In Tazkiratur Rashid his name and nasab is given as follows: Rashīd Aḥmad ibn Hidāyat Aḥmad[note 1] ibn Qāẓī Pīr Bak͟hsh ibn Qāẓī G͟hulām Ḥasan ibn Qāẓī G͟hulām ‘Alī ibn Qāẓī ‘Alī Akbar ibn Qāẓī Muḥammad Aslam al-Anṣārī al-Ayyūbī.[8] In the biographical work Nuzhat al-Khawatir he is mentioned with the nisbats "al-Anṣārī, al-Ḥanafī, ar-Rāmpūrī then al-Gangohī".[9][2] In the introduction to al-Kawkab ad-Durri he is mentioned as "Mawlānā Abī Mas‘ūd Rashīd Aḥmad al-Anṣārī al-Ayyūbī al-Kankawhī al-Ḥanafī al-Jishtī an-Naqshbandī al-Qādirī as-Suhrawardī".[10]
His given name was Rashid Ahmad; Abu Masud was his kunya.[citation needed] His heritage can be traced back to the Holy Prophet Muhammad's Sallallahu 'alaihi Wa Salam companion Ayub Ansari RadiAllahu 'anhu.[1]
Hidayat Ahmad was an Islamic scholar connected to the Waliullahi tradition,[8] and in tasawwuf (Sufism) an authorized khalifah (successor) of Shah Ghulam Ali Mujaddidi Dihlawi.[8][12] He died in 1252 AH (1836) at the age of 35, when Rashid was seven.[8] A few years later Rashid's younger brother Sa'id Ahmad also died, at the age of nine.
After the death of Hidayat Ahmad the responsibility for Rashid's upbringing fell to his grandfather Qazi Pir Bakhsh.[8][11] He also had four maternal uncles: Muhammad Naqi, Muhammad Taqi, Abdul Ghani, and Muhammad Shafi.[8] He was especially close to Abdul Ghani, who took on a fatherly role for him.[citation needed] He also had a close friendship with his younger cousin, Abun Nasr, son of Abdul Ghani's.[citation needed]
Rashid Ahmad received his elementary education from a local teacher, Miyanji Qutb Bakhsh Gangohi.[11] He read the Qur'an in Gangoh, probably at home with his mother.[11] Then he studied the primary Persian books with his older brother Inayat Ahmad.[8] He completed Persian studies in Karnal with his maternal uncle Muhammad Taqi,[8][9] and also partly with Muhammad Ghaus.[8] Afterwards he studied the primary books of Arabic grammar (sarf and nahw) with Muhammad Bakhsh Rampuri,[8][9] on whose encouragement he then traveled to Delhi in pursuit of knowledge in 1261 AH (1845), at the age of 17.[8]
After arriving in Delhi he studied Arabic with Qazi Ahmaduddin Punjabi Jehlami.[8][9][2] Afterwards he attended the classes of different teachers before becoming a pupil of Mamluk Ali Nanautawi, a scholar of the Shah Waliullah line, and a professor at Delhi College. It was in this period that Rashid Ahmad met and developed a close companionship with Mamluk Ali's nephew, Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi. Both were private pupils of Mamluk Ali. After he completed his studies with Mamluk Ali, he stayed a few more years in Delhi to study under other teachers. He became a pupil of Mufti Sadruddin Azurdah, with whom he studied some books of the ulum-i aqliyah (rational sciences).[12] He studied the books of hadith and tafsir under Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi. Shah Ahmad Sa'id, the older brother of Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi, was also among his teachers.[8][9][2]
After four years in Delhi, Rashid returned home to Gangoh.[citation needed] He married Khadijah, daughter of his uncle Muhammad Naqi, at the age of 21. It was not until after his marriage that he memorized the Qur'an. He then travelled to Thana Bhawan, where he gave bay'ah (allegiance) at the hand of Haji Imdadullah in the Sufi path. He remained in Imdadullah's company and service for 42 days. When he prepared to leave for Gangoh, Imdadullah held his hand and gave him permission to take disciples.[citation needed]
While Nanautawi and Gangohi are often mentioned as co-founders of Darul Uloom Deoband, Rizvi writes that there is no historical evidence that Gangohi played a role in its establishment in 1283 AH.[citation needed] However, due to his close relationship with Nanautawi and others involved, it is unlikely that he was unaware of its founding.[citation needed] Rizvi cites a record of Gangohi's written inspection of the madrasah on 3 Rajab 1285 AH as the earliest evidence for his formal relationship with the madrasah. It was also common for graduates of the madrasah to attend Rashid Ahmad's hadith lectures in Gangoh.[citation needed]
Alongside Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi, Gangohi's efforts were instrumental in fostering a transnational, pan-Islamic consciousness in the subcontinent amongst the educated middle classes; during an era of increasing connectivity and arrival of new technologies of communication.[citation needed] He forbade Muslims from engaging in various customs which he regarded as stemming from Hindu culture and criticised those Muslims "who retained trappings of ‘Hindu’ culture and lifestyles"; whether in clothing or lifestyle. As a strong opponent of the British rule; Gangohi also fiercely denounced the singing of patriotic British songs in English schools; denouncing it as an act of Kufr (disbelief).[13]
In 1297 AH, after the death of Qasim, Rashid was made sarparast (patron) of Darul Uloom Deoband. From 1314 AH he was also sarparast of the Darul Uloom's sister madrasah, Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur.[14]
He died on a Friday, 8 Jumada II 1323 AH (1905 AD) after the call to prayer for the Friday prayer.[1]
Legacy
His biographical works include: Yaad Yaraan by Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Habibur Rahman Usmani,[15]Wasl al-Habeeb ma'a Wasītat Nāmah wa Qaṣīdat Mudḥiḥa by Aashiq-e-Ilahi Mirathi,[16]Tazkiratur Rashid by Aashiq-e-Ilahi Mirathi.[17][18]
^ abcdefg"The Epitome of Shari'ah and Tariqah: Shaykh Rashid Ahmad al-Gangohi". Deoband.org website. Translated into English by Ismaeel Nakhuda. 26 April 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: others (link) Excerpted from ‘Abd al-Hayy ibn Fakhr ad-Din al-Hasani; Abu ’l-Hasan ‘Ali al-Hasani an-Nadwi. Nuzhat al-Khawatir, Published 26 April 2009, Retrieved 16 August 2018
^Nizampuri, Ashraf Ali (2013). The Hundred (Bangla Mayer Eksho Kritishontan) (1st ed.). Salman Publishers. p. 29. ISBN978-112009250-2.
^ abcdef‘Abd al-Ḥayy ibn Fakhr ad-Dīn al-Ḥasanī; Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī al-Ḥasanī an-Nadwī (1999). "الشيخ العلامة رشيد أحمد الگنگوهي / ash-Shaykh al-'Allāmah Rashīd Aḥmad al-Gangohī". نزهة الخواطر وبهجة المسامع والنواظر / Nuzhat al-khawāṭir wa-bahjat al-masāmi' wa-al-nawāẓir (in Arabic). Vol. 8 (1st ed.). Bayrūt: Dār Ibn Ḥazm. pp. 1229–1231.
^Muhammad Yahya ibn Muhammad Ismail al-Kandahlawi; Rashid Ahmad al-Kankawhi; Muhammad Zakariya al-Kandahlawi. "مقدمة المحشي / Muqaddimat al-Muhashshi". الكوكب الدري على جامع الترمذي / al-Kawkab ad-durrī 'alá Jāmi' at-Tirmidhī (in Arabic). p. 12.
^ abcdMuḥammad Zakarīyā Kāndhlawī (1973). "حضرت اقدس مولانا رشید احمد صاحب گنگوہی / Haẓrat Aqdas Maulānā Rashīd Aḥmad Ṣaḥib Gangohī". تاریخ مشائخ چشت / Tārīk͟h Mashā'ik͟h-i Chisht (in Urdu). Biharabad, Karachi: Maktabatush-Shaik͟h.
^ abcSayyid Mahbub Rizvi (1980). History of the Dar al-Ulum Deoband. Vol. 1. Translated by Murtaz Husain F. Quraishi. Dar al-Ulum, Deoband: Idara-e Ihtemam.
^Ingram, Brannon (July 2009). "Sufis, Scholars and Scapegoats: Rashid Ahmad Gangohi (d. 1905) and the Deobandi Critique of Sufism". The Muslim World. 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 99: 490–491. doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.2009.01281.x.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: location (link)
