Amin Ahsan Islahi

Amin Ahsan Islahi (; 1904 – 15 December 1997), was a Pakistani Islamic scholar best known for his Urdu exegesis of the Quran, Tadabbur-i-Quran ("Pondering on the Quran"), which he based on Hamiduddin Farahi's (1863 – 1930), idea of thematic and structural coherence in the Qur'an.

Early life Islahi was born in 1904 at Bamhur village in Azamgarh, United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), British India (now India). After graduating from Madrasatul Islah in Azamgarh in 1922, he entered the field of journalism. He was the son in law of Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Khan. First he worked as an associated editor in "Khoonch" a children magazine. Then he edited a newspaper Madinah at Bijnor, India and also remained associated with "Sach", a newspaper taken out by Abdul Majid Daryabadi.

Inspiration from Hamiduddin Farahi In 1925 Hamiduddin Farahi invited Islahi to study the Qur’an with him and Islahi left his journalistic career to do so. He learned from Farahi the principles of direct deliberation on the Book of Allah. During this time, he also taught the Qur’an and Arabic literature at the Madrasah.

Works

Besides the nine volume Urdu Tafsir Tadabbur-i-Qur’an (Pondering on the Qura'n), which Islahi started writing in 1958 and finished in 1980, ‘حقيقت توحيد’ (Haqiqat-i-Tawhid: The Essence of Monotheism) Islahi was described by a former student as "very sensitive, courteous and caring, frank yet very reasonable, warm and loving" and that Islahi thought the most important thing in his life was to "explain and elucidate" the Quran.

After his death, Khalid Masud succeeded him in charge of Idara-i-Tadabbur-i Qur’an-o Hadith.