Masood Alam Nadwi
Masood Alam Nadwi was a South Asian Islamic scholar, writer, journalist, and literary figure. He was the founding editor of the Arabic magazine Al-Ziya and a member of Jamaat-e-Islami. Following the Partition of India, he migrated to Pakistan, where he remained active in scholarly and intellectual work until his death.
Early life & education
Masood Alam was born on 11 February 1910 in the village of Ugawan, Nalanda district, Bihar. His father, Abd al-Fattah Abd al-Shakur, was a physician who emphasized his son’s education in the Arabic language from an early age. He began his studies under his father before attending a local modern school and later al-Madrasah al-‘Aziziyyah, where he obtained the qualification of Maulvi. He then studied at Madrasah Shams al-Huda in Patna, developing a strong interest in Arabic literature through access to Arabic journals. In 1928, after a brief period of study under Kifayatullah Dehlawi in Delhi, he came into contact with Sulaiman Nadvi, who encouraged him to join Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow. He graduated with the ‘Alimiyyah degree in 1929 and subsequently taught Arabic literature there for two years before returning to Bihar, where he introduced elements of modern education in his teaching.Work
In 1932, Sulaiman Nadwi and Taqi al-Din al-Hilali launched the Arabic-language magazine Al-Ziya from Nadwatul Ulama, with Masood Alam appointed as its first editor. Alongside this role, he continued teaching at the institution. By 1937, he had moved to Bijnor to work with the editorial board of the Urdu magazine Madina. He later returned briefly to Nadwatul Ulama and worked at the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library in Patna. Over the following years, he traveled across India, Iraq, the Hijaz, and later Pakistan, engaging in scholarship, translation, and writing. With the rise of Jamaat-e-Islami under Abul A'la Maududi, Masood Alam became associated with the movement. After the Partition of India in 1947, he migrated to Rawalpindi, Pakistan, where he continued to write and participate in Islamic intellectual circles. He died in Karachi on 17 March 1954.Nadwi authored works in both Arabic and Urdu, focusing on Islamic history, Arabic literature, and contemporary intellectual discussions. His Arabic works include The Influence of Islam on Arabic Poetry, The History of Islamic Preaching in India, and The Present and Past of the Muslims of India, while his Urdu writings include The First Islamic Movement in India, A View on the Ideas of Ubaydullah Sindhi, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab: The Misrepresented Reformer, Socialism and Islam, Arabic Translation, and Mahasin Sijjad, a biography of Abul Mahasin Muhammad Sajjad. In addition to these works, he translated several writings of Abul A‘la Maududi into Arabic.