Shibli Nomani Biography 
Shibli Nomani was an Islam scholar and poet from India during British rule. He was a versatile scholar in Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Turkish and Urdu. He was the founder of the Shibli National College in 1883 and the Darul Mussanifin in Azamgarh. He is the author of the incomplete work on Prophet of Islam, Muhammad - Sirat-un-Nabi. He was able to complete its first two volumes only. Later his disciple, Sirat-un-Nabi edited those two volumes and used his data to finish the remaining 5 volumes as well.
He was born to Shaikh Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon on 3 June 1857. Shibli received a traditional Islamic education while his younger brothers got advanced studies from London. His teacher was Maulana Muhammad Farooq Chirayakoti, a rationalist scholar. After his pilgrimage to holy Mecca, he devoted his full time in the research and studies of Muhammad. He also learnt Islamic theology, history, philosophy and Sufism from different scholars in Arabia. When he returned to India he was offered a lecturer’s job at just established Aligarh Muslim University by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He joined teaching post at the university on February 1, 1882 where he taught Persian and Arabic languages for 16 years. He met British scholar Thomas Arnold and traveled with him in many foreign conutries in 1892. In Cairo, he met noted Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad Abduh.
After the death of Sir Syed Ahmed in 1898, he left Aligarh and became an advisor in the Education Department of Hyderabad State. He put forward many education reforms in the education department during this time. Adoption of Urdu as the medium of instruction in Osmania University of Hyderabad is one such reform. In 1908 he became the principal of Nadwa. But he left the institution in 1913. He wanted to establish Darul Musannifin or the House of Writers but there he could not do this. Later his unfinished research works were published by disciple, Sirat-un-Nabi.
Published: N/A
Updated: April 01, 2014
