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Obituaries of Maulana Muhammad Ali in
Pakistani English language Press
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The Dawn, Karachi, 16 October 1951
"Maulvi Muhammad Ali, whose death occurred in Karachi, probably
did more writing on Islamic subjects for almost half a century than
any contemporary individual. Immersed in scholarly pursuits and gifted
with a researcher's frame of mind, his aims were not academic. He
was a missionary who awoke to his calling in life in the environment
of the last century when Islam in this sub-continent was a target
of concentrated scurrilous attacks from Western missionaries and votaries
of a venomous revivalist Hinduism.
"A man of his academic distinction, in the late nineties, must
have overcome a strong temptation in declining to enter Government
service --- the inevitable goal of education in those days --- and
choosing a missionary career. The object to which he dedicated his
life was the translation of the Holy Quran into English; and he lived
long enough after the first edition of his translation and commentary
appeared in 1917, to follow it up with many other works. The best
among these subsequent works are believed to be his Muhammad, The
Prophet and The Religion of Islam. The former is a biography
which pre-eminently serves its purpose; and the latter is almost cyclopaedic
in its range of information.
"As a missionary Maulvi Muhammad Ali had profitably studied
the publicity techniques of European missionaries and his prolific
writings reflect his ability to devise a suitable approach to almost
every individual section of his readers. Stupendous was the energy
that he could put into this task; and as the years grew on him the
will-power made up for what was lacking in physical strength. He died
working almost till the last. Silent and unassuming as he was, both
the man and his works were appropriately reflected in the fact ---
paradoxical as it might seem --- that his writings were better known
than the man himself.
"His death is a real loss. He will be mourned by a wide circle
of friends and admirers. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved
family."
The Star, Lahore, 20 October 1951
"On October 13, at 11.30 a.m. in Karachi, there passed
away from this world a well-known scholar and religious leader --- Maulana
Muhammad Ali, head of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore. Soon
after finishing his education, and while still very young, Maulana Muhammad
Ali joined the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, and came to
the fore as a writer in English on Islam while he edited the Review
of Religions, a monthly organ of the Ahmadiyya Movement of which
the first issue came out in January 1902. The monthly journal, devoted
to the comparative study of Religion, did yeoman's service under Maulana
Muhammad Ali's editorship by defending Islam against the onslaught of
Christian Missionaries and European Orientalists of the old school whose
writings were more marked by a virulent prejudice against Islam than
by a spirit of honest enquiry and scholarly research.
"After the death of the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement,
Mr. Muhammad Ali was assigned the task of preparing a translation
in English of the Holy Quran; but the work could not be finished in
the life-time of Maulvi Noor-ud-Din. Moreover, after the death of
Maulvi Noor-ud-Din, a split occurred in the Ahmadiyya Movement over
some points of belief and doctrine, as well as general policy to be
followed in carrying on the mission of the Movement. Maulana Muhammad
Ali was the Head of the section that broke away from Qadian and established
itself in Lahore, finally coming to be known as Ahmadiyya Anjuman
Ishaat Islam, Lahore.
"The translation of the Holy Quran into English, prepared by
Maulana Muhammad Ali, was published in 1917, and was at once accepted
as a most valuable addition to Islamic literature in English prepared
by Muslim scholars and divines themselves, as distinct from what European
and American scholars write on the subject, practically always under
a deep anti-Islamic bias characteristic of Christian missionaries.
"Apart from his translation of the Holy Quran, Maulana Muhammad
Ali brought out a translation of Sahih Bukhari, and many other books
on subjects connected with the superiority of Islam as a religious
and social system. By removing him from our midst, death has thus
created a vacuum that will long be felt by all interested in the revival
of Islam as the most dominant spiritual force in the lives of the
Muslim peoples."
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