., the Mosque and the
Qaderiyyah Library at Islamic Centre, Karachi.
It is also necessary for a Muslim to devote some time to
exercise and recreation. With this end in view he had intended
to establish Islamic clubs and physical culture centres.
Affiliation with other organisations in different parts of the
world is necessary for the progress of Islam. In his lifetime
affiliation was made with about forty organisations spread far
and wide over the globe.
Special organisations are also needed to handle the affairs of
Women and Youth. For these ends he founded the
International Muslim Women's Organisation and the
International Muslim Youth Organisation. These organisations
rendered yeoman service, though at present they are not
functioning.
Throughout his life he had always been trying to achieve unity
and solidarity. The bitter sectarian struggles among the
22

Muslims, especially in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent pained
him much. In different parts of the world he also tried to bring
about unity between bitterly opposed Muslim organisations
e.g., in Suriname or in Trinidad, but it is very sad to note some
of these organisations went back on their written agreements.
In the year 1959 Maulana Dr. Ansari had summed up the
achievements of Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. This
summary also fits his own life to the letter and we reproduce it
below to give an over-all picture of his life's work.
"With a fire of zeal born of the profoundest conviction, an
outlook, creative and international, and a visioin transparent as
crystal, His Eminence (Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fazl-urRahman Ansari) travelled as an itinerant preacher and
missionary from country to country and from continent to
continent, bringing new light, inculcating nobler ideals and
creating fresh vision. As a profound scholar, thinker and
spiritualist, as one of the most popular leader of the masses
and as one in proud possession of a charming and magnetic
personality, mighty oratorical powers, a keen sense of
judgment, a deep grasp of human psychology and above all a
profound sincerity and a force of conviction, he endeared
himself to millions from the shores of the Pacific to the shores
of the Atlantic and beyond and became for them the harbinger
of a nobler life."
"With no organised financial backing, with apparently
unsurmountable difficulties constantly facing him, with
23

broken health and continuous illness, and with many to
criticise and few to co-operate, he had to tread his lonely path.
By using as his instruments an all-encompassing love and a
charming smile which never left him even under the most
adverse circumstances, and working with a spirit which was
tireless in work and persistent in effort, which introduces
peace and contentment in life amidst the conflicting forces of
emotion and circumstances and which imparted a spiritual
glow to every action in an over-materialistic world, he won his
way through. With his battle cry: 'Back to the Qur'an and the
Sunnah', his watchword: 'the Unity of Islam' and his
conviction that 'the more religious Muslims become, the better
will they succeed in solving all their problems', he fought
against the forces of disruption and disintegration, creating
harmony between the old and the new, on the basis of
orthodoxy, on the one hand, and between partisan, tribal,
racial and sectarian interests on the other."
"In the wake of his endeavours came a new awakening, a fresh
consciousness and a stronger will to work . . . . And this new
awakening captured the minds of all classes of Muslim
society."
Here was an orthodox missionary with a powerful command
of the English language; a scholar who was not afraid to cross
swords with philosophers, whether they be Emmanuel Kant or
Bertrand Russell; a thinker who could dare to match wits with
the likes of Karl Marx; a theologian of the calibre that is very
rare today, and a practical embodiment of Tasawwuf of the
22

pristine, unadulterated form.
It was therefore only natural that his loss should be felt
throughout the world. Messages of condolence have found
expression in different countries from Muslims as well as nonMuslims. And as the Prime Minister of the South American
Republic, Guyana, Mr. Forbes Burnham (a non-Muslim) said,
"Please accept condolences from Prime Minister, the
Government and People of the Co-operative Republic of
Guyana on death of His Eminence Maulana Ansari. His death
brings great loss to us and the world."
How truly did he fulfill that vision of Maulana Mushtaq
Ahmed Ansari that from him the fragrance of Islam will
permeate the whole world just as the fragrance of roses
permeates the immediate environment! The world cannot but
smile and say, "Here indeed was a true Servant of Allah.!
May Allah Almighty shower His choicest blessings on this
most noble soul!
21
ATTITUDE OF MUSLIMS TOWARDS

SCIENCE
AS ELABORATED BY IMAM ALGHAZALI AND DR. F.R. AL-ANSARI
Prof. (Late) Syed Sibte Nabi Naqvi, F.R.A.S. (Lond.)
Ex-Director Pakistan Meteorological Service
Ex-Lecturer, AIIS
The human race has acquired knowledge in three ways:

(1) With the help of Sensory Perception; (2) by Mental
Contemplations based on Sensory Perception; and (3) by
Revelation and Spiritual Perceptions or Inspiration. The
knowledge gained by any of the above processes has helped
humanity in the material advancement of civilization. The
knowledge gained by sensory perceptions and contemplation
over these is cumulative in character, and goes on expanding
with improvements in technology, methods of observations
and perceptions, and on development of techniques of
establishing relationships and of judging the significance of
these relationships. The knowledge thus obtained goes on
changing and is cumulative. The revealed truths on the other
hand remain unchanged. The revealed truths while claiming to
provide humanity with a Belief System for leading a
progressive life in this sensory material world and in the
hereafter also lay down standards of social justice and moral
well-being. These standards however, required slight changes
22

as the human mind progressed towards maturity, and different
prophets (peace be on all of them) provided guidance to their
respective peoples from time to time at intervals of about half
a millennium. From 610 to 632 A.C. the last revealed book,
viz., the Holy Quran was received by Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him). In 631-32 A.C. the Holy Quran declared
in unambiguous terms that: This day have I perfected your
religion for you, completed My favour on you, and have
chosen for you Islam as your religion. (5: 4)
The 6th Century A.C. is generally recognized to be the nadir of
human intellectual effort. In the Introduction to the History of
Science, Volume-I, George Sarton says about the 1st half of
this century The period which we are now going to consider
is generally supposed to be one of the darkest of the Dark Age
. . . . About the second half, he has started the chapter with
the words, As far as the west was concerned, this period was
a period of temporary retrogression, but we shall see
considerable activities in the East . . . . . In closing the first
paragraph of this chapter he says: During the progress I have
often had the impression that everything happens as if
mankind was working in shifts. The accomplishment of its
essential task is so hard that periods of creation are often
followed by periods of fallowness.
George Sarton starts the Survey of Science in the first half of
Seventh century with these words: The seventh century has
been spoken of as the nadir of human mind (Henry Hallan).
The following pages will show the lop-sidedness of that
judgment. It is true, as we shall see later, that the second half
22

of the century was a period of momentary depression and
exhaustion, but this may have been partly caused by the
extreme activity of the first half. The first half of the seventh
century was a golden age in at least four countries Arabia,
Tibet, China and Japan. The most outstanding event was of
course, the birth and explosive development of Islam. In the
present article we wish to discuss some of the Explosive
Developments which followed the birth of Islam and how the
intellectual leader of Islam have tried to deal with these
explosive developments in the mediaeval times, by Imam alGhazali, at the end of the 11th century and by Dr. F.R. AlAnsari in the middle of the second half of the twentieth
century.
At the time when Islam was born between 609 and 632 A.C.
the intellectual activity of the human race was at its lowest
ebb. This was due chiefly to the mischievous corruption made
by ignorant and interested persons in their religious belief
systems and by the axiomatic deductive system prevailing in
the fields of science and philosophy. Acquiring knowledge
was restricted to the privileged classes of priests and rulers
and the knowledge gained with the help of sensory perceptions
was shunned.
The Holy Quran and the Prophet (peace be upon him), while
making acquisition of knowledge compulsory for every man
and woman and better than formal prayers, emphasized
repeatedly direct observation of all kinds of natural
phenomena and contemplation on them, all the time, while
22

standing, sitting and reclining, with the conviction that all
things between the heaven and the earth have been created for
serving man usefully and for a purpose according the
requirements of Wisdom and Knowledge.
This fundamental change in the attitude of mind towards
gaining knowledge of the material world as a religious duty
was itself revolutionary, but the rules of conduct in social
behaviour and the key points in the Belief System enunciated
by the Holy Quran were much more revolutionary and
extraordinary of a world which was steeped deep in darkness
and ignorance. The Muslim World was absorbed in giving
practical shape to these ideals of beliefs and social conduct,
which the historians of science have regarded a temporary lull
in the second half of the seventh century. But this cannot be
denied or ignored that in those fifty years the grammar and the
script of the Arabic language were put on such a sound basis
that could serve as carrier of the deepest human knowledge
and Islam could spread its light from the frontiers of China
and the river Indus in the East to the shores of Atlantic in
Africa and Spain, in the West, and from the Aral Sea in the
North to the Cataracts of the Nile in the South.
In fact the Muslims had brought under the domain of Islam the
largest empire which humanity had seen before. Iran, Syria,
Egypt which were the centres of pagan learning of the past
were under their domain.
22

Khalid ibn Yazid (died in 704 or 708 A.C.), an Umayyad
prince at Cairo got the Greek words of science and philosophy
translated into Arabic and started scientific activity on a
regular basis. By the middle of the eight century the Abbasids
replaced the Umayyads and the second Abbasid Caliph, alMansur started not only work of astronomical observations by
much improved astrolabes, but also translation into Arabic of
works on astronomy, mathematics, science and philosophy in
Sanskrit, Greek, Pahalwi and Syriac Languages. This activity
continued in the time of Harun al-Rashid and reached its
culmination under al-Mamun in 813 to 833 A.C. when a
regular translation bureau was established and astronomical
observatories were started at Baghdad (Shamasa) and
Damascus (Qasyun). By 850 the Muslims had not only the
intellectual treasures of the whole human race in their hands,
they had introduced revolutionary improvements in
astronomical instruments, in the sciences of arithmetic,
algebra, trigonometry, music, medicine, and in the methods of
recording, tabulating and reducing observations in these and
other sciences. From the second half of the eight century to the
end of the eleventh century was the period of undisputed
Muslim supremacy in science and Sarton has termed the half
centuries in this period as the times of Jabir Ibn Hayan (720
817 A.C.), Alkhwarizmi (flourished 813 833 died 850 A.C.),
Al-Razi (870 950 A.C.), Al-Masudi (before 912-957 A.C),
Abul Wafa (940-997/998), Al-Biruni(973 - 1048), Omar
Khayam (1038/48 1123/24).
22

In the 12th and the 13th centuries the West had started to
translate and copy the works of Muslims, and started to
produce some original works of their own and Sarton has
included others in giving the names to the times, but we still
find the names of Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Rushd, Ibn al-Baitar and
Qutbal-din al-Shirazi as the outstanding intellectual leaders
included in the title of their respective times, of the four half
centuries. In fact the end of the eleventh century was the
height of Muslim participation in Science and Philosophy, but
it continued unabated in the 12th and 13th centuries.
As the Greek sciences and philosophy were the most advanced
at the time of entry of Muslims in these fields in the eighth
century, they had rightly adopted these as the starting point of
their effort, and were as greatly influenced by the Greek
thought, just as the world is being influenced by the Western
thought today. Besides the names mentioned above we had
produced before the end of the eleventh century religious
leaders like Imam Abu Hanifa (699-768), Imam Jafar al-Sadiq
(699-765), Imam Malik (715-795), Imam ShafeI (767-820)
and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (780-855). The schools of
Mutazilah and Ashairah were fully established. The
Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan as-Safa) had written their
encyclopaedic works and the Batiniya sect had acquired
considerable following. The various sciences were still largely
in the stage of data collection, and although the Muslims,
under the guidance of the Holy Quran, had accelerated the
pace of data collection by their empirical inductive approach,
22

the sciences were dominated by the axiomatic deductive
method of the Greeks. The axiomatic deductive method had so
far succeeded beautifully in the development of arithmetic,
algebra and geometry. This had helped in the continuance of
the method in other sciences also, and had produced a
confidence in the philosophers who were the exponents of the
method, and of logic. Science according to its very nature had
started to produce the spirit of doubt and free enquiry.
The net result of all these forces was that at the end of the
eleventh century the Muslim community as a whole was faced
with an unprecedented crisis, not only intellectual and
political, but also social. The secret society of the Assassins
was well established and Islam was faced with similar divisive
tendencies as we are experiencing today. It was in this period
of crisis that Imam-al-Ghazali acquired his knowledge at
Nishapur and Baghdad and became a very successful
professor in the Nizamia Academy at Baghdad. The sensitive
mind of Imam al-Ghazali realised soon that his lectures in the
academy, though attended by hundreds of zealous listeners,
were not producing the desired result of bringing back
Muslims to the true Islamic faith in actual practice. He got
disgusted with this feeling of his failure, and felt sick. He left
the profession of teaching at Baghdad in 1095 and devoted
himself to intensive study of the sciences, philosophy and all
the different schools of religious and anti-religious thought for
11 lunar years and described the conclusions of this study in
22

his book Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal1 and after formulating
the twenty basic problems of difference between Islam and the
philosophic thought of his time, in Tahafat-ul-Falasifah, of
which the translation by S.A. Kamali, 1963 is before us.
After detailed analysis of the scope and functions of each
branch of science and philosophy he came to the right
conclusion that arithmetic, geometry, mathematics (including
astronomy), logic and other branches of science are not
relevant to religion and there is nothing which requires to be
denied. But due to the success of Axiomatic Deductive
method in arithmetic and geometry the scientists and logicians
are so overwhelmed intellectually by the wisdom of
philosophers that they accept their statements about basic
religious beliefs which are logically invalid and untenable,
without proper examination, because they are not capable of
this. They are specialists in their own branches and cannot
discover the logical fallacies in the arguments of the
philosophers. Imam al-Ghazali did this in Tahafat-ul-Falasifah
by clearly stating twenty deep-rooted fallacies from
philosophic writings of the master Muslim philosophers alFarabi (870-950) and Ibn Sina (980-1037).
After all these discussions al-Ghazali came to the conclusion
that to save your religion the best course is to follow the
Sufistic way of life and to avoid science and philosophy as
1
Translated as The Faith and Practice of al-Ghazali by W. Montgomery

Watt p. 57.
23

much as possible. About scientists and philosophers of the
pre-Islamic and Islamic period he said, There are various
schools of philosophers, I perceived, and their sciences are
divided into various branches; but throughout their numerous
schools they suffer the defect of being infidels and irreligious
men, even though of the different groups of philosophers
older and most ancient, earlier and more recent some are
much closer to the truth than others.
The forceful and clearly written books of al-Ghazali had a
profound and deep-rooted effect on the Muslim mind and
amongst many other factors which dried the interest of the
Muslims towards science, from the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries up to the twentieth, his writings appear to be a very
effective one, because we find that the arguments which alGhazali had advanced after acquiring full mastery over
sciences and philosophy of his time are often repeated by man
of our orthodox Ulema even today. While producing this
repugnance towards science he also stopped the drift of
Muslim Ummah towards Nihilism because in this time the
Muslim scientists were heading towards it in the same way as
has happened in the West in recent centuries.
In the nineteenth century Muhammad Abduh of Egypt and Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan in India aroused the Muslims to the need
of acquiring all kinds of knowledge including science and
technology even from the West.
22

Sir Syed believed, like the Mutakallimin, that nature was the
work of God, and the Quran was the word of God. The
sciences try to understand the law of nature and therefore there
could be no conflict between science and religion.
The philosopher poet, Allama Iqbal in the first half of the
twentieth century through his poetry and six Lectures on
Reconstruction of Muslim Thought showed how necessary it
was to take full advantage of science and philosophy of the
West for reinvigorating and renaissance of Islam.
It was in this intellectual background that Dr. F.R. al-Ansari
got his education at Aligarh and was one of the brilliant and
venerable products of the Aligarh movement and the Muslim
University. In addition, he had the advantage of receiving
guidance not only from Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui, but
also from Dr. S.Z. Hasan, one of the greatest Muslim Realist
Philosophers of the 20th century. While he studied science and
philosophy, he had also derived full advantage from the
teachings of the doctrines of Quran from Maulana Syed
Sulaiman Ashraf at Aligarh. Thereafter he was a very
successful teacher of Islamiyat at the Karachi University and
in other Institutions at Karachi and completed his doctorate.
Thereafter like al-Ghazali, during his travels all over the
world, during Hajj and at the Islamic Centre he had a lot of
opportunity of contemplation and wide reading and profound
understanding of the trends of thought in the Muslim Society
not only in Pakistan, but also in other countries where
Muslims dominate or are in a minority.
21

It was after all this widespread knowledge and through
scholarship that he completed his masterpiece on The
Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society. Like
al-Ghazali, in his book spread over two volumes, he deals at
great length with the fundamentals of Islamic belief system,
the problems of human life, the need of revelation, the
compilation of the Quran, structure of religious creed and the
religious quest, the philosophy of unity and integralistic
aspects of moral philosophy, the welfare society, its culture
and civilization and how Islam brought about a revolution in
religious and philosophic thought in this respect. He then
discusses the Ethico-metaphysical foundations of Islam. And
in volume II under the moral code of Islam he describes the
duties of man to self, to other individuals, duties to the social
whole, the Islamic state and penal code.
There is however a fundamental difference in al-Ghazalis and
al-Ansaris approach. Al-Ghazali was writing in the period of
history when Muslims were the intellectual leaders of the
whole civilized world, when science had not yet emerged from
the data collection stage in the real sense of the word, and
when the world-view of science was on the whole primitive,
and common-sense deduction from crude perceptible axioms
was generally practiced, when the confidence of the scientists
in their own findings was complete but the limitations of
knowledge gained by sensory perceptions were much
exaggerated by others. Now the position is quite different. The
axiomatic deductive method has been replaced by empirical
22

inductive method as encouraged by the Quran. Now the
scientists do not feel shy of their changing beliefs for which
the religious people have been taunting them all the time.
They ascribe this to their beliefs being more according to the
requirements of wisdom. On the basis of any scientific belief
we can deduce the logical consequences, and by inductive
reasoning can think of the circumstances under which a
particular set of results should follow. We create those
circumstances and if the expected results follow, we are
assured that our belief (or the hypothesis as it is called) was
correct; otherwise we change it. That is how science and
knowledge goes on advancing. Such scientific beliefs are
called cognitive beliefs, and the philosophers of science now
say that our scientific beliefs are cognitive beliefs which help
the human race in the continuous expansion of knowledge.
As against these cognitive beliefs of scientists, the
philosophers of science of the West say that the religious
beliefs (of the religions which they know e.g. Christianity or
Judaism) are Emotive Beliefs. You cannot infer consequences
from them in the material world, and you cannot test them.
That is why they remain unchanged. But with them the
knowledge should also remain static and a religious society
should thus remain backward. In this age when the
unchanging beliefs of religion do not provide a basis for any
intellectual superiority, al-Ansari was writing about the beliefsystem of a religious group of peoples who are equally
backward in all the countries and whose backwardness has not
22

yet lost its downward momentum, in many respects. Naturally
al-Ansaris approach and tone is quite different from that of
al-Ghazali.
While Dr.Ansari has tried (and successfully too) to prove the
superiority of the Quranic and Islamic beliefs, thoughts and
practices, he has tried to achieve this end from writings and
words of the opponents of Islam, or at least of those who were
not themselves Muslims. He has, however, not hesitated to
clarify difficult issues himself, and the question of attitude of
Muslims towards Empirical sciences comes in this category.
He has first shown by quoting the verses of the Holy Quran
that the belief in the Unity of God should be cognitively
confirmed and it is this which has brought out the unity of
nature, the unity of man and many other unities of modern
science.
He has shown how the so-called cognitive beliefs of Western
scientists based on essentially wrong premises lead to the
Nihilistic philosophy of hopelessness and despair on the one
hand, and hedonism and cunning opportunism on the other.
He has no doubt, emphasised the basic unreliability of the
empirically acquired knowledge and in Vol. I in the Chapter
on Source of Guidance - What (pp.35-44) he comes to the
conclusion, We have seen in the foregoing that all the three
factors (Observer, Observation and conditions under which
observations are made) which constitute a scientific
observation are variable . . . . This means that physical science
22

can be good guide and source of knowledge only in our
immediate, and mostly physical problems although even
there it is not immune from error. (p.38). Further on, after a
full discussion of ways in which the ultimate problems could
be solved he comes to the conclusion on p.44, All the above
discussions lead us positively to the conclusion that neither
Science nor Philosophy can ever be capable of giving accurate
answers to our ultimate questions on the basis of sure
knowledge. And those answers which they have been giving,
or might give in future, have been and shall always be at best
approximations in the nature of partial truths and, in most
instances, what the following verse of the Holy Quran calls
conjecture.
But they have no knowledge thereof. They
follow nothing but conjecture, and conjecture
avails nothing against Truth. (LIII: 28).
Thus he is fully aware of the limitations of Science and
Philosophy for solving the ultimate problems, but unlike
Imam al-Ghazali, in chapter III-B. Attitude toward Empirical
Knowledge on pages 122 to 124 after quoting a long passage
form Dr. Hartwig Hirschfelds New Researches into the
Composition and Exegesis of the Qoran (1902), he shows how
the Empirical Inductive Method started by Muslim scientists
led to the discovery of Unity of Nature, Unity of Mankind and
Unity of Knowledge and has opened the way to the conquest
of nature; and from the emphasis on absolute Monotheism and
on the vicegerency of Man as enunciated by the Holy Quran
22

he has shown the Scientific Quest has been made a part of the
Worship of God. He ends this chapter by quoting the
following verse of the Holy Quran:
In the time to come We (Allah) will show them
(i.e., human beings) Our Signs in remote regions
(of the Universe) and in their (own) selves, until it
becomes manifest to them that this (i.e., the
Quran) is the Truth . . . . . (XLI: 53).
Dr.Ansari has rightly come to the conclusion that although
Science can not yet provide a sound basis for belief systems
and moral and spiritual values, its cultivation is a necessity for
fulfilling the destined ideal of the human race of becoming the
vicegerent of God in the material world. And it is here that he
differs so fundamentally from the approach of al-Ghazali.
22
Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari a Tribute

Dr. Muhammad Basharat Ali
Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari, a scholar of high calibre with a

sound knowledge of philosophy and theology, was an M.A. in
philosophy from Muslim University of Aligarh. He also took
his B.A. in theology and in the course of his activities as a
missionary he attained very sound knowledge of theology and
philosophy respectively. All through his life he was engaged
in preaching, concentrating his attention on South Africa and
North America. In these two places he did marvelous work
and attained love and fame by his followers. The specific
feature of Maulana was his dyadic activities in the field of
Tabligh. Verbal tabligh went on hand in hand with his writing.
He was a good speaker and an ardent lover of knowledge
particularly focalizing his attention on researches. Besides his
research work for Ph. D. degree in Philosophy almost all his
literatures in connection with tabligh was mainly a work of
investigation indicating his love for knowledge and truth. He
had a command over English and Urdu.
Maulana Ansari was a man of high calibre, always smiling,
and his attitude and behaviour indicated and posed his
personality as a man of learning particularly in respect of
social mannerism and cultural out-look. Inspite of his constant
ill health he had no respite from his cumbersome duties as a
responsible preacher and ardent lover of knowledge. The
Maulana never liked stereotyping and imitation knowledge.
22

Whatever he wrote and thought was imbuded with his liking
and attitude of being a research scholar and lover of truth.
I was very fortunate to be in his association while Maulana
was working at the Theological Academy at Quetta. This
institution was established by the Government of Pakistan for
the training of Khatib and religious workers. It was headed by
Dr. Hamid Hassan Bilgrami, formerly educational advisor of
Govt. of Pakistan and a well known scholar of Urdu
Literature.
Maulanas personality was also charming not only because of
his scholarly attitude of mind but because of his interest in
research. True knowledge can only be obtained by critical
vision and incessant and continued struggle for ever new
knowledge. I was very fortunate to come in contact with
Maulana Fazlur Rahman Ansari and through him I got an
opportunity to meet Dr. Hamid Hassan Bilgrami who invited
me at the Quetta Academy for delivering series of lectures on
Quranic Sociology. Both Maulana Fazlur Rahman Ansari and
Dr. Hamid Hassan Bilgrami developed a deep interest for
Quranic Sociology, the result being Maulanas contributions
on Sociology, one being the sociological study of Sura Asr,
the other being a highly illuminating article which formed the
basic chapter of his doctoral thesis submitted to Karachi
University. Dr. Hamid Hassan Bilgramis interest and deep
attachment for Quranic Sociology may be seen in the
compilation of my ten lectures published by Jamia Islamia,
Bahawalpur, with highly erudite and illuminating article on
22

the value and meanings of Quranic Sociology appreciating
my humble services in the foundation and development of
Quranic Sociology exclusively by me without any assistance
from anywhere.
With Maulanas loss I lost a sincere friend and a patron of
Quranic Sociology. Equally I should express my deep
concern for having segregated from the support of Dr. Hamid
Hassan Bilgrami. I pray Almighty Allah that Maulana be
blessed with Jannat-e-Naeem. Equally I pray for the health
and life of Dr. Hamid Hassan Bilgrami.
At the end, I would like to suggest that it is not sufficient to
run the Aleemiyah Institute as a school. Rather this Jamia,
founded by Maulana, should be a research centre. One group
of students should be directed to conduct research on the
contributions of Muslim pioneers in the various fields of
Islamology. Another group, in collaboration with the first,
should conduct research on the works of orientalists,
particularly Germans, in various branches of learning in order
to abrogate their fads and foibles on Islam and Islamic systems
of belief and knowledge. This should be done with the specific
viewpoint of rectifying the weaknesses of the younger
generation of Muslims who are under the firm grip of the
western scholars. This is needed for rebuilding of Islamic
culture in the modern age, on the one side, and revival of
Islam on the other. The idea of preaching and research,
prevalence and domination of Islam over other cultures in
23

compliance with the inviolable universal duty of the Muslims
is repeatedly given expression in the verse below:
It is He who hath sent His Apostle with guidance And religion
of Truth, to proclaim it over all religions Even though the
Pagans May detest (it). (9: 33)
(Dr. Basharat Ali, Professor of Sociology at Karachi
University, was a close colleague of the late Maulana Dr.
Ansari. He stands unrivalled in the world today as the
foremost authority on Islamic Sociology.)
22
The Ambassador of the

Intellectual Empire of Islam
M.A. Alsagoff (Singapore)
Maulana Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari came to us

and went. A happier coming could not be; but a sadder going
neither. He came to the Muslim people of south-eastern Asia
as the ambassador of the intellectual empire of Islam to
negotiate for reinvigorating and reconstructing the Muslim
intellectual life, ultimately with the aim of, to use his own
words said in reply to the Welcome Address given to him in
Singapore, assisting in raising up a great new edifice of
Islamic civilization among peoples which entered the fold of
Islam at a time when the Islamic world had already lost its
initial vitality and was on the way to succumb to the cultural
onslaught of the anti-Islamic Western civilization and could
not therefore enjoy the opportunity of building up enduring
and vigorous national Islamic traditions and culture. He went
away, making all of us sad but nevertheless happy at his
promise that he will come back to work for his great ideal.
Coming from an institution the Muslim University of
Aligarh which is the pride of Muslim Asia, he created an
abiding impression in the literary world of these parts. He
volunteered to lead the Islamic movement inaugurated and
established by his revered and renowned father-in-law, Hazrat
Maulana Shah Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqi in 1928 in
the form of the All-Malaya Muslim Missionary Society, and it
21

is with gratitude that we recall today his noble contribution
especially as the Honorary Editor of The Genuine Islam.
His thesis on Muslims and Communism, which was widely
circulated, created a new perspective and served to clarify the
thought of the youth. His revolutionary educational scheme
presented a most original and sound programme for the revival
of our lost glory and our Islamic heritage. His memorable
fight for the establishment of Islamic law in the Federated
Malay States and his brilliant reply to the opponents of The
Mohammedan Offences Bill earned the gratitude of Muslim
Malaya and elicited high praise from the greatest exponent of
British politics in eastern Asia, to wit, the editor of The Straits
Times, who, though, as a front-rank opponent, he had written
a most scathing editorial against the Bill a few days before,
was so deeply impressed by Maulana Ansaris exposition that
he wrote another editorial, seemingly as an apology, referring
therein to Maulana Ansari as that subtle and learned
logician.
Learned and logician Maulana Ansari certainly is, to which
the present book bears ample testimony. Ever since the
Christians succeeded in converting a few half-Muslimised
backward tribes of Java, they have been engaged in creating
an imposing network of missions among the Muslim
populations of eastern and south-eastern Asia. Day-in and dayout they are busy with vilifying Islam and conspiring against
Muslims. Islam, in its turn, has launched two organizations on
its behalf, the Jamiyyat-ul-Mohammediyyah of Java and the
22

All Malaya Muslim Missionary Society of the Malay
Peninsula. The noble and great work that is being
accomplished by these organizations in this connection
received new impetus with the entry of Maulana Ansari into
the field. Believing as he does in an active, as contrasted with
the present-day passive, role of Islam, he entered the
controversy with Archbishop Wand of Australia and turned
the searchlights on Christianity itself. The results were highly
encouraging. His honesty, sincerity, fair-mindedness and
learning, displayed during the controversy, created a deep
impression, and his masterly exposition, in Trends in
Christianity, not only brought about general awakening among
the Muslim youth but also succeeded in attracting several
broad-minded Christians to Islam.
The present book, which is the latest contribution of the author
of the Islam-Christianity problem, forms a Message on Love
from Islam to the Christian world and is being published with
the aim of removing the misconceptions which Christians
generally entertain against Islam and with the hope that all
honest and fair-minded Christians with give it the serious
consideration it fully deserves and with undertake an unbiased
inquiry into the merits of Islam and Christianity.
Beit-ul-Ikhwah,
SINGAPORE.
15th November, 1940.
22
Imran Nazar Hosein

Renowned International Scholar, Thinker, Orator and Writer
Imran was born in the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1942 from parents
whose ancestors had migrated as indentured labourer from India. He is a
graduate of the Aleemiyah Institute in Karachi and has studied at several
instutions of higher learning including the University of Karachi, the
University of the West Indies, Al Azhar University and the Graduate
Institute of International Relations in Switzerland. He worked for several
years as a Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Government of Trinidad and Tobago but gave up his job in 1985 to devote
his life to the mission of Islam. He lived in New York for ten years during
which time he served as the Director of Islamic Studies for the Joint
Committee of Muslim Organizations of Greater New York. He lectured on
Islam in several American and Canadian universities, colleges, churches,
synagogues, prisons, community halls, etc. . He also participated in many
inter-faith dialogues with Christian and Jewish scholars while representing
Islam in USA. He was the Imam, for sometime, at Masjid Dar al-Qur'an in
Long Island, New York. He also led the weekly Juma'ah prayers and
delivered the sermon at the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan once
a month for ten years continuously. He is a former Principal of the
Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi, Pakistan, Director of
Research of the World Muslim Congress in Karachi, Pakistan and Director
of the Islamic Institute for Education and Research in Miami, Florida. He
has traveled continuously and extensively around the world on Islamic
lecture-tours since graduating from the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic
Studies in 1971 at age 29. And he has also written more than a dozen
books on Islam that have invariably been received with public respect.
22
I Meet My Hero
Imran Nazar Hosein
Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui
In 1950 when I was eight years of age, Maulana Abdul

Aleem Siddiqui visited my country, the island of Trinidad, in
the West Indies. My father took me to the Piarco International
Airport and I remember seeing an old man with a long white
beard wearing a turban and a long gown. He was standing on a
platform and there were a number of other people also on the
platform. There were lots of people shouting Pakistan
Zindabad! Nara-e-Takbir, Allahu Akbar! Some people were
waving green and white flags.
I vaguely remember seeing a younger man dressed in a
different costume and standing next to the old man. Some
fifteen years later I would see a photograph of that same scene
and I would come to know, for the first time, that the old man
was Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui and that the younger man
was his son-in-law and protg, Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman
Ansari.
Twice again during that visit I remember seeing the old man. I
saw him delivering a long lecture at the Grand Stand, Queens
Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. I cannot remember a word of
what he said but I was over-awed by that strange and
imposing figure with the turban, the white beard, the gown
and the walking stick. And I could see that he was also having
22

an impact on my father from the intensely serious look on my
fathers face.
On another occasion there was, it appears, an open-air bazaar
(fair). The old man was there. I remember my father
permitting us to wave small green and white flags from the
window of our car as we approached the place where the
bazaar was held.
As a result of that visit of Maulana Siddiqui, the experiences I
had, and the strange sights I saw at the airport, at the Grand
Stand at the bazaar, etc., I began to feel, very vaguely, the
awareness of belonging to a particular community that
extended far beyond the Masjid (mosque) at the back of my
home.
Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari
In 1957, after the death of Maulana Siddiqui, Maulana Ansari
paid a short visit to Trinidad. I do not remember anything of
that visit. Indeed I know nothing about the visit until I read
about it many years later. This was most probably because my
father had just died and so there was no one to take us out. In
1960, however, Maulana Ansari visited Trinidad for the third
time and this time I experienced the very strong impact of his
personality. I had completed my secondary education at
Queens Royal College and was employed, at the age of
eighteen, as a teacher.
22

Trinidads Muslim Community was agog with excitement and
my own hometown of Chaguanas was even more excited.
Maulana Ansari was supposed to deliver a lecture on Science
and Islam at our newly-built, second Masjid. For days and
nights we worked feverishly, youths as well as elders, to
prepare the compound of the Masjid, paving the courtyard
with cement, painting, decorating, etc.
When the grand night came, the hall of the Masjid was packed
with the largest turn-out I had ever seen in Chaguanas. We all
felt very proud about our new Masjid2 as well as the presence
of the Maulana.
I could not keep my eyes off the solemn figure of the Maulana
His dress was strange. A chocolate-brown long gown, a turban
and a walking stick of the same colour. He had a very
handsome face which was framed by a large and intelligent
forehead and a long black beard spread out like a fan. Later I
saw his eyes hawk eyes with the eyelids at a slant and the
eyes, so powerful and piercing that you could not look into
them for long. They were the eyes of a warrior. I also noticed
very carefully his hands, which were white, which looked
silky smooth yet powerful, and which were shaped in such a
way that the fingers curved into each other so that there was
no space between them.
Maulana Saheb looked holy, noble and majestic as he stood
there before the microphone with one hand on his walking
2
In 1969 this Masjid was named Masjid-ul-Ansari.
22

stick and the other hand gesticulating in a controlled and
becoming way.
I give this description because it is very important to
understand that the physical appearance of this man of God
had a psychological impact on me which was as permanent
and as powerful as the subsequent moral and intellectual
impact.
Many, many years later I would be driving him out in Karachi
and he would be sitting next to me in the front seat of the car.
He opens his heart to me and confesses that his dress creates a
problem in that it sets him apart from his people and gives the
false impression to some that he belongs to a special religious
class a veritable priesthood in Islam. And I reply
hesitatingly, for its difficult to say directly you are my hero
and your dress forms and integral part of that ideal, that image
of my hero, which is the point of departure for my inner
journey to the Prophet of Arabia. The words came out slowly
and with great emotion, and he never raised the subject again.
If the physical appearance and dress of the Maulana fascinated
me, his lecture was to hold me spellbound. I had been myself a
student of science at college and his knowledge of Physics,
Chemistry and Biology impressed me. But it was even more
startling to discover that far from being anti-science, Islam
urged the scientific quest and the Quran was in harmony with
many of the discoveries of science. According to the Quran
all things were created in pairs. The Maulana proceeded to
22

show how the findings of Modern Science, whether Zoology
or Botany, Chemistry or Physics, support the concept of
pairs.
The way that great man moved with such ease in such a
difficult subject, and the way he presented the knowledge
contained in the Quran and made it permeate the different
branches of science, caused my enquiring mind to open itself
to a new, higher, more profound and far more exciting
understanding of Islam than the pleasantries to which it had
hitherto been accustomed from local lectures.
That lecture awakened a young soul and provoked a mind
naturally given to speculation. But far more important than the
intellectual impact was the psychological impact of the
lecture. I felt extremely proud to be a Muslim. My father,
before he died, had written and warned of the defeatist
attitude among the Muslims. Maulana Ansari was destroying
that defeatism and replacing it with pride and with the
revolutionary strength and possibilities that emerge from
healthy, positive optimism.
My mother was a widow with six children. The youngest child
was only three years old. Times were very hard and she was
struggling to make both ends meet. Somehow a way was
found and I was able to follow Maulana Ansari, attending a
number of other lectures in different towns and villages of the
island.
233

Each lecture I heard created a greater hunger for more
knowledge of Islam. As time passed I was able to grasp more
and more of what he was saying and yet there were times
when he was so difficult that I could not understand him.
At the Jinnah Memorial Masjid he took us Through Science
and Philosophy to Religion. When he turned to Philosophy I
was lost. But that only made me admire him even more. Like
all the other Muslims I accepted the logic that the more I could
not understand him, the more proof there was of his greatness!
And soon I was very proud indeed of this Islamic Scholar.
At Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain he delivered, one night,
an open-air lecture on The Philosophical Foundations of
Western Civilization. What happened that night confirmed
that there was every justification for my pride in him. Sitting
there on the rostrum listening to the lecture was the Prime
Minister3 and many of his Ministers. This lecture was the most
difficult I had heard.
As soon as he had completed his lecture and before he could
take his sear, I saw the Prime Minister rise quickly from his
seat, approach Dr. Ansari as he was turning, and shake his
hand vigorously. The Prime Minister, Dr. Williams we all
knew, was himself a great scholar. And that he should not
3
It was only in 1962 when Trinidad and Tobago become on

Independent state that Dr. Williams became Prime Minister, though
he was the popularly elected leader of the country for many years
before. Incidentally he is still the Prime Minister.
232

only attend the lecture (with most of his cabinet) but also
publicly congratulate Dr. Ansari with such obvious
enthusiasm was sufficient to make my heart burst with pride. I
was close to tears and oblivious of the fact that I was in the
largest gathering of Muslims I had ever seen in my life.
Every teen-ager has a hero. Maulana Ansari became my hero.
And ever since then he remained my hero. The more I saw of
him, the more I grew to love him. Later that love was to grow
to a devotion and loyalty which some admired and others,
close friends, criticised.
I was puzzled and in my heart I was disappointed when I saw
my hero permitting thousands of people to kiss his hands. But
he was still my hero and so I also waited in patience for my
opportunity and I also went up and kissed his hands. I kissed
his hands however, not because others were doing so, but
rather as my own private way of demonstrating how much I
loved him.
Two important events
Two important events took place before Maulana Ansaris
departure which have determined to a large degree, the course
of my life and thought.
Firstly I took the decision to become a spiritual disciple in the
Aleemiyah Qaderiyyah Spiritual Order, with Maulana Ansari
as my spiritual preceptor and guide.
231

Sufism was presented to me as the science of Islamic
Spiritual Discipline. The argument made sense to me that in
the same way as the physical body needs physical exercise for
maintaining and promoting physical health and fitness, so too
the spiritual body needs spiritual exercises for maintaining and
promoting spiritual health and strength. Practical Sufism was a
spiritual gymnasium.
All that I knew about theoretical Sufism was that it was an
interpretation of the religious way of life which sought to
replace mechanistic religion with dynamic religion.
Youth is filled with emotion and dynamism, and so it was
natural that Sufism should appeal to me. The initiation
ceremony took place one night at the Jama Masjid, Port-ofSpain. We all sat on the floor in a circle and I was thrilled to
see Haji Saeed Muhammad in the circle. He, too, was one of
my heroes a most eloquent and forceful speaker, and a
Muslim leader who inspired the youth with the strength of his
personality and his unquestionable character, integrity and
sincerity.
Maulana Saheb made us link our hands together so that here
was an unbroken circle. He himself sat at the head of the circle
close to the Mimbar. There followed a period of simultaneous
recitations all of which were in the Arabic language and some
of which came from the Quran. Finally there was a duah
(prayer) which was led by the Maulana. Afterwards he
232

embraced us all and I returned home that night a very sober,
but proud and happy young man.
This initiation into a sufistic order was to grow later into a
passionate commitment to enlightened Sufism which would
permeate and colour my understanding and interpretation of
the religion of Islam. At the time, however, Maulana Ansari
stirred a spirit that was longing for the spiritual. And though
he did not know me4 we had never spoken to each other, yet
he seemed to be guiding me and teaching me, in some
mysterious way, how best to adore that Great Master. The
Great Master was a God of love and He can best be
approached through love. This requires the building of a
particular kind of heart a heart that is clean, that is free from
evil (Hate evil, he said, not the evil-doer), most of all a
heart which is sensitive and which can feel for others. A hard
heart, a heart which has no place for kindness, for charity, for
love, is a heart which will have difficulty in approaching the
Master.
The second event and, perhaps, the more dramatic and
important, took place at the farewell function held before
Maulana Saheb, departed. In the course of his address he
startled me by making a public call for five young Muslims to
come forward and dedicate their lives for acquiring knowledge
of Islam and serving the cause of Islam. Such young men
He did not come to know me until Oct. 1964.
232

would have to travel to the centres of learning in the Muslim
world for knowledge of Islam.
It was strange that I should take a decision so quickly and with
such finality, but I immediately decided that I must be one of
the five.
At that time I knew of no Trinidadian Muslim who had gone
abroad for studies in Islam.
A young man in a Muslim country taking such a decision has
some idea of where he will be going, what he will be doing
and what will be the consequences of taking such a decision.
A young man in the Caribbean taking such a decision in 1960
had to have a motivation out of the ordinary, for he was opting
for a pioneering role, the consequences of which he did not
know.
One man and one man alone gave me the inspiration and the
courage to take that leap into the unknown. He was my hero. I
had heard his voice calling and so within my heart I answered.
The decision was taken, and it was the greatness of this man
and the brilliance of his exposition of the message of Islam
that could so easily and suddenly determine the future course
of my life.
After his departure in Sept. 1960 I settled down to studying
the booklets he had written and which were published by the
World Federation of Islamic Missions in the Aleemiyah
Memorial Series. These booklets were excellently written.
232

Their size and format made them even more readable. I read
them with great care and for the first time I found Islamic
literature outside my fathers library which appealed to me. In
my fathers library I had found and read, among other books,
Syed Ameer Alis Spirit of Islam and A Short History of the
Saracens, and Muhammad Alis Religion of Islam as well
as his translation of the Quran. My fathers library had more
than a hundred issues of the famous magazine published in
England, The Islamic Review.
Not only did I read and reread the booklets written by
Maulana Ansari, but now I also grew very eager to reach out
the message of Islam to those who had no knowledge of Islam.
And I found that I was not alone in this respect. Maulanas
visit had awakened and strengthened the missionary zeal of
the Muslims of the country.
In 1962 the Islamic Missionaries Guild, founded by Maulana
Saheb, became active. And it was a source of great joy and
excitement for me to work with the I.M.G. My hero had left
my country but he had established an organisation within
which my energy and emotion, and all my bubbling
enthusiasm for missionary work, could be harnessed and
directed to constructive ends. The General Secretary of the
I.M.G. Haji M.K. Hosein, had spent about eight months in
Karachi, where he received some training from Maulana
Saheb. Through the organisational ability of M.K. Hosein, the
I.M.G. soon became a powerful and popular voice for Islam in
the country. I was particularly active in the Friday night radio
232

programme, The Voice of Islam. Just as important, I was
happy working with M.K. Hosein. I think it is true to say that
in all my subsequent Islamic work in Trinidad, I have never
felt as happy, as thrilled as I was when working alongside
M.K. Hosein.
Al-Azhar
In Nov. 1963 my dream came true. I resigned my job and left
Trinidad to study Islam at al-Azhar University, Cairo.
Through the untiring efforts of the I.M.G., three Egyptian
Govt. scholarships were procured, and I was fortunate to be
one of the three selected for the scholarships. The other two
were Abdul Wahid and Zaid Ali Boisselle.
Within a short period after our arrival in Egypt we were
thoroughly disillusioned because of a number of reasons, not
the least of them being the lack-lustre Azhar academic set-up
which did anything but elevate the soul and dynamise the
personality. Unfortunate experiences of the repressive base of
the Egyptian revolutionary regime as well as the widespread
corruption and administrative chaos with which we came into
daily contact did not help.
What hurt me most was the dawning realization that Azhar
was not organized to produce heroes like Dr. Ansari. The
pulsating spirituality, moral power, intellectual dynamism and
depth of knowledge of both Islamic theological and modern
Western disciplines which, in Maulana Ansari, combined to
make him so appealing to the educated Muslim youth, was
232

strikingly absent at al-Azhar. Our disillusionment and the
hardships and disappointments we suffered caused us to
seriously question the wisdom of staying on in Egypt.
In Feb. 1964 I wrote to Maulana Ansari after I read in a
magazine that he was establishing an Islamic theological
institution in Pakistan. I received no reply5. I wrote to the
Jamia Millia in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Dr Bilgrami replied to
inform me that the medium of instruction was Urdu.
We all three decided to abandon our studies in Egypt and seek
admission in British or Canadian universities. I planned to do
a law degree. We therefore wrote to the I.M.G. and informed
them of our intentions. The I.M.G. wrote to Maulana Ansari in
Pakistan. In May 1964 we received the following letter from
Maulana Ansari:
MOST URGENT
My dear Imran Hosein
Karachi
Abdul Wahid and
22-04-64
Zaid Ali Boissele.

Assalam-o-alaikum wa Rahmatullah!
I have just now received a very painful news that all of you
have been suffering from different types of hardships since
5
Later that year Maulana Ansari told me that he did not receive my
letter.
232

your arrival in Cairo and that you intend to forsake your great
mission on which you left your county.
I was very happy when I had heard before that you had chosen
to become Islamic scholars and that you were proceeding to
Al-Azhar University. But the present news has given me a
sorrow which is indescribable in words.
I have given serious thought to your present plight and the
way out, and I have come to the conclusion that I should invite
you to proceed immediately to Karachi and to pursue your
studies at the headquarters of the World Federation of Islamic
Missions. Here at our Jamiah el-Islamiah you will have the
opportunity of qualifying as high-class Islamic theologians
and missionaries side by side with getting B.A. and M.A.
degrees in modern Western education. I may inform you that
the media of instruction at our theological institute are English
and Arabic. As regards Arabic, you will be taught this
language from the very Alphabet.
I offer you herewith scholarships which will cover all your
expenses of boarding, lodging, etc. We have already seven
foreign students and more are on their way from Korea and
other foreign lands.
Please communicate to me your decision by return post, so
that I may proceed with making the necessary arrangements
for all of you before leaving for Trinidad. I intend to proceed
to the West Indies in the middle of May 1974.
232

Kindly give my love to Abdul Ghani Shakir of Trinidad who
is also in Cairo.
With love,
Yours affectionately,
MUHAMMAD FAZL-UR-RAHMAN ANSARI
President
WORLD FEDERATION OF ISLAMIC MISSIONS.
P.S. If you decide to come to Karachi, the only thing you have
to do is to arrange for your passage-money. It is not possible
for me to arrange that because of foreign exchange
restrictions.
FRA
I was extremely happy and relieved to receive this letter. Only
now was my dream really coming true. In my darkest hour my
hero had reached out to retrieve me and open for me a path
closer to my hearts desire. I was really moved by the genuine
concern he showed for our welfare and by his spontaneous
generosity in offering us scholarships to study in his own
institution in Pakistan. I considered myself to be a lucky
young man indeed, to be getting the opportunity of becoming
a student of so great a Muslim scholar.
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Zaid and I decided to accept the offer of Maulana Saheb,
Abdul Wahid (once bitten, twice shy) decided to leave for
London. One month later Zaid and I sorrowfully bid goodbye
to him at the Alexandria Port.
In early August 64 I flew to Karachi and Zaid followed me
later in the month. By the time we reached Pakistan, however,
Maulana Ansari had already left on his fourth around-theworld missionary tour.
I settled down to my studies and waited with impatience and
some uneasiness for the 8th Oct. when, on his return to
Karachi, my hero and I came face to face to keep, what has
turned out to be for me, a tryst with destiny.
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DR. MUHAMMAD FAZLUR-RAHMAN

AL-ANSARI
Imran Nazar Hosein
This special issue of the Minaret, which I have the honour

to edit, is being published on the occasion of the tenth death
anniversary of His Eminence Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fazlur
Rahman Ansari (R.A) and the Silver Jubilee of the
Organisation which he founded and which emerged in the trail
of his missionary labours, the World Federation of Islamic
Missions.
This special issue will be read with sadness and treasured with
love by thousands of people all over the world, Muslims as
well as non-Muslims, who knew and loved Maulana Ansari
and who benefitted from his deep and vast knowledge and
from the piercing rays of his refulgent personality. Many of
those will also have been spiritual disciples of this rare,
authentic and dynamic Shaikh of the Qaderiyyah Spiritual
Order who inherited the mantle of spiritual disciple from his
exalted Murshid and father-in-law, His Eminence Maulana
Abdul Aleem Siddiqi (R.A).
For many indeed, as it is for me, to recall the day of his death,
even now, after ten years, is to recall the day when darkness
fell upon the earth,- the day the shepherd left his flock. For
such indeed was the greatness of Muhammad Fazlur Rahman
Ansari, a Scholar who scaled the commanding heights of
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knowledge and was yet untouched by arrogance, a Sufi whose
spiritual personality changed the lives of thousands who came
into contact with him but in whom there was not the slightest
trace of any affected spirituality or piety complex, a traveller
on lifes journey who led an extremely rich, diverse and
complex life and yet remained so simple, so humble, so
innocent and so godly a soul upto the day he breathed his last.
His daughter said that in the last days she saw her father
walking slowly up and down his room softly reciting that
poignant verse of the Moghul Emperor Poet, Bahadur Shah
Zafar:
(From the giver and taker of life)

I sought and obtained a life span of four days.
Two have gone in longing (or wishing)
And two in waiting.
As in verse so in real life, he spent all his life devoted to one
single end, one single goal, the mission of Islam.
And such was his sincere and total devotion to his mission that
Allah blessed him with blessings in abundance. The world
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stood dazzled by the splendour of his knowledge and yet on
his death-bed he said to his wife:
I feel as though the world of knowledge has only now been
unveiled to me and all my life I have been as a child groping
tentatively for a ray of knowledge here and there.
The best tribute which can be paid to the memory of Maulana
Ansari is the tribute of understanding the essence of his
thought and reaching it out to the Ummah and to mankind,-the
tribute of continuing with seriousness, with sincerity and with
devotion, the mission for which he lived and died. In this
connection a great deal of responsibility devolves on the
World Federation of Islamic Missions and its affiliated
organizations and on the graduates of the Aleemiyah Institute
of Islamic Studies.
The twentieth century of the Christian era has so far been a
century of mortal struggle between a powerful, aggressive and
hostile Western civilization (including the Communist
Movement which is a product of the West) and an Islamic
civilization in a state of pathetic disunity, intellectual
confusion and disarray.
Western civilization, which revolted against Christianity,
religion and God, and which has secularized all aspects of life
and all branches of knowledge, has been transformed into an
unbalanced, materialistic, spiritually bankrupt and amoral
civilization. Western civilization has, in the wake of that
transformation, acquired such devilish characteristics that it is
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fast taking all of mankind to the brink of utter disaster. An
only Islamic civilization possesses the moral and spiritual
strength and convictions to save mankind from that disaster.
Western civilization in the twentieth century, however, glitters
like gold with economic power, material wealth, stupendous
scientific and technological achievements and military
strength which defeated the Muslims convincingly and
decisively. The twentieth century could very well have
witnessed the wholesale transformation of the entire Muslim
world into a subservient and deislamised copy of the West.
It is now quite clear, however, that Islam is determined to
resist and, in some respects, is successfully resisting Western
civilization. Tribute for the successful defence of Islam and
the mobilisation of the intellectual, moral and spiritual
resources of the Muslims for retrieving authentic Islam and
resisting the West must go to men like Maulana Dr. Ansari.
Thus prominent Philippines Muslim leader Dr. Ahmad
Alonto, in a special message for this issue of the Minaret, pays
this tribute to Maulana Ansari:
At the time he appeared in the bleak
Islamic horizon in the Philippines
the process of deislamisation . . . was at
its height. Within barely one decade of
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his historic intervention there has been a
complete reversal of the trend.
Maulana Ansari met with similar successes in a number of
other countries. Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Sri
Lanka, Mauritius, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago,
South Africa, Seychelles, Canada, U.S.A, Britain and Pakistan
all felt and still continue to feel the significant and abiding
impact of his intellectual and spiritual labours in the service of
Islam.
Maulanas successes lay not only in the successful defence of
Islam and the Muslims from hostile external forces, it also lay
in his fearless, rank and forthright interpretation and
exposition of the message of Islam to Muslims themselves.
Eschewing both modernism and conservatism, he guided the
Ummah back to the position of dynamic orthodoxy, back to
the Quran and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) as the
centre, core and heart of the faith. In this connection he
minced no words in condemning arrogant intolerant
sectarianism which was sapping away at the vitals of the
Ummah.
I am neither Wahabi, nor Deobandi, neither Ahl-e- Hadith
nor Brelvi. I am a
Muslim.
These courageous words of his still remain the only bridge

over which this Ummah can cross the chasm of theological
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conflict and disunity. Our primary status is that of being
Muslims. And a basic implication is that all Muslims,
regardless of theological position is in conflict with the
fundamental framework of belief as it emerges from Allahs
revelation.
While this is important, Maulana will be remembered for
having made a yet more important contribution to the proper
understanding of the religion of Islam. And that is in respect
of his insistence that man is essentially a spiritual being and
that the spiritual dimension of the Divine guidance which
radiated from Hira had a primacy over the legal, the political,
the rational etc. The Muslim must first establish a state of
harmony with his own inner being and with the universe
around him before he can successfully apply himself to the
different dimensions and aspects of his collective existence
and to the pursuit of the sacred mission of the Ummah.
Because of certain unfortunate limitations, this special issue of
the Minaret must remain but a very modest attempt at
commemorating this occasion. It is also because of this state
of affairs that the editorial is, perforce, much longer than
originally planned.
The articles of Maulana Ansari and Mr. Brohi were carefully
selected and represent very important observations worth
serious study. The write-up on the WFIM was prepared in
1980 in anticipation of a promised visit by the President of
Pakistan to the Islamic Centre.
222

In response to the letters which were belatedly sent out we
received several written tributes to Dr. Ansari, some of which
have been published. A promised article entitled My Father
by Mustafa Fazil Ansari had to be abandoned because of his ill
health. He will, I hope, write this article some time!
Finally I wish to thank Mr. Siddiqui of the World Federation
staff, Mr. Izhar-ul-Haq of the the Aleemiyah Institute staff and
Mr. Abid Saeed of the Rashid Press for their kind assistance in
the preparation of this special issue of the Minaret of which a
large number of copies are being printed for circulation in
many parts of the world.
222
THE ROVING AMBASSADOR OF ISLAM

Sheikh Ali Mustafa
Dr. Ansari, or Maulana Ansari, as he was known to many,

was an exceptional human being with a multi-dimensional
personality and a high moral character based on that of the
Holy Prophet Muhammed (p.b.u.h). The first time I ever heard
of Maulana Ansari was 17-years back, in 1966, the year that I
formally accepted Islam as my way of life. I was anxious to
learn Islam, and I learned from a Muslim friend of mine that in
Pakistan there was a very great Islamic Scholar: Maulana
Ansari, who had been in Suriname before. I wrote a letter to
Maulana requesting him to accept me at his Institute of
Islamic Learning. Maulana promptly replied, and that letter
Ive kept since then as a sacred treasure. He welcomed me
warmly to Islam and to the Aleemiyah. However, I could not
afford the journey and here it was that Maulana come to my
help . . . . .
Maulana Ansari arrived at the Zanderij Airport (Suriname), 1st
August, 1969. This was Maulanas last visit to Suriname and
my very first time to see him. This sight was impressive; it
reminded me of the Prophets and holy men of old: that long
robe and the turban which are the classical hallmark of the
men-of-God.
The personality of Maulana was, as ever after, warm, friendly
and accommodating. He took me close to him, and I went with
him wherever he went, opening the lecture sessions with the
222

recitation of the Holy Quran. On the last day, after his final
lecture, he sat down. Then he got up again and made a special
mention of a commitment made by the Executive of the
Suriname Muslim Association to send me to Pakistan for
study at the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies. This was a
real booster for me and eventually, not long after that, on Oct.
1st, 1969, I put my first foot on the journey in quest of Islamic
knowledge, training and guidance.
It was in Pakistan that I came to see and know more of the
greatness of this servant of Islam. Maulana wanted to create an
Institute of Islamic Learning to produce real Muslim Scholars
for the Muslim Ummah. This was not altogether easy for the
lack of all the right ingredients. The Aleemiyah, named after
the great tutor and father-in-law of Maulana Ansari: Maulana
Abdul Aleem Siddiqui (R.A), is the answer that Maulana tried
to create for the world-wide problems in the Muslim Ummah.
It was what Maulana called a: CRISIS OF CHARACTER, in
the religious leadership of the Muslims all over. Maulana has
in his many learned lectures very clearly diagnosed the malady
that has beset the Ummah. It is essential that we understand it
well and work toward the solution thereof. This humble
servant of Islam could be seen flaming with emotion when
expounding the Message of Islam, especially when dealing
with the distracting and negative spirit of the religious
leadership of the Ummah; the ignorance of sectarian attitude
which was killing the spirit of JEHAD among the Muslims.
The Aleemiyah Institute needs, to counteract all that, scholars
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of the calibre of Maulana Ansari, a man who had mastered 27
branches of knowledge, with a regular reading habit of at least
500 pages a day and constancy and consistency in IBADDA
and MUJAAHIDA (Worship and Self-Mortification). The
Aleemiyah needs, besides students with that zeal for learning
and love for humanity, plus the ability to absorb the higher
teachings of Islam, the SABR to work against heavy odds, to
strive so hard in knowledge, personality development and
character building that they would prove themselves worthy
and capable of taking up the challenge to reform or help
reform the Muslim Ummah in whichever part of the Globe
they may find themselves, Insha Allah. . . . . . . . . . . !
Maulanas call was clear for all: BACK TO MUHAMMAD
(p.b.u.h), BACK TO THE QURAN. Some ignorant folk
have construed this to mean a denial of the Hadith of the
Noble Prophet (p.b.u.h). The charge is false, for those who
have known Maulana and have listened to him are convinced
that Maulana was an ardent lover of the Holy Prophet
(p.b.u.h). Besides, no one can deny the last advice of the
Prophet on the plain of ARAFAAT at the Last Pilgrimage
when he said about the Quran that; IF YOU HOLD ON TO
IT YOU SHALL NEVER GO ASTRAY!
He was very clear in his exposition of Islam, and he minced no
words in condemning the negative factors in the Ummah; but
prejudice dies hard . . . . . ! He made it clear that Islam is based
on TAUHEED; that Spiritualism forms an integral part of
Islam; that sound reason is the pride of Islam. He was not
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extreme. Maulana was a Sufi, but his Sufism was action based
on the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet and pure Science from the
Quran, Some felt Maulana went too high much science, but
he wanted to show us the beauty and grandeur of Islam, and
its greatness. He wanted to lift us up to the peak of the
mountain and show us the vast and wonderful landscape of
Islam, so that we may aspire for it and not be content to
remain at the bottom!
Maulana was a man for the world, not only the Muslim world,
for Maulana Ansari was the best expounder of Islam I have
ever seen, met or heard. I remember one particular occasion at
the Aleemiyah when Maulana called for me, Siddique Ahmed
Nasir (my college from Guyana) and one or two more
students. He wanted us to witness (as part of our training or
course I) a discussion he was about to have with one Christian
lady, who had come to enquire about Islam. This was a special
opportunity and privilege for us to witness a masterpiece of an
unfolding of the message of Islam in such a beautifully
persuasive and loving manner that the listener has no way but
to accept. Here there was no sarcasm, no criticism, no forcing
to accept. It was simply an exposition of accepted truths of
human behaviour, human history, certain discoveries in
science and then blending them with Quranic truths and
showing the correlation with the way of life which is Islam.
Maulanas greatness to me was an evolving experience. In
1970/1971 Maulana was invited by the Muslims of South
Africa where he delivered, perhaps, some of his most learned
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and finest speeches on Islam. There, he spoke on a variety of
subjects, all underlined by a note of spirituality and high
learning. But Maulanas great exposition of Islam was not
restricted to South Africa. I heard of his lectures in Europe, the
United States of America and the far-East. His originality and
uniqueness of style was simply amazing. Anyone who heard
Maulanas lectures will vouch for clarity and force of
expression, which bespeaks of a strong conviction, a firm
grounding in knowledge and true sincerity of purpose all in
the interest of Islam and Muslims.
Maulana did not neglect his countrymen. I attended many of
Maulanas Urdu and English lectures in Karachi; and in Urdu
his clarity and force was the same if not better. However,
Maulana was not the sensational type of Moulvi Saheb which
is what some people seem to like in Pakistan. But he did make
an impact on those who valued knowledge.
As a writer Maulana started very early in life. The first book
Maulana Ansari wrote on Islam (to my knowledge) was
BEACON LIGHT. He was less than 20 yrs. old then. After
that he wrote a series of booklets on various aspects of Islam.
The simplicity, clarity and force of his style bear testimony to
his great understanding of Islam. Such booklets are very
helpful to the new Muslim in particular, since they are a
condensation of ideas which can be expanded. However, the
last work form Maulanas pen, his life-work, the gist of his
understanding of Islam and a gift to the Muslims and
humanity, was: The Quranic Foundations and Structure of
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Muslim Society. In this masterpiece Maulana drew us the
most beautiful, the most complete and comprehensive picture
of Islam. It is a book to be studied and digested; a reference
book taken solely from the main reference: AL-QURAN for
the rebuilding of the UMMAH OF ISLAM. May ALLAH
accept and inspire us to real Islam, Ameen!
Many were surprised to see a Maulana in traditional dress,
addressing audiences in highly modern, sophisticated, western
countries, audiences comprising of highly educated people:
critics of Islam, clergymen, philosophers, doctors, scholars in
various branches of knowledge. They were dazed at the ease
with which he was able to present Islam to them. They were
amazed that one man could master so vast knowledge. Yet,
they had experienced only one small example of the greatness
of human personality and character created by Islam, of which
there were many in the glorious past of Islam. . . . To the
Muslims he constantly sounded the clarion call which was
echoed before him by the great sons of Islam like JalmaludDin Afghani; Maulana Hali; Sir Muhammad Iqbal; Maulana
Abdul Aleem Siddiqui, and many others. He warned them of
the dangers that could befall them if they do not implement
real Islam; he diagnosed their situation among other nations;
and he suggested solutions and practically helped them in
various parts of the world for the improvement of their
condition as Muslims.
Toward the end of May, 1974 Maulana fell ill, everyone was
worried. He was taken to the hospital. Monday morning 3rd
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June 1974 (11-JAMADIUL AWWAL 1394), we were
crowded in the room of brother Sulaiman Peterson, on the first
floor of the Aleemiyah Hostel, hoping and praying for
Maulanas life. By about 10 o clock a.m. the news came:
Maulana Ansari had left this physical world for the spiritual. It
came as a shock to us all. We could hardly believe it. We were
overcome with emotion. Maulana had lived for 63 years.
(Lunar) just like the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) and his tutor
Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui, (R.A.) and as such fulfilling
the last Sunnah of the Beloved of ALLAH . . . . . . .
May ALLAH lead us on the right path and give us the
conviction based on real knowledge and sincere love and
devotion for Him and His Beloved Prophet Muhammd
Mustafa (P.B.U.H). May Allah bless the soul of Maulana
Fazlur Rahman Ansari (R.A.) for the invaluable service he
rendered to Islam and humanity. If at least one of his students
takes his place or at least carries on the same mission, HE
WILL HAVE SUCCEEDED. Insha ALLAH, Ameen . . . . . . !
212
REFLECTIONS
Siddiq Ahmad Nasir
A year has passed since that fateful day and yet the
memories are evergreen. It was on a Monday morning, I well
remember, that breathed his last. A month in hospital and all
the while he emphasized that theres still so much work left to
do! Then the pioneer returned to is Lord.
Yes, the 11th Jamadi-ul-Awwal, 1394 is a day we will
remember for it marked the end of what may be termed the era
of Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari.
Perhaps you may say that he was eminently suited for the
tasks he performed by the type of education he had the good
fortune to receive. But who can doubt that it was the Grace of
the Almighty which so extensively prepared him for serving
the cause of Islam as a pioneer in this age? Examine the
situation a while. In theology he was tutored by that eminent
personality Maulana Syed Sulaiman Ashraf, who is regarded
as one of the leading theologians, if not the leading one, in the
Indo-Pak subcontinent of his day. That was not all ---, in
philosophy his teacher and guide was none other than Dr. S.Z.
Hasan, unmistakably one of the two leading philosophers of
the subcontinent at that time. Had this been all, it would have
sufficed to make him a scholar of pre-eminence, for not only
were his professors of the highest caliber but they also spoke
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of him in glowing terms --- Maulana Syed Sulaiman Ashraf
describing him (way back in 1936) as a young man with a
personality radiant with virtue and exceptional intelligence,
while Dr. S.Z. Hasan had said of him he is recognized by his
teachers and his fellow students as an exceptional student,
head and shoulders above others.
But over and above this he had come under the tutorship and
tutelage of an eminent saint, recognized as such in many
different parts of the world even up to this day. This was none
other than Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui and it was at his
hands that this young scholar received training in Tasawwuf
and in missionary work.
This surely would have been enough! But yet he was not
content. The age in which he lived demanded much more of
him. A life dedicated to the service of Islam was already his
mission. Yet he could see what was really needed was a
missionary who not only personified Islam and was well
grounded in Islamic sciences, but also was in a position to
cross swords and match wits with adversaries and skeptics in
their own line of learning. Hence his was a spirit eager to
imbibe more and more, and yet more, knowledge. For this
reason on his own, he studied diligently various subjects
ranging from Economics to Law, from Sociology to medicine,
from Physical Science to History and Comparative Religion.
In effect he was following the edict proclaimed by the SuperLeader of the Muslims, the Noble Prophet of Arabia that
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knowledge is the lost property of the believer, wheresoever
he finds it he should take hold of it.
Actually he could see that one of the cogent reasons for the
continuing set-backs faced by the Ummah is the conspicuous,
prevailing ignorance and illiteracy among the Muslims,
standing in sharp contrast with the elevated position that the
Noble Prophet had bestowed on the quest for knowledge,
while at the same time making at obligatory.
Therefore is not the education acquired by Maulana Dr. F.R.
Ansari a lesson for us in this age when we expend our energies
on acquiring certificates and not education, and on the quest
not for knowledge but for diplomas and allied pieces of paper?
Another point on which we may reflect is his outlook of Islam.
At present the Muslim world is permeated with a conservative
outlook, any deviation from which it is felt, automatically
qualifies the deviator as being outside the fold of Islam.
However, for some time now thinkers have been trying to reinterpret Islam in the light of the age in which they find
themselves. Undoubtedly this is a difficult task and many of
them found it necessary to discard some of the tenets of Islam
during the process or to interpret them away, as can be clearly
seen from some of the unorthodox re-interpretations of the last
century or so. However great thinkers have also called for reinterpretation of Islam, among them notably Allama Dr.
Muhammad Iqbal.
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Maulana Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari stepped forward to
meet this challenge and to fulfill this need. He stressed that
Islam should be presented as a dynamic orthodoxy. The
success of his outlook on Islam can be seen from the esteem in
which he was held by the intellectual circles in many
countries, Muslim and non-Muslim, and also from the impact
he made on the youth of the day.
Islam is a perfect way of life you may say. Then whence the
need for re-interpretation? Are not the Quran and Sunnah
enough for us? If they are then doesnt re-interpretation mean
changing them? These questions deserve our careful
consideration.
One of the dynamic thinkers of Islam, Mr. A.K. Brohi had
occasion to remark, I submit that the Quran is a valid book
for all peoples and for all times in the sense it outlines the
principles upon which humanity has been invited to organize
itself, whether the organization be in the sole life of an
individual or the collective life of the community. These
principles cannot change for they are eternal --- only in
application to the changing conditions of society they occasion
different solutions. When all is said and done, for a successful
application of the Quran principles, we shall have to reckon
with objective facts of history and geography. The light of the
sun is ever the same --- but when it falls on a prairie it is
green; on the sea, blue; on the hill of basalt, black. The same
goes for principles --- without ceasing to be universal, they
will necessarily take on the colour of political, historical and
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geographical milieu in which they are applied. (Reflections
on Islamic Socialism)
Maulana Dr. Ansari recognized the dire need of presenting the
principles stated in the Quran as a coherent code of life
relevant to the modern age. Hence his masterpiece The
Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society. The
code of life presented therein has been described by Dr.
Manzoor Ahmad of the Philosophy Department of the
University of Karachi, as follows: It is, indeed, a very
comprehensive account of the moral code provided by the
Quran, a like of which, to my knowledge, has not been
formulated with such extensiveness by anyone in the history
of Muslim literature.
Writing this book was a step towards trying to remove a major
drawback of the present outlook on Islam, where Fiqh and the
its study are given the most importance and emphasis, then
next in line comes Ahadith and its study and with the least
importance and emphasis being given to the Quran and its
study. Many a time did Maulana Dr. Ansari repeat that the
study of the Quran should come first in importance and
emphasis, the study of Ahadith next and finally the study of
Fiqh. Hence he based his book on the Quran alone.
Mr. A.K. Brohi in the above-quoted statement has spoken very
forcefully of the unchanging and eternal principles of the
Quran of necessity occasioning different solutions in their
application to the changing conditions of society and that in
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this application they will necessarily take on the colour of
political, historical and geographical milieu in which they are
applied.
Therefore what the author has attempted to do is to apply the
principles of the Quran to a projected present-day Muslim
society. He himself had very forcefully explained his stand in
his Introductory Observations.
The enquiry in the present dissertation, writes the author,
has been confined strictly to the Holy Quran, not because the
present writer does not give to the Hadith literature its rightful
place, but on the following grounds. . . . . The author then
goes on to explain the seven grounds for his stand. Among
these are the following:
Firstly it alone enjoys the status of being the Scripture of
Islam.
Secondly, every word of its text is absolutely authentic as
having been preserved to the very letter in the very words in
which it was delivered by the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon him!) . . . . .
It should be so, because: (i) it is the Quran which forms the
criterion of Judgment6 in respect of Islam a status explicitly
given to it by itself and not the Hadith literature. (Vol. I
pp.xxi, xxiii).
6
i.e al-Furqan, vide al-Quran 2:185
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The Holy Quran is, according to our claim, a Book of
Guidance for humanity of all ages. We should therefore be
able to present a comprehensive Code of Life, suitable to the
present age, based on the Holy Quran if we are to vindicate
our claim. This is the task undertaken by the author. After
discussing the present grave imbalance in the lives of the
Individuals and the Communities leading to the heights of a
Mighty Crisis, he goes on to say . . . a Philosophy and a
Code a Life based on Integralism is needed very urgently a
Philosophy and a Code that may establish a Culture wherein
all human yearnings ranging from the Transcendental to the
Physical, may find their fulfillment and whereby Humanity
may be enabled to achieve its true Destiny.
That Philosophy and that Code of Life has been given in the
Holy Quran.
And the present work, being a systematic and comprehensive
exposition of the same, forms the need of the hour. . And
Mr. A.K. Brohi has remarked, .... anyone reading the book is
apt to believe that Islam, continues to occupy a transcendental
position and is able to throw light on the growth of
contemporary thought, belief and practice and at the same
time to be able to co-ordinate the results which are in accord
with the grammar of its own teachings.
We can therefore conclude that the author has been very
successful in his attempt and that the Quranic Foundations
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and Structure of Muslim Society deserves the serious study of
all those who are really interested in Islam.
The objection has been raised in some quarters (and, of
course, whatsoever you do the people will talk) that in basing
his book on the Quran the author has (presto!) become antiHadith. Is this objection valid? Let us examine the situation!
The author writes, All students of Islam are aware of the
sectarian mischief raked up purely in the name of Prophetic
Traditions (Hadith), by certain groups in Muslim history,
through the projection of certain allegedly divinely inspired
and divinely sanctioned offices like those of an infallible
Imam, a Mujaddid, a Mahdi, a Promised Messiah or a Mahdicum-Massiah . . . After shedding light on these examples, and
in view of the fact that the Qurans authority as the basic
source-book of Isalm has been universally accepted by all
sections of Muslims in all ages, the author concludes, All in
all, accepting the Quran alone as the fundamental basis for all
knowledge of Islamic Guidance is not only the requirement of
reason but also the only road to the salvation of Muslims.
But this is far from being the whole picture. The author has
certainly not relegated Hadith to a position of practical
uselessness, for he goes on to state Of course, there are
certain aspects of the Quranic Guidance where the projection
is of an implicit nature. And it is here that recourse to the
Hadith literature becomes necessary --- but only for further
clarification and not for adding further dimensions to the basic
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structure of Islam. Also it is necessary to know as to how the
Quranic Guidance was put into practice by the Holy Prophet
Muhammad himself (On him be Peace!). In other words it is
necessary to know not only the Quran as a Book of Guidance
but also the Quran in Action, viz., the Holy Prophets
Sunnah. For that, evidently the Hadith literature is the most
indispensable instrument.
But here two important facts have to be kept in view:
(i) The Quran is the basic instrument for understanding
Islam. Hence, for the value-system of Islam and its entire
fundamental structure, it is necessary to concentrate on the
Quran alone.
(ii) The knowledge thus obtained forms the fundamental
instrument for obtaining further guidance on Islam form the
Hadith literature. (p. xxiii).
Would anyone still dare to hold the opinion that the author
was anti-Hadith? Perhaps reading the last two paragraphs a
second time would bring home most forcefully his stand on
Hadith Literature.
Finally we should consider that statement which the detractors
claim establishes prima facie a good case on which they hope
to have Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari indicted as anti-Hadith. Let
us therefore have recourse thereto . . . . . the Quran is
absolutely authentic while even the best Hadith literature is
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only, relatively authentic namely, authentic only in a
qualified manner. (p. xxiii)
Before examining the above statement we should be very clear
on one point and that is that he has not stated anywhere that
the best Hadith literature is unauthentic. Howsoever he has
qualified the word the fact remains that he has spoken of the
authenticity of Hadith literature and not of its unauthenticity.
Now a look at the italicized adverbs absolutely and
relatively as prefaced to the adjective authentic in the
above quotation. All that the statement expresses is the
orthodox classical view as can be realized from a study of
jurisprudence, where we read of the difference of Mutawatir
and Aahad. A full discussion of the matter would take us too
deep into jurisprudence. Suffice it to say that the Quran is not
only Mutawatir in its narration but also to such an extent that
no Mutawatir Hadith can reach that standard. In addition to
this, manuscripts of the Quran written in the time of the
Sahaba, exist up to this day. About the Hadith literature, they
were compiled after the time of the Sahaba, (most of them in
the third century Hijri) and in addition there is no conclusive
proof that the present-day manuscripts date back to the time of
their compilers.
Therefore no sane right-thinking person ever equates the
Quran and the Hadith literature in authenticity while all
orthodox scholars accept both as authentic. This is exactly the
position of Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari when he describes the
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Quran as absolutely authentic and the Hadith literature as
relatively authentic. So much for that objection.
However, before we leave the question of Hadith perhaps we
should take a look at his views on the Sunnah of the Holy
Prophet. According to him The Holy Prophets Sunnah
stands for the dynamic manifestations of the ethico-religious
dimensions of his personality. Or: Looking at it in the
perspective of the Quran, we may define it by saying that it is
the realization by him of the Quranic value system in the
different dimensions of his personality. (p. xxvi). However
after quoting a few facets of the Sunnah he laments, It is
heart-rending to observe that the very notion of the
obligatoriness of imitating the real Sunnah which has been
fundamentally projected above has progressively departed
from the Muslims, while love for externalistic formalities in
the name of the Sunnah and that too with much fuss as to
juristic hairsplitting, has increasingly taken its place among
the so-called orthodox pursuers of religiosity all that
resulting in the creation of large numbers of Islamically
unbalanced religious personalities. (pp. xxvii, xxviii).
The present age is an age of crisis in many different ways. One
of these is the crisis of leadership in the Muslim community.
There is no doubt that a considerable section of the religious
Leaders among Muslims, exploit the masses for their
personal gain. Even more serious is their assumption of the
role of custodians of Islam, with the result that their defects
and shortcomings are projected back to Islam itself. The
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society is rapidly becoming polarised into those who follow
the religious leaders blindly, and those who reject them (and in
the process Islam as well) outright. Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari
puts his finger directly on the core of the problem when he
wrote As matters stand in the Muslims world today, it is the
decline of religious leadership from the Islamic standard in a
serious measure that constitutes a major cause of its inability
with regard to its emergence from the abyss into which it has
been descending since some time. (Vol. I, p. 137). The
question before us is what type of religious leadership can we
call Islamic.
How eloquently has the author answered this question! The
religious leadership that emerges thus in the Islamic
Community is that of teachers and guides and not of
priests. Every Muslim without any considerations of colour,
race, tribe, family, sex and worldly status, can aspire in fact,
should aspire for acquiring that status. The qualification he
has to acquire for that purpose consists of sound knowledge of
Divine Guidance, sound wisdom and sound spiritual and
moral personality as emphasised in connection with the Holy
Prophets Mission (LXII : 2). In short, he should be a
miniature representative of the Holy Prophets Personality,
and as such should be a spiritually, morally, and intellectually
illumined person. Whoever acquires this qualification will
earn the respect and love of the fellow-Muslims, and even of
the fair-minded human beings in general. Therein lies his
leadership which is obviously attained through the democratic
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process of hard-earned merit. As such, he becomes not only a
teacher (Muallim) but also a guide (Murshid), capable of
helping the people not only intellectually but also spiritually
assisting them in emerging from spiritual darkness into the
Light Divine (XIV : 1), himself acting through the Light
bestowed on him by God (VI : 122). (Vol.I, p.136)
This is the age in which we are witnessing the assumption of
religious leadership by those who possess only scholastic
information. However as the author states, At best,
scholastics can function only as formal transmitters of the
information they possess, and nothing more. The situation is
getting worse as time goes by because the defective education
which scholars of Islam receive is making them more and
more out of step with the world due to the tremendous
continuous advances in the spheres of knowledge. What
therefore should be the type of education imparted to aspiring
scholars of Islam?
Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari had realised that it was essential that
Muslim leaders and scholars should not be out of step with the
progress of knowledge and this is why first of all he embodied
in himself a multi-faceted education, acquired through the dint
of hard labour. He also felt that every person being educated
in the Islamic sciences should have grounding in modern
fields of knowledge notably philosophy, psychology,
sociology, and political science. With such grounding no
scholar of Islam would feel lost in a labyrinth of confusion
when confronted with problems of modern life and living.
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With this In mind he presented to the authorities at al-Azhar
University in Cairo his ideas for the radical re-orientation of
Islamic education but was bluntly told by the authorities there
that although they didnt consider him to be mad, the scheme
he proposed was nothing but madness.
It is here that he decided to act as a pioneer in yet another field
he set up the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in 1964
to meet the need for creating a new breed of Islamic scholars.
The idea was novel. The scheme was a departure from the
type of education imparted in other religious institutions while
at the same time incorporating the bulk of their schemes.
Any novel ideal whenever translated into practice always
needs time to evolve properly. Eleven years is a short time to
judge the success of this scheme. However, one thing is quite
clear and that is that if any scheme is going to succeed it must
be based on the lines on which he had established the
Aleemiyah Institute. It is noteworthy that changes in this
direction are taking place in religious institutions and this
augurs well for the future. As regards the Aleemiyah Institute
of Islamic Studies history WILL make its decision,
regardless of what our conclusions happen to be.
Yea! A year has passed! And now the time has come when his
death anniversary is being commemorated. But should we not
bear in mind that mouthing pious platitudes and empty
flattery, especially when devoid of any backing in the realm of
activity, far from being a memorial, serves only to insult this
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memory? He that taught that Islam is a religion of continuous
activity and ever increasing progress yea, a veritable lifelong Jihad in all dimensions of ones being! He that oft
repeated during his last illness that there is so much work left
to do! What could be a better manner to commemorate his
death anniversary than to resolve to undertake and to
undertake some of that work to the extent of ones capacity?
This orthodox missionary, this scholar who was not afraid to
cross swords with philosophers, whether they be Emmanuel
Kant or Bertrand Russell, this thinker who could dare to match
wits with the likes of Karl Marx, this theologian of a rare
caliber in contemporary Islam, this practical embodiment of
Tasawwuf of the unadulterated form were the world to write
his epitaph, what more could it say than, Here indeed was a
true servant of God, a real Abd of Allah!
May Allah Almighty shower His Blessings on this most noble
soul!
223
LIFE PATRONAGE CONFERRED

The Muslim Assembly (Cape, South Africa)
Your affectionate concern for the Ummah in all parts of the

world has enabled us, this Muslim community of the Western
Cape Region of the Republic of the South Africa to have the
privilege and the singular honour of being visited by you. We
thank Almighty Allah for the blessing of having in our midst,
regrettably for a short duration, so illustrious a servant of the
Ummah of Rasool-e-Kareem Muhammad (P.B.U.H), to teach
and inspire us to more resolute action, higher ideals and more
dedicated commitment individually and collectively to the
Cause of Islam.
Esteemed teacher, guide and mentor of the universal fraternity
of Muslims! Your example to us in these troublous times
evokes our deep appreciation, our warm affection and highest
regard. Your youth, and all who seek understanding of Islam,
have cause to rejoice that so eminently qualified a scholar,
such an undaunted Mujahid, has, by the Grace of Almighty
Allah, restated Islamic values and ethical ideals in meaningful
terms, and invigorated our spirits towards the determined
pursuit of those ideals.
In a period of uncertainties and wastefulness of human
resources your eminence has contributed to Islamic education
as an academic discipline in a manner that will restore to the
Ummah of Rasool-e-Kareem that practice of the pure Islam as
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its raison detre, removing from its life the tendency to
separate the apparently religious and secular into two
compatible entities.
As a humble token of our affection and esteem, and as a
commemoration of your historic visit to these shores, we have
the honour to bestow upon you the distinction of
LIFE PATRON Of THE MUSLIM ASSEMBLY (CAPE)
And we do fervently pray that Almighty Allah will grant you
His blessing in abundance upon all your endeavors.
Sept, 1970
Cape Town, South Africa.
221
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

(With which is incorporated the South African College)
Department of Religious Studies
The Editor,
The Minaret,
Islamic Centre,
B-Block, North Nazimabad,
Karachi 33, (Pakistan).
14th April, 1975.
Dear Sir,
It was with a deep sense of loss that I heard of the death of His
Eminence Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari. His visit to Cape Town
some years ago came within a few months of the founding of
the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Cape
Town. The ecumenical quality of this great man did much to
inspire us. His grasp on European ways of thinking not only in
the realm of religion but also in those of philosophy and
psychology enabled him to communicate with us at a very
profound level.
Dr. Ansaris concern to make clear the large common ground
shared by Islam, Judaism and Christianity in order to unite
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believers in a good and personal creator God against the forces
of atheistic materialism made a big impact upon those who
heard him speak and has not ceased to influence me in my
thinking on this matter.
Of all the other things that I would like to say, one I must not
leave out, and this is the late Dr. Ansaris appreciation of the
place of serious academic study in the life of any religious
community, and particularly of those who are called to
minister within it. He was as saddened as much by my report
of the loss of this appreciation of the academic in my own
community in South Africa as he was by his sense of the lack
of it in this town.
Yours faithfully,
PROFESSOR J.S. CUMPSTY
Head of Departement,
Department of Religious Studies,
University of Cape Town.
222
He Came Our Way But Once

Maulana S.A.H. Bukhari
Across the Bridge
It is full one year since we lost our best friend, our guide
and patron, Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman alAnsari al-Qaderi. The strong and wholesome impression he
made during his short span of life on those who were close to
him is enough to make him immortal in their memory. He still
lives in our memory, as physical as ever, with is sweet and
winning smile and bright countenance. Yet one whole year has
passed since he left us to enter the Heavenly Kingdom in the
neighbourhood of the Only True Friend.
Death is a bridge that conducts a friend to his Friend, as it is
mentioned in the books of Aathar. Happy are they who fulfill
their missions during their temporary stay on this planet, as
they shall surely be rewarded with everlasting bliss by their
Most Bountiful Master. One can safely hope, and with reason,
that His late Eminence is one of them.
Islam Personified
His Late Eminence was every inch a Muslim, not only in
appearance but also in his actions and thoughts. With his
towering height, clad in neat and dignified clothes and with
his winning smile and enlightening speech he presented to all
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who beheld and heard him a model of what a Muslim should
be.
The poet of the East, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, says:
When I say: I am a Muslim, I shudder as I know how hard
it is to be a Muslim.
Most unfortunately, Islam has been taken for a particular
outward appearance and the observance of a few religious
rituals by both the laymen and the so-called religious scholars.
This false concept is one of the major causes of our
degeneration both morally and materially. But, as a matter of
fact, Islam is a rigid and rigorous moral discipline which
demands sacrifice and constant alertness. The outward
appearance and the observance of rituals are necessary, but
they constitute only one aspect of Islam, while there are also
other aspects which are of great importance. His Late
Eminence was one of the rate personalities who were
conscious of this reality and who exerted their utmost to
follow Islamic teachings and the model set by the Holy
Prophet (p.b.u.h) in all aspects of life the moral, material and
spiritual aspects.
Sweet Disposition
A person who is self-centered is apt to fall a prey to such evils
as rudeness, hatred, envy, pride, etc., which constitute a deadly
poison to spiritual health as well as to national solidarity. Such
behaviour is anti-Islamic even if it is displayed by people who
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claim to be religious and spiritual leaders, despite their
towering turbans flowing beards and apparently dignified
manners. Far from being guides, they stand themselves in
need of a true guide who could purify them by washing out the
filth that sticks to them.
There was never born a son of Adam who was more sweetly
disposed towards all creatures than the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h)
He was the greatest benefactor of all humanity, who had come
with the noblest of missions, and he tried to guide humanity to
a path that would surely lead them to prosperity and bliss in
this life and the life after death. He approached them and
appealed to them in the most tender way that was possible.
But he was treated most unkindly by them; he was cursed,
abused, and pelted with stones; thorns were spread in his way,
filth was poured down on his holy person; he was subjected to
social boycott and starvation, forced to leave his native town
and take refuge in Medina, and to crown their insults and
injuries, they finally imposed upon him a series of gory wars.
In spite of all this rudeness on the part of the enemies he never
cursed them and was never rude and ruthless to them. He
prayed for them, worked hard to guide them and never missed
any opportunity to guide them to reason. True it is that when
war was imposed on him, he defended himself and his
followers, but even in war he was merciful to his enemies
treating them always most generously and trying to avoid
blood-shed.
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When Mecca was conquered and his former persecutors stood
before him harbouring in their minds the worst forebodings,
he proclaimed: I lay no blame on you; go, you are all free.
This is the model the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) presented before
us and the Holy Quran enjoins on us to follow it. It is easy to
devote a few minutes, each day for prayer; it is easy to abstain
from food and drink during the daytime in the month of
Ramadan; it is still more easy to adopt a particular appearance
in order to look like a religious and spiritual leader, but it is
not easy to follow this example of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h).
It is not possible to follow it unless the brute in man is
subdued, subjugated, and disciplined in full agreement with
the noble teachings of Islam.
From this aspect His Late Eminence shines out among his
contemporary scholars even as the moon does shine amidst
stars. In this respect as well as in many other respects he
was a perfect follower of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) He was
the head of an international organization, the head of an
international spiritual circle, the Sheikh-ul-Islam of some
countries, yet he was far from being proud or conscious of
self-importance. He was as simple as an innocent child and as
kindly disposed as a loving parent or elder brother.
Rare are those who have seen a frown on his face if it is
admitted that he had ever frowned. Those who have seen him,
remember him with his sweet and winning smile as if his
countenance was made and was fit only for smiling. People
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have also been rude to him and have heaped him with insults,
but he bore the insults patiently and tried to convince his
opponents, appealing to their reason, while the same sweet
smile would be impressioned on his bright countenance.
Being the head of an international organization, a large
number of people worked under him. They were men of
different capacities and calibre, as well as men of different
dispositions. They had their short-comings, as each of us has
his own, and some of them taxed his patience to a great extent,
but he was always tolerating and forbearing with them. He
would assign some task to some of his subordinates and would
wait to see it accomplished. If he saw after a reasonable period
that the task had not been accomplished, he would remind the
concerned officer of it with a smile. The said officer may keep
on delaying, and His Late Eminence would keep on reminding
him, but always with the same winning smile, and never with
a frown nor with impolite words.
He treated his subordinates as members of his own family, as
his equals, nay, but even as his superiors. Sitting together
among his subordinates, it was not possible for a stranger to
know who is really the boss, except for his personal dignity
and enlightening speech. He would be more polite, more
respectful and more gentle and obliging than all others. He
would often address his subordinates saying: We are the
members of the same family as we are working for the same
mission. None of us is a boss and, none of us is subordinate:
we are only performing those duties which suit us in view of
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our different capacities and qualifications. The salaries that
some of us receive come from God and no one is to be
thanked for the same except God. It is only a help to keep on
living and not a reward or wages for the labour that you put in,
as the reward will come in the Hereafter. If I do not receive
any salary, it is because I have another source of income that
suffices me.
If this had been his dealing with his immediate subordinates,
one may very well imagine the way he would have behaved
with people who were not his subordinates.
His sweet disposition was not confined to mere smiles and
polished words, he also had a heart that suffered to see the
sufferance of others. Though he had to maintain a large family
and his fame and social, as well as spiritual, position used to
attract an unending series of guests and visitors with whom he
could not but be hospitable and of course he was a man of
only moderate means of income yet he could not prevent
himself from bestowing his generosity on a poor man in
adverse circumstances or a widow in distress. He did this so
secretly that none would know the good service he had
performed except when the person concerned himself revealed
it. Once, while the writer of these lines was discussing with
him certain problems, a distressed woman approached him for
a sewing machine. He gave her one hundred rupees from his
own pocket and said that it was his contribution towards the
needed machine, and promised her that he would approach
some of his friends to contribute towards buying a machine for
223

her. It so happened that before the woman could leave, who
should come to visit His Eminence except a well-known
manufacturer of sewing machines. When he knew of the
womans need, he said: Let her have the hundred rupees you
have given her: I will give her a sewing machine as a gift from
me.
The Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) has said: The entire creation are
the dependents of God, and the dearest to Him is he who is the
most serviceable to His dependents. In the light of this
Hadith we can realise how dear His Late Eminence would
have been to God and how close to Him!
Self-Sacrifice
After his graduation from Aligarh University with flying
colours, his late eminence had every opportunity to rise and
shine in official circles. Had he chosen to earn worldly fame,
he would have been one of the most outstanding figures in the
Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. But he was a man of different
disposition he looked with disdain at worldly fame,
prosperity and power, and chose to devote his time, his energy
and his entire life to the cause of Islam.
It was a great sacrifice on the part of an able and vigorous
youth to discard disdainfully the lavishing smiles of the
frolicsome dame known as fortune. Once he took his decision,
he never hesitated, never repented, but remained as true and as
firm as steel. During the short span of his life, it so happened
that although he discarded the world, yet the world needed
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him and appealed to him to accept her in his own way. He was
offered important posts in universities and elsewhere, some of
the posts he accepted temporarily, but as soon as his mission
called him, he resigned his posts and busied himself in the
path of his Lord. During his last days, His Late Eminence was
offered a very lucrative post in a foreign university but those
were the days when he was busy writing his masterpiece The
Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society. He
had put his heart and soul into writing this book, and somehow
he had the forebodings that if he accepted the service that was
offered, he would not be able to complete the said book. Those
were the days when he was pressed by financial needs, but he
rejected the offers without a moments hesitation. His
forebodings proved to be true, and he passed away shortly
after the completion and publication of the book.
His devotion to work and persistence in it had spoiled his
heath grievously. His digestive system, his heart, kidneys and
almost every vital part of his body were weakened and had
sustained losses beyond recovery. He had repeatedly been
advised by his physicians to take complete rest but he
persistently refused to rest, as it was Jihad that he was carrying
on single-handedly. His whole body ached sorely, life was
hard, and full of suffering, but he wished to live, not for the
love of life, but for the sake of work, for the sake of the
mission to which had devoted his entire life. Once, during his
ailment, he said to the writer: After all this hard work and
life-long research, I have been able to discover certain truths
221

and diagnose the ailments of the Muslim Ummah. How I wish
that Allah grants me a few years more to work, so that I may
put in my little contribution which is the best in me, for the
furtherance of the cause of Islam and Muslims.
But Allah willed that he should rest after a life that was full of
hardship, trials, tortures and self-sacrifice. Before he was
hospitalised, he had given a particular task to some of the
members of the teaching staff of the Aleemiyah Institute.
When the writer of these lines visited him in the hospital, he
lay in a state of swoon. After a short while, he opened his
eyes, looked at the writer; there appeared a feeble smile on his
lips, and he said. How is the work progressing? He was so
weak that his voice sounded as if coming from quite afar.
When he was told that it was progressing in the normal way,
he sighed and said: Tell them that I shall see it when I come
back home? He did come back home, but not to stay, for
soon he had to leave for his eternal abode of bliss. There, at
the eastern gate of the Islamic Centre, North Nazimabad,
Karachi, lay the earthly remains of the noble soul that worked
and suffered for Islam and Muslims, facing heroically the
hardships of the way that was strewn with thorns, never
grumbling, never groaning or cursing, and bearing always a
sweet, cheerful, encouraging and heart-warming smile on his
radiant countenance.
Rest in peace dear friend and noble guide! For you have
worked hard and suffered long. May Allah shower His
choicest blessings on your noble soul Ameen!
222
A MAN OF GOD
Sulaiman Petersen
reatness is not a teachable nor gainable thing,

but the expression of the mind of a God-made
man: teach, or preach, or labour as you will,
everlasting difference is set between one mans
capacity and anothers ; and this God-given
supremacy is the priceless thing, always just as
rare in the world at one time as another . . . . . .
And nearly the best thing that men can generally
do is to set themselves, not to the attainment, but
the discovery of this: learning to know gold, when
we see it, from iron-glance, and diamond from
flint sand, being for most of us a more profitable
employment than trying to make diamonds of our
own charcoal. (Ruskin)
Shah Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari was a great man.
His qualities of head and heart had set him apart from and
above those of the teeming millions who inhabit this globe.
His remarkable and gifted intellect had astounded his teachers
as it did those other great minds with whom he came into
contact in later years. His forceful personality attracted many
and made a lasting impression on the minds of many. His
shining character served as a fitting mirror for those who had
found in themselves something wanting and reflected ably the
mission and the message which he was propounding.
222

Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari was a great man
because he was a man of God.
A NOBLE MISSION
Greatness of a kind of this man is a rare thing indeed and that
he was destined to lead the type of life he had led since his
very early years is borne out by the priceless legacy he had left
behind a legacy which entailed years of hard and ceaseless
study and struggle, years of arduous sacrifice and relentless
upheavals and the doggedness with which he persevered has
earned for himself an illuminated niche in the Temple of
Fame. And yet, with all these accolades and showers of praise
that was bestowed upon him, he remained, throughout his
meaningful life, a simple man. Whether he was addressing a
huge gathering in a brilliantly lit auditorium, whether he
stressed a point with able academicians, whether propounding
theories to his contemporaries or instructing his few students
or conversing with the man on the street, Fazl-ur-Rahman alAnsari did so with natural grace, ease and dignity; no
affectation and no pedanticism. Whoever came into contact
with him could not help but be charmed by the affable manner
of Dr. Ansari and thus was his way of influencing people;
especially those who were constantly around him and closest
to him. The mission of Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari started
at an early age. While other young men, his own age, were
occupying themselves with current amusements of various
sorts, young Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari was thinking how this
world could be made a better place to live in.
222

Dr. Ansari was very much concerned about the conditions of
this world. He was concerned because he had set for himself a
mission to change the conditions of Muslims particularly and
the world generally and he was under no illusions as to what
his mission would entail. However, Dr. Ansari persevered in
his mission throughout his life and fought with determination
and vigour the obstacles that came in his way. He had the
courage of his convictions and fearlessly expressed his
opinions without fear of contradiction. Needless to say, all this
resulted in him earning for himself a position of eminence in
his community; the community of Muslims throughout the
world.
Dr. Ansari enjoyed the singular honour of being the first
Muslim in the history of Islam to have travelled the world five
times for the sake of the propagation of Islam. At times he was
heavily indisposed due to matters of health, domestic affairs,
organizational affairs, etc., but he did not demur his mission,
the mission of Islam was upper-most in his mind. But I well
remember the visit of Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari to the
Republic of South Africa.
Dr. Ansari visited the Republic of South Africa in 1970 to
deliver, it was said, some of his finest lectures. Dr. Ansari
travelled the whole country and visited Cape Town before
returning to Pakistan. The first lecture he gave was at the Old
Drill Hall opposite the Grand Parade Centre where, more than
twenty years ago a huge crowd listened to an inspiring address
by the late Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. The hall was
222

packed to capacity with the result that loudspeakers had to be
relayed outside for those who came late and could not get into
the hall. Dr. Ansari was the guest of the Muslim Assembly
(Cape) and I remember the occasion on his very first lecture in
Cape Town when the organizer, Mr. M.T. Ajam and the
secretary Mr. S.A. Seria, on requesting the men in the
audience to make place for the ladies there was no response.
But before Dr. Ansari started his lecture he said very simply
that it was Islam which introduced the concept of ladies first
in the world and, as if on a given signal, all the men in the
audience stood up to offer their seats to the ladies. This
request was greeted with a thundering applause. I vividly
remember the opening address of this great orator and the ease
with which he recited the Holy Quran captivated and
fascinated me. In the middle of his lecture I had made up my
mind to come to Pakistan and to learn under this man. His
lecture was interspersed with clapping from the audience. But
the ovation he got at the end of the lecture was deafening. The
people had taken him to their hearts; they loved him. There
were quite a number of non-Muslims in the audience and I
learnt afterwards that four people (it might be more) had
embraced Islam under him. He was followed wherever he
went and every venue was packed to capacity. A lecture that
stands out in my mind was the one he gave at the University
of Cape Town. The Rabbi of Cape Town, Professor Lapin and
Dr. J. Cumpsty, the Head of the Department of Religious
Studies at the University, were the other two speakers. The
hall was, again, packed with a multi-racial, multi-religious
222

audience. Dr. Ansari was the last speaker and there came a
hush over the listeners; you could hear a pin drop in the
silence. There was roaring ovation at the end of his speech
which he took easily and very casually.
The second visit Dr. Ansari paid to South Africa was as the
guest of the Muslim Youth Movement. Dr. Ansari was invited
as the guest speaker at the M.Y.M. Convention which was
held in Natal. The Convention ended on a Sunday and Dr.
Ansari flew down to Cape Town with his young host, Hafiz
Muhammad Abu Bakr, the President of the Muslim Youth
Movement of South Africa. Dr. Ansari delivered a lecture the
same afternoon hardly a stones throw away from my house.
The Athlone Stadium was the venue this time and the grand
stand was crowded. The Ulama of Cape Town were also
represented and the President of the Muslim Assembly,
Sheikh Muhammad Salie Dien, made the opening address.
After the Presidents address Maulana Ansari requested that
the dais be moved nearer to the audience. Hurriedly a few
young men, including myself, shifted the entire dais from
where it stood in the centre of the stadium to a place near the
entrance. The audience was entranced. I have asked myself,
quite objectively that is, what was it that made Dr. Ansari a
different speaker or a different man from other equally,
eloquent speakers or orators I have heared and I have since
then concluded that it was the mans spirituality; his whole
manner suggested a type of humility that carried with it the
unmistakable stamp of spirituality and greatness and also his
222

penetrating gaze. One could feel that gaze boring into one and
felt that nothing remains hidden from this man. But the
occasion I really enjoyed was the private session Dr. Ansari
had with the members of the Muslim Assembly (Cape). I
remember that was on a Sunday evening and all the members
were present (a difficult thing indeed on other occasions!). Dr.
Ansari arrived dead on time with his host. There were also
visitors from Durban and Johannesburg present. It was a very
informal session and soon the ice was broken. Dr. Ansari
answered the questions of the members with that simple ease
and affability that had endeared him to so many. I passed the
vote of thanks that night and I remember that I was feeling a
bit nervous. All the time while I was speaking Dr. Ansari
never once took his eyes off my face but instead of
nervousness, I experienced something else and that
something else spurred me on to come to Pakistan. All the
lectures of Maulana Ansari were recorded and I made sure that
I had my own collection and which I did get eventually. It is a
pleasure and an experience just to sit and listen to the lectures
of this wonderful man and many of my friends were visibly
moved after having listened to one or a few lectures.
The manner with which Dr. Ansari captivated his listeners and
the general public was the same manner with which he
fascinated and impressed academicians and other learned men
whom he had met on his South African visit. Wherever he
went he was fittingly feted. The informal discussions he had
with professors of various faculties were stimulating, thought222

provoking and refreshing. Some professors expressed their
amazement at the multi-dimensional academic and ecumenical
qualities of Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari; he won over these
opponents with logic and manner.
It is difficult to assess the many-sided genius of this man. One
has to read his works and one has to talk to his family
members and close friends to get some measure of
understanding. His thought soared above those of the ordinary
man and he was forever pre-occupied with matters of the
mind.
He was like a father to the students of the Aleemiyah Institute
of Islamic Studies and they in turn, looked upon him as a
father. Whenever he had the time he would avail himself of
the opportunity to come and speak to the students either
informally or a lecture would be organized where the students
were free to ask questions. In the short time that I had with Dr.
Ansari (twelve months, in fact, before his death) and the few
discussions I enjoyed with him opened to me new vistas of
thought and vision and I also learnt a great deal. But the thing
that was continuing to astound me was his manner It was so
simple. I also remember one occasion when I went with him to
his doctor. He had to go for a medical check-up. We spoke of
so many things since leaving the house until we reached the
doctors surgery. I went with him into the doctors
examination room and while the doctor was examining him he
continued his conversation with me and would in between
reply to some questions the doctor would put to him. I realized
223

afterwards that only a person who has the fullest convictions
that whatever he was doing is right would act in such a
manner and I am in no doubt that Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman alAnsari was such a person.
His death came as a terrible shock to all of us; in fact, we were
stunned at the news. A year has now passed since he returned
to his Maker but the atmosphere which Maulana Ansari
created over Islamic Centre is still there. He lies buried near
the entrance to our campus and one cannot fail but be
reminded every time one passes his grave that we came here
so that we could become missionaries of the calibre of him
who lies buried there. There is also no doubt in my mind that
Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari was the
greatest exponent of Dynamic Orthodoxy (his own term!) in
the Muslim World. He was also the greatest thinker; he had a
full grasp of the Western mind and fully understood the
malady which existed in the world. His Magus Opus The
Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society clearly
points out the brilliant intellect of the author. It is rare for one
man to have within him qualities of a soldier, a worker and a
philosopher; Dr. Ansari had these qualities and more. Despite
his philosophical dissertations and sharp logical acumen he
was also very much a practical man as his constant
involvement in the administration of the World Federation of
Islamic Missions (which he founded) pointed out and the
manner with which he would convince a visitor from abroad
that the best method to employ for the Muslim community in
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your country would be this because, under the peculiar
circumstances which you people live, it is best to adopt an
attitude of . . . . . . .
Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari is no more with those
who love him. But, as has been mentioned elsewhere in this
magazine, his memory will remain evergreen. What better
prayer could we offer than to ask Allah Almighty to make us
missionaries of the same mould as Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari
so that we could carry on the mission where he left off. I think
that this is what Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari wouldve
wished . . . . . . . . .
221
REFLECTIONS
Maulana S.A.H. Bukhari B.A.
The Passing away of a Saint
Monday, the third day of June in the year 1974 A.C. was
one of the saddest days in the lives of many of us. It was the
day when His Late Eminence Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman alAnsari al-Qaderi, President of the World Federatin of Islamic
Missions, Karachi, breathed his last:
"O thou soul in rest and satisfaction! Come back
thou to thy Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing
unto Him. Enter thou, then, among My Devotees!
yea, enter thou My Heaven." (89:27-30).
The late Maulana was an outstanding scholar of the Muslim
World. Apart from being a great scholar of religion, he was
also a Doctor in Philosophy and had an inexhaustible fund of
knowledge in different branches of Modern Arts and Sciences.
He had a clear vision and deep insight which enabled him to
expound the truth of Islam and the wisdom of its teachings in
a way most appealing to common sense. His discourses,
therefore, were equally inspiring to both the common masses
and the elite.
222
A Devout Missionary
The rare combination of merits which His Late Eminence
enjoyed had qualified him for different walks of life at the
same time. At the outset of his active life, he had two different
paths before him to choose: the path of the Civil Service,
which was strewn with roses and glory, and the path of the
missionary, which was strewn with thorns and hardships. He
was qualified for both and also had aptitude for both, but he
chose the path that was the hardest and demanded the sacrifice
of lifelong personal interests--he chose the path of the
missionary.
As a missionary, His Late Eminence was often on tours,
organising the small Muslim minorites that lay scattered in
different parts of the world and inspiring them with fresh faith
and zeal. Apart from short missionary tours which he
undertook quite frequently, he also made five round the world
missionary tours during which he established and or affiliated
forty organisations to the World Federation of Islamic
Missions in different countries of both hemispheres. These
branches have done and are still doing a lot of good service to
the cause of Islam and Muslims.
The Aleemiyah Institute

The Muslim Minorities that lay scattered in Latin America,
Africa, South-East Asia and elsewhere in the world had
certain difficult problems to face. They did not have amidst
222

them scholars of Islam who would impart religious knowledge
to their children and inspire the grown-ups with fresh faith in
Islam. Culturally, the Muslim minorities had already been
absorbed by the surrounding majorities and their attachment to
Islam was merely emotional which could not last forever in
view of the attacks on Islam from all sides. The occasional
visits of Islamic Scholars from Pakistan and India created a
temporary zeal among Muslims but it was not a permanent
solution to the problem.
Being gifted with vision, His Late Eminence was able to find
out the right solution for this problem. He knew that unless the
Muslim minorities had religious scholars of their own who
would also be conversant with modern thought, their
emotional attachment with Islam would not last for long. With
this idea in view, he established the Aleemiyah Institute of
Islamic Studies where bright young men from these minority
areas are imparted religious education together with modern
education. They are granted every facility, and are encouraged
to appear for the examinations of Karachi University. This
effort of His Late Eminence bore the desired fruit and a
modestly fair number of the graduates of the Aleemiyah
Institute are working most successfully in their respective
countries. The Aleemiyah Institute is also open for Pakistani
students, provided they have already passed their
Matriculation Examination.
222
Free from Prejudice

In relation with the different schools of Islamic thought, such
as the Barelvies, the Deobandis and the Ahle-e-Hadith, His
Late Eminence had an extremely broad outlook, and was far
from being prejudiced against any of these groups. In this
respect, he used to say that every individual was born with a
particular psychological build and a particular taste, and when
added to it the different nature of personal experiences, we
might easily realise the cause of the difference of their opinion
relating to particular matters. Hence, the same verse of the
Holy Qur'an and the same Hadith of the Holy Prophet (peace
be upon him) may give slightly different meanings to different
individuals, as it is hard for man to rise above his mental level,
or deviate from the angle of vision which is natural for him in
view of his psychological build and personal experiences.
He was planning to present a valuable book on this subject,
discussing therein the points of differences of opinion among
the various schools of thought and explaining the causes of
these differences. But alas! before his aim could be
materialised, he was taken away from us.
Nobility of Character
His Late Eminence was a man of extremely noble character; in
fact he was a model in miniature of the character of the Holy
Prophet (peace be upon him), and this is what is expected of
every Muslim, as the Holy Qur'an says:
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"Verily, there is a good example for you in (the
person of) the Messenger of Allah."
His speech was sweet and dealings were generous. A large
number of people worked under him and were paid by him for
their work, but he always treated them as his equals, nay, but
even as his superiors.
Whenever he addressed them, he did it with utmost politeness
and even respect. His directions came to them not in the form
of command, but in the form of suggestion and even request.
After assigning some of his workers some job, he would wait
patiently for its completion, and if the work was delayed
beyond all reasonable limits, he would remind of it with a
most winning smile, even if the delay had caused him great
loss.
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
"The entire creation are the dependents of Allah
and the most beloved of them is he who is the most
helpful to His dependents."
In view of this Hadith, His Late Eminence was very close to
God, as he was most helpful to mankind both morally and
materially. Those of his friends who were closest to him
received the maximum of his good, but those who were distant
were not totally deprived of it. He was never a rich man,but
even like a burning candle, he spread light and cheer, all
around him, to the best of his capacity, and none ever knew of
222

the favour and the material help he conferred upon those who
were in need of it, except by chance or from the recipient of
the favour.
In short, he was a man of saintly character, and a true picture
of what a real Muslim, a real follower of the Holy Prophet
(peace be upon him) ought to be.
His death was a great loss to the world of Islam in general and
to Pakistan in particular. But death is a natural consequence of
life on this planet of ours. Happy are those who pass away
from here having completed their mission successfully.
222
Reflections on Dr. Ansari a decade

After his demise
Dr. Ahmed D. Alonto
(Member, Constituent Council, Rabitah al Alam al Islami, Makkah;
Member, Executive Council, Mutamar al Alam al Islami, Karachi; Murshid
al am, Ansar al-Islam, Manila; Chairman, Board of Trustees, Jamiatul
Philippine al Islamiah, Marawi City, Philippines.)
I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Ansari in 1950 while he

was accompanying the late Maulana Abdul Aleem al Siddique
al Qaderi as the latters Secretary, in that memorable, epochal
and messianic visit of the latter to the Philippines. The
Muslims of this country, especially the younger generation of
which I was one, were then almost completely lost to Islam. It
was this historic visit that jolted the Filipino Muslims to the
realization that Islam was fast slipping away from them, if not
completely lost to them. I was lucky to be one of those who
were privileged to strike an acquaintance with Dr. Ansari
which blossomed in time into a real life-long fellowship that
has, for me, produced a complete transformation of attitude of
mind towards life and world-view. As for Dr. Ansari, he found
in the Philippines a fertile ground to cultivate, in line with his
chosen life-mission, the restructuring of the Muslim society to
conform with the Islamic framework.
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Dr. Ansari visited the Philippines several times over and won
over hosts of disciples to his mission especially among the
Muslim intellectuals who had been educated under the western
secular unislamic system of education prevalent in the
Philippines.
It is these disciples of Dr. Ansari who have been mainly
responsible for the almost miraculous awakening of the
Muslims in this country and the vigorous Islamic missionary
movements throughout the length and breadth of the
archipelago that has followed in its wake. Islamic institutions
like mosques, centers, madrasses, schools including modern
Universities, mushroomed everywhere; associations, societies,
and movements were established culminating in the
establishment of the Ansar El Islam movement that has over
half million enrolled and active members. Their sole objective
is to liberate Islam in the Philippines and their militant
activism in this regard became one of the excuses of the
Philippine regime for the imposition for the imposition of the
Martial rule in this country in 1972.
The influence of Dr. Ansari over the Muslims of the
Philippines can hardly be overestimated or expressed in
words. At the time he appeared in the bleak Islamic horizon in
the Philippines, the process of deislamization of the Muslim
communities and its gradual evangelization to the various
Christian missions, local and foreign, was at its height within
barely one decade of his historic intervention there has been a
complete reversal of the trend. The spiritual awakening among
223

the Muslims and its concomitant effect on the thinking,
outlook and behaviour of the Muslim society is nothing short
of miraculous.
True indeed what Allah has said in the Holy Book that men
who die fighting in His Cause are truly alive, for to me and
countless other Muslims in the Philippines who have been
quickened by his influence, the Maulana will always live as
Mujthid and Mujahid rolled into one. May Allah subhanahu
wa taala grant the spirit that Shahid Maulana has awakened
here in the Philippines and elsewhere in the East and the West
will overcome. Amin Ya Rabbul Alameen.
222
Dr. F. R. Ansari
M.A.R. Shaheen
(Principal, Arabic College, Karachi)
My acquaintance with Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari started in

1954. At that time he was the Editor of the voice of Islam, an
English monthly of Jamiatul Falah. The Voice of Islam was
one of the small number of standard Islamic magazines at the
time and, together with its editor, enjoyed wide respect and
popularity. I had written an article captioned The united
Islamic Khilafat for the magazine Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari
liked the article very much and we had a fairly lengthy
discussion on the subject.
I found in him much more than an Editor. This was a man
dedicated completely to the service of Islam. He was a man of
courteous habits and charming manners. He agreed with the
contention in my said article regarding the oneness of the
Ummah Islamia and the need for the revival of Khilafat under
which the Muslims should be united. The article was
published in March, 1954 issue (as far as I recollect).
Subsequently Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari asked me to join him
in setting up an Islamic Missionary college and wished that I
should be the head of its Arabic Department (on honorary
basis). In view of my other preoccupations, I agreed to be
associated for the initial period only. We chalked out a plan
and, as a first step, started with the first batch of about 25
221

Arabic students who were later to take further training in
Daawa work. The Jamiatul Falah had only two rooms at the
time. The class was held in the evening in the bigger library
type hall. Moulvi Tamizuddin, then Speaker of the Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan, inaugurated this Arabic class. A few
months later the late Dr. Amin al Misri, a great scholar of
Syria, was also associated with the Institute.
Later on the same Islamic Missionary College was converted
into a big International Daawa Institute under the name of
Islamic Centre at North Nazimabad. The Institute is a living
monument to the memory of the late Dr. Fazlur Rahman
Ansaris service of Islam.
222
A Tribute from
Anjuman Sunnat-ul-Jamaat Association
Trinidad and Tobago (West Indies)
Haji Abdul Sattar, President-General
I consider it a great privilege to be asked to give a message
on the occasion of the commemoration of the 10th death

anniversary of his late Eminence Maulana Dr. Fazlur Rahman
Ansari (May Allah be pleased with him).
Our association in Trinidad and Tobago with the late Dr.
Ansari started in 1950 when he accompanied our late Patron,
the World renowned missionary, H. E. Maulana Abdul Aleem
Siddiqui (May Allah be pleased with him) on a round-theworld tour which included our country. After the death of
Maulana Siddiqui, the late Dr. Ansari continued to pay regular
visits to our country, giving public lectures, conducting
courses and advising on matters relating to Islam. During
these visits Dr. Ansari not only endeared himself to the hearts
of Muslims in our country, but he was also responsible for the
re-kindling of Islam in the hearts of thousands of Muslims. He
earned our respect for his depth of knowledge not only of
Islam but also in the field of secular education.
Perhaps Dr. Ansaris greatest ambition was to establish an
Islamic Institute for the training of missionaries who would be
222

able to propagate Islam in a Western society. That dream
was fulfilled with the establishment of the Aleemiyah Institute
of Islamic Studies, and we are happy to have been associated
with that project from its inception.
On this occasion, therefore, I wish to publicly place on record
the monumental and unselfish contribution his late Eminence
Maulana Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari made to the cause of
Islam, especially in our part of the world. We pray that Allah
Subhanahu wa taala will have mercy on his soul and grant
him a place in paradise; we also pray that Allah will guide
those who have taken up the onerous responsibility of
continuing his noble work.
(Maulana Dr. Ansari was elected as Shaikh al-Islam of the
Muslim community of Trinidad and Tobago in 1964. He
occupied this office until his death in 1974. Ed.)
222
The Influence of Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansaris

Thought in the World
N.E. Abdul Hadi, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari was born in Muzaffar Nagar U.P,
India on 14th Shaban 1333, corresponding to 14th August

1914, He started his study by learning the Holy Quran, the
scripture of Islam.
Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari was a genious, a great intellectual
and thinker, a man of action, truly a dynamic personality. He
was a far-sighted saint and he could not only foresee the trend
and necessity of Islam spreading over every nook and corner
of the world but he could also analyse the ailments to provide
cure to the ailing Muslim societies. He made Islamic
Missionary world tours and covered dozens of countries
including Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong
Kong, Japan, Canada, United States of America, Trinidad and
Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, England, Holland, Turkey, Syria,
Iraq etc. Wherever he went he was hailed as a great preacher
of Islam. People listened to him and were moved to ecstasy.
They all requested him to provide successful and competent
preachers in different countries where the Muslims were in
minority and needed regular religious guidance for themselves
and for their children. He grasped the situation and decided
immediately to set up an organization for the purpose. He
founded the World Federation of Islamic Missions in 1958
222

with a very grand and ambitious programme and with no other
income or support except the trust in Allah.
Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari realized that it was essential that
Muslim leaders and scholars should not be out of step with the
progress of knowledge and this is why, first of all, he
embodied in himself a multi-faceted education acquired
through the dint of hard labour. He also felt that every person
being educated in the Islamic sciences should have grounding
in modern fields of knowledge notably philosophy,
sociology and political science. It is here he decided to act as a
pioneer in the field he set up the Aleemiyah Institute of
Islamic Studies in 1964 to meet the need for creating a new
breed of Islamic scholars.
Islamic Research and Publications Bureau is another marvel of
his far-sightedness. In spite of his being so busy with
multifarious preaching activities, he wrote his own
monumental book The Quranic Foundations and Structure
of Muslim Society.
Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari analysed that at present the Muslim
world is permeated with a conservative outlook, any deviation
from which, it is felt, automatically qualifies the deviater as
being outside the fold of Islam. However, for some time now
thinkers have been trying to re-interpret Islam in the light of
the age in which they find themselves. Undoubtedly this is a
difficult task and many of them found it necessary to discard
some of the tenets of Islam during the process or to interpret
222

them away, as can be clearly seen from some of the
unorthodox re-interpretations of the last century or so.
Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari stepped forward to meet this
challenge and to correct this distortion. He stressed that Islam
should be presented as a dynamic orthodoxy. The success of
his outlook on Islam can be seen from the esteem in which he
was held by the intellectual circles in many countries, Muslim
and con-Muslim, and also from the impact he made on the
youth of the day.
Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari was the upholder of Dynamic
Orthodoxy as opposed to the Conservatism and Modernism
with the slogan: Return to the Quran, and Return to
Muhammad (p.b.u.h). He was also a great spiritual leader for
the Ummah. He was every inch a Muslim, not only in
appearance but also in his actions and thoughts. With his
towering height his smile and enlightening speech he
presented to all who beheld and heard him a model of what a
Muslim should be. He was very simple but generous in his
life. He was the true follower of our Noble Prophet (peace be
on him). Maulana Dr. F.R. Ansari returned to his Lord on
Monday 11th Jamadial Awwal 1394, corresponding to 3rd June
1974, after spending his life working for the spiritual and
moral uplift of different Muslim countries and communities in
the Orient and Occident. He was buried in Karachi, Pakistan,
in the compound of the Islamic Centre. May the Mercy of
Allah be on him. (Ameen)!
222
A Tribute from Singapore

Haji Ahmad Hasan Siddique, Haji S.M. Meera Mohiadeen
Mariear, Muhammad Anwar Husain
reat men die young is a maxim often proved to be

absolutely true in the case of some most brilliant Muslim
scholars, writers, philosophers and thinkers. One such recent
example is our young and extraordinarily brilliant Islamic
scholar, orator, thinker and philosopher, the late His Eminence
Maulana Dr. Shah Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari, M.A.,
Ph. D, of Pakistan (originally from Meerut, North India), Dr.
Ansari was the son-in-law of a very great modern Islamic
lecturer, writer and missionary of Islam, Maulana Muhammad
Abdul Aleem Siddiqui whose lectures, writings and
missionary work made him famous and well know throughout
the Muslim world, and who died and lies buried in the Holy
city of Medina. This great savant had earned the name of the
ROVING AMBASSADOR OF ISLAM for his stupendous
and indefatigable work for Islam, teaching the people true
Islam though his mighty pen, his personal example and his
most eloquent tongue. This great missionary of Islam went to
every nook and corner of the world-Ceylon (now Sri Lanka),
South India, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji Islands, the
Madagascar, South Africa (including Cape Town and other
parts), Kenya, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, North America,
Arabia etc. He delivered soul-stirring lectures on Islam with a
scientific view-point proving it to be a religion par excellence,
the only historically revealed Faith whose every tenant and
practice to this day stands unpolluted and unchanged as
revealed to Gods last and greatest Messenger, the Holy
222

Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be On Him), more than 14
centuries ago.
Maulana Dr. Ansari also, like his great father-in-law, spent
and sacrificed his whole life working for the cause of Islam
and never gave any thought to his own health and well-being.
After the death of his late Eminence Maulana Shah Abdul
Aleem Siddique, Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari became his
successor and followed in his father-in-laws footsteps taking
over the burden of Islamic missionary work on his lone but
mighty shoulders.
Dr. Ansari had been his father-in-laws private secretary and
had accompanied him world-wide on his missionary tours.
Thus he had gained much experience and knowledge about
preaching Islam and was well known throughout the Muslim
World.
In Singapre, Dr. Ansari made his name most distinguished and
outstanding by his brave encounter and religious debate with
no lesser a personage than the Bishop of Singapore (Dr.
Wilson) at his own Cathedral in Singapore, earning a great
appreciation from the editor of the Straits Times, a premier
daily newspaper of Singapore describing him as the silvertongued orator of Islam.
Dr. Ansari organized and started the well-known THE
GENUINE ISLAM a monthly Islamic magazine, carrying
learned articles on Islam by himself, Maulana Abdul Aleem
223

Siddique, Puisne Judge Akbar of Ceylon, Maulana Syed
Sulaiman Nadvi, etc. Dr. Ansari was its honorary editor and
while he was away from Singapore, this task was virtually
taken over by Haji S. M. Maricar and then by Dr. Ahmad
Ibrahim, the former Attorney-General of Singapore.
Dr. Ansari gave many lectures during his short visits to
Singapore in English and Urdu. One distinguished lecture was
his talk on Evolution in Islam to the Muslim Union of the
University of Singapore where he stunned science students. At
question hour he fully satisfied his audience with prompt and
adequate answers. His masterly and scientific lecture
explained the metamorphosis and evolution that takes place at
certain periods from the union of the parents egg to the time
when the baby forces itself out of the womb of the mother.
The learned audience were spellbound throughout the lecture
and admired the relevant Quranic quotations that followed
freely in great numbers as the evolution proceeded.
Maulana Ansari has written many books, from small works
like The Muslim Revolution of Today, Through Science
and Philosophy to Religion, Islam and Christianity in the
Modern World and Beyond Death, to huge volumes like
The Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society,
etc.
As the founder of a great unifying Federation of the Muslims
scattered all over the world, the World Federation of Islamic
Missions, Maulana Ansari had gone a step further than his
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illustrious spiritual mentor and father-in-law, Maulana Shah
Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddque, who had founded Muslim
Missionary Societies in various parts of the world, thus
bringing these loosely-separated societies into a closely knit
unity, all finding themselves closely connected, a common
unit of cooperation, assistance and sharing each others ideas,
work and strategy on a world-wide basis.
The Muslim Missionary Society of Singapore, under the new
management of the energetic new President Dr Abubakar Bin
Mydin, has undergone a tremendously vast improvement and
added a lengthy catalogue of fresh activities so much so that
its status is now acknowledged to be a most admirable,
praiseworthy and enviable one.
May Allah bless the World Federation of Islamic Missions
and all its constituent bodies including the Muslim Missionary
society of Singapore (Jamiah) with every success. Ameen !
(The writer were all very closely associated to Maulana Dr.
Ansari during his historic stay in Singapore in the 1930s and
collaborated with him in all his subsequent visits to that
island.)
221
Tribute from a Spiritual Brother

H.G. Shaikh, Member of Aleemiyah Qaderiyah Spiritual Assembly
I had a very close relation with His Eminence Maulana Dr.

F.R. Ansari ever since I first met with him at the home of our
spiritual preceptor, Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddique, in
Meerut, India in 1944.
There are no words to adequately describe his profound love
for tabligh and his enthusiasm to serve the cause of Islam. He
was a true follower of Islamic Shariah and a true social
reformer in field of Shariah.
He very tactfully avoided sectarian controversies and
differences and led the World Federation of Islamic Missions
successfully and peacefully towards the goal of serving all the
Muslims and all mankind.
When the Deputy Prime Minister of Egypt paid a visit to
Maulanas grave shortly after his death, he burst into tears and
cried out Oh Scholar we needed you the most.
222
A Tribute from a Student

Ebrahim Girie (South Africa.)
No description of an action or a life-style is comprehensive

and complete until an account is given of the belief, motive
and intention that shaped that action or life style.
The greatness of a man is directly proportional to his degree of
sincerity; and the degree of contagiousness of his teaching is
directly proportional to the truthfulness of those teachings.
Moreover, there is no man better in speech than one who
invites men to the cause of Allah. And there is no man better
in behaviour than one who is an exemplar fit to be emulated in
his effort to establish universal social justice. The late
Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fazl ur Rahman Al-Alsari Al-Qaderi
was such a man. May Allahs richest blessings be bestowed
upon him, Insha Allah; A man who devotes his entire life to
being a seeker of truth, and who was in word thought and deed
an agent of social change and for social change cannot fail to
leave the world richer than he found it.
Of those we have created are people who direct (others) with
truth; and dispense justice therewith. (Quran 7: 181)
The best man is he from whom good accrues to humanity.
And in the era of rapid scientific progress and hence
materialistic skepticism Dr. Ansari (R.A) proved beyond
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doubt that Islam is above reasoning but not above reason.
Whereas many great thinkers abound, it is the rare few who
realize that knowledge without practice is like a fruit tree
without fruit.
No greater honour, therefore, can be paid as a tribute to his
memory than to continue the excellent work which he started
and to use the Quran as the criterion against which to judge
the progress of that work.
222
Tribute from Muslim Commonwealth

Movement
Aslam bin Ibrahim
Chairman, Muslim Commonwealth Movement (Pakistan)
On the occasion of the tenth death anniversary of the late

Maulana Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari it is most appropriate for
the Muslim Commonwealth Movement to pay tribute to the
memory of this eminent thinker and devoted missionary of
Islam.
We in the Muslim Commonwealth Movement recall with
vivid memory the brilliant address delivered by Dr. Ansari at a
public meeting organized by the Movement on 21st March
1970, when effort was made to exert pressure on the Islamic
States to establish a permanent Organisation of Islamic States
with a permanent Islamic Secretariat.
The first Islamic Summit Conference had been held six
months earlier In Sep. 1969 at Rabat. And the first conference
of Foreign Missions, which was to discuss the question of a
permanent Secretariat (and, by implication, a permanent
organisation) was about to take place in Jeddah.
Our Movement approached Dr. Ansari and requested him to
preside over the meeting. He did so, and in the course of his
important address, endorsed our proposal for the establishment
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of a permanent Organisation of Islamic States with a
permanent Islamic Secretariat. In Dr. Ansaris view, the
establishment of such an organization would represent a step
in the direction of the consolidation of the Ummah and its
eventual reemergence as a powerful force capable of fulfilling
the mission entrusted to it by Allah.
He warned that the Muslims, in order to achieve success, will
have to behave as soldiers of Allah and not slaves of any ism
whether it be secularism, capitalism or socialism. It was
wrong, he pointed out, to believe that capitalism minus
interest or socialism plus God were sufficient to make a true
Muslim. Islam was a complete, self-contained and selfsufficient code of life.
Dr. Ansari warned that the goal of Muslim unity was multidimensional but, nevertheless, constant and persistent efforts
will have to be made to achieve that goal.
The Muslim Commonwealth Movement, in paying tribute to
this valiant soldier of Allah, also prays that Allah may bless
his soul and reward him abundantly for the untiring efforts he
made for protecting the Muslims and guiding them in the
troubled times in which he lived.
222
DR. FAZLUR RAHMAN ANSARI

Syed Ali Ashraf
I was in Cambridge in 1974 when Brother Fazlur Rahman

Died. I was so sudden. He was only sixty, an age when we
retire from service in order to devote our attention to the type
of work we love to do. But Brother Fazlur Rahman was taken
away before he could retire.
Of course he never thought of retiring. Nor did he have any
time to think about it. He was too busy organizing the
Aleemiya Institute and writing his books. I had visited the
Institute, gave lectures, met his students and disciples and
discussed educational concepts with his committee members. I
had gone with him to his residence and also to the residence of
his mother-in-law. I had not the good fortune to meet his
spiritual master and father-in-law, the devout missionary and a
great sufi Shaikh of outstanding calibre, Hadrat Shaikh Abdul
Aleem Siddiqui (Rahmatullah alaihi). At that time I did not
know the family as much as I know now. Maulana Fazlur
Rahman had also taken me to the then ambassador of Iraq,
Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, mercy of Allah be on him. As
Shaikh Gilani was a descendent of Hadrat Abdul Qadir Gilani
(Rahmatullah alaihi) of Baghdad, the head of the Sufi
Qadiriyya silsila, and as Maulana belonged to that silsila, they
were very close to each other.
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We had also a common friend who was also a benefactor of
the World Federation of Islamic Mission Mr Ebrahim
Ahmed Bawany (marhum). At the initial stage Mr Bawany,
may Allah bless his soul, was a great help.
I had thus close brotherly relationship with Maulana. As he
was teaching Islamic studies in Karachi University and as I
was the Head of the Department of English, our intimacy
became stronger. But we did not feel the impact of his work
on the education system of the country. Though university
professors visited the Aleemiya Institute Maulana never tried
to expand his work and influence the authorities in order to
make the education of Pakistan Islamic in character. The main
reason seems to be the Maulanas intention to train a few
scholars first. But most of the students at the Institute were
from outside Pakistan and as they were trained to be
missionaries, the Aleemiya Institute was regarded by us as a
theological school for training Muslim missionaries who
would be able to meet the challenges of modern civilization
when they go back to their countries.
This feeling was further reinforced by the fact that the degree
of the Institute was not recognized anywhere and Maulana
advised some of the students to study at Karachi University.
We therefore always thought that the Maulana had a specific
intention and we never delved deeply into his lessons, and the
implications of the methods used by him. When Baba Zaheen
Shah Tajee (Rahmatullah alaihi) thought of establishing a
large institute in Karachi and when I was planning the
222

curriculum, I did not think of Maulanas work only because I
thought that we were trying to bring about some reform in the
total education system of the country whereas the Maulana
was trying to produce only missionaries.
After going through his works now, after discussing with his
colleagues and students, after organizing the First World
Conference on Muslim Education in 1977 and after helping
others to organize three other World Conferences on Muslim
Education at Islamabad (1980), Dhaka( 1981) and Jakarta
(1982) and also after trying to get some research done in order
to produce Islamic schools of thought in each branch of
knowledge, I have realized the immense significance of the
pioneering work done by Maulana Dr Fazlur Rahman Ansari.
What we are trying to do together now, he tried to do singlehanded. He had to read a lot. He had to know psychology, the
philosophy of modern sciences, sociology and economics,
analyse and criticize their basic secular concepts and then
replace them by Islamic concepts. He not only tried to do this
himself, he also started teaching these subjects from the
Islamic point of view. He had evolved a unique method of
teaching but he was too busy reading, writing and with
missionary visits abroad. It was not possible for him to evolve
a comprehensive system. As he confined this work only to the
Institute and as his disciples were going abroad, there was no
central country whose education system could be influenced
effectively by his contribution. This is the sad aspect of his
work.
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The happier and beneficial aspect far outweighs this aspect
and gives me great pleasure when I think about it. Here was a
person whose lineage goes back to Hadrat Abu Ayub Ansari,
(may Allah be pleased with him) a dear companion of
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) and a near relation from the Prophets mothers side. He
was not only a Hafiz of the Quran but also an alim wellversed in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, English and German. As a
result he was one of those rare Muslim scholars who
combined within themselves traditional Islamic knowledge
and the modern method of acquiring knowledge. As he had
studied in a modern university, he had also acquired modern
knowledge. He was a student of Aligarh Muslim University.
In those days Aligarh, inspite of being a modern university,
had a typical Muslim character and was in the vanguard of
Muslim revival in India.
This revivalism had some unique features which differentiated
it from the revivalism of Syed Ahmed Shaheed and
Shariatullah. In order to appreciate the special contribution of
Dr Ansari to this twentieth century revivalism it is necessary
for us to compare this movement with the earlier one.Syed
Ahmed Shaheed and Shariatullah had no knowledge of
modern technological civilization and what its impact would
be on Muslim consciousness. Therefore they were trying to
purify the existing society, rouse it from its lethargic inertia
and inspire it with the spirit of internal and external jihad.
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One such person was Maulana Fazlur Rahman Ansari. He
therefore intended to rectify the mistake of Sir Syed. In his
own way he started campaigning and experimenting in the
Aleemiya Institute. Obviously he did not consider the Aligarh
pattern a preventive against secularization. Otherwise he
should have considered his teaching of Islamic studies as a
compulsory subject at Karachi University sufficient enough.
He realized that there should be Muslim research scholars in
philosophy, history, psychology and the natural sciences who
would present these subjects from the Islamic point of view.
He used to call some of his colleagues to assist him but he did
not formulate a system or carry on a movement. His major
intention was to produce missionaries who would be able to
resist the attacks on Islam and also advance arguments against
modern scientific theories. That was why he took upon
himself the gigantic task of formulating Islamic approaches to
society, psychology, economics and political science. To a
certain extent he succeeded but because of his own limitation
as an individual it was not possible for him to formulate a
metaphysics that would cover all branches of knowledge. His
two-volume monumental work, The Quranic Foundations and
Structure of Muslim Society, covers all branches of
knowledge but it is an attempt to restate conventional Islamic
wisdom with reference to the modern context of life. This
itself is an arduous task and he had succeeded in completing it
with remarkable acumen, accuracy and wisdom. It shows his
wide range of reading, his intensive study of the Holy Quran
221

and Hadith and his discipline (tariqah) and modern
knowledge.
Dr Ansari did not have any political ambition nor did he try to
create a group of students and political workers to fight for his
ideology. He was more interested in creating a group of
scholars who will act as missionaries and counteract both
Christian Missionary activities and other anti-Islamic forces.
222
Pakistani Industrialist Eulogises

Karachis Aleemiyah Centre
Mr. M. D. Dadabhay
DURBAN has been visited again after an interval of 16

years by Mr. M. D. Dadabhay, one of the eminent
industrialists of Pakistan and Chairman of the Star Textile
Mills of Karachi which employs 2,400 workers.
We had the pleasure of an interview with Mr. Dadabhay who
had some most interesting information to give to the Muslim
Community concerning the Aleemiyah Islamic Centre of
North Nazimabad, Karachi.
Mr. Dadabhay described Moulana Fazlur Rahman Ansari,
President of the World Federation of Islamic Missions, as an
outstanding Muslim scholar and the work that the Moulana
has done in establishing the Aleemiyah Educational College as
an important contribution towards contemporary Muslim
education.
Mr. Dadabhay spoke in eulogistic terms of the organization
which has its object to train Muslim scholars of the future. He
paid tribute to the manner in which the running of the
Institution has been conducted and declared that it compared
with the best of such a type of Educational Institution
anywhere.
222

He hoped that the South African Muslim Community would
begin taking more active interest in this ideal Islamic
Institution by sending their children to this Institution at North
Nazimabad, Karachi.
Mr. Dadabhay described in detail the facilities obtainable at
this College. He spoke of the Mosque, the Lecture Hall, the
Hostel and the care with which accommodation for the
students was organized. The boarding facilities and the
cleanliness which characterized the Institution were admirable.
Mr. Dadabhay continued to describe the Institution as one of
the finest and most modern where foreign students could have
their education under trained, capable instructors, under the
personal supervision of the Founder, Moulana Fazlur Rahman
Ansari who is also a Lecturer at the University of Karachi.
Mr. Dadabhay stressed the fact that the instruction through the
medium of the English language distinguishes this Institution
from the rest and said that South African Muslims should send
their boys to this College for the study of Islamic theology and
modern thought, as well as English studies, and that South
African Muslims should help this modern Muslim Institution.
222
Dr. Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Al-Ansari

Al-Qadiri
A Philosopher Having Scientific Mind

Dr. Mujeeb Ahmad
Islamic International University, Islamabad
Muhammad Fazlur Rahman al-Ansari al-Qadiri was born

on August 14, 1914 in Muzaffarnagar, India and completed
his Dars-i-Nizami Course in 1933. His alma mater includes
Madrasah-i-Islamiah, Meerut, Meerut College and Aligarh
Muslim University Aligharh (December 1920). At Aligarh
Muslim University he had been a student of Sayyid
Muhammad Suliyaman Ashraf Bihari (1878-1939) and Dr.
Sayyid Zafarul Hassan Ambalwi (1879-1949). In the field of
tasawwuf, he was a disciple and a successor of Mawlana
Muhammad Abdul Alim Siddiqi al-Qadiri (1892-1954). Right
from 1938 to 1973, he occasionally toured almost all over the
world for his missionary commitments. Dr. Ansari enjoyed the
singular honour of being the first Muslim in the history of
Islam to have traveled the world five times for the sake of the
propagation of Islam.1 For well-connected and effective
missionary activities, in August 1958; he founded the World
Federation of Islamic Missions. Dr. Ansari wanted to have an
institute of Islamic learning to produce real Muslim scholars
for the Muslim Ummah. In July 1964, he established
Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies, in Karachi, Pakistan.
In 1970, he was granted a Ph.D. degree in Philosophy by the
222

University of Karachi (June 1951) for his thesis entitled;
Islamic Moral and Its Metaphysical Background. Besides
serving other educational institutions as a teacher, he served
the University of Karachi for more than 10 years.
Dr. Ansari wrote his first booklet in 1932, and later wrote
more than a dozen books both in English and Urdu. Numerous
research articles, published mainly in the monthly The Minaret
(Karachi) are also go to his credit. His voluminous magnum
opus, The Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim
Society (2 Vols.)2, Foundations of Faith3, Islam and
Christianity in the Modern World4 and Through Science and
Philosophy to Religion5 are among the most important to be
mentioned. He died on June 3, 1974 and was buried in the
premises of Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies, Karachi.
According to Dr. Ansari, life is full of immediate and ultimate
problems. The immediate problems are day-to-day problems
of the practical life. Whereas, the ultimate problems are
related to the nature of the human beings and the world. For
the Solutions of the ultimate problems, there are three
claimants in the field of guidance and every one of them
claims that it can guide humanity in that sphere of life. These
claimants are science, philosophy and religion. About the
science, particularly empirical and normative Sciences, Dr.
Ansari was of the view that modern science entered the field
of human thought as the all-solving branch of knowledge and
became the rival of religion towards the middle of the 18th
century. The reason of this new attitude of modern science, he
222

believed, was not that science had found out some such
unerring methods or instruments of knowledge that could
authorize it to make the claim. Rather, it was a purely
sentimental affair.6
According to Dr. Ansari, science came to the modern West
form the world of Islam. It was the Muslims who, after the
conquest of certain parts of Europe, especially Spain,
established the early universities, scientific observatories,
laboratories and libraries on the soil of Europe, and influenced
the first Christian scientists who, after centuries of darkness
and ignorance, lit the torch of scientific knowledge in
England, France, Germany and so on. They were the pupils of
Muslim masters. Christianity, as distinct from the original
message of the Prophet Isa had been anti-science and antireason from the very beginning. According to him, it was the
new version of Christianity which extinguished whatever light
of knowledge was to be found in Greece, Egypt and Syria
when it became politically powerful. Besides, as science came
to modern West through Muslims, whom, the Christians
regarded as their deadliest enemies. Hence, the Christian
Church had persecuted the scientists, burnt them at the stake
and hanged them on the gallows.7
This violent persecution made the Western scientists the
enemy not only of the Christian Church but of all religions,
and because, according to Dr. Ansari, religion concerns itself
basically with the ultimate problems of human life and
demands the loyalty of human beings on that score, the
222

scientists entered the field of ultimate problems and started in
the principles of scientific facts, to oppose the teachings of
Christianity concerning such problems as the origin of man,
the origin of the world, the existence of the supernatural world
and even the existence of Allah.8
After discussing the historical background of the origin of
modern science and its attitude towards religion, Dr. Ansari
analyzed its limited scope and the limitations in solving the
ultimate problems, in another way. For his arguments, he
pointed out the weaknesses and shortcomings in the scientific
method.
While analyzing the scientific method, Dr. Ansari observed
that the scientific method of obtaining knowledge consists in
observation and experiment. Scientifically viewed, every
observation is made up of three factors, namely the observer,
the object which is observed and conditions under which the
observation is made.
As far as the first factor is concern, Dr. Ansari held the view
point that observation is bound to vary from observer to
observer, because different human beings do not have similar
sharp and accurate capacity of observation either as regards
their physical senses or as regards the intellect which coordinates the reports that the brain gets through the physical
senses. It is thus a well-established fact that the first factor in
every observation is of a variable factor, which means that
different observations can vary on the basis of this factors.9
222

While discussing the second factor, the object, Dr. Ansari said
that the more immediate, the more concrete and the more
comprehensible the object is, the more is the possibility of the
observation being correct; and the more remote, the more
subtle and the more ungraspable an object is, the less
possibility is there for the anything like correct observation
nay, even for observation itself. Coming to the third factor, he
pointed out that the conditions under which an observation is
made, is a variable factor. Likewise, all the three factors which
constitute a scientific observation are also variable. In other
words, he explained that any and every scientific observation
is liable to vary in its accuracy according to any one or two or
all of these factors. The margin of this possibility of error in
scientific observation becomes wider and wider as the objects
observed become more subtle and more distant.
The ultimate result of this is that physical science can be a
good guide and source of knowledge only in the immediate
and mostly physical problems although even then it is not
completely immune from error. Indeed, it has been making a
lot of mistakes, Dr. Ansari observed. As regards the ultimate
problems, which comprehend within them the entire universe
and all aspects of existence, Dr. Ansari vowed that it would be
extremely unscientific and even foolish to expect their
objective and accurate solutions from physical science. It
cannot gives us a sure knowledge in all cases even as regards
the immediate physical objects.10
133

As far as the second claim, philosophy is its concerned; Dr.
Ansari broadly classified it into four schools of thought
namely, Formal Rationalism, Empiricism, Criticism and
Empirical Rationalism. Of these four, only two schools of
philosophy namely, Formal Rationalism and Empirical
Rationalism, held the belief that Philosophy can discover the
Ultimate Truth. The Formal Rationalism holds that human
reason, unaided by anything else, is capable of knowing the
ultimate facts of life and the world. Whereas, Empirical
Rationalism holds that reason and sense-experience should
combine to enable human beings to find out the Ultimate
Truth and that, through this combination of the sources of
knowledge, philosophy can solve the Ultimate Problems and
guide humanity in that behalf.11
While explaining the flaws of Formal Rationalism, Dr. Ansari
claims that it depends wholly on Logic. Its method is to
choose a hypothesis as the starting point of its investigation
and on that hypothesis to build up a whole world of
philosophical thought by using the instrument of logic.
Whereas, in Empirical Rationalism, renamed as Philosophy
of Science by Dr. Ansari, its method is to collect and arrange
the facts discovered by science and to endeavor, by using the
instrument of reason, to form an integrated picture of the
world as a whole and thereby to answer the ultimate questions.
After evaluating the Formal Rationalism, Dr. Ansari observed
that, it is incapable of giving us any certain and accurate
knowledge of the Ultimate Problems. This is so because, as
132

explained by Dr. Ansari, its starting point is always a
hypothesis, which is nothing more than a supposed idea, or at
best an observation based on common sense, and it has always
been chosen by every philosopher arbitrarily. Now, every
hypotheses, especially in the realm of abstract thought, is, in
the very nature of the case, is uncertain and unverifiable. If it
is uncertain, the thought-structure built upon it and the
conclusions arrived at must also be uncertain, according to Dr.
Ansaris point of view, that is, the knowledge of Ultimate
Problems given by Formal Rationalism cannot be sure and
accurate.12
As regards the Empirical Rationalism, Dr. Ansari claims that
its starting point consists in the scientific facts, namely,
sensorial observation, and its method is to reason out the
Ultimate Problems on their basis. Scientific facts are at best
workable hypotheses or working material on the scale of
observation or the system of reference with which they are
connected. Hence, for Ultimate Problems, he emphasizes that
they have neither finality, nor perfect accuracy, nor absolute
certainly. This means that if the starting point and the working
material of Empirical Rationalism lack accuracy, certainty and
finality, the conclusions arrived at will also suffer from the
same shortcomings. Finally he concludes that, a solution of
the Ultimate Problems on the basis of objective knowledge is
impossible even for the Empirical Rationalist School of
philosophy.13
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After presenting his observations and reservations about the
limitations of above-mentioned two claimants, Dr. Ansari
delivers his verdict by saying that neither science nor
philosophy (although it has a basic importance for humanity)
can ever be capable of giving accurate answers to our Ultimate
Questions on the basis of sure knowledge. Even those answers
which they have been giving, or might give in future, have
been, and shall always be, at best approximations in the nature
of partial truths and, in most instances, what the Quran calls
them conjectures.14
Finally Dr. Ansari, according to his perception, pointed out the
exact, accurate, safe and sound solution and answer of the
Ultimate Problems. The answer of the Ultimate Problems
being faced by the humanity, according to him, lies in the
reveled religions. Reveled Religious Knowledge is more vital
to the success of mankind than any philosophy, art or science.
It is this knowledge, according to him, which stands at the
base of all knowledge. Philosophy, with a modified claim,
comes next to it and stands as its hand-maid. After philosophy
come the various sciences and arts.15 For that matter, he gave
detailed and very strong arguments.
According to Dr. Ansari, the plausibility of the claim of
religion to answer the Ultimate Questions consists in the
source of knowledge. Among the various religions of the
world, reveled religions also hold the view point that the
human faculties of sense and reasoning are, in their very
nature, incapable of arriving at accurate and sure knowledge
132

of the ultimate facts both through logical reasoning and
mathematical reasoning. But side by side with that, according
to Dr. Ansari, it gives a message of hope and imparts a very
plain and convincing guidance in that behalf, for the human
beings. The scope and importance of that guidance was
elaborated by him in the following way.
There are two factors in every act of knowledge, namely, the
subject and the object. As regards the process of knowledge, it
is possible in two ways, namely, the subject may embrace the
object with the instruments of knowledge which, in the case of
man, are senses and reasoning and the object may reveal itself
to the subject. According to Dr. Ansari, the usual path of
knowledge is the first one, and it is this which science and
philosophy employ. As the finite cannot embrace the infinite,
so, the attempts of science and philosophy at solving the
Ultimate Problems end in failure.16
The second path of sure knowledge is only the path of reveled
religions. This path is a matter of experience in the scientific
field, which is also known to all scientists. For that point, Dr.
Ansari gave an example; as there are planets which are far
away from the farthest horizon which the most advanced
instruments of astronomy have been able to penetrate. Those
planets enter that horizon only for a while after very long
periods of time. Thus, instead of the powers of the
astronomical instruments going out, so to say, to embrace
them, they themselves reveal their existence by moving for a
while into their embrace from a position where their existence
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cannot be known, and after that revelation, they again
disappear into the Unknown. Those whose gaze is fixed and
whose instruments of observation are focused on that horizon
see them and know them, while others affirm their existence
afterwards only on the basis of authority, because verification
through observation does not remain possible after the
disappearance of those planets.17
Dr. Ansari, in the light of this example, made his arguments
strong by stating that this can be said for the physical world
the world of sense-experience the world which in quality as
well as quantity is only a part of the unknown and infinite
universe. It brings home to an important fact. The farther
removed a thing is qualitatively (i.e., as regards its difference
from us in its nature, constitution and function) or
quantitatively (i.e., in space or time), the greater becomes the
necessity for the first path of knowledge to give place to the
second path, i.e., revelation.18
As a Muslim philosopher, Dr. Ansari presented and advocated
Islam (Religion of Fulfillment) as the last and final way for
the solution of the ultimate as well as immediate problems.
According to him, Islam means conformity to natural laws and
the Islamic Principles are so rational and valuable that the
modern science is based on them.19 According to him; Islam
affirms the existence of Allah and says that He is the Creator
and Cherisher of the Universe. He is All-Powerful, AllKnowing and Omnipresent. He possesses perfect knowledge
of the origin, the constitution and the function of every thing,
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and His knowledge comprehends the past, the present and the
future.
He not only possesses that knowledge but He has also reveled
to humanity the correct guidance on the ultimate and intricate
problems which defy correct and sure solution by means of
senses and reason. His Revelations came, through the spiritual
Luminaries who appeared on the horizon of humanity from
time to time. Those spiritual luminaries included prophets like
Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, the last among them being
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the last Reveled
Book, the Quran.20
Now, as an advocate of Islam, Dr. Ansari explained that Islam
regards the basis of all life as spiritual, and, though its
approach to the problem of mind and matter is unitary,
however, in the realm of values it gives primacy to the
spirituality. Islam does not believe in separation between
Spirit (Ruh) and matter, however, it preferred spirit on
matter.21 In the light of Quran,22 Islam accepts space and time
as a realities but it rejects the modern monistic approach
towards society. In Islam ibadah is meant to cover the whole
life. It refuses to acknowledge dualism and affirms monism on
life.23
While elaborating the importance of basic teachings and
philosophy of Islam, Dr. Ansari explains that the universe is
the act and creation of Allah, hence it is essentially good. So,
Islam teaches the fullest utilization of physical situations and
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consequently leading the social life in all its fullness. Islam
teaches the philosophy of transforming the whole life into a
life of ibadah, side by side it also teaches the ceremonial acts
of ibadah as they too play a vital role in building up the
human personality.24
While giving his arguments, Dr. Ansari said that it is through
social morality and subjugation of the natural forces by means
of physical science and personal spiritual development
through an all-pervading love for and devotion to Allah, that
humanity can attain the status of the Khalifah of Allah. Islam
is a self-contained Culture and a self-sustained civilization.
The base of its social and cultural life is the Quran. The
culture of Islam has been conceived on the principles of
knowledge and piety. The basic constituents of the Islamic
social order are equality, fraternity and liberty. The underlying
idea of the Islamic society is the establishment of social,
political and spiritual democracy. Islam has laid the
foundation of the fundamental human rights ----- its major
contribution in the field of social relations.25
While highlighting the importance of knowledge in Islam, Dr.
Ansari pointed out that Islam has laid the fullest emphasis on
the importance of reason and on the cultivation of knowledge
and all its branches. According to Islam, humanity can attain
true knowledge and derive proper benefits from the pursuit of
knowledge, not by segregating the different departments of
knowledge into separate water-tight compartments ----- a
blunder which the modern Western civilization has committed
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----- but by channelising the different currents of knowledge
into a unitary stream. Here Islam has given the great principle
of the correlation of knowledge. Side by side with that,
however, Islam also emphasizes the limits of human reason.
For instance, Islam teaches that human reason is absolutely
incapable of solving the ultimate problems. In the domain of
social problems also, Islam holds to the view that human
reason must commit blunders if it is not guided by Divine
revelation.26
The basic feature of Islamic ideology, in the eyes of Dr.
Ansari, is that it is allied to reason. Instead of demanding blind
acceptance, the Quran makes fervent appeals on page after
page to employ reason in understanding the truth, the beauty
and the grandeur of its teaching. Islam regards reason as mans
distinctive privilege and Allahs noble gift, and the Quran has
repeatedly exhorted mankind to employ reason in the matters
of social and natural phenomena and in understanding its
message and practicing its guidance, thus giving to personal
judgment, its due place in the life of a Muslim. Intellectual
culture in general, forms one of the noblest pursuits of human
life in Islam and the acquisition and cultivation of knowledge
has been made obligatory upon every Muslim.27 According to
Dr. Ansari, the same cannot be said of any other religion of
the world.
Islam has not only harmonized the roles of reason and
revelation in the domain of human problems, but it has also
laid special emphasis on the cultivation of physical sciences -132

--- a pursuit which is a sacred obligation according to the
Quran which, on page after page, makes the most passionate
and impressive appeals to investigate the multifarious natural
phenomena and thus to realize the World of Allah in the Work
of Allah, and also to harness the natural forces for the
realization of human destiny in terms of the vicegerency of
Allah.28
Explaining Islams attitude towards science and other
branches of knowledge, Dr. Ansari wrote that while other
religions may feel shy of science, Islam has made the
scientific quest a religious obligation. The aims of that quest,
however, are not the unbalanced indulgence in physical
pleasures, promotion of materialism and atheism and the
tyrannisation over fellow-beings, as is happening most
unfortunately in the West, but the advancement in the love of
Allah through progress in the knowledge of His works and the
service of humanity through the acquisition of control over the
forces of nature. Because of its deep-rooted hostility to
Islam, implanted during the middle Ages, Dr. Ansari vowed
that the West has been very slow in acknowledging the merits
of Islam. Admissions and confessions have, however, been
gradually coming forth grudgingly or ungrudgingly. Thus, it
has been admitted that the Muslims gave to the West the
scientific method as well as the scientific inspiration. But the
Muslims themselves received them from the Quran.29
Muslims were given, by Islam the idea of inter-planetary
transport through the incident of Miraj.30 Life after death
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satisfies scientific consciousness because it affirms the
existence and validity of law in that life.31
After highlighting the importance of the knowledge in the
light of Islam, Dr. Ansari discussed the ground realities and
the educational and scientific conditions of Muslim world.
According to him, the greatest crime against their own selves
which Muslims committed was, the neglect of the cultivation
of physical sciences ----- a task which had been sanctified by
Islam, a task which their forefathers had pursued with glory,
ultimately to become the inaugurators of the modern scientific
era, a task without which the maintenance of political
greatness and material prosperity was impossible.
Historically reviewing, Dr. Ansari wrote that this negligence
did actually that causes the backwardness of Muslims in the
realms of technology, industrial production and economic
organization. It kept the Muslims back from developing better
weapons of war. It finally culminated in making the Muslim
World politically vulnerable and, as a consequence thereof,
economically and intellectually conquerable.32
While explaining the causes and reasons of the present day
Western dominance over the Muslim World, Dr. Ansari
regretfully argued that when Muslim scholarship proved
deficient in fulfilling the intellectual needs of the community
and the non-Muslims became the custodians of all the sciences
and arts, it was only natural for the Muslims to become
votaries at the non-Muslim shrines of learning.
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It was thus, according to him, basically Muslims neglect of
intellectual Jihad which caused the present ugly situation.
Islam has invited its followers through the Quran and the
ahadith to a comprehensive intellectual jihad, and if Muslims
had not kept themselves aloof from it for centuries, especially
in the fields of physical and social sciences, it appears in the
light of philosophy of history that neither would the Muslims
have fallen prey to mental slavery nor to political, economic
and social slavery. Most unfortunately, Muslim world of today
is confronted with the very ugly situation. They are not only
weak politically, economically and intellectually, but even
their moral life is not what Islam wanted it to be. Morally they
have been caught in a whirlpool and signs of moral
degeneration are manifest everywhere.33
The only genuine and correct method of resolving this ugly
situation, according to Dr. Ansari, is through the creation and
adoption, by all Muslim countries of a system of education
which should harmoniously combine the religious and the
secular education. In its concept of education, Islam does
not exclude secular knowledge from the curriculum of
religious studies in the manner in which the one-sided
religions and cultures of the world do it. This is the reason
why, according to Dr. Ansari, during the age of glory of the
Islamic civilization, the educational system of the Muslim
world was unitary being based on the fundamental Islamic
principle of tawhid. In that system, theological sciences were
taught in conjunction with all other secular subjects, e.g.
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natural sciences, mathematics, philosophy, etc., the result was
that every Muslim scholar of that age was a comprehensive
scholar.34
While critically analyzing the current religious educational
system of the Muslims, Dr. Ansari observed that the emphasis
in our current system of theological education being mostly on
fiqh. Our ulama are generally capable only of legalistic
guidance in respect of the daily personal life of Muslims. The
task, however, of establishing rationally the truth of the
teachings of Islam in all their aspects and the superiority of
Islam over other religions and ideologies cannot be
accomplished without a comprehensive and deep knowledge
not only of Islam but also of other religions and ideologies ---- both ancient and modern.
Dr. Ansari wanted to see ulama as the religious as well as
socio-political leaders of the Muslim ummah, so, he stated that
if they are not highly equipped intellectually and truly
dynamic and powerful in their spiritual leadership, it would be
futile to expect a radiant and healthy ideological life within the
Muslim community especially, with regard to those moderneducated Muslims who have fallen victim to the glamour of
alien philosophies and cannot be persuaded to practice Islam
unless their brains have been washed clean of the anti-Islamic
influences of alien thought and they have been thoroughly
inspired in respect of Islamic ideals and values and a proper
transmission of the message of Islam to the humanity at
large.35
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Furthermore, Dr. Ansari believed that, even after the
accomplishment of this task in the realm of belief, it is
necessary for the ulama to employ hikmah, i.e., methodical
and consequential approach in the domain of action, and for
this purpose deep spiritual and psychological knowledge is
necessary knowledge formulated and cultivated by the
classical Sofia of Islam.36
Dr. Ansari visited South Africa in 1970 and 1972 to conduct a
series of impromptu lectures on different topics at mosques,
universities and assemblies. While giving a lecture on the
challenge of the twentieth century for the Muslim Ummah, he
said that the modern civilization has branched into two camps,
namely philosophical materialism or Capitalism and scientific
materialism or Communism. Both ideologies are materialistic
through and through. No wonder, Dr. Ansari ironically said
that, If you believe in Allah today, you are considered
reactionary and if you do not believe in Allah, you are
considered to be progressive and modern. If you do not
believe in morality, you are modern, but if you believe in
truth, goodness, moral integrity and chastity then you are
outdated. If you do not believe in ethical principles or moral
foundations in business, you are prosperous.37 According to
Dr. Ansari, this is the real challenge for the Muslim ummah as
it lacked its real and just identification.
Dr. Ansari not only warned the Muslim ummah of the
challenges of the twentieth century, but he also suggested
remedies and methods for combating this challenge.
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According to him, Islam taught the Muslims, the principles of
greatness in this world through virtue, Allah says in the
Quran; Against them make ready your strength to the utmost
of your power.38 If you do not do it, according to Dr.
Ansari, you will suffer very badly. The time is going to
come when the forces against you are going to become
greater.
Therefore, acquire knowledge, as we have been commanded
by the Quran, to pursue all knowledge not only a particular
branch of knowledge.
Every single branch of knowledge is sacred in Islam and has
to be pursued by Muslims. Islam stands for all sciences and
the pursuit of physical science is one of the highest forms of
worship of Allah. This is the highest state of knowledge to
know Allah Himself, who is the Real Reality behind
everything. A Muslim, according to Dr. Ansari, has to walk
this path right here and to acquire knowledge act all levels. It
is the duty of every Muslim to pursue knowledge at the level
of the higher reason. Unless you maintain that status for all
time, as soldiers of Allah, you will be in trouble, Dr. Ansari
observed. According to him, this is a challenge for Muslims
because Islam teaches them to obtain all the good of this world
as well as of the hereafter. When Muslims enemies
overpowered them on the battlefield, they were enslaved and
at a loss as how to balance themselves.39
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Although, Dr. Ansari was critical about the Western
dominance over the Muslim ummah, he did acknowledge its
achievements and impact on the ummah. In the light of saying
of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), All wisdom
is the lost property of the believers. He should take hold of it
wherever he finds it, Dr. Ansari acknowledged that the only
wisdom that the West can give to Muslims, consists in its
achievements in the field of technology. However, Islam
places no bar in the way of the acquisition of this wisdom by
Muslims. But the sensate culture of the West, according to
him, is pure poison in many of its aspects; and its adoption
means nothing less than the destruction of Islam. Moreover, as
Islam aims at a self-contained culture and a self-sustained
civilization; and hence it cannot permit anyone to replace its
foundations or to exchange its cultural principles with alien
norms and ideals.
According to him, this is the truth which is necessary for the
Muslim world to realize in its fullness before it is too late; and
the realization of this truth, in its turn, means a radial break
with the present chaos and a return to social philosophy of
Islam and a system of education which might ensure the
creation of all-round Islamic personality in the ranks of
Muslim intelligentsia.40
As a staunch believer in Islam, Dr. Ansari was the upholder of
dynamic orthodoxy as opposed to the conservatism and
Modernism with the slogan: Return to the Quran, and return
the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). In
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other words, returned to the supreme and practical knowledge,
Islam. According to him, it integrates the different aspects of
the life of the individual. It integrates the life of the individual
with the lives of other individuals. It integrates the life of the
individual with the life of the cosmos. It integrates the life of
the individual and the society with the Divine scheme of
creation.41
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REFRENCES
1. Sulaiman Petersen, A Man Of God, Monthly The Minaret
(Karachi), August 2000, Vol.37,No.8,16.
2. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari, The Quranic
Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society, Vol.I,
(Karachi: World Federation Of Islamic Missions, 1977) and
The Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim
Society, Vol.II, (Karachi: World Federation Of Islamic
Missions, 1977).
3. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari, Foundations of Faith:
A Commonsense Exposition (Karachi: World Federation Of
Islamic Missions, 1967).
4. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Al-Ansari Al-Qaderi, Islam
and Christianity in the Modern World, (Karachi: World
Federation Of Islamic Missions, 1976).
5. F.R. Ansari, Through Science And Philosophy To Religion,
(Karachi: World Federation Of Islamic Missions, 1976)
6. The Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim
Society, Vol.I, op. cit., 31-34.
7. Ibid., 35.
8. Through Science And Philosophy To Religion, op. cit., 6.
10. Ibid., 38.
12. Ibid., 11.
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14. But they have no knowledge Therein. They follow nothing
But conjecture, and conjecture avails nothing against
Truth. (LIII : 28). Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran:
text, translation & commentary, (Durban: Islamic
Propagation Centre International, n.d.).
15. Foundations Of Faith, op. cit., 4.
17. Ibid., 15-16.
18. Ibid., 45.
19. Khalil Ahmad Rana, ed., Tadhkirah Daktar Muhammad
Fazlur Rahman Ansari al-Qaderi (Lahore: Idarah-i-Maarifi-Numaniah, 1992), 18.
21. F.R. Ansari, Islam verses Marxism (Karachi: World
Federation Of Islamic Missions, 1980), 4.
22. CIII : 3.
23. Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari al-Qadiri, Quran-iHakim ka Imrani Falsafah (Karachi: al-Markaz al-Islami,
n.d), 9-11.
24. F.R. Ansari, Philosophy of Worship in Islam (Karachi:
World Federation Of Islamic Missions, 1980), 3-5.
25. F.R. Ansari, Which Religion? (Karachi: World Federation
Of Islamic Missions, 1976), 3-4.
26. F.R. Ansari, Islam and Western Civilization (Karachi:
World Federation Of Islamic Missions, 1983), 15.
27. F.R. Ansari, What is Islam (Karachi: World Federation Of
Islamic Missions, 1985), 12.
28. Islam and Western Civilization, op. cit., 17-18, 22.
29. What is Islam, op. cit., 14,16.
122

30. F.R. Ansari, Physical Ascension of Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon him) Through Outer Space To The Heavens
And Beyond On The Night Of Meraj, The Minaret,
October 2000, Vol.37,No.10,11 and Fazl-ur-Rahman
Ansari, Miraj, Islam to the Modern Mind: Lectures in
South Africa 1970 and 1972, ed. Yasien Mohamed
(Gatesville: Hidden Treasure Press, 1999), 12.
31. F.R. Ansari, Beyond Death (Karachi: The World Federation
Of Islamic Missions, 1980), 12.
32. F.R. Ansari, Islamic Theological Education An Urgent
Call to the Muslims of the World, The Minaret, November
2000,Vol.37,No.11, 11.
33. Ibid., 12
34. Ibid., 14-16
35. Ibid., 16-17
36. Ibid., 18-19
37. The Challenge of the Twentieth Century, Islam to
Modern Mind, op. cit., 146
38. VIII : 60.
39. The Challenge of the Twentieth Century, op. cit., 146.
40. Foundations Of Faith, op. cit., 2-4.
41. Ibid., 4-5 and Abdul Hadi, The Influence Of M
42. aulana Dr. F.R. Ansaris Thought In The World, The
Minaret, October 1998, Vol.35,No.10,12.
122
World Tablighi Tours of Mawlana Ansari

Abdul Kader Choughley
The world tablighi tours undertaken by Mawlana Ansari

were significant in contemporary Islam as no global Islamic
missionary work was done during the 1950s and 1960s.
Although Islamic centres and mosques were established in
several distant regions of the world, the scope of their
activities was limited. Again, the countries Mawlana Ansari
visited had previously enlisted the services of Islamic scholars
for specific purposes only. Apart from imparting Islamic
instruction to children and adults, the entrenched practices of
Islam from a South Asian milieu were strictly maintained. In a
particular sense, devotional Islam with strong sectarian bias
dominated the religious life of Muslim communities.
What was the impact of Mawlana Ansari in these countries
which he had visited several times during his tablighi tours?
An attempt is made to reconstruct his tablighi tours in given
time frames and to contextualize his contributions in order to
examine his impact to the tablishi cause. The element of
continuity emerges in many countries he had visited and so it
is important to analyze the challenges the Muslim
communities faced in their articulation of an Islamic identity.
Again no objective assessment of Mawlana Ansaris
contribution can be me made without tracing the growth and
development of the Muslim communities where Islam was
present for more than a century. Also parallels can be drawn in
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the shared history of Muslim communities in the Caribbean
islands as they too like their co-religionists in countries like
South Africa had humble beginnings and thereafter made
sustained efforts to build a Muslim society.
Suriname
Suriname, a Dutch-speaking Republic located on the northern
shoulder of South America, is the only country in the world
where the mosque and synagogue face each other and where
aspects of the shariah law were granted b the State to the
Muslim community who constitute twenty five percent of the
total population.1 Furthermore, as a member of the OIC
(Organization of Islamic Countries) it has played a vital role in
forging relationships and bilateral trade with the Arab world.2
History
The multicultural character of Suriname is a result of Dutch
colonialism and the institution of slavery to support the
plantation economy. The West African Muslims were the first
who set foot in Suriname and had given the country some of
its early heroes like Zam Zam and Arabi of the Mandika clan.
Subsequently in 1873, Indian indentured labour was secured
from British India. Muslims constituted a significant
percentage and came from North India. In the decades that
followed, Muslims consolidated their presence through the
establishment of mosques and Islamic centres in areas where
they settled. The upward mobility can be attributed to the state
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policy of tolerance which was evident in Muslim
representation in the National Assembly and also occupying
key positions in the cabinet. During the 1950s and 1960s
efforts were also made to galvanise Muslim organizations
under a central body to collectively address all matters relating
to Muslim life. This initiative was necessary in view of the
presence of Javanese Muslims of Indonesia who after having
arrived after the Indian Muslims were a disadvantaged group
economically and educationally. Furthermore some of their
practices were underpinned by their steadfast adherence to
rites that were characteristically un-Islamic Voices of reform
within the community challenged their practices and some
measure of success was achieved. However, the viable option
to the disparate groups operating independently was a coordinated organization which not only respected the autonomy
of these respective organization but ensured the realization of
their respective objectives. The establishment of the Suriname
Muslim Association (SMA) was a tacit endorsement of cooperation among Muslim organizations.
Since 1960 the Muslims have been drawn closely to the
Islamic world partly due to mass communication. They have
been vocal in expressing their support with the plight of
Muslims across the world and in this way they have renewed
their solidarity with the global ummah.3
Naturally strong bonds existed between the local Muslims,
Indonesian, Indian and Pakistani, in view of their religious and
cultural roots dating as back as 1873. Upto 1920 they were
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relatively isolated from the Muslim world until the coming of
Mawlana Siddiqui and his private secretary Mawlana Ansari,
whose later tablighi tours strengthened his presence in the
country. A parallel development was the arrival of the
Ahmadis, a deviant sect, which attempted to present a
distorted image of Islam. It was Mawlana Siddiqui who
denounced the Ahmadi4 group and urged Muslims to establish
the Suriname Muslim Association (SMA).5
Second World Tablighi Tour (1957)

Mawlana Ansari was received by more than a thousand
disciples and well-wishers during his visit in 1957. He toured
the various areas of the country. In the inaugural opening of
the Jami mosque he delivered a soul-stirring lecture. A special
function was hosted for Christians and other non-Muslim
dignatories as well as politicians from the cabinet. Also in
attendance was the governor, Yar Khan Tabragh. Mawlana
Ansaris lecture on the meaning of salah and its implication
for Muslims was received with much appreciation. The
proceedings of the function received coverage by the
Department of Information. Another lecture was organized in
Paramaribo. Mawlana Ansaris extempore lecture Islam and
Communism was a critique on the ideological movement
which had penetrated into several Muslim countries.6
Mawlana Ansaris call for unity among Muslims was in direct
response to the schisms that existed largely because of
divergent ideological interpretations. The differences (ikhtilaf)
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which were peripheral in nature fuelled sectarian prejudice. As
a result of the ikhtilaf the shariah was subjected to narrow and
rigid interpretation by ulama belonging to different Islamic
organizations. A disturbing trend was the proliferation of
debates which impacted negatively on meaningful initiatives
to the unity call.
In his third visit to Suriname in 1960, Mawlana Ansari noted
with disappointment that no significant progress was made on
his call for unity among Muslim organizations. At the same
time he urged Muslims to be more introspective in assessing
their successes and limitations. He called on Muslim
organizations to devote their energies on the disadvantaged
Muslim communities who otherwise would lose their Islamic
identity if no corrective measure was adopted for imparting
Islamic teachings to them.7
A notable contribution of Mawlana Ansari during this tour
was the ratification of the Statute of the Suriname Muslim
Association (SMA) by the state, which in effect mandated the
organization to liaise directly on Muslim affairs. According to
Mawlana Ansari [this] passing of the Statute is an historic
event for the Muslims of Suriname.8
Guyana
In Guyana, one does not speak of religious minorities as in
other parts of the world but of nationalities. Historically, Islam
was first brought to the Caribbean, mainly to Trinidad and
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Guyana by African slaves. Neither historians not
demographers have been able to say who were the first
Muslim slaves but it is believed these were Mandigo and
Fulani Muslims from Africa who were brought as slaves to
work in Guyana sugar plantations.9
As much as the slaves were practicing Muslims, the plantation
system did not permit any continuation of Islamic practices,
and missionary infiltration resulted in slaves becoming
Christian converts. Islam was formally reintroduced with the
arrival of Muslims from the Indian subcontinent in 1838.
Immigration of Muslims to Guyana took place from different
regions of the subcontinent with the result that there was
entrenched social class stratification.10 Moreover as a minority
group against the indentured Hindu majority the Muslims had
to articulate their Islamic presence with their limited
resources. Therefore the history of Islam in Guyana is directly
linked to the Indian subcontinent. Initially the arrival of
ulama from India established the traditions of Urdu as the
language of communication and other customary practices
which were considered Islamic. In fact, the cultural
synthesis,11 was brought along by early Muslim pioneers and
sanctioned by ulama. It must be remembered that their
practices had been patronized by early sufi scholars in the
subcontinent as a result of Hindu influence over the centuries.
The pioneers had made efforts to establish mosques and
Islamic organizations for the purpose of serving the needs of
the Guyanese Muslims. The Queenstown Mosque built in the
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early years of Muslim immigration to Guyana was a focal
point for Muslim activities. Although many organizations
were formed with conflicting agendas, the formation of the
United Sadr Islamic Anjuman (USIA) in 1949 was
representative at all levels of the Muslim communitys
aspirations in the country.12
Mawlana Ansari previously accompanied Mawlana Siddiqui
to the Caribbean in 1950 as his private secretary. His
subsequent visits in 1957 and 1960 were aimed at mobilizing
Muslim leadership which had succumbed to political rivalries
and sectarian conflicts. In response to these alarming
developments Mawlana Ansari initiated a move with the
President of USIA, Abdul Majid, to establish the Muslim
Trust College of Georgetown. Islamic education was his
primary concern as he noted with disappointment the fractious
elements which undermined efforts to restore unity among the
Muslims. Likewise, Mawlana Ansari was instrumental in the
formation of the Islamic Missionaries Guild (IMG) in the
Caribbean whose officials were from Trinidad, Guyana and
Suriname.13
In 1969 his lecture on his final visit to Guyana, Islam and
Socialism, drew criticism from the Peoples Progressive party
and its supporters. After his departure, several leading
newspapers published articles condemning his lecture and
political interference. Mawlana Ansaris candour and
assessment of the political realities in the country raised the ire
of Muslim politicians. Nevertheless, the WFIM which was
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founded in 1958 by Mawlana Ansari (discussed in subsequent
sections) maintained its presence despite the campaigns by
local Islamic institutions which challenged the legitimacy of
entrenched customary practices. The graduates of these
institutions had largely studied in the Arab world and thus
they advocated a sunnification14 process which aimed at
purging Islam from syncretic practices. Conflicts were further
exacerbated amidst renewed calls for Muslim solidarity.
However, in the 1970s Guyanese Muslims began a movement
towards greater homogenization and uniformity. This was
made possible y the establishment of Islamic colleges to trains
Imams and the scholarship programmes offered by Muslim
countries for the young Muslim Guyanese. The shift to Arabic
rather than Urdu had far-reaching implications for the
Guyanese Muslims in terms of their new readings of Islamic
thought.
Mawlana Ansaris vision of a holistic Islamic education was
aimed at preparing Islamic missionaries to assume leadership
roles in their respective communities. The establishment of the
Aleemiyah Institute in 1964 in Karachi complemented the
activities of the WFIM. During this formative period, three
Guyanese students Mawlana Siddiq Ahmad Nasir, Mawlana
Rauf Zaman and Mawlana Muhammad Saffee were among the
first graduates of the Aleemiyah Institute.15
112
Trinidad and Tobago

The advent of Islam
The first Muslims to arrive were Africans of the Mandigo tribe
who were captured and brought to work as slaves on the sugar
plantation. Muslim presence in Trinidad was for at least two
hundred years. A community of Mandigo Muslims who had
been captured from Senegal had lived in Port of Spain in the
1830s. They were literate in Arabic and kept their Islamic
identity. There were also Mandigo Muslims among the free
African immigrants who came to the islands beginning from
the 1840s and were uniquely successful in keeping their
language and culture.16
The second group of Muslims to arrive were brought as
indentured labourers mainly from India from 1845 onwards.
Apart from a few limited liberties their conditions were not
dissimilar from the African slaves and they also experienced
the same de-Islamisation pressures. Likewise the Christian
missionary campaign was encouraged by estate owners while
Muslims in turn had to endure much hardship in order to
preserve their Islamic identity. Under these extremely harsh
conditions they managed to build small mosques and imparted
the basic tenets of Islam to their children. At the end of the
contracts many preferred to settle down rather than return to
India.17
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In the decades that followed, Muslims were able to
institutionalize their Islamic beliefs and practices through the
establishment of mosques and Islamic organizations. They
were able to secure the services of ulama from their
homeland and maintain the continuity of their culture and
Islamic teachings in a foreign soil. The Indian Muslims unlike
the African Muslims who were economically disadvantaged
prospered in the economic sector and held key positions in the
government.
Formation of Major Islamic Organisations

By 1926, the first organisation Takwayatul Islamic
Association (TIA) was formed with specific goals of uniting
Muslims. It was the first Muslim organization to be
recognized by the colonial government.18
Another organization, the Anjuman Sunnat-ul-Jamaat
Association (ASJA)19 was officially incorporated in 1935. It is
the largest and most powerful organization in the country. It
has also received official recognition by the government has
represented the Muslim community on official functions as
well. After the declaration of Independence in 1962 the
ASJAs role in the community was boosted as the chief
representative of Islam in Trinidad and Tobago.
The turning point of Islam and transformation of Muslim life
in the country came with the visit of Mawlana Siddiqui in
1950 accompanied by his secretary Mawlana Ansari. The visit
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provided new dimension to the Islamic presence and gave
new meaning to religious obligations, values and cultural
practices.20
There were renewed efforts by Mawlana Siddiqui and
Mawlana Ansari through their lectures and active involvement
to prioritise the importance of Islamic fundamental teachings
and the performance of dhikr as an exercise toward greater
spirituality. Two important books Elementary teaching of
Islam21 and Codification of Islamic Law22 were written by
Mawlana Siddiqui in response to the urgent concern of the
Muslims in the century.
Mawlana Ansaris lecture programmes to Trinidad in 1950
were limited when he accompanied Mawlana Siddiqui. His
only public lecture was delivered to the youth as a result of
which the Central Muslim Youth Organisation of Trinidad and
Tobago (MYO) was formed. The body was active for over a
decade.
Mawlana Ansaris low-key profile during this tablighi tour
was a reflection of his humility and reverence for this mentor.
When asked why he had not given public lectures like
Mawlana Siddiqui he would reply When the sun rises, the
moon fades away. Throughout his life, streaks of egotism and
self-importance were kept in check, and as a true sufi master
his lectures would focus on nurturing the ego in order to
achieve Divine pleasure.23
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One of the major successes of Mawlana Siddiqui, according to
Mawlana Ansari was his address to a multi-religious crowd of
seven thousand people organized by ASJA at the Queens Park
Savannah (Port of Spain). Two notable converts to Islam were
Yusuf Mitchell who was instrumental in drawing up plans for
mosques and Islamic colleges and Muriel Fatima Donana who
later became a Minister in the government. Likewise it would
therefore hardly be surprising that Mawlana Ansaris lectures
would have a lasting impact on non-Muslim intellectuals, in
this particular case, the then Prime Minister of Trinidad, Dr.
Eric Williams.
Indeed, the first Prime Minister and distinguished scholar, Dr.
Eric E. Williams, extended to the Islamic scholar the most
profound respect. When Mawlana Ansari delivered a public
lecture at Woodford Square in September 1960 on Islam and
Western Civilisation and proceeded to expose and to criticize
the godlessness of western materialism, its racial and
economic oppression and moral decadence (while presenting
Islam as an alternative to that world-order), the author of
Capitalism and Slavery (Dr. Williams) not only attended and
sat through the lecture, but also responded with praise for the
speaker. In fact Dr. Williams went onto develop a deep and
abiding respect for Islam.24
Mawlana Ansaris subsequent visit to Trinidad concentrated
on strengthening the tablighi mission under the aegis of
WFIM. The Islamic Missionaries Guild (IMG) was founded
by Mawlana Ansari in 1960. However it did not become active
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until 1962. It was an autonomous body and became a regional
organization with branches and affiliates in all the English
speaking Caribbean islands.25 Its activities included publishing
Islamic literature, hosting lectures, activities included
publishing Islamic literature, hosting lectures, radio and
television programmes, arranging for Islamic scholars to visit
the region on lecture tours and assisting Muslim youth with
scholarships to study Islam abroad, namely Aleemiyah
Institute (Karachi), Madinah University and Al-Azhar
University (Cairo).26
IMG was successful in organising youth camps during the
holidays which were based on the themes of tarbiyat (Islamic
behaviour) and leadership. Likewise it held twenty five
regional conferences during 1950-1990.27
The IMG contributed significantly to the development of the
Muslim communities throughout the Caribbean.28 The
presence of numerous organizations among the Muslims of
Trinidad and Tobago was a reflection of the social awareness
of the community and its ability to engender a collective effort
to shape an Islamic discourse that linked it to the Islamic
world.
World Federation of Islamic Missions (WFIM)

The second world tablighi tour undertaken by Mawlana Ansari
in 1957 focused on the progress made by Islamic
organizations in the various countries he had previously
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visited. The warm welcome Mawlana Ansari received during
this tour could be attributed to his previous visit when he
accompanied Mawlana Siddiqui as his private secretary. His
personal contributions enhanced his popularity as an
outstanding muballigh combined with outstanding scholarship.
As a chief successor of the Qadiriyyah order (silsilah) he was
revered by thousands of people yearning for the spiritual
quest. His visit created a euphoria that mobilized the various
Muslim communities to assume greater responsibilities in
projecting a strong, vibrant Muslim identity.
In our previous examination of specific countries which were
associated with Mawlana Ansaris mission, the lack of
dynamic leadership among Muslims was much in evidence.
Too often self-interest and sectarian prejudice blurred out the
ideals of Mawlana Ansaris tablighi tours. It would thus be an
exaggeration to suggest that Mawlana Ansaris charismatic
personality united the disparate organizations in various
countries under a single centralized body. However, in
response to these rising challenges, Mawlana Ansari founded
the World Federation of Islamic Missions in 1958. It was
established to follow up the missionary efforts of Mawlana
Siddiqui to serve humanity in all parts of the world through
the exposition, propagation and implementation of the
teachings of Islam.29
Its primary aims were to co-ordinate these missions through
pro-active missionaries (muballighs) and provide them with
forceful Islamic literature which would enable them to meet
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the challenges of the modern times. The motivation for the
WFIM was the painful realization of the fact that the Muslim
world in general and Pakistan in particular, by divorcing the
educational system from Islam and placing it under the
guidance and tutelage of the materialistic civilization of the
West had laid the ground for the de-Islamisation of the
Muslim youth.30 In other words, Muslim youth were
alienated from Islam as a result of the dichotomous
educational system prevailing in Muslim countries.
Mawlana Ansari lamented the fact that Muslims lacked the
collective will to give tabligh its rightful place in society. The
defining feature of tabligh was highlighted by the Quran and
Sunnah. This did not imply as Mawlana Ansari argued that
books only had to by written in refutation of the dominant
religious ideologies and cultures. On the contrary, Muslims
were beset with the menace of modernism which advocated
materialism as a criterion of progress. Also theories of
Darwinism and Marxism were gradually embraced by Muslim
youth who believe that Islam was antagonistic to scientific
progress.31
The ominous signs of Muslims being swept away by the
plethora of current ideologies prompted a re-evaluation of
Muslim response by Mawlana Ansari. The WFIM in his view
was one of the effective measures to counteract these deviant
systems.
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In an assessment report provided by Mawlana Ansari in 1971,
the following points emerged:
The five global tours undertaken by Mawlana Ansari
(1949-69) produced positive results. The establishment
of 40 missions across the world affiliated to WFIM in
Karachi was a major success.
There was spiritual re-awakening among Muslims in
the far-flung countries of the world.
The urgency of preparing Pakistani and foreign ulama
to pursue tabligh.
The establishment of a Youth Forum to engage in
Islamic teaching and current matters.
Preparation and publication of Islamic literature in
various languages.
Establishment of the Womens Wing to promote the
mission of WFIM.
Most importantly, the establishment of an Islamic
institution to equip ulama with Islamic and secular
knowledge in order to guide humanity in all walks of
life.32
The WFIM was inseparably linked with the Aleemiyah
institute established in 1964. Thus the objectives of WFIM
were interleaved with the activities of the Aleemiyah Institute
listed above and must be understood in context of Mawlana
Ansaris multi-faceted career.
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Two important aims and objects as enshrined in the WFIM
Constitution reflected the broader mission that Mawlana
Ansari had envisaged:
To work for Islamic unity and solidarity by all means
possible.
To co-operate, without compromising the principles of
Islam, with the followers of other religions and
ideologies for jointly combating the forces of
irreligion, atheism and immorality.33
Unity and solidarity were twin concepts in Mawlana Ansaris
formulation of tabligh. According to him the principles of
unity is an established fact of Islam and of the Islamic way of
life and is reflected through justice and selfless service to
others. Thus unity cannot by maintained unless the principles
of justice are established, such as selfless service to others,
love and goodwill.
To illustrate this point, Mawlana Ansari observed:
When we do anything for the sake of Allah, the ego is
completely annihilated.
Why does disunity come into a community? When the
individual egos are projected, justice cannot be established.
The very name Islam means the annihilation of the ego or
submergence of the ego into the Divine pleasure and it starts
form this point and then gives the principles of justice in clear
terms.
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Likewise Mawlana Ansari maintained that Muslim insularity
could not effectively combat the menace of new ideologies.
Collaborative initiatives combined with forceful literature
resonated in Mawlana Ansaris public lectures during his
world tablighi tours. His pragmatism was echoed in Back to
the Quran, Back to Muhammad (SAW), a refrain that is
elaborated in his Quranic Foundation.34
Third World Tablighi Tour (1960)

Another milestone was reached when Mawlana Ansari
undertook an eight-month tablighi tour to the following
countries: Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan,
Canada, USA, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname,
Britain, Switzerland, Egypt and Jordan.
The follow-up to these countries was aimed at consolidating
the tablighi missions through which a wider constituency
could be reached in order to establish a vibrant Muslim
society. Each country had its own characteristics: changing
political landscapes, exposure to new trends of Islamic
interpretation, and the daunting challenges of materialism
which assumed different outfits in the form of Socialism and
Communism. Mawlana Ansaris tablighi tours set historical
precedents in the countries he visited. For example, Suriname
which enjoyed OIC status aligned itself to the needs of the
Muslim community and ensured that Muslim representation in
policy making would establish economic and political
relationship with the Arab countries in particular. Key figures
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in this transition period included notable Muslim politicians
who were in some way influenced by Mawlana Ansaris
visionary leadership.35
In Philippines, the Islamisation process could be attributed to a
great extent to the indefatigable efforts of Mawlana Ansari.
The following assessment by Ahmed Alonto illustrates
Mawlana Ansaris Islamic influence in the country:
Dr. Ansari visited the Philippines several times over and won
over hosts of disciples to his mission especially among the
Muslim intellectuals who had been educated under western
secular un-Islamic system of education prevalent in the
Philippines.
It is these disciples of Dr. Ansari who have been mainly
responsible for the almost miraculous awakening of the
Muslims in this county and the vigorous Islamic missionary
movements throughout the length and breadth of the
archipelago that has followed in its wake. Islamic institutions
like mosques, centres, madrasahs, schools including modern
universities mushroomed everywhere. Associations, societies
and movements were established culminating in the
establishment of the Ansari-al-Islam movement that has over
half million enrolled and are active members. Their sole
objective is to liberate Islam in the Philippines and their
militant activism in this regard became one of the excuses of
the Philippine regime for the imposition of the imposition of
the Martial rule in this county in 1972.
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The influence of Dr. Ansari over the Muslims of the
Philippines can hardly be overestimated or expressed in
words. At the time he appeared in the bleak Islamic
horizon in the Philippines, the process of de-islamisation of
the Muslim communities and its gradual evangelization to
the various Christian missions, local and foreign was at its
height. Within barely one decade of his historic
intervention there has been a complete reversal of the
trend. The spiritual awakening among the Muslim and its
concomitant effect on the thinking, outlook and behaviour of
the Muslim society is nothing short of miraculous.36
Switzerland which had attracted a steady influx of Muslim
immigrants after the Second World War included a number of
Muslim intellectuals. In fact, many of them were forced into
political exile and settled in Geneva from where they were
able to continue with their dawah efforts unhindered by state
interference. The establishment of the Islamic Centre by Said
Ramadan (d. 1993) son-in-law of the Ikhwans founder, Hasan
al-Banna was one such example who chose Europe for his
Islamic work.37 His contribution to the Islamic intellectual
renaissance had inspired a generation of Islamic scholars to
promote the message of Islam in a country where freedom of
expression and religious movement was not stifled unlike in
Egypt which suppressed all forms of Islamic re-awakening
and propounded Nasserist ideology38 which militated against
Islamic beliefs and practices. The Islamic Centre in Geneva
was a hub of intellectual activities and Mawlana Ansaris
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lectures contributed significantly to the Islamic re-awakening
in the county. His vision of Islam mirrored the message that
Mawlana Ansari stood for. Power is not our objective, what
have we to do with it? Our goal is the love of the Creator; the
fraternity and the justice of Islam.39
Love and concern for the Muslim ummah was central to his
writings and lectures, and like Mawlana Ansari his
pragmatism to Islamic spirituality was endowed with aura that
reflected his devotion to Allah. Tariq Ramadan remarked
about his fathers deep-seated spirituality.
A few months before returning to Allah, he said to me with
the strength of his sad, drowned look: Our profile is one of
spirituality. If a man comes to me about the reforms to be
taken in the Muslim world, about political strategies and of
great geo-strategic plans, my first question to him would by
whether he performed the dawn prayer (fajr) in time.40
The emphasis of spirituality was also reminiscent of Mawlana
Ansaris life. In the solitary hours of the morning he found
solace and encouraged people to fulfill their obligations to
Allah by offering salah with complete devotion before
envisioning ambitious goals of Islamic renaissance.
Egypt
Cairo, the citadel of Islamic culture and civilization served as
a nexus for Islamic scholarship. Its transnational character
shaped by a series of dynastic rule and its pivotal role as a
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transmitter of Islamic traditions over the centuries had
established the city as an important centre of Islamic
learning.41
Al-Azhar, the oldest Muslim university in the world had
played a prominent role in defending Islam and preserving the
classical traditions of Arab-Islamic culture.42 The past
millennium had seen the influential role of Al-Azhar in the
religious and socio-political milieu43 across the Muslim world.
Mawlana Ansaris second visit to Egypt had strengthened his
position as an international scholar of repute. The highlight of
his visit was the warm welcome he received from the Minister
of Awqaf, Abdullah Tuwama. His lectures in several notable
mosques in Cairo and public addresses had central theme:
unconditional devotion to Allah and His Holy Prophet (SAW).
At the function held at Shepard Hotel, Mawlana Ansari stated
that transcending all other obligations and duties was the
need for man to love Allah above all things and after Him
to give love to the Holy Prophet (SAW) and to extend
Allahs love on the earth.44
Mawlana Ansaris cordial relationship with two eminent
scholars revealed two facets of his multi-dimensional career.
Shaykh Muhammad Mahmud Alwan, a sufi master was
considered an authoritative voice of tasawwuf 45 in Egypt.
Their mutual respect and exchange of ideas on tasawwuf in
many ways reaffirmed Mawlana Ansaris status as a sufi
shaykh.
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Shaykh Mahmud Shaltuts admiration of Mawlana Ansaris
intellectual contribution to Islamic re-awakening in the
Muslim world indicated a special bond between them.
However it must be pointed out that Shaykh Shaltut, the then
the Rector of Al-Azhar, pursued his work of Islamic reform on
specific issues, often controversial, which were opposed by
the ulama in general.46 Remember, his pioneering
contribution Islamic revivalist thought has shaped the Islamic
discourse in the Arab world.
Fourth World Tablighi Tour (1964)

Before we undertake to discuss the fourth world tablighi tour
of Mawlana Ansari, two points need to be kept in mind.
Firstly, Mawlana Ansaris tablighi mission co-incided with the
establishment of the Aleemiyah Institute and therefore an
overlapping of activities is evident. Secondly, he devoted
considerable energies to expand the scope of his tablighi
activities in Africa through scholarships for African students
to be enrolled at the Aleemiyah Institute.
The following assessment by Mawlana Ansari of the
missionary (tablighi) movement in Africa also sheds light on
the practical course of action he adopted to address the plight
of Muslims in the continent.47
Mawlana Ansari adopted a three-pronged strategy for the
propagation of Islam in Africa:
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Dissemination of Islamic literature in regional
languages.
Co-ordinating tablighi efforts with other Islamic
organizations.
Providing modern education in regions where Muslims
constitute a majority with marginal political
influence.48
It must be noted the strategies incorporated in the Aleemiyah
Institutes plan of action were gradually introduced; thus there
was no rapid increase in student enrolment to effectively
implement these strategies.
The fourth world tablighi tour which took Mawlana Ansari to
counties like United Kingdom, Germany, Trinidad, Suriname,
West Indies, USA, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong etc. lasted for
three months. Apart from the conversion of important
Christian personalities in several countries he visited, his
inspirational lectures added a new purpose and meaning to the
Muslim audience.49 His prolonged stay in Trinidad and
Tobago gives an overview of his important contributions to
the reform of Muslim society. The establishment of mosques
and Islamic centres were forums through which the message
of Islam could be translated into action. Mawlana Ansaris
impassioned appeal for unity among divergent organizations
yielded positive results through their pledges to address the
unity call made by him. Furthermore his meetings with
leading Muslim personalities and non-Muslim cabinet
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members gave him opportunities to advance the cause of his
tablighi efforts.
The following report is a synopsis of his successful tablighi
mission:
Trinidad
During his visit to Trinidad Mawlana Ansari addressed
mammoth public meetings in various cities and town under
the auspices of ASJA and Islamic Missionaries Guild. He laid
the foundation stone of several mosques with the following
message:
The Mosque is symbolically called the House of Allah and
the most important attribute of Allah is unity.
Mawlana Ansari was categorical in his criticism of sectarian
bias and the establishment of mosques along ideological lines.
He also urged Muslims to build up a life of taqwa (Allahconsciousness) which was the harbinger of moral values and
conduct.
San Fernando
Addressing a packed gathering at Naparima Bowl, San
Fernando, on the occasion of the Holy Prophet (SAW)s
birthday celebrations, Mawlana Ansari said that everything in
the universe was Muslim because it is created so. He
explained that A Muslim is he who submits his will to
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Allah. He appealed to all Muslims to hate evil but not the
evil-doers. He said that there was not a single aspect of human
life, not a single problem of humanity found today which had
not been dealt with by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW),
who lived all his life for the cause of humanity. He related
some of the difficulties which confronted the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) and how he overcame them.
Port of Spain
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was the inaugurator of
modern scientific era although he was born in a country with
no scientific enlightenment, said Mawlana Ansari delivering
an illuminating lecture on the occasion of the Holy Prophets
(SAW) birthday function at the Port of Spain Town Hall.
Mawlana Ansari added that the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(SAW) was born in an age of perpetual darkness but some of
his theories were being adopted in modern science. When one
tried to find out who was the personality behind the era
through whom man has advanced phenomenally there is no
other personality than that of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(SAW).
Barbados
Speaking at the Barbados College of Arts and Science on The
Place of Islam in the World History Mawlana Ansari said
that Islam had laid down an economic system that combined
the best features of Capitalism and Socialism. But the evils of
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Marxism found no part of the Islamic philosophy. He was
invited to lecture on the above subject to the Guild of
undergraduates of the College.
Mawlana Ansari also dealt with Islams contribution on the
spiritual, ethical, sociological, economic and political planes.
He emphasized the fact that Muslims regarded Allah as one
and indivisible, and consequently regarded the universe as one
and indivisible. There was therefore no room in Islam for
discrimination based on race or colour or other grounds.
Referring to recent attempts to penetrate the secrets of space,
Mawlana Ansari said that such attempts were not contrary to
the teachings of the Holy Quran which specifically enjoined
Muslims to try to penetrate those secrets but acting under the
guidance of Allah.
Touching on democracy, he said, Democracy as we know it
today was unknown to the world until the advent of Islam. It
means government through Allah by the people for the people.
You can rule other people only as trustees of Allah.50
Towards Unity in the Ummah

A Muslim Advisory Council for Trinidad and Tobago mooted
by Mawlana Ansari was constituted. The Council was
mandated to represent the Muslim community in all aspects
affecting their collective life. It would liaise with the Council
of ulama in Pakistan under the guidance of Mawlana Ansari.
Organisations and committees across the country endorsed the
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formation of the Council which was a major step towards the
unity of the Muslim community. The initiative was a laudable
effort taken by Mawlana Ansari to forge close ties and cooperation among the various organizations.51
However dissenting voices compounded by sectarian bigotry
thwarted the efficient functioning of the Council and thus
Mawlana Ansaris efforts achieved limited success. During
this visit in 1964 Mawlana Ansari was appointed the Shaykhal-Islam of Trinidad and Tobago. This position uniquely
associated with the Muslims of the country illustrated the
primacy of religious authority which governed and shaped
their corporate Islamic identity. The honorific title conferred
on Mawlana Ansari was also a testimony of his high-profile
contributions in this country.52 He occupied this office until
his death in 1974.
Connected with ulama, the title Shaykh-ul-Islam assumed a
precise and more formal meaning during the Ottoman period.
In the Ottoman system, the Shaykh-al-Islam related not only
to legal and religious issues but to questions of state policy.
He also served as a key adviser to the Sultan on political
matters and thus wielded considerable influence on decision
making as well. However by the nineteenth century, this
position fell victim of the secularizing and reformist policies
and was eventually abolished by the nationalist regime of
Kemal Ataturk (d. 1938).53
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Mawlana Ansari devoted his time to conduct courses on
Islamic beliefs and teachings with the sole aim of projecting
the message of Islam in its pristine purity. Delivering the first
in a series of lectures in the Islamic training course, Mawlana
Ansari said that there were many posers in Islam who
distorted the message of Islam. As there was no conflict
between the internal and external dimensions of Islam, he
urged Muslims to internalize the external laws in order to
obtain Divine Pleasure.
In his farewell function Mawlana Ansari expressed deep
concern about the future of the Muslim youth who in his view
had the potential to consolidate the message of Islam.54
Mawlana Ansaris visit to Trinidad and Tobago had a direct
bearing on the need for religious tolerance and leading a
righteous life that would earn Divine pleasure. He also
exhorted the Muslim community to combat the menace of
irreligiosity and immorality spawned by socio-political
developments in the country. Muslims were not immune to
these negative influences which threatened to erode the fabric
of the Muslim society.
Mawlana Ansaris singular contributions were acknowledged
by the ASJA in the following words:
Our association in Trinidad and Tobago with the late Dr.
Ansari started in 1950 when he accompanied our late Patron,
the world renowned missionary, H.E. Mawlana Abdul Aleem
Siddiqui on a round-the-world tour which included our
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country. After the death of Mawlana Siddiqui, the late Dr.
Ansari continued to pay regular visits to our country, giving
public lectures, conducting courses and advising on matters
relating to Islam. During these visits Dr. Ansari not only
endeared himself to the hearts of Muslims in our county, but
he was also responsible for the re-kindling of Islam in the
hearts of thousands of Muslims. He earned our respect for his
depth of knowledge not only of Islam but also in the field of
secular education.
Perhaps Dr. Ansaris greatest ambition was to establish an
Islamic institute for the training of missionaries who would be
able to propagate Islam in a Western society. That dream was
fulfilled with the establishment of the Aleemiyah Institute of
Islamic Studies, and we are happy to have been associated
with that project from its inception.55
Fifth World Tablighi Tour (1969)

Venezuela
Islam was introduced in Venezuela (South America) by Arab
immigrants in the first half of the twentieth century. The
statistics in 1960 showed a Muslim population of 40,000
Spanish-speaking Muslims largely of Lebanese and
Palestinian origin.56 No formal Islamic institutions existed for
the Arab immigrants although scholars form Al-Azhar were
responsible in many ways to consolidate the fledgling Muslim
community by catering to their Islamic needs.
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Mawlana Ansaris visit to Venezuela was considered a
landmark event in the history of the Muslims of this country.
He empowered the Islamic minded into religious activity and
gave them orientation to pursue the Islamic ideals even living
as a minority in the country. At a meeting in Caracas he
together with prominent intellectuals of the community
formed the Venezuelan Islamic Mission, which would
function as a branch of WFIM. The Missions first task was to
publish Islamic literature in Spanish.57 The interest in Islam
among non-Muslim Spanish youth resulted in a number of
conversions at the hands of Mawlana Ansari.
Suriname
As in his previous visit in 1957 Mawlana Ansaris
contributions included the establishment of Muslim
educational
institutions,
hospitals,
orphanages
etc.
Subsequently the first education institution, Dr. F.R. Ansari
High School was named after him in Paramaribo. In
recognition of his sterling service he was conferred the title of
Shaykh-al-Islam and patron of the Suriname Muslim
Association. This visit had a two-fold purpose:
To expound Islam as a progressive ideology which is
compatible with modern times.
Establishment of the Womens Islamic Guild to
empower Muslim women to participate in mainstream
Islamic activities.
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The importance of Islamic literature in the Dutch language
was emphasized by Mawlana Ansari in order to disseminate
the message of Islam on a wider scale.
West Indies and Guyana

Mawlana Ansaris last visit to Trinidad marked another
milestone for Muslims. In his more than fifty lectures to the
Muslims all over the island he directed their attention to two
important issues unity and progress which were embodied in
the Quranic message. His dynamic and revolutionary
exposition of Islam presented to a cosmopolitan audience
received critical acclaim in the media. His public lecture The
Tragedy of the Modern Age at the Port of Spain Town Hall
signposted Islam as the balanced and most dynamic ideology
which has the panacea for all human ills.58
In Guyana apart from his multifarious activities, he delivered
his historic lecture at the City Hall, Georgetown, expounding
the Islamic ideology in relation to philosophical materialism
and scientific materialism.59
His concern for Muslim educational upliftment in Guyana saw
the establishment of the Muslim Girls High School which he
inaugurated in collaboration with the Muslim Ladies
Association of Guyana.60
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United States of America

The thrust of Mawlana Ansaris lectures in several cities of
USA was Islams unique role in the Modern Age and its
civilisational influence on the West. His meetings with
academics form Harvard and Boson universities opened up
meaningful dialogues on Islams encounter with the West and
the prospects of intellectual collaboration with Muslim
institutions. His public lecture on the Role of Islam in the
Modern Age at the Islamic Centre in Washington to a
cosmopolitan audience received appreciable comments as
observed by its director, Dr. Abdur Rauf. At the Community
Church Hal in New York, Mawlana Ansaris illuminating
address on Islams Contribution to Civilisation was a poignant
reminder that rapprochement between Islam and the West61
was expected to at least acknowledge Islams major
contributions for meaningful dialogue to take place.
Mawlana Ansaris profile as sufi master was evident when he
addressed an audience at the Islamic Mission of America
(Brooklyn) on Islamic Spiritual Dynamics after which a
number of persons joined the Qadiriyyah order.
During the 1960s the Afro-American Muslim community was
on a threshold of searching for markers of Islamic
authenticity. Mawlana Ansaris comments on their
interpretation of Islamic spirituality are revealing:
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In New York, I had the opportunity of addressing a group of
new converts to Islam. As I entered the hall, I thought that all
the people present were villagers from Pakistan. I could never
dream that the Afro-Americans could dress and behave like
that. I inquired from the chairman and he confirmed that they
were all Americans and none were imported from Pakistan.
After the lecture I invited all those people to me and asked
them to explain why they were wearing that type of dress.
They replied that it was the symbol of piety. They said that
great Islamic workers came there and taught them that if they
wanted to be really good Muslims in the eyes of Allah, they
should wear a triangular pyjamas, the quadrangular kurta and
the hexagonal cap!
It took me a long time to convince them that they were
committing a crime by wearing that dress in America. Firstly,
no dress has been prescribed by the Holy Prophet (SAW). He
only prescribed rules of decency about dress. Secondly, if you
wear this strange type of dress then you are a walking
propaganda against Islam among the Americans. If the
condition to become a Muslim is to wear these clothes then
the other Americans would refuse to become Muslim.
The problem is not unsolvable. If we go to the Quran and
Hadith, well find that many things we think are compulsory
are in fact not compulsory. Islam is a universal religion, which
has come for all ages. Students of sociology know that the
cultural pattern changes with the industrial pattern. The
change in the cultural pattern leads to a change in the
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psychological pattern. The Holy Prophet (SAW) was aware of
all that. He did not give this type of religious outlook that we
have developed. It is we who are responsible for it.62
Canada
Mawlana Ansari toured Canada for the fifth time in his fifth
world tablighi tour. The highlights of his visit were based on
the relevance of Islam in modern society and Muslim
commitment to building a dynamic Islamic society in the
country.
Some of the lectures are mentioned to give an overview of
Mawlana Ansaris formulation of dynamic orthodoxy (which
is discussed in subsequent chapters).
Foundation & Structure of the Islamic community:
Islamic Centre of Quebec.
Philosophical Bases of Islamic civilization: Carleton
University (Ottowa).
Islam Its Past, Present and Future Islamic Centre:
Toronto.
Why the World needs Islam: Islamic Centre of
Edmonton.63
Japan
Islams relation with Japan is quite recent as compared to
other countries around the world. There are no documentary
records to suggest Islams coming into Japan through dawah
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work except for some isolated cases of individual efforts by
Japanese and Muslims of other countries before 1866.64 The
first Japanese Muslim was Omar Yamaoka who played a
pioneering role in the dissemination of Islam in the country.
With the establishment of the Tokyo Mosque in 1938 a
fledgling Muslim community of Japanese and foreign
nationals was established.
The Islamic contributions of Umar Mita (d. 1984) are closely
associated with the growth and development of the Muslim
presence in the country. As the second President of the
Japanese Muslim Association, he was responsible for the
publication of Islamic literature that was compatible with the
Japanese temperament. His lasting contribution is the
translation of the Quran into Japanese language.65 Haji Umar
Mitas assessment of the Japanese outlook on life has a
historical context in order to appreciate the series of lectures
delivered by Mawlana Ansari in Tokyo: He says:
The majority of our people are, Buddhists, but they are
Buddhists in name only. They are not practicing Buddhists
and actually they are almost unmindful of their religion. The
main reason for this apathetic attitude may be due to the fact
that Buddhism presents a high-sounding and complicated
philosophy and gives nothing practical. It is thus beyond the
reach of the average person who remains busy with the
problems of this worldly life. He cannot understand it nor can
he implement it. It is not so with Islam. The teachings of Islam
are simple, straight-forward and quite practical. They govern
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all the departments of human life. They mould the thinking of
man and when once the thinking becomes pure, pure actions
will follow spontaneously. The teachings of Islam are so
simple, easy and practical that everyone can understand it.
Knowledge of Islam is not the monopoly of the priests as is
the case in other religions.
If Islam is to succeed in Japan, as I am sure it will, all Islamloving people should think over the problem and make sincere
and concentrated efforts on this behalf. Such Muslims are true
believers and whose lives can be an example to others, should
visit Japan and teach the people here. Our people are thirsty
for peace, truth, honesty, sincerity, virtue and all that is good
in life, and I am confident that Islam and Islam alone can
quench their thirst.66Mawlana Ansaris critique of Buddhism
is a re-affirmation of Umar Mitas assessment of the features
that inhibit the development of a balanced personality as
presented by Islam.67
Conclusion
Mawlana Ansaris tablighi tours reinforced the need for an
educational institution that would cater for the aspirations of
Muslim communities he visited. The Aleemiyah Institute was
established to strengthen Islamic ties with Muslims in the
countries he visited and offered a dynamic curriculum of
Islamic education that would sustain the efforts of tabligh by
graduates of the Institution.
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REFERENCES
1. Raymond Chickrie, Muslims in Suriname Facing Triumphs
and Challenges in a Plural Society, in Journal of Muslim
Minority Affairs, Vol.31, No.1, 79
2. Ibid., 82, 94-5
3. Ibid., 84-88
4. For a critique on Qadianism see Qadri, Azim Muballigh-iIslam, 46-54
5. Chickrie, Surinamese Muslims in Plural Society, 66
6. Ali, Ansari Hayat wa Khidmat, 28-9
7. M.J. Amirkhan, Hiss Eminence Visits to South America, in
The Muslim Digest, November, 1960, 16-17
8. Ibid.,
9. Dewlat Budhram, Muslim Participation In the
Manifestering Sector of Guyana, in Journal Institute of
Muslim Minority Affairs, 1982, Vol. iv, 195
10. Raymond Chickrie, Muslims in Guyana: History,
Traditions, Conflict and Change, in Journal of Muslim
Minority
Affairs,
Oct
1999,
Issue
2,
18
http://www.islamawareness.net/Caribbean/Guyana/guyanes
e muslim.html., 2
11. Ibid., 4
12. Ibid., 10
13. Ahmad Hamid, Guyana: The Story of Four Moulanas
(1937-1968), 3
14. Chickrie, Muslims in Guyana, 7
15. Hamid, Guyana 3
16. Omar Kasule, Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago, in Journal:
Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, January 1986, 2-3
17. Ibid.,
122

18. Aziza Javed, A History of Islamic Groups in Trinidad, The
Revolutionary Sept/Oct 2012,7
19. The growth and development of the ASJA as a supreme
body of Muslim Affairs is discussed in the following
articles.
a. Kasule, Muslims in Trinidad, 5-6
b. Javed, A History of Islamic Groups, 7-11
20. Pamphlet: ASJAs Spiritual Development (n.d.)
21. Siddiqui, The Elementary Teachings of Islam (Karachi,
WFIM, n.d)
22. Siddiqui, The Codification of Islamic Law, (Karachi,
WFIM, 2004)
23. Information supplied by Zainol Khan, Trinidad, 20:02:2012
Editor of ASJA Newsletter and an influential figure in
Muslim community affairs of Trinidad
24. Pamphlet: In Remembrance of Mawlana Ansari (n.d.)
25. Kasule, Muslims in Trinidad, 4-5
26. J. Ali, Muslims in the Caribbean Towards Increased CoOrdination and Integration, in Journal of Islamic Institute of
Muslim Minority Affairs, February, 2005.
27. Kasule, Muslims in Trinidad, 5
28. Javed has highlighted the conflictual relationship between
ASJA and IMG on Islamic authenticity in Trinidad. ASJA
accused IMG of pursuing a Wahhabi orientation of Islam
which the latter refuted. Javed, A History of Muslim
Organisations 11
29. The Minaret, Jan, Feb, 1984, 18
30. Ibid., 19
31. Siddiqui, The Roving Ambassador of Islam, 46
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32. The summary is based on the Graduation Convocation held
at Aleemiyyah Institute in 1971. Cited in Ali, Ansari,
Hayat wa Khidmat, 44-51
33. World Federation of Islamic Missions Constitution, 3
34. Ansari, Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim
Society, 21-8
35. Ali, Ansari Hayat wa Khidmat, 27-9
36. The Minaret, 1984, 27
37. A biographical sketch is included in Tariq Ramadans
Islam, The West and the Challenges of Modernity
(Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 2001), vii-xvi
38. A plethora of writings has been published on Nasserist
ideology euphemistically labeled as Egyptian socialism.
39. Ramadan, Islam the West xiii
40. Ibid.,
41. For a detailed of Muslim conquests of Egypt, se Philip Hitti,
History of the Arabs (London, Macmillan Educated Ltd,
1986)
42. Yunus Gilani, The Socio-Political Role of the Ulama in
Egypt (1798-1870), (New Delhi, Adam Publishers, 2007),
7-26
43. Donald Reid, Al-Azhar, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the
Modern Islamic World, Vol. 1, 168-71
44. Muhammad Awad, His Eminence Visits Cairo, in The
Muslim Digest, Aught 1960, 20-1
45. Ibid., 22
46. Zebiri, Mahmud Shaltut and Islamic Modernism, 107-23
47. Ansari, Missionary Movement in Africa, in The Minaret,
1964, 1-2
48. Siddiqui, The Roving Ambassador of Islam, 72-3
49. Ibid., 79
122

50. The Minaret, 19664, 21-3 (summarized version)
51. Ibid., 27-2
52. The letterhead of the ASJA of 1964 listed Mawlana Ansari
as the Patron and Chief Shekh-ul-Islam of Trinidad and
Tobago
53. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World,
Vol. 4, 54
54. The Minaret, 1964, 28-9
55. Abdul Sattar, A Tribute form the Anjuman Sunnat-ulJamaat Association, in The Minaret, 1984, 58
56. Muhammad Samiullah Meaning and Significance of
Dawah ila Allah (Islamabad, Islamic Research Institute,
1985), 120
57. The Minaret, 1969, 1-2
58. Ibid.,
59. A critique of the Marxist ideology is found in Ansaris
Islam versus Marxism
60. Ahmad Hamid, Guyana: The Story of Four Moulanas (n.d.),
3
61. Akbar Ahmeds critical study of the global impact of the
West especially in the Muslim world is examined in his
Postmodernism and Islam (London, Routledge, 1992)
62. Mohamed, Islam to the Modern Mind, 167
63. The Minaret, 1969, 5
64. For example in 1890 Ottoman Turkey dispatched a naval
vessel to Japan for the purpose of starting diplomatic
relation with Japan and also introducing Islam to the
Japanese people:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Asia/Japan/history.html.
Islam in Japan: The History of Islam in Japan
123

65. A detailed account of Haji Umar Mitas Islamic
contributions is published in Islamic Culture Forum, Feb.
1975 (Tokyo, Islamic Culture Centre)
66. Samiullah, The Meaning and Significance, 171-2
67. See Ansari, Which Religion, 9-10
122
Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari

Al-Qaderi
Sarfraz Sabri
Principal Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies
Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari Al Qaderi

was born in 1914 in a well-known family in the district of
Muzaffar Nagar, India). His father, Allama Khalil Ahmed
Ansari, known for his learning and piety was highly respected
in the locality.
The young Fazl-ur-Rahman learnt the Holy Quran by heart at
the age of only six. Then he joined the Madrassa Islamia
Meerat for Arabic and religious education. In 1933, he joined
the Aligarh Muslim University Here, he received gold medal
in B.A. B.Sc. (Combined). In the meantime he came in contact
with an eminent scholar Maulana Shah Abdul Aleem Siddiqui
(RA) who was highly impressed with his sincerity, talent,
intelligence and conscientiousness. This was the turning point
in his life.
Due to various reasons, the Muslims throughout the world
became politically disorganized, economically dependent and
educationally backward. All the symptoms of weak and
degenerated personality set in and political slavery
undermined the character and the spirit of Islam among the
Muslims. Ignorance, poverty, lack of religious dedication and
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degeneration in all aspects of life went on increasing. Dr.
Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari Al Qaderi, sensed
the gravity of the state of affairs as he was directly attached
with the prevailing conditions of his time. He diagnosed the
ailment, interpreted the symptoms, prescribed the remedy and
its dosage and taught how to execute it. He set the evil
thinking right, removed the obstacle in the free movement of
Muslim thoughts, provided a goal to make the action possible,
and used his magical vehicle of expression as a shock therapy
to inspire the people to the achievement of the end. All great
thinkers and reformers seriously and effectively reflect on the
existing conditions, with reference to the past, with a view of
decorating the future. Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman
Ansari Al Qaderi likewise had to fight against inactivity,
against shallow rationalism and western culture which had
created a sense of inferiority among the Muslims.
The greatest achievement of Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-urRahman Ansari Al Qaderi was the establishment of Jamia
Aleemiyah Islamiyah also known as the Islamic Centre which
became the pioneer in the field of Religious Education as well
as modern sciences. He attracted around him a large number
of talented scholars who carried on with the mission of his
beloved teacher, ideal role model and spiritual leader
(Murshid), Shah Abdul Aleem Siddiqui RA, with endless zeal.
This institution of learning founded in 1958 continues to
spread its light throughout the World since the last 58 years of
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its existence and has published some outstanding works on
diverse branches of knowledge.
Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari Al Qaderi
dedicated his life to the services of Islam, educating Muslims
and writing books which inspired an entire generation. He was
a prolific writer who wrote books on Islam, Comparative
religion, Islamic Sociology and proved the authenticity of
Islam by science and philosophy. His first book was "Beacon
Light", in English Language in 1932. His classical written
work was the "The Quranic Foundation and Structure of
Muslim Society in two volumes which has hardly any
parallel in English Language of the world. This was an
outstanding work and which has made great impression on the
western scholars.
His articles published in The Minaret and other religious
Journals are building the sublimity of thought and rationality
of expression are living evidence to his mastery over the
language.
The brutal persecution of the Muslims in Africa by the French
Army and Christians community compelled him to visit the
African Countries where he raised voice against this brutality
and tried to re-unite Muslims which were divided in to Arabs
and Berbers. Where he was immensely needed for guiding the
framing of a truly Islamic constitution. And by his speeches,
writings, and exemplary characters he presented Islam, that is
a religion and a system covering all fields of life. Islam
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means politics, economics, legislation, science, health,
psychology and sociology. It is a system which makes no
discrimination on the basis of race, color, language or other
external categories. Its appeal is, to all mankind. It wants to
reach the heart of every human being."
His death was mourned throughout the world of Islam and the
loss of this great scholar, philosopher, and religious writer was
universally acknowledged especially in African countries. His
death created a great void in the Muslim of Africa. He was a
great man. He was the example of humility and simplicity. He
was modest and never took pride in his greatness.
In the end I would like to congratulate Dr. Umair Mahmood
Siddiqui, young, energetic well known scholar and famous
writer and debater who is doing research work on the
personality of Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari
Al Qaderi (RA) since last few years. And presenting the true
picture of Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari Al
Qaderi (RA) and had uncovered his shining writings and
words which were lying under heavy dust. Moreover he has
discovered the glorious aspects of his life which were
unfamiliar to us. This is a remarkable achievement of
Dr.Umair. Because Dr. Ansari was such a kind of person
whoes every word and letter was unique, which has a great
message and lesson for the revival of Islamic teachings for the
young generations who has gone astray. May Allah bless Dr.
Umair Mahmood Siddiqui with bounty of blessings in his
knowledge and increase his wisdom.
122
Dr.Ansari and the Challenge of

Modern Age
Dr.Habib-ur-Rahman
Director General
(SEERAT RESEARCH CENTRE KARACHI PAKISTAN)
Muslims, from East and West in the 21
st
Century, are
passing through a very critical stage of their history. Muslims
have already proven that they are very hard enough to face any
threat posed to them in the past by their rival forces. It is
happening ever since the advent of Islam. The following brief
descriptive sketch will show the tragic incidents Muslims had
to go through over past fourteen hundred years.
(1)The very first and disastrous blow to their entity was the
merciless and tragic incident of the martyrdom of the third
Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Usman (r a) at the hands of rebels in
the holy city of Madina tul Munawwarah. It shook the
established unity of Muslim Ummah for the first time that was
maintained firmly by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
and his first two successors during their caliphate.
(2) The second disastrous event was the first civil war between
two factions of Muslims led by Hazrat Aisha (ra) and Hazrat
Ali(ra) respectively.It is well known as battle of Jamal
(Camel) that was further followed by another battle between
Hazrat Ali (ra) and Hazrat Ameer Muawiyah( r a) known as
battle of Siffain . This string of mutual atrocities reached to
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the climax in the heart rending incident of Karbala when the
grandson of Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was brutally
assassinated along with his family members at the hands of the
army of the then self declared caliph of the Muslim
community, Yazid. This event shuddered the very foundations
of Muslim fraternity which remained a hallmark of Muslim
community despite all differences from its very inception.
(3) Keeping aside many other events, the most fatal
destruction of Muslim civilization at the hands of
Mongols(Tatar) took place in the 12th century who besides
smashing Muslim military might also annihilated Muslim
intellectual development without any discrimination between
dos and do nots. The scholarly achievements of Muslim
scholars, scientists, philosophers, theologians etc were reduced
to nothing. The whole stock of variety of literature was thrown
into the river Euphrates and Tigris in a huge quantity which
turned the pure and crystal clear water of both the rivers in
dark black contaminated syrup.
(4) The downfall of Muslim empire in Spain was also a
horrible situation when Muslims of Spain lost their great and
splendid empire and rule over a large part of Europe. Muslim
civilization that had gained its deep roots in the western soil
due to remarkable endeavors by Muslims in every discipline
and profession had been thrown away by the Christian
conquerors. Muslim minority was forced either to convert to
Christianity or to exile. Thus centuries long Muslim
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dominance and their great empire was devastated and thus
only remnants of its past glory left behind.
(5) The Great Mughal Empire in Indian Sub-Continent
remained one of the most powerful Muslim monarchies for
almost a thousand years. It also contributed generously in
more or less every aspect of human progress. Education, arts
& crafts, civil engineering, public administration, language,
literature, music, religious institutions, welfare work, interfaith
dialogue, religious co-existence were the salient features of
Muslim Mughal Empire.
Muslim Monarchs without any discrimination permitted East
India Company to launch their trade and business activities
without any interruption by the local people and monarchs. So
it was this relaxation which was exploited by the British
Company to gain its evil designs. No doubt Muslim Rulers
had many short comings that could accelerate the down fall of
Muslim Civilization in India and naturally it could result into
what it ought to plunge. After all, Muslims of the sub
continent had their pride in their Muslim sovereignty as to be
the best protector of their faith, culture, and civilization. The
fall of the once- mighty Mughal Empire was a serious blow to
the Muslim status world over.
(6) In 1922 the Turkish Muslim Caliph Sultan Muslim VI was
deprived of political power and the highly esteemed institution
of caliphate was abolished by Kemal Atta Turk with the help
of Western powers. It was again great tragedy for the Muslims
122

to suffer from the collapse of the symbol of custodianship of
Muslim unity. The abolishment of caliphate was mourned
large and wide by Muslims. Muslims felt as if their earthly
guardian was brutally wiped out.
In this historical context we find that Muslims maintained to
survive and put up a very tough resistance to these accidents
and incidents. Whenever they suffered from any defeat at one
side, they emerged successful on other fronts.These defeats
and losses naturally destroyed their political, financial,
military and administrative structure but Muslims survived all
these quakes and shocks calmly. What is observed that despite
defeat in the aforesaid fronts, Muslims managed to preserve
their faith, religious , spiritual, social, educational, political,
economic, institutional structure etc. Muslims also succeeded
to maintain their individual and collective morality and
character. No one could destroy their family life nor could
their social fabric be shattered.
But the scenario has completely changed in the 20th &21st
century. The dominance of western atheistic civilization has
deeply influenced Muslim Ummah. As a result of western
supremacy over the Muslim individuals, societies and
governments, every passing day brings a new challenge to the
Muslim world today. Now the nature of the crisis is all
embracing. Western civilization has posed a precarious
menace to the Muslim population and their Islamic identity at
all levels which has sneaked into our institutions, educational
centers, houses, monasteries and even in Masajid (Muslim
122

worshipping places). Western civilization has overwhelming
influence on every single aspect of human life.
With special reference to Muslim societies, dominant western
powers have their own agenda to implement. Their evil design
is the conspiracy not against the Muslim world alone but
against their own people too. Some misguided atheist thinkers
and philosophers of the west have changed the entire religious
affinity of westerns. Although People in the west had firm
faith in the distorted form of Christianity but still they had
close attachment with their creator one way or the other.
Church going, daily and weekly prayers, Biblical recitation,
Remembering Almighty Allah, respect and reverence for
saintly and Godly people, admiration for worship, striving for
Gods love was the common attitude and practices of the
westerners before the renaissance. As a result of anti-religious
and materialistic approach of philosophers and intellectuals
teachings, people believed and started thinking that they do
not need any Divine guidance and revealed scriptures because
they are no longer sufficient to meet their needs and
necessities for progress and material prosperity in the age of
reason, science and technology.
The criterion of good and evil was completely changed from
divine to human reasoning which is undoubtedly subject to
err. Messengers of God and Revealed scriptures were replaced
with godless thinkers and intellectuals and their bogus
thoughts and ideas.
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The great tragedy with the Muslim societies during this age
was that they could not produce great thinkers and
philosophers who could understand the western philosophy
with all its roots and dynamics i.e, epistemology, ontology and
cosmology to such an extent to devise a counter strategy and
its feasibility to be implemented positively and successfully
both in the Muslim and non Muslim worlds. In the 20th
century some individuals among Muslims did rise to shine
over the scholarly firmament of the world and leave behind
their intellectual and scholarly legacy to take benefit from and
give response to the modern challenges. Almighty Allah
conferred upon these luminaries knowledge, wisdom and
insight that could see into the future with their strong spiritual
standing. They were well equipped with both classical Islamic
theology and modern natural and social sciences. .
Dr. Fazlur Rehman Ansari Al Qadri (r a) is among those very
few sage scholars whose versatile and vibrant personality is
highly regarded in the scholarly circles of 20th century. He
contributed as an Aalim e Din, religious and spiritual leader,
theologian, thinker, philosopher, preacher, teacher, author,
orator and journalist for the Revival of Muslim Ummah. He
deplored the stagnation and regression of Muslim Ummah in
his age and tried to point out the intensity of the grave
situation in these words I wish to emphasize here that this
hydra-headed monster of materialism is a real challenge for all
those who believe.(I) Dr Ansari seems to be so worried about
this matter that he was compelled to say, The challenge is not
122

an ordinary challenge. Most of us are still asleep(2) the reason
is our deterioration in almost every field specially in the realm
of knowledge and research. He says the theory of the
pendulum clock is an example of regression of the Muslim
community. When the Abbasid caliph sent his first delegation
to Europe, he sent a pendulum clock, first made by a Muslim
in Syria, as gift to the Emperor Charlemagne,. When the clock
was presented to Charlemagne, his advisor said, These
Muslims are very clever, they have put a ghost inside it and
this is going to cause great damage to us. But, the situation is
reversed in the nineteenth century. When the Bedouins used to
rob the pilgrim, they would find a clock in the dead persons
pocket, listen to it, throw it on the ground and shouted it is a
devil!(3)
Dr. Ansari (r a) was not critical to western civilization because
he had just developed an interest for condemning it to reflect
his sound faith in Islam. He, for this purpose, had deep
knowledge, extensive study, philosophical approach and very
wide travelling experience, practical observation of the
matters and personal interaction with the western thinkers,
intellectuals and elites. He therefore has accurately expressed
his views regarding the nature and philosophy of western
civilization the philosophy of modern civilization is atheistic
and materialistic in the realm of belief; sensualistic and
hedonistic in the domain of morality; exploitative in the field
of economics and expedient in the political arena.(4) He was
well aware of the fact that modern western civilization has
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different manifestations and titles like materialism, capitalism,
communism etc but their nature is one and the same. He says,
this modern civilization has branched into two camps,
namely; philosophical materialism or capitalism and scientific
materialism or communism. Do not be fooled by the
difference in terminology, both ideologies are materialistic
through and through. (5)
This very nature of the western materialistic civilization was
further elaborated by Dr Ansari(ra) may I add that this
modern materialistic philosophy preaches in the realm of
metaphysics, it is uncompromising materialism. In the field of
ethics or morals, this materialistic philosophy of life stands
outright as hedonism (soft pleasure) and utilitarianism (actions
being judged right because they are useful). In the field of
psychology it stands for behaviouristic psychology or
mechanistic psychology, wherein all those values for which
we stand have been completely discarded. In the field of
economics, this modern philosophy stands for exploitation
while politics is guided by the notion of expediency (6)
The first and immediate target of Western civilization is
Muslim youth as rightly pointed out by His Eminence
Modern civilization with all its glamour is alluring to our
youth and they imitate the glamour only (7)
And the result that is becoming visible and the new generation
is losing its grip on faith day by day Because of these
developments , our generations are becoming not only more
122

skeptical about the beliefs which their forefathers held, but
they are choosing the materialistic way of life and the pursuit
of physical sensuous pleasure. The corollary or result of
materialism is that if a materialistically oriented person does
not believe in God and the higher values, then the only way
open to him is the pursuit of the maximum amount of
sensuous pleasure. (8)Again he says why it is so that this
civilization is so hazardous that it has changed the entire set of
human moral values into vicious standard. No wonder if you
believe in God today, you are considered reactionary and if
you do not believe in morality, you are modern, but if you
believe in truth, goodness, moral integrity and chastity then
you are outdated. If you do not believe in ethical principals or
moral foundations in business, you are prosperous.(9) How
this challenge to be met? His Eminence replies to this question
Even if one spark (of faith remains, it can be converted into
the biggest fire that can burn out all the evil within us. This is
the same spark our prophet (pbuh) in the hearts of his
companions. This spark is that genuine Iman in Almighty
Allah. Iman is not a mere ritual or formal exercise, but
something real and alive which must be cultivated. This Iman
was not for any racial or political aggrandizement, nor for
causing any harm or evil to anyone. This Iman was a
challenge only for establishment for all that is good and
eradicating all that is evil for all humanity. We shall have to
return to that Iman. (10)
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The productivity of that Iman was observed in the past and the
early converts has set an example for coming Muslim
generations to follow those staunch believers in faith. Those
who understood the meaning and mission of Islam projected a
challenge to the rest of the world. The world saw a
comprehensive revolution by a small group of Muslims,
trained and inspired by the world. The Muslims became
pioneers on all fronts: they became the teachers in all branches
of knowledge and personified the highest moral standards and
spiritual values. They were respected for it because they took
the lead in spiritualizing culture to an extent that many
countries became Arabicized, like North Africa. This was
the impact of Islam which came with such beauty that people
not only loved Islam but also its followers. (11)
Dr Ansari (a r) further advised Muslims Every Muslim
should study Islam and the Quran (12). Because it will change
the present situation of Muslims, Lets investigate for
ourselves and well find that Islam today is the only panacea
(universal cure) for the ills and problems of mankind. Islam is
that alchemy that can turn base metals into gold (13)
He explains the purpose of the advent of Islam and invite
Muslims to accomplish this task to counter the challenges of
modern age successfully. Islam did not come to wage war,
but to advise positive living, to invite others with love and
affection, with sympathy and the best of goodwill. Understand
Islam in the light of the demands of modern age.(14) Besides
this he has strictly condemned the blind sectarian affiliation or
122

biased condemnation of any Muslim group Do not be
affected by any group or sect. if there is any good in any
group, that good must be acknowledged, if there is any bad,
that bad should not be admired for that would be to follow
the way of the days of ignorance. (15)
He tried to present the belief in one God as a revolutionary
and dynamic force, I would like to emphasize that God will
remain a revolting idea until and unless there is a
comprehensive scheme of life where God can be experienced
at every step, in the factory, school, market place and inside
those temples of worship. Islam says that God is absolute
Good and whatever He created is Absolute Good.
Consequently, all our activities in this world are good and it
becomes really good when every activity is undertaken with
the fullest consciousness that a person is behaving as a coworker with God in his scheme. Every activity is for His sake
and not for any ulterior motive (16)
Dr Ansari called Muslims back to Islam with the slogan
Back to Quran and Back to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) .He
thus based all his intellectual and theological arguments on the
holy Quran and Hadith in order to respond to the
contemporary intellectual challenges of his age. Furthermore,
in the words of Hafiz Abu Bakr Mahmod mawlana Ansari
was able to marry the inner technology of Islamic spirituality
with the outer technology of modern day sciences to produce a
beautiful and noble example for Muslims to follow. ( 17)
122

This was the man of the 20th century who despite all hurdles
and obstacles kept the torch of faith and belief together to light
the darkness that had prevailed over the Muslim Ummah. It
was his tireless efforts that millions of people changed their
mind set from traditional conservatism to the vibrant, dynamic
and revolutionary orthodoxy. His writings and speeches are
the living missionary force even 43 years after his sad demise.
We need to study all his thoughts and ideas carefully to form
the counter strategy in our intellectual and theological
response to the west. (May Almighty shower His choicest
blessings upon his purified soul) Ameen.
References
1) Islam to the modern mind, Dr Fazlur Rahman
edition 2007, Republic of South Africa pg: 153
122
Ansari,fourth
Ansari,fourth
Ansari,fourth
Ansari,fourth
Ansari,fourth
Ansari,fourth
Ansari,fourth
Ansari,fourth

9)
Islam to the modern mind, Dr Fazlur Rahman Ansari,fourth

10) Islam to the modern mind, Dr Fazlur Rahman Ansari,fourth
edition 2007, Republic of South Africa pg: 155-56
122
THE BRAIN BEHIND ESTABLISHING

ALEEMIYA INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC
STUDIES
Allah Yar Qaderi
I am grateful to Maulana Sarfaraz sahib, who asked me to

write down my feeling regarding great services and
contribution of Dr. Muhammad Fazlur-Rahman Ansari Al
Qadri.
His eminence Dr. Muhammad Fazlur-Rahman Ansari al
Qadri (ra) was highly qualified in Islamic as well as
contemporary education at a time when the whole world was
gripped in the vicious circle of world war one and two and the
whole fabric of Muslim society was falling apart. These two
great wars produced totally different and disastrous results for
the Muslim world. The World War 1 ended with diminishing
the power of Muslim Ottoman Caliphate thereby colonising
almost all Middle East and North Africa while sub-continent
was already colonised. Dr Ansari (ra) called it a total political,
economic and educational slavery for Muslim Ummah.
However, in contrast to that, the Second World War resulted
in creating small and weak Muslim states entirely depended on
their colonial masters for advanced technologies, economic
system, even political decisions were influenced by these so
called world powers. This was political independence but
education and economy never got relieved from the western
122

powers. Dr. Ansari (RA) called it political led independence
but economic and educational slavery.
During 18th to 19th century, the Muslim education system
manipulated and corrupted to such an extent that the Islamic
world was divided into two camps namely;
1. People of the faith- religious personalities or ulamas
graduated from DARUL-ULOOM. They were very
pious and theologians trying to hold on to Islamic
values and culture using their own Islamic
interpretation based on traditional system of DARSE
NIZAMI. Unfortunately, some of them went to too
extreme that they could not accept anything which was
not in tandem to their understanding of Islam. They
issued verdicts against learning contemporary
education even languages such as English. To them, it
was against Islamic values and ideologies
2. On the other hand, there was another group of
intellectuals, who were totally influenced by western
culture and subdued themselves to their way of
thinking and understanding of the world.
Hence, two extreme paradoxical education systems
developed in Muslim society thereby tearing apart the
very fabric of Muslim unity and values. Subsequently,
the Muslim world got divided into:
a. THE SECULAR, who promoted western values
and ideologies and called themselves political
authorities and ruling elites while on the other hand
123

b. THE RELIGIOUS CAMP, who took control of
total religious affairs. Instead of coordinating, they
became opponent to each other and adversaries.
Against this back ground Dr. Ansari (ra) came up with

very touching and well thought of slogan:
RETURN TO QURAN AND RETURN TO
MUHAMMAD
It was very appealing and first step to remind Muslims
for their very foundation based on the Word Of
almighty Allah and hadith of Nabi-e Karim (saw). He
diagnosed the core of the problems that Muslim was
facing and learnt that the only solution to unite Muslim
Ummah, is to bring back one education system based
on teaching and instruction of the Quran and Hadith.
He knew that the very essence of Islam is unity in
purpose, moral and Islamic family values in its
practices. Islam is the soul and body put together
which can never be separated by any means.
The holy Quran says: O you, who believe, enter into
Islam with total submission: It further emphasises: O
Allah, give us good life in this Dunya, and good in the
Hereafter and save us from the fomentation of the hell
fire:
This aya gives us full description of the purpose of
Islamic teachings;
122

a. A person desires good life in this world by nature.
Everyone wants to lead morally upright, modest
and decent life independent of commercial or
otherwise any peer pressure
FID DUNYA HASANAH
b. Everyone of us requires to have salvation,
forgiveness and Mercy of almighty Allah in the
Aakhirah ( Hereafter) WA FIL AAKHIRATE
HASANATAH
c. Of course, all of us are desirous of entering into
Jannah WAQENA AZABANNAR
This was a guiding tool for Dr. Ansari to realise that the
only solution to multiple problems which Muslims are
facing is to re-design the Muslim EDUCATION system
inclusive of Islamic Taleem and Contemporary Sciences.
This was the motivating factor for Dr. Ansari to embark on
major reform program in education, apart from touring
across the globe and lecturing on the importance of
education, he laid down the foundation of ALEEMIYA
INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES (AIIS) in 1965 in
Karachi- Pakistan, a befitting attribution to and an
acknowledgment of intensive Islamic services provided by
his eminence, the missionary of Islam in 19th 20th century
Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui (ra). The Institute attracted
students from all over the World with multiple ethnicities,
colors and culture with one purpose promote Islamic
education system
121

The strategic goal of the project was to produce skilled, highly
qualified and effective Muslim workforce in various
departments in order to alleviate the poverty level in Muslim
Communities, which was very high. It was also to provide a
high level of learning Institution based on Islamic Education
and Economic System. However, it should be noted that to
concentrate only on religious or contemporary education,
alienates Islam from our practical life while in actual fact, the
practical life of a Muslim is the MANIFESTATION of his/
her belief. This means that Islam is a complete code of Life.
AIIS managed by WFIM, must provided Islamic education
embedded with contemporary education in order to prepare
our youth to face the challenges of the Day. . Dr. Ansaris (ra)
efforts bore fruits and 100s of graduates from AIIS are
providing their services to Muslim communities across the
world. They are rendering leadership in both Islamic as well as
worldly because of their educational back ground.
Dr. Ansari has inspired so many people around the world with
his understanding of Islamic education, that today so many
Islamic schools are mushrooming in most of the Muslim
countries which are offering combined education with proper
syllabus. A fountain fixed in one place but sprinkling its
blessings throughout the World.
Dr. Muhammad Fazlur Rahamn Ansari al Qadri was born on
14 August 1914, just a month before the First World War
began on 28th July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It
122

was just 21 years later that the Second World War started on
1st September, 1939 and ended on 2nd September 1945.
After his primary education, in 1933 he enrolled for his BA
degree at Aligarh University majoring in English, Philosophy
and Arabic. Concurrently, he studied Darse Nizami while
pursuing his degree course. His spiritual guide, His Eminence
Allama Abdul Aleem Siddiqui sent him to Singapore and
Malaysia, on his first missionary errand to lecture and deliver
the message of Islam.
He completed his post graduate degree and worked tirelessly
on his PhD doctoral thesis for five years under Dr. S.Z Hasan
of Aligarh University. He migrated to Pakistan in November,
1947 immediately after Pakistan got independence from
Colonial rule. He travelled almost five times on his World
tours; however, one of his most notable missionary trip was to
South Africa in August 1970 and also in December to
Seychelles in the same year.
His first written works was a response to an article written by
a Christian Missionary in Singapore The Beacon Light
(published in 1932). The most important book on his works is
Quranic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society
completed and published in 1973. Dr. Ansari (ra) is physically
no more with us but we firmly believe that spiritually, he is
still our guide and his set systems in education and missionary
works done in the world, shall continue to motivate and
encourage people throughout the world.
122
Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari

Mr.Makki
Durban, South Africa (1950)
Pakistani scholar, journalist, author and missionary. Born in

India in April 1915. Educated at Madressah Islamiah Arabiah,
Meerut (Hafiz-ul-Quran; Persian and Arabic education);
Government High School, Saharanpore (Matriculation);
Meerut College, Meerut (Intermediate); Aligarh Muslim
University B.A. - 1st Class 1st; M.A. Philosophy 1st Class;
B.Th. 1st Class 1st; Completed Doctoral Theses on Islamic
Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy (1947). Recipient of the
Muslim University Gold Medal and the Philosophy Record
Gold Medal. Awarded Fellowship of the Alexander von
Humboldt Stiftung, Berlin (1939). Life-sketch included in the
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. New York (1947).
Visited the Far East in 1937-1938 for the religious and social
uplift of Muslims. Missionary-in-charge of the All-Malaya
Muslim Missionary Society, Singapore (1937-1938). Joined
His Eminence at Mecca during the pilgrimage of 1949 and
visited Egypt, Italy, Great Britain, France, Portugal, British
West Indies, Br. and Dutch Guianas, U.S.A. and Canada.
Member, Islamics Sub-Committee, Education Planning
Committee of the All-India Muslim League (1944-1946).
General Secretary, The International Union of Islamic Service
(1938 to date). Editor, The Genuine Islam (monthly),
Singapore (1938-1940). Editor-in-Chief, Five Pillars
(quarterly), Durban (1945-1950), and Pakistan News, Durban
122

(1948-1950), Editor, Sind Information (weekly) (1948-1949),
Present Editor, Ramadan Annual and The Muslims
Digest (monthly), Durban.
122
Letter to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Karachi the 11th April, 1973
Honorable President,
Assalamo-o-Alaikum!
It is my privilege as a citizen of Pakistan to offer to
you my sincerest congratulation on the present auspicious
occasion when the State of Pakistan has been crowned with a
Constitution. You have, by Allahs Grace proved to be a great
statesman, and you as well as those who gave you their
cooperation in this great achievement deserve the entire
nations gratitude. May Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful,
always guide you in your noble mission of making Pakistan an
invulnerable Islamic welfare state.
Pakistan Paindabad!
Ever yours for the Glory of Pakistan,
(Dr. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Al-Ansari Al-Qaderi)
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Esquire,

Presdient,
Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
Presidency,
Islamabad
122
RESIGNATION
To,
The Director of Publicity & Public Relations,
Sind, Karachi.
Sir,
God, in His infinite Mercy, has arranged for my return to
Islamic missionary work, which I carried on for about
fifteen years before joining the present employment under
you. The call of Islamic duty has been incessantly
agitating my mind during my Government service, so
much so that lately it became more and more impossible
for me to resist it. I have, therefore, by Gods Grace,
resolved to resign my present job and to plunge forthwith
in the storm and stress of Islamic work. I intend to
complete as soon as possible my book on ISLAM &
COMMUNISM and thereafter to proceed on a WorldTour, Insha-Allah!
I would have resigned on the 1st of the present month but
for the fact that I did not like to leave during the strenuous
work of the publication of the Annual Number of Sind
Information, which I hold very near to my heart.
Consequently, I request you now to very kindly accept my
resignation forthwith.
I feel I must take this opportunity of acknowledging your
fatherly attitude towards me which I shall never forget and
for which I shall always remain grateful.
122

I wish the best of prosperity to the Province of Sind which
gave me an asylum when I migrated from India under the
most trying circumstances and which tried to serve to the
best of my ability as a Government servant for the past
more than One year.
I also wish a glorious future to the Sind Information and
Ittelaat-e-Sind.
Dated: 12.8.1949
Yours most obediently,
(Sd.) MUHAMMAD FAZL-UR-RAHMAN ANSARI
122

(True copy of the Certificate issued by Director of Publicity, Sind)
SEAL OF SIND GOVT:
No. 910/49.
13, Napier Baracks,
Karachi.
12th August, 1949.
Mr. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari, M.A. ; B.Th.
(Alig.) , who has worked for about 12 months in this
department on a remuneration of Rs. 391/- p.m. including
all allowances, as officer in charge of the Sind
Government Weekly Journal, the Sind Information , has
unfortunately put in his resignation, as he wants to be free
to do some useful Islamic work in life, as I have had very
reluctantly to accept his resignation.
2. Throughout his service in this department he impressed
me as a scholar of great eminence and gave me full
satisfaction in the discharge of his duties, which he
attended to most diligently and efficiently. I can fully
vouchsafe for his honesty, integrity and uprightness.
3. I wish him the best of luck and all success in life.
(Sd.) A.Rahman M. Kazi ,
Director of Publicity and Public Relations
Officer, Sind
123

DR Ansari The Ghazali of His Age - Final

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Dr.

Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

His Eminence Dr Hafiz Muhammad Fazlur

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Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

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Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

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Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

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Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

Dr. Ansari: The Ghazali of his Age

ATTITUDE OF MUSLIMS TOWARDS