Mahmud Hasan Deobandi

rdf:langString Mahmud Hasan Deobandi

rdf:langString Mahmud Hasan Deobandi

rdf:langString Shaykh al-Hind, Mawlānā

rdf:langString Syed Ahmad Dehlavi

rdf:langString Kifayatullah Dehlawi

rdf:langString November 1920

rdf:langString Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (also known as Shaykh al-Hind; 1851–1920) was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of the Indian independence movement, who co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia university and launched the Silk Letter Movement for the freedom of India. He was the first student to study at the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary. His teachers included Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Mahmud Deobandi, and he was authorized in Sufism by Imdadullah Muhajir Makki and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. Hasan served as the principal of the Darul Uloom Deoband and founded organisations such as the Jamiatul Ansar and the Nizaratul Maarif. He wrote a translation of the Quran in Urdu and authored books such as Adilla-e-Kāmilah, Īzah al-adillah, Ahsan al-Qirā and Al-Jahd al-Muqill. He taught hadith at the Darul Uloom Deoband and copyedited the Sunan Abu Dawud. His major students included Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Hussain Ahmad Madani, Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Sanaullah Amritsari and Ubaidullah Sindhi. Hasan was a staunch opponent of the British Raj. He launched movements to overthrow their power in India but was arrested in 1916 and imprisoned in Malta. He was released in 1920, and was honoured with the title of "Shaykh al-Hind" (The Leader of India) by the Khilafat committee. He wrote religious edicts in support of the Non-cooperation movement and travelled various parts of India, to enroll Muslims in the freedom movement. He presided the second general meeting of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in November 1920 and was appointed its president. The Shaikh-Ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan Medical College is named in his memory. In 2013, the Government of India released a commemorative postal stamp on his Silk Letter Movement.