Shere Bihar Mufti Aslam Razvi Alaihirrahmah was a known Islamic Personality belonging to Bihar. I have been fortunate enough to have the honor of seeing Sher-e-Bihar, Mufti Aslam Razvi (Rahmatullah-e-Alaih), a revered Islamic scholar, mystic, educationist and crusader against Wahabi Movement in the subcontinent. I still remember the taste of the delicious meal I had with him accompanied by my maternal uncle Mufti Saghir Ahmad Misbahi Noori, the founder of Gulshane Madina Jamia Nooria, who was a popular teacher and respected for his unique methodologies of teaching liked by the students at Jamia Qadria Maqsoodpur, Aurai Muzaffarpur Bihar. It was perhaps 1987 or 1988. I was memorizing Quran here at the tender age of only 7-8 years under Hafiz Imran Sb Tharvati. His long and thin bamboo sticks in his hands to teach a lesson to careless students cannot be forgotten by those students who have memorized Quran under his guidance. I did not stay at Jamia Qadria more than one or two years because Ml Saghir Sb met with a serious accident and moved to the Islamic seminary Naimia in Chhapra (Saran) perhaps in 1989 AD.
Greatness of Shere Bihar
Shere Bihar Mufti Aslam Razvi (R) has been an ideal, student, teacher, preacher, author, mentor and mystic in the late half of the bygone century. He used the title of Noori but his mentor Muft-e-Azam-e-Hind changed it to Razvi. He was born to Mohammad Ismail in a small village Mahwara in Aurai Block District Muzaffarpur, a village facing devastating floods from the River Baghmati, in 1353 H / 1934 AD when the earthquake had rocked Bihar and Nepal and which is an integral part in the memory of Biharis.
Education and Training:
Shere Bihar Mufti Aslam Razvi (R) started his early education in a Maktab of his home village with Maulvi Nisaruddin from Atrar. Then, his first cousin as well as brother in law Maulvi Abdussalam (R), who was a Munshi in Madrasa Chashma-e-Faiz in Ghazipur, UP admitted him in this Islamic seminary when Sher-e-Bihar was only 8/9 years of age. With particular attention of the teachers with this brilliant student, he learnt well Persian text books, Arabic Morphology, Syntax and others. Thereafter, he moved to Darul Uloom, Mau, another prestigious Islamic University in the district Azamgarh, UP, where he studied Hidayatun Nahv and Sharah Jami (Both textbooks on Arabic Syntax are part of Dars-e-Nizami in the subcontinent). In Darul Uloom Roorkee, he studied Hidaya Awwalain (On Hanafi Islamic Jurisprudence), Diwan-e-Mutanabbi (Arabic Poetry) and Tajveed-o-Qirat (Arabic Phonology) and others. Allama Abdul Mustafa Azmi (R) and Allama Ghulam Jeelani Azmi (R) taught him Hadith Book Mishkat Sharif, Mulla Hasan, Deewan-e-Hamasa and others in Darul Uloom Ashrafia, Mubarakpur Azamgarh. When Mr Azmi departed Murakpur to Ahmadabad as a teacher, Huzoor Mufti Aslam Razvi (R) moved with him there. During this period, his father left for heavenly abode and he came home on the fourth day of his father demise.
Disturbed by the demise of his father he could not go to distant lands for study and tried to quench his thirst for knowledge at institutions in Barhampur, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga but he did not like the environment in these institutions and went back to Ahmadabad and when his application was approved by Huzur Mufti-e-Azam-e-Hind in Bareilly Sharif, he came to Mazhar-e-Islam in Bareilly Sharif. In Bareilly Sharif, he stayed with Mufti Afzal Husain Mungeri in Darul Ifta and then he was appointed Imam and Khatib of Sufi Masjid. This phase in the life of Sher-e-Bihar was a milestone as the blessings of Huzur Mufti-e-Azam Hind on him proved to be defining factors in his full personality development and he was bestowed Dastar-e-Fazilat in the annual conference of Mazhar-e-Islam, Bareilly Sharif.
Celebration at Home
After completion of his education, when the illustrated Islamic Scholar returned home village, there was jubilance and delight everywhere. His mother organized a grand gathering of Eid Miladun Nabi (PBUH). Maulana Naimuddin Nemat, Maulana Zubair Ahmad Atrar and other Ulema delivered speeches. People were entertained lavishly with delicacies. His sister says that this was a unique phenomenon in the village at the time.
Teaching and Foundation of Jamia Qadria
Hazrat Shere Bihar began his teaching career as per the instruction of Sarkar Mufti-e-Azam Hind (R) in Darul Uloom Mazhar-e-Islam in 1955/1375, which continued several years. He never ceased guidance from his teachers in his tenure as a teacher. He had command equally over Hadith, Fiqah, Usool-e-Fiqah, Arabic Grammar, Morphology, Syntax and Arabic Literature. However, Islamic Jurisprudence was his forte and he directly learned Fatwa Nawesi from Sarkar Mufti-e-Azam Hind (R) and he got expertise soon in Islamic rulings under the guidance of Syed Afzal Husain Mungeri. Central Darul Ifta Bareli Sharif has been instrumental his development as an Islamic Jurist par excellence.
Foundation of Jamia Qadria, Maqsoodpur, Muzaffarpur, in presence of Huzoor Mufti-e-Azam and other distinguished Islamic Scholars has been a phenomena in the life of Shere Bihar (A). Now, this Islamic Seminary does not need any introduction in terms of its fame and services within the State, Country and even abroad.
Works
The founder of Jamia Qadria Maqsoodpur had love for authoring and editing books and articles producing monumental works in various streams of Islamic Studies, Knowledge and Sciences. Many of his initial endeavors got lost before seeing the light of the day but (1) Aslamul Hawashi Sharah Usool al- Shashi is reminiscence of his teaching days on the start. He wrote its Urdu translation and in its explanation maintaining the methodology of mentioning the findings of Ala Hazrat on every issue searching the same from his books. (2) Bue Sukhan Sharah Mulla Hasan, this book also was written by him when he was in Bareilly Sharif. He included his opinions after writing various opinions on Logic. When Mufti Afzal Husain read this exegesis he was surprised. (3) Forty Ahadith – The selected sayings of the Prophet (PBUH) are the subject of this book. (4) Husamul Haramain Par Iterazat Ke Jawabat (Replies to the Objections on Husamul Haramain), this is an Academic booklet, whose title sufficiently signifies its contents. (5) Fatwa Barkat-e-Noori. This is his masterpiece, which has been edited by his third son Mufti Mohd Ahsan Razvi in many thick volumes. In addition to the books, a number of articles have been published by him, for instance, one article on Sarkar-e- Muhibba (A) was published in the journal ‘Peer-e-Tariqat, Pokhraira. A number of magazines have been published under his editorship as well, which include the magazine “Sadaqat Allahabad”. He has also written prefaces and verifications on various books: Khoon Ke Aansu (Old edition), Salah-e-Deen, Najatyafta Firqa Kaun, Waqf Board and Tanzeem-e-Aimmah, Ainul Urooz, Assalam Alaik
Daily religious routines and Sufism
The entire life of Huzoor Shere Bihar Alaihir Rahmah appears to be a combination of prayers and mystical pursuits. He would perform the preferred prayers also in addition to mandatory ones. He was habitual of the midnight prayer from his very childhood. He had the permission in respect of oath of allegiance from Huzoor Mufti-e-Azam Hind, Mujahid-e-Millat and Hazrat Sibtain Raza Khan Bareilvi (R). He had the permission of all mystical orders by Mufti-e-Azam Hind.
The renowned Islamic Personality, Huzoor Shere Bihar, Mufti Aslam Razvi left for heavenly abode on 14th December, 2012 / 20 Muharramul Haram, 1433 Friday Night. His funereal prayer was led by his son Mufti Ahsan Razvi, which was attended by about three lakh persons, which proved to be a miraculous proof for his piety and increased his following. Every year on 11th Safarul Muzaffar, Urse Aslami is organized on a large scale in Maqsoodpur, Aurai, Muzaffarpur, in which numerous Islamic scholars, poets, religious persons and thousands of public participate.
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