Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddique

Maulana Shah Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddique was born in the blessed month of Ramadhan, on 3 April 1892 (15 Ramadhan 1310), in Meerut, India and was raised in a family that was pious and devout. He is a descendant of Sayyidina Abu Bakr As-Siddique, the first caliph of Islam. From youth, his father, Muhammad Abdul Hakim and his mother were his inspiration and source of guidance and education in the teachings of Islam.

He was an exceptionally intelligent child and possessed an intellectual capacity beyond his years. He brilliantly committed the Holy Qur’an to his memory when he was only 4 years old. He also had a remarkable oratory skill and at the age of 9, he delivered his first public speech at the Jamma Mosque of Meerut, mesmerising the audience with his captivating eloquence.

He had a remarkable love and thirst for knowledge. At the age of 16, he graduated with a Degree and distinctions in Islamic Theology. He then pursued non-theological studies in modern sciences and Law. He also acquired advanced knowledge in Qur’anic science, Hadith, Sufism (Tassawuf) and Islamic jurisprudence of the four main madhhab. His teachers include Shaykh Ahmad al-Shams of Morocco, Shaykh Al-Sennousi of Libya, Maulana Abdul Bari of Farangi Mahal and Maulana Ahmad Mukhtar Siddique (his brother). He achieved great Islamic theological and spiritual development under the guidance of Maulana Ahmad Raza Khan, a revered Islamic scholar.

Life work

Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddique travelled continuously for 40 years to all parts of the globe until his labors of love for the spiritual reform and enlightenment of humanity covered a major part of the world. The countries he visited include the Hejaz, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, Ceylon, China, Japan, Philippines, Mauritius, Madagascar, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Belgium, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, France, England, West Indies, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, United States of America and Canada.

He was a great Sufi, writer, poet, orator and scholar of Islam and modern sciences, and was renowned the world over for his spiritual guidance and promulgation of the message of hope and peace. His contribution to literary and academic discourses was also astounding. In 1935, in Mombassa (Kenya), Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddique met with the famous European intellectual, Sir George Bernard Shaw, and they enjoyed a wonderful exchange of thoughts in which Sir George Bernard Shaw called Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddique “a learned sage”. He delivered hundreds of lectures and also found time to write several Islamic books and poetry in Urdu and English.

Legacy

Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddique worked with single-minded devotion for the cause of Islam and humanity. Hundreds of thousands of people belonging to diverse races and nationalities in Asia, Africa, Europe and America received spiritual blessings through his dynamic and refulgent personality. Numerous mosques, Islamic missionary societies, schools, hospitals, libraries, infirmaries, orphanages and Islamic periodicals sprang up in the wake of his immortal missionary work.

Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddique was an extraordinary Sufi who personify in a distinguished manner the causes he cherish and uphold, and his labours for the cause form a landmark in human history. The most distinctive aspect of his personality was the spiritual magnetism that he radiated which captivated the minds and hearts of all who crossed his path.

On 22 August 1954 (22 Dhulhijjah), at the age of 63, after a last visit to the grave of the beloved Prophet Muhammad, Maulana Shah Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddique left this world for the hereafter - his body rests peacefully at the Jannatul Baqqi in Madinah