Ziya-ur-Rahman Azmi

Ziya-ur-Rahman Azmi
محمد ضياء الرحمان الأعظمي
Personal
Born	Banke Raam/Banke Laal
Died	30 July 2020(2020-07-30) (aged 76–77) Medina, Saudi Arabia
Religion	Islam
Nationality	Saudi Arabian
Denomination	Sunni
Creed	Athari
Notable work(s)	Al-Jami al-Kamil
Alma mater	Shibli National College, Azamgarh Darsgah Islami Intermediate College, Kakrala, Badaun Jamia Darussalam Islamic University of Madinah Umm al-Qura University Al-Azhar University
Other names	Abū Aḥmad Muḥammad ʻAbdillāh Al-A’zami أبو أحمد محمد عبد الله الأعظمي
Occupation	Author professor Dean Islamic scholar
Muslim leader
Teacher	Ibn Humaid, Abdul-Aziz Ibn Baz
Influenced by Abul Ala Maududi
Influenced Zakir Naik, Abubakar Muhammad Zakaria

Abu Ahmad Muhammad Abdullah Azami or Ziya-ur-Rahman Azmi (also written as Dhiya-ur-Rahman A'zamī; 1943 – 30 July 2020) was an Indian-born Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who served as the Dean of the Department of Hadith at the Islamic University of Madinah. He is known for his compilation of hadith titled Al-Jaami’ ul-Kamil fi al-Hadith al-Sahih al-Shamil which contains all authentic Prophetic narrations (Sahih Hadiths) as per his claim.

Biography

Ziya-ur-Rahman Azmi was born Banke Laal into a Hindu Family in 1943 in Azamgarh. His father was a prosperous businessman, his business was spread from Azamgarh to Calcutta. Azmi grew up living a life full of luxuries. He entered the Shibli College, Azamgarh for education, having a natural fascination with the study of books. In 1959, at first, he was gifted a booklet of Abul Ala Maududi named "Satya Dharma" (true religion) by Hakeem Muhammad Ayyub Nadwi who was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, and got attracted to Islam by reading it. A few days later, he was given a hindi translation of Quran by Khwaja Hasan Nizami and by reading the book, he became more interested to Islam and started attending Islamic seminars by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. While he belonged to a Brahmin Hindu family, he was brought up in a strict Hindu environment, and had a special attachment to Hinduism. When he started studying Islam, he saw the verse 3:19 of Quran: "The only accaptable religion to Allah (God) is Islam." and he once again tried to understand Hinduism. He approached his college lecturer who was a scholar of Gita and Vedas. But he could not be satisfied with their words. A teacher of Shibli College used to teach Quran weekly. Seeing his quest, the teacher gave him special permission to join the teaching circle. The constant reading of Syed Maududi's books and regular participation in the teaching of the Qur'an convinced and inclined him to accept Islam. But he was not able to live with the Hindu family after becoming a Muslim and was also worried about the future of his sisters. These thoughts stood in the way of his accepting Islam. One day in the Qur'an class, the teacher read verse 29:41 from Sura al-Ankabut: "The case of those who took others than Allah as their protectors is that of a spider who builds a house; but the frailest of all houses is the spider's house; if they only knew.". The verse and its interpretation shocked him and he decided to abandon all supports and take only Allah as his support and immediately embraced Islam. Aged 15, he embraced Islam in 1960. After that, most of his time was spent in reading the books of Syed Maududi. At the time of prayer, he would quietly leave the house and pray in a secluded place. After converting to Islam, he received extreme opposition from his family and community. He received his primary education in a local school and then enrolled at the Shibli National College in Azamgarh. He began studying the traditional dars-e-nizami at the Jamia Darussalam in Oomerabad, and received a B.A. and an M.A. in Islamic studies from the Islamic University of Madinah and the Umm al-Qura University respectively. He wrote his doctoral thesis at the Al-Azhar University.

Azmi was appointed professor at the Islamic University of Madinah and was later awarded Saudi Arabian citizenship. He was the in charge of the Office of Secretary General of Muslim World League. He died on 30 July 2020 and buried in Al-Baqi Cemetery.

Books

Azmi authored al-Jaami’ ul-kamil fi al-hadith al-sahih al-shamil, also known as Jami ul Kamil, a collection of all sound hadith narrations as per his claim. According to Islamic scholar Muhammad Ishaq Bhatti, "this is such a work that no one has done before."

Azmi collected and compiled all the available traditions from Abu Hurairah after an Egyptian hadith rejector Muhammad Aburiyah wrote Abū Hurayrah wa marwīyatih following in the footsteps of Goldziher. Azmi named the compilation as ''Abū Hurayrah wa marwīyatih and wrote several detailed discourses in it defending the hadith. He gained access to rare manuscripts of Aqḍiyat Rasūl Allāh, a work by Andalusian Maliki scholar, Muḥammad ibn Faraj Ibn al-Ṭallā, who lived between 404 AH and 497 AH. Azmi studied these manuscripts and gave the general Islamic academia its access. His works include:

Arabic

• Jami ul Kamil
• Seeratul Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam ala manhajul muhadditheen (Biography of the Chosen one, peace be upon him, based on the methodology of hadith scholars)
• Abū Hurayrah fī ḍawʼ marwīyatih: dirāsah muqāranah fī miʼat ḥadīth min marwīyātih
• Dirāsāt fī al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl
• al-Minnah al-kubrá: sharḥ wa-takhrīj al-Sunan al-ṣughrá lil-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī
• Muʻjam muṣṭalaḥāt al-ḥadīth wa-laṭāʼif al-asānīd
• Dirāsāt fī al-Yahūdīyah wa-al-Masīḥīyah wa-adyān al-Hind (Comparative Study of Judaism, Christianity and Indian Religions)
• al-Yahūdīyah wa-al-Masīḥīyah
• Fuṣūl fī adyān al-Hind: al-Hindūsīyah wa-al-Būdhīyah wa-al-Jaynīyah wa-al-Sīkhīyah wa-ʻalāqat al-taṣawwuf bi-hā (Chapters on the religions of India: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Shikhism, and the relations of Sufism to them)
• Tahiyyat al-Masjid

Hindi

Quran ki sheetal Chhaya book cover.

• कुरान की शीतल छाया (Cool shade of Quran)
• कुरान विश्वकोश (Quran encyclopedia)

References

Bibliography

• Bhatti, Muhammad Ishaq (2012). "Dr. Ziaur Rahman Azmi". Barr-e-Sagheer mai Ahle Hadees ki Awwaliyaat (in Urdu). Gujranwala: Dar Abi al-Tayyib. pp. 74–76.
• Bhatti, Muhammad Ishaq (2015). Chamnistan-e-Hadees [The Garden of Hadith]. Lahore: Maktaba Quddoosia. pp. 585–594.
• Nadwi, Razi ul Islam (30 July 2020). "اسلام کا بیٹا : ضیاء الرحمن" [The Son of Islam: Ziya ur Rahman]. Millat Times (in Urdu). Retrieved 27 December 2021.
• Khokhar, Muhammad Sadiq (18 August 2020). "پروفیسر ضیاء الرحمٰن اعظمی کی رحلت" [The death of Professor Zia ur Rahman Azmi]. Daily Jang (in Urdu). Retrieved 27 December 2021.
• Tariq, Lubna (30 June 2020). "اعظم گڑھ کا ہندو کیسے مدینہ یونیورسٹی اور مسجد نبوی کا معلم بن گیا" [How did a Hindu of Azamgarh became professor of the Medina University and Masjid Nabawi]. Baseerat Online (in Urdu). Retrieved 27 December 2021.

Further reading

• Azmi, Muhammad Khalid (September 2020). گنگا سے زم زم تک کا روحانی و علمی سفر [The Spiritual and Academic Journey from the Ganges to the Zamzam] (in Urdu). New Delhi: Al-Manar Publishing House.
• Siddiqi, Irfan (September 2020). "بلریاگنج سے جنت البقیع تک" [From Bilariaganj to the Jannat al-Baqi']. Urdu Digest (in Urdu). 60 (9). Lahore: 41–53. Retrieved 27 December 2021.