{{short description|Indian Islamic scholar}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}} {{Use Indian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox religious biography | honorific_prefix = [[Maulana]] | name = Najib Ali Choudhury | birth_place = Bagbari, [[Karimganj district|Karimganj thana]], [[Sylhet region|Sylhet District]] | resting_place = Rauthgram, [[Karimganj district]], [[Assam]], [[India]] | teacher = [[Imdadullah Muhajir Makki]] | religion = [[Islam]] | denomination = [[Sunni]] | jurisprudence = [[Hanafi]] | movement = [[Deobandi]] | Sufi_order = [[Chishti]] | profession = [[Islamic scholar]] and teacher | era = Modern | children = Gulam Rob Choudhury | relatives = [[Abdul Munim Choudhury]] (great-grandson) }}
'''Najib Ali Choudhury''' ({{langx|bn|নজিব আলী চৌধুরী}}) was a 19th-century [[Bengalis|Bengali]] [[Islam]]ic scholar and teacher. He was notable for his founding of the [[Madinatul Uloom Bagbari]], the first [[madrasa]] in the [[Barak Valley]] region.
==Early life and ancestry== Choudhury was born to a [[Bengali Muslim]] family in the village of Bagbari, near the town of [[Karimganj]], then part of the [[Sylhet Division|Sylhet Sarkar]] of the [[Mughal Empire]]'s [[Bengal Subah]]. His grandfather, Muhammad Naqi, was a local landowner, possessing [[taluq]] no. 70 of Egaroshati [[pargana]].<ref name=tajul/> Accounts are contradictory regarding Choudhury's ancestral origins. His family had either migrated from [[Ghor Province]] in [[Afghanistan]] during the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal period]], or were descended from Shah Umar Yemeni, one of the 360 companions of the [[Sufi]] saint [[Shah Jalal]].<ref name="LaskarBarbhuiya2019">{{cite book|last1=Laskar|first1=Ali Haidar|last2=Barbhuiya|first2=Atiqur Rahman|title=Indigenous People of Barak Valley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SLMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT86|year=2019|publisher=Notion Press|isbn=978-1-64678-800-2|page=86}}</ref><ref name="Rahman2009">{{cite book|last1=Rahman|first1=Md. Matiur|last2=Bhuiya|first2=Abdul Musabbir|title=Teaching of Arabic language in Barak Valley: a historical study (14th to 20th century)|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/92871/7/07_chapter%203.pdf |year=2009|publisher=Assam University|location=Silchar|pages=59–60}}</ref>
According to a handwritten manuscript by Choudhury's eldest son [[Abdul Hai Choudhury]], the family was descended from Gawhar Khan, a nobleman from [[Badakhshan]]. Khan was said to have given up his wealth to his younger brother, and become a [[da'i]] in [[Mughal Empire|Hindustan]], taking with him a handwritten ancestral [[mus'haf]] by Mir Husayn (dating to 1056 [[Islamic calendar|AH]] / 1647 CE), gilded by Muhammad Yusuf Ali. The emperor granted him [[jagir]]s near the village of Kaliganj, near present-day [[Karimganj district]].<ref name=tajul/>
==Education and career== At some point, Choudhury became a disciple of [[Imdadullah Muhajir Makki]], a [[Sufi]] scholar of the [[Chishti Order]]. He is said to have fought alongside Makki against the [[East India Company|British]] in the [[Battle of Shamli]], a part of the greater [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]]. Upon the failure of the revolt however, both men left the Indian subcontinent and migrated to [[Mecca]].<ref name="Rahman2009"/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Thanwi|first=Ashraf Ali|authorlink=Ashraf Ali Thanwi|title=Imdad al-Mushtaq ila Ashraf al-Akhlaq|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYFCAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Haji+Imdad+Allah+Faruqi+was+a+paragon+of+Chishti-%C2%A7abiri+tradition+who+took+an+active+part+in+the+1857+uprising+and+even+established+an+emirate+at+Thana+Bhawan.+Shamli%27s+catastrophe+forced+him+to+leave+India+and+settle+at+Mecca%22|journal=Islamic Culture|volume=LVI|issue=I|year=1982|publisher=Islamic Culture Board|page=321}}</ref> Choudhury was among the seventeen families that had emigrated from [[Sylhet Division|Sylhet]], with other families being that of [[Majumdars of Sylhet|Syed Bakht Majumdar]] of Sylhet town, the Mians of [[Nabiganj Upazila|Sonatia]], the ancestors of [[Sylhet Government Alia Madrasah|Principal Habibur Rahman]] and the ancestors of [[Khan Bahadur Mahmud Ali]] (former Assam minister).<ref name=tajul/>
Tradition states that while in Mecca, Choudhury dreamt he was visited by the [[Islam]]ic prophet [[Muhammad]], who instructed him to go back to his homeland and preach Islam and provide Islamic education. Returning to his native village, in 1873, Choudhury established a [[madrasa]] in his own home, which received the name "Madinatul Uloom Bagbari Najibia Alia Madrasa" after its founder, shortened to [[Madinatul Uloom Bagbari]].<ref name="Rahman2009"/>{{NoteTag|It is also known as the Darul Uloom Bagbari.<ref name=Khan2012>{{cite news|last=Khan|first=Bazlur Rahman|date=2012-05-25 |title=Madrasa Education System in South Assam|url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/3700-madrasa-education-system-in-south-assam-india|work=[[The Milli Gazette]]|access-date=2020-02-04}}</ref>}} Modelled after the recently established [[Darul Uloom Deoband]], it is considered to be the first true madrasa in the [[Greater Sylhet]] region, offering a standardised religious education in contrast to the informal institutions which had existed there previously.<ref name=Khan2012/> It came to play a very prominent role in producing [[Arabic language]] scholars in the [[Greater Sylhet]] region, a reputation it maintains to the present-day.<ref name="Rahman2009"/>
==Death and legacy== Choudhury himself acquired considerable renown, with tales arising of him having possessed spiritual powers.{{NoteTag|One such legend states that several decades after his death, Choudhury had materialised in person to save one of his sons from danger.<ref name=Talukdar2015>{{cite journal|last=Talukdar|first=Dilwar Hussain|title=A study on Sufi Saints in Karimganj District of Assam (1346-1947)|url=https://www.thecho.in/files/Dilwar-Hussain_51c0843n.pdf|journal=Pratidhwani the Echo|volume=III|issue=IV|year=2015|publisher=Dept. of Bengali, Karimganj College|page=76|access-date=5 February 2020|archive-date=30 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930064701/http://thecho.in/files/Dilwar-Hussain_51c0843n.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} After his death, his grave became a shrine or ''[[Mazar (mausoleum)|Mazar]]'', which is located in what is now Rauthgram, [[Karimganj district]].<ref name="LaskarBarbhuiya2019"/><ref name=Talukdar2015/>
He was the father of Abdul Hai Choudhury and Gulam Rob Choudhury, distinguished Islamic scholars in their own right. His descendant, Abdul Bari Choudhury, was appointed as the principal of Madinatul Uloom Bagbari in 1948 after returning from his studies at [[Darul Uloom Deoband]]. Choudhury's great-grandson, [[Abdul Munim Choudhury]], was made the first Shaykhul Hadith (Professor of Hadith) in the same year. Abdul Munim Choudhury was also a former [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] for [[Karimganj South (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Karimganj South]].<ref name="LaskarBarbhuiya2019"/> Among Choudhury's other descendants are Jamil Ahmad Choudhury and Saeed Ahmad Choudhury, who are also teachers at Bagbari, as well as Abdul Ahad Choudhury, who taught at Karimganj High Madrasa.<ref name=tajul>{{citation|author=Qasemi, Ataur Rahman|publisher=[[Madinatul Uloom Bagbari]]|editor=Choudhury, Tajul|title=একটি উজ্জল ইতিহাস|language=bn|year=2021}}</ref>
== See also == * [[List of Deobandis]]
==Notes== {{notefoot}}
==References== {{reflist}} {{Hanafi scholars}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Najib Ali}} [[Category:People from Karimganj district]] [[Category:Revolutionaries of the Indian Rebellion of 1857]] [[Category:Indian independence activists from Assam]] [[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]] [[Category:Chishtis]] [[Category:Indian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam]] [[Category:19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam]] [[Category:19th-century Bengali people]] [[Category:Deobandis]] [[Category:Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam]]