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A Brief Biography of Mawlānā Dr. ʿMuḥammad ʿAbd al-Shahīd al-Nuʿmānī (1950-2026)
The following biographical entry draws almost exclusively from an Arabic piece composed by Mawlānā Ḍiyāʾ al-Ḥaqq ʿAbd al-Aḥad, a graduate of Jāmiʿa Dār al-ʿUlūm, Karachi, and a former professor of Arabic literature and rhetoric at the Jāmiʿa Banūriyya ʿĀlamiyya. Mawlānā Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Shahīd al-Nuʿmānī (1950–2026) Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Shahīd al-Nuʿmānī was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, ḥadīth… Continue reading
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Introducing Shāh Walī Allāh’s al-Maktūb al-Madanī fī Taḥqīq Waḥdat al-Wujūd wa-Waḥdat al-Shuhūd
One of the most sensitive and subtle theological and metaphysical discussions in the later Islamic intellectual tradition is the relationship between waḥdat al-wujūd and waḥdat al-shuhūd. The short monograph al-Maktūb al-Madanī, authored by Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī, addresses this question with a blend of the precision of the discursive theologians (mutakallimīn) and the deep insight of the spiritual masters,… Continue reading
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Mawlānā Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Shahīd al-Nuʿmānī (1950–2026): A Few Recollections of an Unsung Scholar, Educator, and Ḥadīth Researcher
Three days have passed since I received news of the death of Mawlānā Dr. Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Shahīd al-Nuʿmānī (raḥimahullāh), and I have struggled to put any thoughts to paper since. I had known he was ill in the days before his death, but I had intensely hoped for his full recovery and looked forward to… Continue reading
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The Qualifications and Prerequisites for Quranic Commentary
What follows is a translation of a portion of Imam Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suyūṭī’s al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān, prepared for the Introduction to Islamic Disciplines course at Usul Academy. This is a well-known and oft-quoted passage from the Itqān and can be found in several contemporary works in Quran Studies. I chose to retranslate… Continue reading
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A Reading List: Great Books of Islamic Civilization
The intellectual tradition of Islamic civilization is both incredibly vast and delightfully diverse. Within this immense corpus of intellectual wealth, certain works enjoy an authority that endures time because these “great books” shaped entire disciplines, helped form curricula, or preserved modes of thought across centuries. The following list, produced by N.A. Baloch, comprises the table… Continue reading
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First Impressions: Dār al-Maʿrūf’s Recent Print of Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ
By Bilal Ali I had the opportunity to examine the first volume of the new eleven-volume edition of Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī’s celebrated commentary on the Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ. My access was brief, limited to a few days before returning the volume to its owner, yet the edition has recently been the subject of discussion… Continue reading
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The Preservation of Arab Culture in the Age of Ignorance
By Mawlānā Dr. Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Chishtī (al-Nuʿmānī) Supervisor, Department of Specialization in the Science of Ḥadīth, Jāmiʿat al-ʿUlūm al-Islāmiyyah, Banūrī Town, Karachi [In 2005, my mentor, Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Chishtī Ṣāḥib, gave me an English translation of this article for editing. An unnamed friend had prepared the translation. I do not recall whether… Continue reading
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Ḥakīm al-Ummah’s Shajarat al-Murād, or Schematic Outline of the Objectives of Taṣawwuf
The Shajarat al-Murād is a schematic outline of the objectives of taṣawwuf presented in Ḥakīm al-Ummah Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī al-Thānwī’s indispensable Urdu multi-volume work, Tarbiyat al-Sālik. In this work, Mawlānā Thānwī defines taṣawwuf as the disciplined application of the inward dimension of the Sharīʿah. He begins with first principles. The purpose of a Muslim’s life is to attain… Continue reading
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The Dars-i Niẓāmī Curriculum and the Principles and Premises that Must Inform any Revision
By Mawlānā Muḥammad Sālim Qāsimī (Rector of Dār al-ʿUlūm Deoband, Waqf) [This piece was written in Urdu by the late scholar Mawlānā Muḥammad Sālim Qāsimī, son of Ḥakīm al-Islām Qāri Ṭayyib Qāsimī. I came across it while working on educational projects for start-up integrated Islamic classical schools. I prepared the translation to help curriculum developers… Continue reading
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Ode to a Behavioral Sciences Cohort
While searching through old file folders, I stumbled upon this old poem I wrote for my Applied Behavioral Sciences cohort in the undergraduate program. It was intended to incorporate a wide variety of concepts learned in the program in the various behavioral sciences, including psychology, sociology, education, management, research, and so on, and I presented… Continue reading