# Shamsul Haque Faridpuri

Shams al-Ḥaqq ibn Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Chirāgh ʿAlī al-Farīdfūrī (Arabic: شمس الحق بن محمد عبد الله بن تشراغ علي الفريدفوري), or simply known as Shamsul Haque Faridpuri (Bengali: শামসুল হক ফরিদপুরী; 1896 – 21 January 1969) was an Islamic scholar, educationist, and social reformer. He was the founding principal of Jamia Qurania Arabia Lalbagh. He also founded many other madrasas. Organisations that he initiated include Khademul Islam Jamat and Anjuman-e-Tabligh-al-Quran.

## Early life and family

Ghazi Shamsul Haque was born on a Friday in 1896, to the Bengali Muslim Ghazi family in the village of Ghoperdanga (later Gawhardanga) in erstwhile Faridpur District, Bengal Presidency, British Raj (now Gopalganj District, Bangladesh). He traces his paternal ancestry to an Arab soldier who was one of the members of Bakhtiyar Khalji's army during his conquest of Bengal. His ancestors settled in Jessore where they propagated Islam to locals with his great-great-grandfather, Mawlana Abdul Awwal al-Ghazi, relocating the family to Faridpur. His father, Ghazi Muhammad Abdullah ibn Chiragh Ali, was a munshi and participant of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and his mother, Amena Khatun, was a homemaker. Faridpuri's great-grandfather, Chand Ghazi, was a student of Syed Ahmad Shaheed and took part in the Battle of Balakot against the Sikhs.

## Education

Faridpuri first began his preschool education under the local Hindu pandit of Patgati. He then studied in Tungipara and Sutiakathi School, where he completed his primary education. In 1915, he was the best performer for class 6 in the annual exams at the Baghariya High School in Noapara. He then joined for class 7 at the Calcutta Alia Madrasa and in 1919 he passed the entrance exam for the Anglo-Persian department. With a scholarship, Faridpuri enrolled at the Presidency College Calcutta for a few days before being interrupted by Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement. As a result, Faridpuri left the college and set off for Thana Bhawan, where he met Ashraf Ali Thanwi. Under Thanwi's advice, Faridpuri enrolled at the Mazahir Uloom seminary in Saharanpur, where he completed Islamic studies up to a bachelor's level. He then moved on to study at Darul Uloom Deoband where he studied tasawwuf under Thanwi and hadith under Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Izaz Ali Amrohi and Hussain Ahmed Madani until 1927. Faridpuri also gained khilafat from Zafar Ahmad Usmani and Abdul Ghani.

## Career

After completing his education, Faridpuri returned to his homeland in Bengal, where he became a prominent teacher of hadith. He became the principal of Jamia Islamia Yunusia in Brahmanbaria in 1928 until 1935, when he founded the Gazalia Madrasa in Bagerhat. He then moved on to Ashraful Uloom in Bara Katara, Dhaka, from 1936 until 1950. He founded the Jamia Islamia Darul Uloom Khademul Islam in his home village of Gawhardanga in 1937. In 1940, he founded Khademul Islam Jamat (Congregation of the Guardians of Islam), an organisation that promoted the implementation of Islamic ideals. He also founded the Anjuman-e-Tabligh-al-Quran (Association of Quranic Preaching) to challenge the activities of Christian Missionaries that were actively propagating to Muslims in the region. Faridpuri was an advocate of campaigns such as the Pakistan Movement and the Tablighi Jamaat. The Idaratul Ma`arif was a centre for Islamic research that was established by Faridpuri. From 1951 up until his death, he taught hadith classes in Jamia Qurania Arabia Lalbagh. He also founded the capital's Jamia Arabia Imdadul Uloom in Faridabad in 1956.