Husain Ahmad Madani

He was born at Bangarmau, a small town in Unnao district, where his father Sayyid Habibullah worked as a teacher; the family was originally from Tanda in Ambedkar Nagar district ¹. The English article, following Barbara Metcalf's biography, traces his descent from the Prophet ﷺ Muhammad through Husayn ibn Ali (may God be pleased with him) over thirty-five generations ¹. The Urdu biography pairs his birth date itself: 19 Shawwal 1296 AH, corresponding to 6 October 1879 ².

After graduating from Darul Uloom Deoband — where the Arabic article names Mahmud Hasan Deobandi among his teachers in fiqh and hadith ³ — he migrated with his family to Medina and taught Arabic grammar, legal theory and Qur'anic exegesis there for eighteen years ¹.

The Urdu biography's account of his inner formation records that, when he turned to the inward sciences, his teacher Mahmud Hasan directed him to Rashid Ahmad Gangohi; he took bay'ah, the discipleship oath, from Gangohi, attained spiritual distinction under him and in time became his authorised khalifa, and through his own teaching and discipleship large numbers took the path, with 167 men authorised by him in turn ². The English article's infobox lists his tariqas as Chishti (in its Sabiri-Imdadi line), Naqshbandi, Qadri and Suhrawardi ¹.

When his teacher Mahmud Hasan was sentenced by the British for his part in the Silk Letter Conspiracy and imprisoned on Malta, Madani volunteered to accompany him to look after him, though he had not himself been convicted ¹. The Urdu biography recounts that during the Malta imprisonment he memorised the Qur'an so that his teacher would not pass a Ramadan without hearing it complete in the night prayers ².

After his release he returned to India and became a leading figure of the freedom struggle, with particular influence among the Muslims of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar ¹. Released from British custody in 1923, he spent two years in Sylhet from December 1924 teaching hadith at the Khelafat Building Madrasa, and kept an annual Ramadan visit to Sylhet until partition in 1947 ¹. He was a founder member of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi ¹.

From 1927 he served as head teacher and Shaykh al-Hadith of Darul Uloom Deoband, a post he held for some twenty-eight years until his death, and he became president of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind in 1940, holding that presidency likewise until his death ¹.

His 1938 book Muttahida Qaumiyat Aur Islam (Composite Nationalism and Islam) argued for a united India and against its partition: in his view nations in the present age are formed on the basis of homeland, not of ethnicity or religion ¹. Through lectures and pamphlets in the 1920s and 1930s he prepared the ground for the cooperation of the Indian ulama with the Indian National Congress, and played a key role in cementing the Congress–Khilafat pact ¹. His position brought the celebrated Madani–Iqbal debate with Muhammad Iqbal; a mutual friend, Taloot, intervened by letter, and the two were reconciled, Iqbal writing that he respected Madani's service and devotion to Islam as much as any Muslim's despite their political difference ¹. Largely because of his stance, many Muslims of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar declined to migrate to Pakistan in 1947 ¹.

The articles' texts do not name a legal school for Madani himself. The English article's infobox gives his denomination as Sunni, his jurisprudence as Hanafi and his creed as Maturidi, and the Urdu and Arabic articles file him in their categories under Hanafis and Maturidis; his Sufi discipleship under Gangohi is attested in the Urdu article's text, as set out above ¹²³. The museum records his faith as unattested at the two-source bar and preserves both readings in the data record ⁴.

His books include the autobiography Naqsh-e-Hayat, Ash-Shihab al-Saqib (a refutation of Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi), the Maktubat (letters) of over two thousand pages, a travel account of Mahmud Hasan's exile, and Tasawwur-e-Shaikh, on Sufism ¹. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan in 1954, and India Post issued a commemorative stamp in his honour in 2012 ¹. A monument, Madani Square, was built at Sylhet in 2019 to commemorate his work there ¹.

He died on 5 December 1957 at Deoband; his funeral prayer was led by Zakariyya Kandhlawi ¹. The Urdu biography pairs the date itself: Thursday 13 Jumada al-awwal 1377 AH ².

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