Book & Author
Professor Dr Muhammad Hamidullah: A Great Silent Scholar
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
Chicago, IL
February 19, 2021 marked the 113th anniversary of the birth of Professor Dr Muhammad Hamidullah, a great Islamic scholar, a trusted friend of Pakistan, and one of the last free citizens of the State of Hyderabad Deccan. Dr Hamidullah (1908-2002) lived a remarkable life dedicated to scholarship and service to Islam. He belonged to the rare breed of scholars and intellectuals who focused on scholarship and strove for serving humanity without seeking any recognition in return.
Muhammad Hamidullah was born on February 9, 1908, in the state of Hyderabad Deccan when India was under British Raj. His father, Abu Muhammad Khalilullah, and grandfather, Muhammad Sibghatullah, were prominent scholars. He was the youngest among his siblings; three brothers and five sisters. He received his education in Hyderabad; he attended Darul-Uloom Secondary School and Nizam College, and later received his MA and LLB degrees from Osmania University. In the early 1930s he travelled to Europe for higher education and received a doctorate from the Bonn University (1935) and a PhD in literature from the Sorbonne University (1936). He returned to Hyderabad and served first as lecturer and later as assistant professor at Osmania University until 1948.
Dr Hamidullah translated the Holy Qur’an into French, English, and German, and wrote more than 170 books in 24 languages, and more than 1,000 articles on a wide spectrum of topics and issues covering Qur'an, Hadith, Fiqh, Islamic History, ethics, politics, and economics. His translation of the Qur’an in French "Le Saint Coran” is widely used in the former colonies of France in Africa. Dr Hamidullah also provided frequent help and advice to Dr Annemarie Schimmel, the well-known German scholar, on various research projects. Dr Hamidullah is recognized as the most authoritative scholar who carried out extensive research on Islamic international and constitutional law. Some of his most popular works are:
- The Muslim Conduct of State
- Introduction to Islam
- The First Written Constitution in the World
- Muhammed Rasulullah: A Concise Survey of the Life and Work of the Founder of Islam
- Why Fast? Spiritual & Temporal Study of Fast in Islam (Centre Culturel Islamique Paris Series)
- Battlefields of the Prophet Muhammad: A Contribution to Muslim Military History
- Daily Life of a Muslim
- Khutbaat-e-Bahawalpur (Lectures delivered at Islamia University Bahawalpur 1980)
- Emergence of Islam (English translation of Khutbaat-e-Bahawalpur)
- Muhammad - Prophet des Islam: Sein Leben, sein Werk
- Islam in a Nutshell
- Islam - A General Picture
- Hyderabad’s Contribution To Islamic Economic Thought and Practice
- Early History of the Compilation of the Hadith
- Islamic Notion of Conflict of Laws
- Le Saint Coran: Traduction et commentaire de Muhammad Hamidullah avec la collaboration de M. Leturmy
- Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, the Biographer of the Holy Prophet
- Islam, Philosophy and Science: Four Public Lectures Organized By UNESCO June 1980 (editor)
- The Prophet's Establishing a State and his Succession
- The Prophet of Islam: Prophet of Migration
- The Life and Work of the Prophet of Islam
- Cultural and Intellectual History of Indian Islam
- Islam and Communism
Dr Hamidullah’s books have been translated into almost every major language of the world. He made significant contributions to the Hadith literature by incorporating the elements of history, authenticity, and evidence. One of his major scholarly contributions was the publication of the collection of ahadith by Sahifa Hammam bin Munabbah, a student of Hazrat Abu Huraira (RA), a prominent companion of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Two copies of the manuscript of ahadith were discovered, one in a Damascus library and the other in a library in Berlin. It was an important discovery for the scholars of hadith. Dr Hamidullah compared the two manuscripts and later published the Sahifa. It was well known by scholars that Sahifa Hammam bin Munabbah had been included in Musnad Ahmed. After the publication of Sahifa by Dr Hamidullah, many scholars of hadith verified the presence of ahadith from Sahifa in Musnad Ahmed; they found all 138 ahadith of Sahifa in Musnad Ahmed with no discrepancies. Dr Hamidullah’s discovery and later publication of Sahifa, negated the misinformation spread by orientalists and some Muslim scholars in the early period, that ahadith were propagated only by oral tradition and not in the written form so they lacked accuracy. Dr Hamidullah demonstrated through his scholarship that a number of companions had prepared their own personal collections of ahadith. Dr Hamidullah’s other contribution to Hadith literature is his collections and compilation of Kitdb al-Sard, one of the earliest collections of Hadith.
In the domain of Islamic history, Dr Hamidullah focused on the Sirah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) viz a viz judicial system, political system, state administration, diplomatic relations, and educational system during the time of the Prophet (SAW). He also collected and compiled documents of the Prophet (SAW), his letters and agreements with people of Makkah and different tribes of Madinah. Dr Hamidullah’s work in the area of Islamic law focused on highlighting its originality and negating the impression spread by orientalists that Islamic law was based on Roman law.
In the early 1950s, Dr Hamidullah was invited by the government of Pakistan to draft the first Islamic constitution for the country. He started the work but later resigned because of a difference of opinion with vested interests and returned to Paris where he conducted his scholarly activities for five decades. He often visited Pakistan on various scholarly ventures.
Dr Hamidullah delivered twelve remarkable lectures on various aspects of Islam at Bahawalpur Islamic University during Rabiul Awwal 1400 Hijrah (March 1980) in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, as part of the celebration of the year 1400 of Hijrah. Later in 1988, his lectures were published in a book form as “Khutbaat-e-Bahawalpur.”
In 1985, the government of Pakistan awarded him Hilal-i-Imtiaz in recognition of his scholarship and service and a 10-million-rupee cash award. But he refused to accept the award and donated the Rs10 million to the Islamic Research Academy.
In 1946 Dr Hamidullah was appointed as a delegate by the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, to represent the state of Hyderabad at the League of Nations. On September 12, 1948, a day after the demise of the Quaid-i-Azam, Indian prime minister Nehru carried out the military invasion of the state of Hyderabad Deccan. Before the invasion, Hyderabad Deccan’s delegation which included Dr Hamidullah and Dr Yousuf Hussain left for the United Nations (UN) to plead their case. But before the delegates could reach the UN, the state of Hyderabad was annexed by India (according to oral historical accounts, prime minister Nehru did not keep his promise of making Azam Jah, the eighth Nizam of Hyderabad ). Thus, Dr Hamidullah, like other delegates, became a stateless refugee. In 1948 he founded the Hyderabad Liberation Society to get recognition for Hyderabad as an independent state and decided to stay in France as a stateless person as long as the status of Hyderabad remained open in the United Nations. In Paris, for twenty years, he served as scholar at the National Center of Scientific Research, and later dedicated his life in service of Islam and Muslims. He divided his time between the Islamic Centers and visits to libraries and universities. He also toured the universities of Germany, France, and Turkey as a visiting professor.
Dr Hamidullah lived a modest life and dedicated his time to his students. In 1967, he told his students during a lecture, “We can expect to solve the problems facing us if everyone ... helps others before asking for help.”
Dr Hamidullah did not marry; he dedicated his entire life to the pursuit of scholarly activities. He lived in a small apartment in Paris. For five decades he used to climb three flights of stairs to get into his apartment. The government of Pakistan tried to offer him a more comfortable living arrangement along with a monthly stipend to provide some comfort in his old age, but he declined the offer. In his later years, he fell sick, and was asked by his brother’s grand-daughter Sadida Attaullah to join her in the United States so that she could take care of him. So, in 1999 after he suffered a stroke, Sadida brought him to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and later took him with her to Jacksonville, Florida.
Dr Hamidullah was a very humble soul; he disliked the limelight and preferred to live an anonymous life. According to Sadida Attaullah, “He wanted to be that fortunate man who lived and worked and died in anonymity and acknowledged 200 years after his death.” Indeed, Dr Hamidullah lived a life of anonymity in France and the United States without seeking either help from anyone or recognition for his work. He passed away in his sleep on December 17, 2002, in Florida.
Professor Dr Hamidullah was truly a silent scholar and a seeker of the truth. His legacy will be a source of guidance for generations to come.
(Dr Ahmed S. Khan - dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org - is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, 2017-2022. Professor Khan has 35 years of experience in Higher Education as professor of Electrical Engineering. He is the author of many academic papers, technical and non-technical books, and a series of books on Science, Technology & Society (STS); his most recent books are Mashriq-o-Mugrib Ki Mumtaz Shaksiaat (Prominent Personalities of the East and the West), and Nanotechnology: Ethical and Social Implications.)
