Ali Naqi Naqvi

Grand Ayatollah Syed Ali Naqi Naqvi Nasirabadi (26 December 1905 – 18 May 1988) was an Indian Twelver Shia marja, poet, writer, jurist and interpreter of the Quran. He has authored numerous books on Shia Islam in both Arabic and Urdu, such as Shaheed-e-Insaniyat and Tareekh-e-Islam, as well as a commentary on his translation of the Quran. Contemporary accounts and later scholars have described him as an influential religious writer and teacher.

Early life and education

Naqvi was born on 26 December 1905, in Lucknow, British India. Around 1327 Hijri (1909), when he was three or four years old, his father, Syed Abul Hasan Naqvi (Mumtaz al-Ulama), took him and his family to Iraq. At the age of seven, he had a Bismillah ceremony that was held at the Rauza-e-Imam Ali in Najaf, Iraq. Naqvi's formal education then began in Iraq, where he studied Arabic and Persian grammar, and the basics of the Quran.

In 1914, the family returned to India, and Naqvi's religious education continued under his father's tuition. He later attended the Sultan al-Madaris Seminary and studied Arabic literature with Mufti Muhammad Ali. Naqvi passed the exam for certification as a religious scholar (alim) from Allahabad University in 1923 and soon gained certifications from Nazamiyyah College and Sultan al-Madaris Seminary. In 1925, he was awarded a degree in literature (Fazil-e Adab).

In 1927, Ali Naqvi departed for the seminaries of Iraq to study Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic theology (Kalam). He had already written and published four books. While studying in Iraq Naqvi wrote several works in Arabic, including Rooh Aladab Sharah Alamiyatal Arab, Albait Al Mamoor Fi Emaratal Qubur, Faryaad e Musalmanane Aalam, and Altawae Haj Per Sharaee Nuqtae Nazar Se Bahas. His first book published in Arabic, "Kashf annaqab ann aqaaed Abdul Wahab Najdi," was written in Najaf while he was a student days is the first book written against Wahhabis. His second book in Arabic, "Aqalatalaashir fi eqamatalshaaer", defended the act of "Matam".

Naqvi studied Islamic jurisprudence with Ayatullah Na'ini, Ayatollah Abu Hasan Isfahani and Ayatullah Sayyid Diya' Iraqi; Hadith with Shakyh 'Abbas Qummi and Sayyid Husayn Sadr; and Islamic theology with Sayyid Sharf al-Din, Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Kashif al-Ghita', Shaykh Jawad Balaghi, and Sayyid Muhsin Amin Amli. After completing his seminary education, he received certification (ijaza') for ijtihad and became a mujtahid at the age of 27. He was given ijazah by Ayatollah Naaini.

Career

In 1932 Naqvi returned to India where, in 1933 he was appointed the title professor in the Oriental College Department of Lucknow University. He taught Arabic and Persian there for over two decades.

In 1959, Aligarh Muslim University invited him to be in the Reader in the Theology (Dniyat) Department, which did not yet have a teaching faculty. The department created two parallel streams of Sunni and Shi'i theology, and Ali Naqvi began to oversee the affairs of the Shi'i branch. He was the Dean of Shi'i theology from 1967 to 1969 and retired from the university in 1972.