Saviours of Islamic Spirit [New Edition]

Saviours
of Islamic Spirit

Tarikh-i
Da'wat wa Azimat by Abu 'l-Hasan Ali al-Hasani Nadwi

A New
Revised and Edited Translation

Revised
and Edited by Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SAMPLE PAGES

This
book, by the late Indian historian and intellectual, Shaykh Abu 'l-Hasan Ali
Nadwi, is a story of the ebbs and flows of this Umma; the challenges, the
setbacks, and most importantly, the successes. It is a poignant story of the
accomplishments, attainments, and triumphs that propelled the Umma forward. It
is a story told through extraordinary figures: the revivers, men of courage,
vigor, and zeal, an elect group who were graced with divine determination to
safeguard the spirit of God's religion on earth. In other words, they were the
saviours of the Islamic spirit.

Drawing
on the lives of ten of the most influential personalities of the first seven
centuries of Islam, from Hasan al-Basri, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Ahmad ibn
Hanbal, and Ghazali to Ibn al-Jawzi and Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, this work
offers comfort and much-needed perspective, given the current situation of
Muslims around the world. It aims to inspire Muslim youth and others to virtue
and love for Allah, and to provide role models of intellectual and spiritual
excellence, at a time when people are looking for motivation from other
sources. This history reminds us that we are not in the direst of situations.

"Few have not felt their spirits lifted by reading
this book. One of the most widely-read Islamic classics of recent times.''

- Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Cambridge Muslim College

Personalities
covered

Hasan al-Basri

Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

Abu l-Hasan al-Ash'ari

Izz al-Din ibn Abd al-Salam

Abu l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi

Nur al-Din Zangi

The Tartars

The
Author

Shaykh
Abu 'l-Hasan Ali al-Hasani Nadwi (1332/1914 - 1420/1999), affectionately known as
Ali Miyan, was a leading intellectual and religious scholar of contemporary
India. He wrote numerous books on history, biography, and contemporary affairs
concerning both the Muslim community in India and Muslims abroad. He served as
rector of the Nadwat al-Ulama seminary in Lucknow for a number of years, where
he also taught Quranic exegesis, hadith, and Arabic literature, along with
history and logic. He was a founding member of Rabitat al-Adab al-Islami al-Alamiyya
(Universal League of Islamic Literature) in 1984 and was elected chairman of
the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board in 1985. A prolific writer, he penned a
literary legacy of a few hundred works in both Arabic and Urdu. His works have
been integrated into the curriculum in a number of universities in the Arab
world. His most notable Arabic work, Ma-dha Khasir al-Alam bi 'nhitat
al-Muslimin (What Did the World Lose by the Decline of the Muslims?), was
widely acclaimed and carved a place for him in elite literary circles of the
Arab world. Many of his works have since been translated into Arabic, English,
Turkish, Bahasa Indonesia, Persian, and Tamil, among other languages. Karwan-i
Zindagi, his eight-volume autobiography; Purane Chiragh (Ancient
Lamps), comprising life sketches of contemporary personalities; his biographies
of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid and Caliph Ali (may Allah ennoble his countenance); and
his Tarikh-i Dawat wa Azimat (Saviours of Islamic Spirit) are seen as
permanent contributions to Urdu literature. This monumental scholar passed away
at the age of eighty-six on Friday 31 December 1999 (22 Ramadan 1420).