{{Short description|Indian Muslim scholar}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox religious biography |name = Aḥmad Alī Sahāranpūrī |birth_date = {{birth year|1810}} |birth_place = [[Saharanpur]], Mughal India |death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1880|04|17|1810}} |death_place = Saharanpur, British India |religion = Islam |denomination = [[Sunni]] |jurisprudence = [[Hanafi]] }} '''Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri''' (1810 – 17 April 1880) was an Indian scholar who played a key role in publishing [[hadith]] literature in India. He was among the early teachers of [[Mazahir Uloom]], and is often credited as a founder for his contributions to the development of the seminary. His students include [[Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi]] and [[Shibli Nomani]].
==Biography== Aḥmad Ali was born in 1810 in [[Saharanpur]].<ref name="edu1">{{cite book |author1=Shahid Saharanpuri |title=Ulama e Mazahir Uloom aur unki Ilmi wa tasnīfi khidmāt |volume=1|edition=2005 |page=83}}</ref> He memorized the ''[[Quran]]'' in [[Meerut]] and studied primary books of [[Arabic]] with Sa'ādat Ali Faqīh in Saharanpur.<ref name="edu1"/> He went to Delhi where he studied under the tutelage of [[Mamluk Ali Nanautawi]].<ref name="edu2">{{cite book |author1=[[Syed Mehboob Rizwi]] |editor1-last=Deobandi |editor1-first=Nawaz |editor1-link=Nawaz Deobandi |title=Sawaneh Ulama-e-Deoband|volume = 1 |page=243}}</ref> He studied some portions of ''[[Sahih Bukhari]]'' with Wajīhuddīn Siddīqi and completed the studies of [[hadith]] with [[Shah Muhammad Ishaq|Shah Muḥammad Ishāq Dehlawi]] in 1261 [[Hijri year|AH]] in [[Mecca]].<ref name="edu2"/> According to the Indian educationist, [[Syed Ahmad Khan]]; Aḥmad Ali studied all the books of hadith including the ''[[Sihah Sitta]]'' from the start to end with Muḥammad Isḥāq.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Khan |first1=Syed Aḥmad |author1-link=Syed Ahmad Khan |editor1-last=Shahjahānpuri |editor1-first=Abu Salmān |editor1-link=Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri |title=Tadhkira Khānwāda-e-Waliullāhi |page=291}}</ref> [[Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri]] however points out that Syed Aḥmad Khan's statement that Aḥmad studied ''Saḥiḥ Bukhāri'' with Muḥammad Isḥāq should not be accepted.<ref name="edu1"/> [[Syed Mehboob Rizwi]] has quoted Aḥmad Ali saying that he studied major part of ''Saḥiḥ Bukhāri'' with Wajīhuddīn Siddīqi in Saharanpur, and then studied it again with Muḥammad Isḥāq in Mecca.<ref name="work1">{{cite book |author1=[[Syed Mehboob Rizwi]] |editor1-last=Deobandi |editor1-first=Nawaz |editor1-link=Nawaz Deobandi |title=Sawaneh Ulama-e-Deoband|volume = 1 |page=244}}</ref>
Aḥmad Ali returned to India in 1845 and started "Aḥmadi Press" in Delhi to publish hadith literature.<ref name="work1"/> He published his copyedited versions of the ''[[Sihah Sitta]]'' and copyedited [[hadith manuscripts]] throughout his life.<ref name="asir"/> He wrote a [[marginalia]] to twenty-five chapters of ''Saḥiḥ Bukhāri''.<ref name="asir"/> His press suffered loss during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]]; and he shifted it to Meerut.<ref>{{cite book |author1=[[Syed Mehboob Rizwi]] |editor1-last=Deobandi |editor1-first=Nawaz |editor1-link=Nawaz Deobandi |title=Sawaneh Ulama-e-Deoband|volume = 1 |page=245}}</ref> He spent ten years in [[Kolkata]] giving religious discourses in the Hafiz Jamaluddin Masjid.<ref name="edu1"/> He returned to Saharanpur in 1291 [[Hijri year|AH]], where he taught at the [[Mazahir Uloom]].<ref name="work2">{{cite book |author1=Shahid Saharanpuri |title=Ulama e Mazahir Uloom aur unki Ilmi wa tasnīfi khidmāt |volume=1|edition=2005 |page=84}}</ref> He was appointed the vice-rector of the seminary after the death of Sa'ādat Ali Faqīh; and made the principal in the absence of [[Mazhar Nanautawi]] during 1294 AH.<ref name="work2"/> He is often credited as the founder of Mazahir Uloom for his crucial role in the seminary's early development.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Shahid Saharanpuri |title=Ulama e Mazahir Uloom aur unki Ilmi wa tasnīfi khidmāt |volume=1|edition=2005 |chapter=Bāniyān-e-Madrasa (The founders of the madrasa)|pages=70–108}}</ref> His students include Pir Syed [[Meher Ali Shah]], [[Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi]], [[Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi]], [[Ahmad Hasan Amrohi]], [[Ahsan Nanautawi]] and [[Shibli Nomani]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Khan |first1=Syed Aḥmad |author1-link=Syed Ahmad Khan |editor1-last=Shahjahānpuri |editor1-first=Abu Salmān |editor1-link=Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri |title=Tadhkira Khānwāda-e-Waliullāhi |page=295}}</ref>
Aḥmad Ali died on 17 April 1880 in [[Saharanpur]].<ref name="death">{{cite book |author1=[[Syed Mehboob Rizwi]] |editor1-last=Deobandi |editor1-first=Nawaz |editor1-link=Nawaz Deobandi |title=Sawaneh Ulama-e-Deoband|volume = 1 |page=251}}</ref><ref name="asir">{{Cite book|title=Tazkirah Mashāhīr-e-Hind: Karwān-e-Rafta|author=[[Asir Adrawi]]|pages=22–23|location=[[Deoband]]|publisher= Darul Muallifeen |language=Urdu |edition = 2 April 2016}}</ref> His death was condoled by [[Syed Ahmad Khan]].<ref name="death"/>
== See also == * [[List of Deobandis]]
==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist}}
===Sources used=== * {{cite book |author1=Muntasir Zaman |title=Hadith Scholarship in the Indian Subcontinent: Aḥmad Alī Sahāranpūrī and the Canonical Hadith Literature |publisher=Qurtuba Books |location=[[Leicester]] |isbn=978-1-9160232-4-6}} * {{cite book |author1=Shahid Saharanpuri |title=Ulama e Mazahir Uloom aur unki Ilmi wa tasnīfi khidmāt |volume=1|publisher=Maktaba Yādgār-e-Shaykh |location=Saharanpur |edition=2005 |pages=83–95|language=ur}} * {{cite book |author1=[[Syed Mehboob Rizwi]] |editor1-last=Deobandi |editor1-first=Nawaz |editor1-link=Nawaz Deobandi |title=Sawaneh Ulama-e-Deoband |publisher=Nawaz Publications |location=[[Deoband]]|volume = 1 |pages=243–255 |edition=January 2000 |language=Urdu |chapter=Hadhrat Mawlāna Aḥmad Ali Muhaddith Sahāranpuri}} * {{cite book |last1=Khan |first1=Syed Aḥmad |author1-link=Syed Ahmad Khan |editor1-last=Shahjahānpuri |editor1-first=Abu Salmān |editor1-link=Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri |title=Tadhkira Khānwāda-e-Waliullāhi |publisher=[[University of Sindh]] |location=[[Jamshoro]] |pages=289–296 |language=ur |chapter=Janāb Mawlvi Aḥmad Ali Saheb Marhūm}} {{Hanafi scholars}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad Ali, Saharanpuri}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:1810 births]] [[Category:1880 deaths]] [[Category:Deobandis]] [[Category:Academic staff of Mazahir Uloom]] [[Category:Hadith scholars]] [[Category:19th-century Indian Muslims]] [[Category:Indian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam]] [[Category:People from Saharanpur]]