Introduction

The famous religious scholar, philosopher, poet and outstanding orator of the subcontinent, Allamah Rasheed Turabi was born on 9 July 1908 in Hyderabad, India. He was the eldest son of Maulvi Sharaf Hussain Khan, a religious,

Allamah Rasheed Turabi


Professional Achievements

The famous religious scholar, philosopher, poet and outstanding orator of the subcontinent, Allamah Rasheed Turabi was born on 9 July 1908 in Hyderabad, India. He was the eldest son of Maulvi Sharaf Hussain Khan, a religious, pious, and a noble person from Hyderabad.

Allamah Rasheed Turabi got his basic Islamic education from his father who taught him till the age of 5. He got his advanced religious studies from Syed Abubakr ibn Shahab-e-Urezi (descendent of Imam Jafar Sadiq (A.S.), Sadr-ul-Ulama Maulvi Syed Ghulam Hussain, Maulana Abbas Ali Sharif, Maulana Syed Sibte Hasan, and Hujjat-ul-Islam Agha Mirza Mehdi Pooya.

He did matriculation from Hyderabad, intermediate-high school from Shia College Lucknow, BA from Osmania University (Hyderabad, India), and MA in Philosophy from Allahbad University, India. He then learned religious sciences, and mastered Urdu, Persian and Arabic literature.

His Persian teachers were Mohsin Shirazi, Ali Hyder Nazm Tabatabai, and Mohammed Kirmani, while his Arabic language teachers were Tahir bin Mohammad, and Mawlana Sadeq Hussain Majjan.

He learned Urdu and Persian literature from Agha Mohsin Sheerazi, Ali Haider Tabatabai, Allamah Zamin Kanturi, Agha Dai'yal Islam, and Agha Mohammed Kirmani. He learned Arabic language from Agha Tahir bin Mohammed, and Maulana Sadiq Hussain Majjan.

On the political side, he started his political career as a member of the working committee of Hyderabad Legislative Assembly and worked with Nawab Bahadur Yarjang. Later on, he was nominated by the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, as a member of the working committee of All India Muslim League, where he was involved in the organization of Muslim League and established its branches all over the Indian subcontinent.

Simultaneously he had a responsibility to supervise the publication of newspapers and magazines of almost 600 states in then undivided India. He remained a member of the Hyderabad Assembly till 1942 and was associated with All India Muslim League till the partition of the subcontinent.

Following the fall of Hyderabad-Deccan to Indian forces in 1948, a year after independence from British rule, he migrated to Pakistan, where he left active politics, and devoted himself to religious erudition, especially discourses on Imam Husain (AS) and the tragedy of Karbala.

His great knowledge of hadith, jurisprudence, and exegesis of the holy Qur’an brought him Ijaza from Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammed Mohsin Tehrani, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem Tabatabai, Ayatollah Seyyed Hibbatuddin Shahristani, Ayatollah Seyyed Hadi Milani, and Ayatollah Borujerdi. He was superbly knowledgeable and gifted in many areas of Islamic sciences such as Tafseer, Hadith, Usool, and Fiqh.

He delivered more than 5,000 religious lectures and speeches over a period of 57 years that he spent out of his 65 years of total life in the service of the Ahl al-Bayt, introducing many dimensions to the Art of Oratory. The most sought after Urdu public speaker of his times, he was indeed a persuasive and brilliant orator.

He was a prolific author as well, and among his works is the book, “Tibb e Ma’soomeen” which is a composition of antidotes from Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the 12 Infallible Imams. He also wrote the 2-volume book "The Forests of Hyderabad" on the jungles of the Deccan.

Another of his work is the idiomatic translation of Imam Ali’s (AS) famous Letter of Instructions to his governor of the then Christian-majority Egypt, Malik Ashtar. This epistle is a guiding light for just and fair governance.

Turabi’s masterpiece on “Ilm Rijal” or biographical evaluation of narrators of hadith, which he titled "Wasl-e Qawl" was published after his death in Karachi.

Among Allama Rasheed Turabi’s fourteen children, his sons Allama Aqeel Turabi and Dr. Salman Turabi and his daughter Dr. Batool Turabi are religious scholars and speakers of fame and his son Naseer Turabi is a well-known Urdu poet.

Allamah Rasheed Turabi died on 22 Ziqada 1393 / December 18, 1973.