Syed Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi (also known as Ali Miyan; 5 December 1913 – 31 December 1999) was a leading Indian Islamic scholar, thinker, writer, preacher, reformer and a Muslim public intellectual of 20th century India and the author of numerous books on history, biography, contemporary Islam, and the Muslim community in India, one of the most prominent figure of Deoband School. His teachings covered the entire spectrum of the collective existence of the Muslim Indians as a living community in the national and international context. Due to his command over Arabic, in writings and speeches, he had a wide area of influence extending far beyond the Sub-continent, particularly in the Arab World. During 1950s and 1960s he stringently attacked Arab nationalism and pan-Arabism as a new Jahiliyyah and promoted pan-Islamism. He began his academic career in 1934 as a teacher in Nadwatul Ulama, later in 1961; he became Chancellor of Nadwa and in 1985, he was appointed as Chairman of Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
He had a lifelong association with Tablighi Jamaat. For decades, he enjoyed universal respect, was accepted by the non-Muslims, at the highest level, as the legitimate spokesman for the concerns and aspirations of the entire Muslim community. Islam and the World is the much acclaimed book of Nadwi for which he received accolades throughout, especially Arab world where it was first published in 1951. His books are part of syllabic studies in various Arab Universities. In 1951, during his second Hajj, the key-bearer of the Kaaba, opened its door for two days and allowed him to take anyone he chose inside. He was the first Alim from Hindustan who was given the key to Kaaba by the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia to allow him to enter whenever he chose during his pilgrimage. He was the chairman of Executive Committee of Darul Uloom Deoband and president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He was the founder of Payam-e-Insaniyaat Movement and co-founder of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat and Academy of Islamic Research & Publications. Internationally recognised, he was one of the Founding Members of the Muslim World League and served on the Higher Council of the Islamic University of Madinah, the executive committee of the League of Islamic Universities. The lectures he delivered at Indian, Arab and western Universities have been appreciated as original contribution to the study of Islam and on Islam's relevance to the modern age. As a theorist of a revivalist movement, in particular he believed Islamic civilisation could be revived via a synthesis of western ideas and Islam. In 1980, he received the King Faisal International Prize, followed by the Sultan of Brunei International Prize and the UAE Award in 1999.
Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi was born in the Takiya Kalaan, Rae-Bareilly in North India on 5 December 1913, he was named Ali and his full name is Ali bin Abdul Hay bin Fahruddeen Al-Hasani. His lineage joins to Hasan Al Musanna bin Imam Hasan bin Ali bin Abi Talib. Coming from a highly educated family, he was an eminent scholar, writer, an Alim, and a personality of the world of Islam in the last half century. His father was Abdul Hayy Hasani, author of famous books like Nuzhatul Khawatir (a biographical dictionary of Indian Ulama) and Al-Thaqafah al-Islamiyah fil-Hind (Islamic Culture in India). He was a descendant of Syed Ahmad Barelvi who had led a Jihad movement against the British occupation, established an Islamic state in the North Western Frontier (now in Pakistan) and fell martyr on the battlefield of Balakot in 1831. Moreover, he was one of the few non-Arabs today who had fully mastered spoken and written Arabic. Although he is an Arab by lineage, yet his family had lost its roots with the Arabic world and he grew up as an Indian Muslim. He was popularly known in India as Ali Miyan. He was popularly known world-wide by the name of Nadwi, which was not his family name; it was synonymous to higher rank of Islamic intellectuals belonged to a particular institution: the scholars educated at the Nadwat-ul-Ulama in (Lucknow), India, took the name `Nadwi' and the name `Nadwi' in this research refers to Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi.
Nadwi grew up and was guided in a God fearing environment in the guardianship of his family. His father Hakim Syed Abdul Hayy Nadwi al-Hasani served as Rector of Nadwat-ul-ulama until he died on Friday 1923 when Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi was nine years of age. Having lost his father, young Ali grew up under the shadow of his mother and the guardianship of his brother, Hakim Abdul Ali Nadwi (who qualified from both Dar al-Ulum Deoband and Nadwat-ul-Ulama). He lived in his early childhood in Takiyya Kalan; Rae-Bareilly. He later migrated to Lucknow with his father because of his father's profession as a doctor. His mother had memorised the Qur’ān and acquired higher education, a rare distinction for a woman of her times. She was a poet as well as a writer. She wrote the book for the guidance of women and young girls with the name of Husnul Maashirah (Social Manners) and the book of poems by the name of Bahrurrahmah. When Ali was young he spent most of his time in his elder brother's house, under his supervision and tender care. A particularly important influence on him at this stage was his elder brother, Sayyid Abd al-Ali al Hasani who later went on to be trained as a medical doctor at King George's Medical College, Lucknow, and then assumed the post of Rector of the Nadwat-ul-Ulama. His elder brother was able, through his deep knowledge both in western education and Islam, to ensure his upbringing in the Islamic way of life. By this time he had developed a deep commitment to the cause of Islam.
He received a B.A in Arabic literature from the University of Lucknow in 1927. In order to be trained as an Alim (religious scholar), he was sent to Nadwatul Ulama for higher studies. Nadwat al-ulama also known as Nadwa, the choice of the name got inspiration from a hall in Makkah, where nobles used to assemble to debate and discuss. It was one of the renowned Islamic universities in the world, which has produced several famous scholars. It was founded in 1894 at Kanpur and eventually shifted to Lucknow (India) in 1898. It was established with the objective of countering the challenges of western education; striking out equilibrium between classical Islam and modernity and producing a new breed of Islamic scholars of higher level, molded in classical Islamic disciplines and new ideas to regain the intellectual initiative lost in the wake of colonial occupation. At Nadwa, young Nadwi was exposed to new trends prevalent in Islamic thoughts in other Muslim countries. He was also benefitted from the two leading Arab teachers at Dar al ulum. One of those teachers is Khalil Muhammad of Yemen and Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali of Morocco who taught him modern verbal and written Arabic. He studied Hadith under Hussain Ahmad Madani at Darul Uloom Deoband and Tafsir under Ahmed Ali Lahori where he came in touch with Iqbal whose poetry left an abiding impression on him.
The major turning point in Nadwi's life came in 1934, when he was appointed to teach Arabic and Qur’anic commentary at Nadwat al-Ulama, after the completion of his studies. The Nadwa committed itself to spread the teachings of Nadwi since he played a pivotal role in turning the institution into well acknowledged research center world widely, just as he was to remain central to the life of the institution, turning it into a widely recognised centre for Islamic research. As Hasan writes, one of his principal concerns as head of the institution was to promote suitable changes in the educational system in accordance with the demand of the modern age.
Reconstruction of Western Civilisation
The West with its technology has been able to master the civilisation of the world today because it is considered able to answer the challenges and demands of the modern world. Nadwi provides insightful views and ideas about the concept of Islam in life. In some of his ideas, he does not give misconceptions of the goodness of life with the advancement of technology and identity, but the value of the glorified modernity of the West has the building of cultural values which is 'misconception' with Islamic terminology. Nadwi in this case also reveals that tribal wars and identity with the West can be seen from two perspectives; First, the defense of identity as a positive color, this view is expressed as an appreciation of the consistency of geographical dichotomy and western culture in maintaining the identity and even affect the surrounding civilisation, as previously revealed that the West despite having areas that tend to have the same land but can still survive as an identity the substantial where the one with the other cannot be equated. According to Nadwi such a concept contains an Islamic value. A Muslim must be able to show his identity as a Muslim, preserving this identity is certainly not merely an identity in a literal sense, more than that, the identity that is meant is a terminological meaning that embodies the various values that emulate it. A Muslim should have an existence based on Islam (Al-Quran and Ḥadis). Islam as a value (identity) must be maintained in accordance with the indicators (arguments) in it. For example, in terms of association, in terms of neighborhood, in terms of dress, including in terms of economic. Because in the true Islam through the value contained in it has contained a variety of teachings that are quite universal, including in the things mentioned above. Maintaining Identity as a Muslim the law must be done because that is part of the meaning of Islam itself as a theology (belief). Nadwi reveals that maintaining identity is the first step to strengthening faith in Muslims.