Anwar Shah Kashmiri

Anwar Shah Kashmiri Biography

Anwar Shah Kashmiri was an Indian Islamic scholar from Kashmir, author and educationist who taught at various colleges. He wrote numerous books on Islam in Urdu and Arabic languages. His books discussed Qur'an, metaphysics, politics and fundamentals of Islam. As a tutor, he gave outstanding contributions to Darul Uloom Deoband Islamic School. He was also known for his photographic memory who had a unique talent to recollect whatever he read in the past 30 years. He was married to Gangoh and among his 5 children, his son Anzar Shah Kashmiri became president of "Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband". Many of his manuscripts are left and have not printed yet.

He was born in Kashmir in the year 1875 in a reputed and literally distinguished family of many Muslim scholars. Maulana Syed Muazzam Ali Shah was his father, under whom he started reading Quran at the age of four and a half. Since early age, he has been noticed for his outstanding memory skills. He completed reading many religious books at a very young age surprising everyone. He memorized them as well. At the age of 14 he left home to pursue higher education and spent his time in the Madrasah of Hazara, where he learnt art and science subjects. Later he reached Deoband.

He graduated from Darul Uloom and began his career teaching at Madrasah Aminiyah in Delhi in 1897. In 1901 he returned to Kashmir following his mother’s death and continued his profession as a teacher. His Hajj to Mecca and Medina had a great spiritual impact on him. Maulana Kashmiri is widely regarded as the teacher of the teachers and was the personification of Islamic knowledge.

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Updated: July 23, 2014