Madina: One of the greatest scholars of Islam in recent times Shaikh Zia ur Rahman Azmi who hailed from India, passed away in Holy city of Madinah.
His funeral prayer will be offered at the Prophet’s ﷺ Mosque in Madinah and he will be laid to rest in Al Baqi al Gharqad, near the graves of the family and companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ., Muslim World Journal reported.
Born as Banke Lal
Banke Lal was born in 1943 in a hardcore Brahmin Hindu family of Bilarya Ganj, a village located in the district of Azamgarh in India.
Converts to Islam
After reading the Hindi translation of the Holy Quran and Islamic literature of Maulana Maududi, Banke Lal embraced Islam.
Islamic education
He travelled to South India and studied in various Islamic seminaries of India. Then he joined Madina University in Madinah Munawwarah. He did MA from Umm Al-Qura University Makkah. He obtained PhD degree from Jamia Azhar, Cairo. Prof Zia ur-Rahman Azmi retired as Dean of Faculty of Hadith at the famous Islamic University of Madinah. After retirement, he was appointed as a teacher at the Prophet’s Mosque by the decree of the Head of the Prophet’s Mosque Affairs in the year 2013.
Contribution to Islamic literature
Prof Azmi has authored dozens of books, translation of whom have been done in different languages. But the most important of his works is the voluminous compilation of authentic Hadith titled “Al-Jami’ al-Kamil fi al-Hadith al-Sahih al-Shamil”. It is one of the most comprehensive books on Hadith by a single scholar since the dawn of Islam. Azmi has taken pain to collect the authentic Hadiths dispersed in numerous classical books. He has compiled about 16,000 Hadiths. The compilation has more than 20 volumes.
Prof Azmi has also prepared “Encyclopedia of the Glorious Qur’an” in Hindi language.
For his contributions to Islam Shaikh Zia Ur Rahman was given honorary citizenship of Saudi Arabia, an honour which is rarely granted.