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India's Most Prominent Islamic Scholar
Dies
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| Maulana
Mujahidul Islam Qasimi
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By Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia correspondent
NEW
DELHI, April 5 (IslamOnline) - Maulana Mujahidul Islam Qasimi died in
New Delhi Thursday night at the age of 65. With his death, India and
the World of Islam have lost one of the most distinguished
contemporary scholars and jurisprudents.
Maulana
Qasimi emerged as the most important scholar in the 131-million strong
Indian Muslim community after the death of Maulana Abul Hasan Ali
Nadwi two years ago.
Maulana
Qasimi's home state of Bihar has announced a day's official mourning
today. His body has been airlifted to his village in Bihar's Darbhanga
district where he will be buried with state honors Friday, April 5, in
the evening.
Maulana
Qasimi was chairman of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Indian
Muslims' most important organization. He was elected to this post in
the wake of the death of Maulana Nadwi, its earlier chairman.
Maulana
Qasimi was head of the Islamic Fiqh Academy and a number of other
Islamic organizations working in cultural and political fields like
the Milli Council. He used to take part in Islamic conferences in
Muslim countries, especially the International Islamic Fiqh Academy
based in Makkah (Mecca), Saudi Arabia.
Maulana
Qasimi was a graduate of Darul Uloom Islamic University at Deoband in
north India. He started his public life as a judge of the Imarat-e
Sharia of Bihar and Orissa, which is a community organization aimed at
deciding Muslim personal law cases. It was founded in 1921 after the
closure of Islamic courts by the British colonialists.
Maulana
Qasimi established the Islamic Fiqh Academy (IFA) in Delhi in 1989 and
continued as its secretary general until his death. Under his
leadership, IFA conducted 13 fiqhi seminars around the country.
These seminars discussed numerous contemporary issues faced by the
Muslim society, especially by Muslim minorities. Maulana Qasimi had a
thorough knowledge of fiqh which elevated him to the rank of mujtahids.
He believed in simplification of issues and taking the new
developments into account.
Under
his guidance, IFA completed the Urdu translation of the 40-volume Fiqh
Encyclopedia published in Kuwait. Its publication was about to
start when death overtook him. Maulana Qasimi is the author of dozens
of Islamic and fiqhi works in Urdu, some of which have been
translated into Arabic and English. He always worked for the unity of
the Muslim Ummah and tried to close the gaps between fiqhi
schools in order to foster unity.
Maulana
Qasimi was born in a village of Darbhanga district in Bihar October 9,
1936. His father, Abdul Ahad Qasimi, was too a renowned scholar of his
times.
Maulana Qasimi was suffering from cancer for the last
four years, but this did not stop him from active life until the last
few weeks before his death. Many organizations and prominent
personalities have condoled his death. Civil Aviation Minister Syed
Shahnawaz Husain said that the vacuum left by Maulana Qasimi's death
will never be filled.
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