Abdul Aleem Siddiqui and His Mission
2024
In Abdul Aleem Siddiqui and His Mission, Abdul Kader Choughley beautifully and analytically narrates the inspiring life story of Mawlānā Abdul Aleem Siddiqui (1892-1954). The Roving Ambassador of Peace, as fondly called by his admirers across the globe, Mawlānā Siddiqui was a brilliant Islamic spiritual master, writer, orator and visionary of South Asian origin. Deeply trained in classical Islam and the authentic form of Sufism, in accordance with the principles of the Shari’ah, during the early decades of the last century, Mawlānā Siddiqui travelled across the globe, visiting the interior regions of Africa and many metropolises in Europe, America and Asia, sharing Islam’s message of peace, spiritual refinement, besides stressing the inner Muslim unity, beyond all sectarian divisions. He also equally stressed the importance of building interfaith relations among Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists, as fellow human beings, honoured by God. Mawlānā Siddiqui was noted for his epistle to Pope Pious XII, written in 1950, exploring the common human fraternity, and his interactions with the noted twentieth century intellectual giants such as the philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, Bernard Shaw, Shaikh Mustafa Al-Maraghi and Shaikh Abdullah Draz. Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari, one of the insightful South Asian Muslim scholars of the last century and Justice M.T. Akbar, an eminent Sri Lankan Muslim jurist, were some of the noted disciples of Mawlānā Siddiqui. Abdul Kader Choughley, the author of the volume, has contributed enormously to the revival of South Asian Muslim scholarship, during the past decade or so, with several valuable studies on Islam in South Asia, focusing on Islamic revivalism. And he deserves accolades for his insightful works such as Fazlur Rahman Ansari Aligarh Years: 1933-1947, Tradition of Tafsir (Qur’ānic Exegesis) in the Indian Subcontinent and the two-volume Dr Ansari Series: Moral and Spiritual Transformation in Islam (Selected Writings and Lectures, Vol.1), Moral and Spiritual Transformation in Islam (Muhammad Fazlur Rahman Ansari’s Lectures in South Africa: Reflections, Vol. 2), published by Tawasul International, Rome, 2024. One of Ansari’s works, Islam: An Introduction (2019), edited by Choughley, has been recently translated into Portuguese. An upcoming work, The Qur’ānic Revelation, is an overview of Dr Ansari’s comprehensive study in the genre of Quranic studies.