Dr. Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari was an outstanding theologian and Philosopher of the Muslim World. His broad knowledge of the modern sciences together with his Islamic learning and insight, enabled him to expound on Islam in a manner that was inspiring to both the masses and the intellectual elite.
As a missionary, Maulana Ansari inspired Muslim minorities with fresh faith and zeal. During his five world missionary tours he affiliated forty organisations to the World Federation of Islamic Missions. The Muslim minorities in Latin America, Africa, South -East Asia and elsewhere were confronted by a hostile non-Muslim majority. Their only defennce was their sentimental attachment to Islam. ANsari's intellectual exposition of Islam gave the bright young Muslims some hope that at least Islam is a dynamic, practical religion, that can face up to the challenges of the twentieth century. He knew that unless the Muslim minorities had their own religious scholars who were conversant with modrn bthought,their emotional attachment ot Islam would not last long. With this in mind, he established the ALeemiyah Institut of Islamic Studies in Karachi where students could study both religous and modern scinces.
His Character:
In relation to the different schools of Islamic thoughts, such as the Barelives, the Deobandies and the Ehl-e-Hadisth, he had an extremly broad outlook. Although he might have had his personal theological preferences, he was not prejudiced towards any of these groups. Infact, he accepted that every individual has his/her own predisposition and inclination as a result of his/her own education and experience. It is these differences in personalities, which explains their variant opinions relating to particular matters. Hence the same verse of the Holy Quran and the same Hadith of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) may have different meanings to different individuals. To be sure, it is difficult for man to rise above his own mental and psychological state. It is this recognisation of differences in human nature, which made Maulana Ansari an ideal example of tolerence and compassion towards all Muslims. He would speak to people with the utmost politeness and respect, no matter what their status in life. At work, after assigning his subordinates with some task, he would politely request them, with a warm smile, to complete the task, even if the delay would cause him much loss.
His family traced thier lineage to the companion of the Holy Prophet, Hazrat Abu Ayoub al-Ansari, who is distinguished for this hospitality and at whose house the Prophet stayed after his migration (Al-Hijrah) to Medina.
His Education:
In 1921, at the gae of six years, he completed the memorisation of the Holy Quran at the Madrassah Islamiah Muzaffar Nagar, UP., India. In 1933 he enrolled for the BA Course at the Aligarh Muslim University with makirs in english Literature, Philosophy and Arabic. At the same time from 1933-1936 he was following the Dars-e-Nizami Course at the Aligarh Muslim University under the elebrated Isalmic Scholar, Prof. Hazrat Maulana Syed Sulaiman Ashraf, Chairman Department of Theology. Here he undertook special stuides in the Holy Quran, the Hadith, Ilmul-kalam (Islamic theology) and Tasawwuf (Islamic spirituality). By 1937, he had started learning his fifth language, German; and in the same year Maulana Abd-ul-Aleem saiddiuqi sent him to his first missionary errand to Singapore and Malaysia. These countreis required that the teachings of Islam be presented with force and eloquence in order to counteract that aggressive missionary activitie of non-muslims. That is whrer Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman, then an accomplsished scholars and writer worked on three fronts: firstly, he edited the first English Islamic Journal "Genuine Islam", secondly, he was director of the All-Mlaya Muslim Missionary Society, and thirdly, he organised Islamic propagation in the Far East in general.
In 1939 he obtained a scholarship from the Alexander Von Humbiledt Stifrung of Berlin to proceed to Germany for higher studies. However, the Second World War put an end to these lans. So he then completed the Bachor of Islamic Theology course of which he had already done one year in 1936. In 1942 he graduated with distinctions in his MA course in Philosphy with majors in Metaphysics, Ethics, Psychology,and classical Islamic Philopsphy (from orginal sources). During the year he was also the Vice-President of the Philosophical Society of Aligarh Muslim University.
After working for five long years of his PHD, he finally submitted the dissertation to his supervisor, Dr. S. Z. Hasan of the Aligarh University. However, Dr. Hassan had settled in Karachi just before Pakistan was established in 1947. Dr. Hsan passed away soon thereafter and the siddetation Maulana Ansari could not be found amoung this belongings. And when Maulana Ansari migrated to Pakistan in November, 1947, his library was looted and destroyed at Amritsar. How sad, the fruit of years of laborious and painstaking reasearch had been destroyed. This was a great loss of valuable research as Dr. Hasan himself said: "For some time he has now been working with me on a philosphic-religious theme for his Doctorate which i am sure is going to be a great dissertatin . Dr. Sir Ziauddin, that eminent and celebrated mathematician and vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University had this to say on 11 August, 1945: "I have great pleasure in testifying to the character and attainments of Mr. Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari...who has made his mark as a scholar of exceptional talent and ability.
From the year 1933 to the year 1947, he remained at Aligarh. This spirtual pilgrim was so devoted to learning that as a BA Student he used to red five hundred pages of reading every day, the result that he became equally at home in a diverse filed of subjects. He had also studies the various branches of Medicine, especially the Homeopathic System of medicine, during his day at Aligarh. On 29th September, 1966 he was registered in Karachi as an authorised Practitioner of Homeopathy.
In 1970 he obtained his PHD under the supervison of Dr. M. M. Ahmed, Chairperson of the Department of Philosophy, University of Karachi. His topic was the Islamic Moral Code and its Metaphysical Background. The degree of PHD was granted to him in 1970. His Dissertatio was commented on by an eminant scholar as follows: "It is, indeed, a comprehensive account of the moral code provided by the Quran, a like of which , to my knowledge, has not been formulated with such an extensiveness by anyone in the history of Muslim literature.
His Missionary Activity:
In 1935 when Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman had just written his BA (final) exams, Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui showed him an article written by a Charistian priest and published in Singapore. This article maligned Islam and Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman requested permission to write a reply. Maulana Siddiqui was extremely happy with his reply, and it was since then that the bond of love between them developed. In 1936 this bond was further cemented when Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui gave his eldest daughter to him in marriage.
In the very next year, Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui wrote a letter from Saudi Arabia stating that none of his children could carry on his work; and that the one capable person, his son-in-law, had also forsaken him. On reading this letter, tears flowed freely from Maulana Ansari's eyes. To this day, that tear stained letter stands as testimony of the love and loyalty he had for that great saint, Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. It was at this time that Maulana Siddiqui accepted his son in law as his murid in all the chains(silsilahs): Qaderiyah, Chistiyyah, Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyah and Shadhiliyyah. And within the recincts of the Ka'bah, Maulana Abdul Aleem transmitted to him ijazah (authority) in all spriritual matters. Since 1932 to the day of Maulana Abdul Aleem demise, it was Hafiz Fazl-ur-Rahman alone who stood as his right hand man in the fields of Islamic missionary journalism and practical missionary work.
In addition to these around the world tours, this lllustrious missionary made other trips in the service of Islam. Most notable maongst these was the historic visit to South Africa in August-September,1970 and the visit, first ever by a Muslim missionary, to the Indian Ocean Islands, Seychelles ,in December 1970.
To realise the power of his expression, one has to read his writings. Here was a writer who wielded his pen with a mighty force. At the age of eighteen he wrote his first book, The Beacon Light (published in 1932). in here, he replied to a vicious attack on Islam by a Christian priest in Hong Kong. Many other works followed after this, the most notbale being his most voluminous work, The Quranic Foundations and the Structure of Muslim Society (1973),a work in two volumes conveing more than nine hundred pages. This historic book was launched on 1st December, 1973. Six months later Maulana Dr. Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari passed away.
His five round world tours took him to about forty different countries in Africa, America, Asia and Europe. There, his distinguished oratory and encyclopediac knowledge created a lasting impression on the minds of all educated and uneducated, young and old, Muslim and non-Muslim. in many countries, he delivered lectues at universities where he addressed audiences which included eminent professors and orientalist, whose attacks on Islam he convincingly refuted. His death was a great loss to the world of Islam in general and to Pakistan in particular.
