He served JUI as its first president until his death in 1949. The importance of Maulana Usmani is also conspicuous from the fact that the Quaid-i-Azam consulted him on all important matters after independence. Shabbir Ahmad Usmani with a team of 500 Ulema eliminated the influence of these corrupt feudals from these regions and converted the sentiments of common people toward Pakistan movement. and Punjab came under the influence of the Congress. He joined Muslim League in 1944 at a critical juncture of Pakistan movement when most of the feudals of N.W.F.P. Īs a leader of this pro-Pakistan faction of Deobandis of the old Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind party, which was originally founded in Deoband in 1919, he went ahead and founded a new and separate political party called the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in 1945, along with other like-minded pro-Pakistan religious leaders. In 1944, he became a member of the All-India Muslim League and led a small group of Deobandis who supported the creation of Pakistan. Shabbir Ahmad Usmani was one of the founding members of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi as he was a member of the Foundation Committee of the Jamia (University) that met on Friday, 29 October 1920. In 1933, when Anwar Shah Kashmiri died, Usmani became the teacher of Sahih al-Bukhari, a book of teachings by prophet Muhammad.Īn Urdu translation of the tafsir of the Quran written by Mahmud ul HasanĪ commentary on Sahih Muslim, a book of teachings by prophet MuhammadĪ philosophical study on the relation between faith and reason from an Islamic perspective Many other Islamic scholars also were members of the Foundation Committee including Husain Ahmad Madani, Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, Kifayatullah Dihlawi, and Abdul Haq Akorwi. In October 1929, when the foundation committee decided to establish Jamia Millia Islamia, he was elected as a member of the founding committee. In 1926, he moved to Dabhel, a small predominantly Deobandi town in the Indian state of Gujarat, and became a teacher at Jamiah Islamiah Talimuddin Dabhel. It is believed that they chose Usmani as their leader after having a short conversation with him. A deputation of a number of 'ulama' from India participated in this conference. In 1925, Sultan Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia scheduled a conference for prominent religious scholars from all over the world. In 1915, when Mahmud Hasan went into self-exile in Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, Usmani filled his position as the teacher of Sahih al-Muslim, a book of teachings of prophet Muhammad. After his graduation, he was appointed as a teacher at Darul Uloom Deoband. He was educated at Darul Uloom Deoband, where he became a disciple of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, and graduated in 1908. His father, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, was a deputy inspector of schools and had been sent on assignment to Bareilly, when his son Shabbir was born. He was born on 11 October 1887 in Bijnor, a city in North-Western Provinces, British India. Further information: Usmani family of Deoband § Fazlur Rahman Usmani