Shibli Nomani (4 June 1857 – 18 November 1914) was an Indian Islamic scholar, poet, philosopher, historian, educational thinker, author, orator, reformer and critic of orientalists during the British Raj. He is regarded as the father of Urdu historiography. He was also proficient in Arabic and Persian languages. Shibli was associated with two influential movements in the region, the Aligarh and the Nadwa movements. As a supporter of the Deobandi school, he believed that English language and European sciences should be incorporated into the education system. Shibli wrote several biographies of Muslim heroes, convinced that Muslims of his time could learn valuable lessons from the past. Shibli established the Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy in 1914 to promote Islamic scholarship and also founded the Shibli National College in 1883. He collected much material on the life of Muhammad, and completed the first two volumes of the planned work, Sirat al-Nabi. His disciple, Sulaiman Nadvi, added to this material and wrote the remaining five volumes after Shibli's death.
Biography
Early life
Nomani was born on 4 June 1857 in Bindwal near Azamgarh into a Muslim Rajput family, his ancestor Sheoraj Singh being a Bais who accepted Islam many generations ago, to Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon. He was named after Abu Bakr al-Shibli who was a Sufi saint and a disciple of Junayd Baghdadi. Later in life, he added "Nomani" to his name. Although his younger brothers went to London, England for education (and later returned, one as a barrister employed at Allahabad High Court), Nomani received a traditional Islamic education. His teacher was Muhammad Farooq Chirayakoti, a rationalist scholar.
Nomani therefore had reasons to be both attracted and repelled by Aligarh. Even after he had secured a post as a teacher of Persian and Arabic at Aligarh, he always found the intellectual atmosphere at the college disappointing, and eventually left Aligarh because he found it uncongenial, although he did not officially resign from the college until after the death of founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1898.
In the Middle East
He taught Persian and Arabic languages for 16 years at Aligarh, where he met Thomas Arnold and other British scholars, discussing modern Western ideas with them. He travelled with Arnold in 1892 to the Ottoman Empire including Syria, Turkey, and Egypt, and gained direct experience of their societies. In Istanbul, he received a medal from Sultan Abdul Hamid II. In Cairo, he met noted Islamic scholar Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905).
In Hyderabad and Lucknow
After the death of Sir Syed Ahmed in 1898, he left Aligarh University and became an advisor in the Education Department of Hyderabad State. He initiated many reforms in the Hyderabad education system. From his policy, the Osmania University of Hyderabad adopted Urdu as the medium of instruction. Before that, no other university of India had adopted any vernacular language as the medium of instruction in higher studies. In 1905, he left Hyderabad and went to Lucknow as principal and driving force of the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, a madrasa founded by the Nadwatul Ulama. He introduced reforms in the school's teaching and curriculum. He stayed at the school for five years, but the orthodox class of scholars became hostile towards him, and he had to leave Lucknow to settle in the area around his hometown, Azamgarh in 1913.
Death
In August 1914 he went to Allahabad on the news of his elder brother's illness. Two weeks later his brother died. He then moved to Azamgarh. There he developed the basic concept of Darul Musannifin. He died on 18 November 1914.
Ideology
Nomani and Syed Ahmed wished for the welfare of Muslims and wanted to have Western thinking and style come along with it. However, Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslims from the wrath of the British rulers after their active participation in the War of Independence of 1857, called the "Sepoy Mutiny" by the British, whereas Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition. and in that novel he portrays Nomani as a narrow-minded Muslim theologian. In another book, 'Ataturk Fi Karbala' by Arif ul Islam, the author alleged that Shibli was not happy with Sir Syed's policies and ideologies and was involved vehemently against Aligarh movement.
Legacy
Nomani had two daughters, Rabia Khatoon and Jannutul Fatima, and one son, Hamid Hassan Nomani.
The Shibli Project
The Shibli Project, undertaken by the Department of Arabic at Jamia Millia Islamia, aims to preserve the legacy of Shibli Nomani and make his works accessible to a wider audience. As part of the Shibli Project, students are encouraged to study the life of Shibli and his books. They are asked to write articles on the various shades of his life and to write reviews of his works. Students are also encouraged to make projects that showcase his life and contributions and to prepare charts related to his life. The Shibli Project also seeks to promote compatibility among the disciplines of Urdu, Islamiyat, and History. As part of this effort, students are encouraged to study Shibli's poetic works and to organise educational tours to Darul Musannifin, Azamgarh, and Lucknow to meet with Shibli's disciples and gain more insight into his life and works. One of the highlights of the Shibli Project is an exhibition on his life and contributions. The exhibition showcases the various facets of Shibli's life and works, including his scholarship, poetry, and activism. It also provides visitors with a glimpse into the cultural and intellectual milieu of early 20th-century India.
Works
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, the poet, author, critic and literary theorist argued that Shibli's work has been unjustly dealt with:
Shibli was inspired by the progress of science and education in the West. He wanted to inspire the Muslims to make similar progress by having recourse to their lost heritage and culture, and warned them against getting lost in Western culture. "Ultimately, the Nadwa gave up its notions of uniting occidental and oriental knowledge and concentrated on Islamic scholarship, and on the dissemination of biographical and historical writing in Urdu. Shibli's own writings set the pattern for the latter." (Life of the Prophet) Shibli Nomani started to write this book but he died in 1914, then his student Sulaiman Nadvi took over the responsibility of finishing it and finally completed this book.
- Al-Ma'mun
- Al-Ghazali, (a biography of al-Ghazali)
- Sawanih Maulana Rum
- Aurangzeb Alamgir par ek nazar
- Sher-ul-ʻAjam, a history of Persian poetry
- Ilm-ul-Kalam, a history of Muslim theology
- Al-Kalam, foundation of modern Kalam
- Safarnama Rum-o-Misr-o-Sham, a travelogue of Rome, Egypt, Syria and Turkey along with his scholar companion Thomas Walker Arnold in 1892