Rashid Ahmad Gangohi

Rashīd Aḥmad ibn Hidāyat Aḥmad Ayyūbī Anṣārī Gangohī (12 June 182611 August 1905) was an Indian Deobandi Islamic scholar, a leading figure of the Deobandi movement, jurist and scholar of hadith, author of Fatawa-e-Rashidiya.

Along with Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi he was a pupil of Mamluk Ali Nanautawi. Both studied the books of hadith under Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi and later became Sufi disciples of Haji Imdadullah. His lectures on Sahih al-Bukhari and Jami` at-Tirmidhi were recorded by his student Muhammad Yahya Kandhlawi, later edited, arranged, and commented on by Zakariyya Kandhlawi, and published as Lami al-Darari ala Jami al-Bukhari and Al-Kawakib al-Durri sharh Jami al-Tirmidhi.

Name In Tazkiratur Rashid his name and nasab is given as follows: Rashīd Aḥmad ibn Hidāyat Aḥmad ibn Qāẓī Pīr Bak͟hsh ibn Qāẓī G͟hulām Ḥasan ibn Qāẓī G͟hulām ‘Alī ibn Qāẓī ‘Alī Akbar ibn Qāẓī Muḥammad Aslam al-Anṣārī al-Ayyūbī. In the biographical work Nuzhat al-Khawatir he is mentioned with the nisbats "al-Anṣārī, al-Ḥanafī, ar-Rāmpūrī then al-Gangohī". 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".

His given name was Rashid Ahmad; Abu Masud was his kunya. His heritage can be traced back to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's companion Ayub Ansari. He was born in the mahallah of Sarai, close to the tomb of Abdul Quddus Gangohi.

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.

In 1314 AH he also lost his eye-sight and became blind. In 1323 AH during the Tahujjad prayers (predawn prayers), he was bitten by a highly venomous snake. This led to him later dying on (the same day) Friday, 8 Jumada II 1323 AH (1905 AD) after the Adhan (call for prayer) for the Friday prayer.

Death

Rashid Ahmad Gangohi rejected the claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and proclaimed him to be a deceiver. Ahmadis maintain Rashid Ahmad Gangohi as having died in consequence of a Mubahila (prayer duel) with their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad after Gangohi's fatwa of kufr regarding Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The opposing view is that this was a natural occurrence without any connection to any prayer duel.

View of Taqwiyyat-ul-Iman Gangohi is said to have been one of the few people to receive the original Arabic version of Taqwiyyat-ul-Iman, prior to its translation into Urdu by Shah Ismail Dehlvi himself. Gangohi said regarding Shah Ismail: Ismaīl was a pious scholar and a remover of innovation (bidah) and propagator of the Sunnah […] he was a saint and martyr […] His book Taqwiyyat-ul-Īmān is a great work, refuting shirk and bidah and it is the interpretation of the Book of God and the Ahādīth and to keep it and practise upon it is in accordance with the religion of Islam and a means to gain reward and the one who calls it malicious is a sinner (fāsiq) and innovator (bidatī). If a person due to his ignorance cannot comprehend its speciality, it is then his own fault and no fault of the author. Great scholars of righteousness have likened this book and have said that if any deviant calls it malicious, then he himself is astray and misguided.|Gangohi Wasl al-Habeeb ma'a Wasī'at Nāmah wa Qaṣīdat Mudḥiḥa by Aashiq-e-Ilahi Mirathi, Tazkiratur Rashid by Aashiq-e-Ilahi Mirathi.

Eponyms Masjid-e-Rasheed Fatawa-e-Rashidiya Charmonai Ahsanabad Rashidia Kamil Madrasa Charmonai Jamia Rashidia Islamia