Hafiz Ahmad Jaunpuri

Ḥāfiẓ Aḥmad Jaunpūrī (1834 – 26 January 1899) was a Bengali Muslim scholar, religious preacher and social worker. As the son and successor of Karamat Ali Jaunpuri, he led the Taiyuni reformist movement in Bengal.

Early life and family Ahmad Jaunpuri was born in 1834, in the city of Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, to an Indian Muslim family that traced their ancestry to the Arab tribe of Quraysh. He was the 36th direct descendant of Abu Bakr, the first Rashidun caliph. His father, Karamat Ali Jaunpuri, migrated from Jaunpur in North India with the intention of reforming the Muslims of Bengal. Ahmad Jaunpuri's paternal grandfather, Abu Ibrahim Shaykh Muhammad Imam Bakhsh was a student of Shah Abdul Aziz, and his great-grandfather Jarullah was also a shaykh.

Ahmad Jaunpuri completed his memorisation of the Qur'an at an early age, which led to him earning the title of Hafiz. He proceeded to gained more knowledge in Islamic studies in Lucknow and Jaunpur. He wrote a book on Hajera.

Jaunpuri had a cordial relationship with Munshi Mohammad Meherullah.

Jaunpuri contributed to the refurbishment of the Ebadullah Mosque in Barisal. On 26 September 1897, Sir Nicholas Beatson-Bell, the district commissioner of Backergunge, organised a conference at the Barisal Zilla School in which Nawab Sirajul Islam and Hafiz Ahmad Jaunpuri delivered speeches on the importance of establishing the Bell Islamia Hostel.

He set off to complete Hajj in 1882. During his stay in the Hejaz, he gained a great reception and was acclaimed as an orator. Another successor was Abdul Latif Taluqdar of Mirsarai.

Death Hafiz Ahmad Jaunpuri was affected by paralysis and was taken to Dacca for treatment. He died on the way in a boat on 26 January 1899 in Sadarghat. His body was washed in the boat, and his janaza was performed at the Chawkbazar Shahi Mosque in Old Dhaka at the request of his disciple, Sheikh Faiz Bakhsh Kanpuri. He was buried just south of the mosque.

Spiritual genealogy Prophet Muhammad Abū Bakr Salmān al-Fārisī Al-Qāsim bin Muḥammad Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq Abū Yazīd Ṭayfūr al-Bisṭāmī Abu al-Ḥasan ʿAlī al-Kharaqānī Abū ʿAlī Faḍl Farmadī Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf al-Hamadānī ʿAbd al-Khāliq Ghijdawānī Muḥammad ʿĀrif Riwgarī Maḥmūd Anjīr Faghnawī ʿAzīzān ʿAlī Rāmitānī Sayyid Amīr Kulāl Muḥammad Bābā as-Samāsī Sayyid Bahā ad-Dīn Naqshband Sayyid Mīr ʿAlā ad-Dīn ʿAṭṭār Yaʿqūb Charkhī Khwājah ʿUbaydullāh Aḥrār Khwājah Muḥammad Zāhid Wakhshī Khwājah Darwesh Muḥammad Khwājah Muḥammad Amkingī Khwājah Raḍī ad-Dīn Muḥammad Bāqī Billāh Aḥmad al-Fārūqī as-Sirhindī Sayyid Ādam al-Bannūrī Sayyid ʿAbdullāh Akbarābādī Shāh ʿAbd ar-Raḥīm Dehlawī Shāh Walīullāh Dehlawī Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Dehlawī Sayyid Aḥmad Shahīd Karāmat ʿAlī Jaunpūrī Ḥāfiẓ Aḥmad Jaunpūrī

Disciples Jaunpuri had numerous spiritual successors (khalifas) including:

Abdur Rab Jaunpuri (1875–1935) মৌলবী আব্দুল গণি শাহ্,ফরিদপুর Abdul Latif Taluqdar of Mirsarai (1862–1939) Maheruddin Faqir of Jhalkathi, Bakerganj district Sheikh Faiz Bakhsh of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh