Nadeem al-Wajidi

Early life and education Wasif Husain Nadeem al-Wajidi was born in Deoband on 23 July 1954. His birth name, Wasif Husain, was given by Hussain Ahmad Madani.

His family has a strong literary background and settled in Deoband from Bijnor about a century and a half ago. His grandfather, Ahmad Hasan Deobandi, was the Sheikh al-Hadith of Jamia Miftahul Uloom in Jalalabad, and his father, Wajid Husain Deobandi, was the Sheikh al-Hadith of Jamia Islamia Talimuddin in Dabhel.

He received his primary education in Deoband and then studied at Madrasa Miftahul Uloom in Jalalabad, where he benefitted academically from Masihullah Khan Sherwani. In the same year, he founded the Arabic Teaching Center in Deoband, from which thousands of students benefited over the years. Seven books were published by this center and were included in the curricula of several madrasas.

In 2001, he established the first residential educational institution for girls in Deoband, named Ma'had Ayesha As-Sadiqah, in an effort to address the deterioration of Muslim society, especially among women, under the guise of women's freedom. He appointed his wife, herself an Islamic scholar, as the manager of internal affairs.

He served as the Uttar Pradesh President of the All India Tanzeem-e-Ulama-e-Hind and was a General Member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, among other posts.

In the short film Mister Come Tomorrow, the concept of halala is portrayed with common misconceptions, showing that a woman is asked to sleep with another man besides her husband. Nadeem al-Wajidi criticized this portrayal, stating that the true meaning of halala has been misunderstood. He clarified that halala is actually intended to assist a divorced woman, giving her the right to remarry any man, not necessarily her former husband.

Literary works Nadeem al-Wajidi started writing essays during his student days, and he was encouraged in his writing by the fortnightly Urdu magazine Makarz of Deoband. He was a renowned researcher with a pen-and-style personality.

In 2000, he had published a monthly magazine called Tarjuman-e-Deoband, which continued to be published and remained popular and well known among scholars in the country and abroad, along with the writings of prestigious writers from both within the country and abroad. Ihyaul Uloom (Urdu translation of Al-Ghazali's Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn in four volumes ) Al-Qamoos al-Maudoo'ī (a trilingual dictionary in Arabic, English, and Urdu) Jam'-ul-Khasāil (an Urdu commentary on Al-Tirmidhi's Shama'il) Islam; Haqāiq aur Ghalat-fehmiyān (Islam; Facts and Misconceptions) Insāni Masāil; Islami Tanāzur Mein (human problems in the Islamic context) Teen Talāq Awām Ki Adālat Mein (Triple Talaq in the Court of Public Opinion) Musalmānon-Ki Milli aur Siyāsi Zindagi (Social and Political Life of Muslims) Naye Zehen Ke Shubhāt aur Islam Ka Mauqif (Doubts of the Modern Mind and Islam's Perspective) Humāre Madāris: Mizāj aur Minhāj (Our Islamic seminaries: Mood and Mindfulness) Ramadan Kaise Guzārein (How to Spend Ramadan? in Urdu and Hindi) Ramadan; Naikiyon Ka Mausam-e-Bahār (Ramadan is the spring of goodness) Qiyāmat Ki Nishāniyan aur Maulana Wahīduddīn Khān Ke Nazriyyāt (Doomsday signs and theories of Wahiduddin Khan)

Death Nadeem al-Wajidi died in Chicago, United States, on 14 October 2024, at the age of 70. The following day, his funeral prayer was held in the same city, and he was buried there.