Hamdard Islamicus (Mar 2022)
THEMATIC STUDIES ON THE SIRAH AND CONTRIBUTION OF PROFESSOR M. YASIN MAZHAR SIDDIQUI: AN APPRAISAL OF SOME SELECTED WORKS
Abstract
Professor Dr. Muhammad Yasin Mazhar Siddiqui (1944-2020) ranks among the first rate scholars on SÊrah and its modern trends and penchants. For his profound academic contribution to the varied dimensions of Sirah literature (especially in Urdu language), he is accepted and acknowledged as a ‘leading authority in the SubContinent. Having studied, and being well-versed in, both traditional and modern sciences, he was a great teacher, serious researcher, a prominent Islamic scholar, and a renowned Sirah-writer, whose major research areas included Islamic history and civilization, Quranic studies, Shah Waliullah studies, and more importantly diverse dimensions of Prophet’s Sirah. No doubt, he made a remarkable contribution in all these areas, but his major contribution has been in the Sirah—and it is this aspect of his scholarship by which he got recognition and appreciation and became a ‘leading authority on Sirah’ in the Sub-Continent. This paper, in this backdrop, provides a brief assessment and evaluation of his contribution to the Sirah literature, with a focus on some of his selected works highlighting socio-political, legal and economic aspects of the Sirah, and thus fitting well in the thematic studies. The objective is to show uniqueness of his works— both in the subject-matter and methodology—as well as to highlight his contribution in the thematic studies genre of 21st century Sirah literature. The study recommends that in the genre of thematic studies of the Sirah, the scholars of Sub-continent like Siddiqui are needed to be explored on a large scale to bring forth the relevance of Sirah in the current scenario and to highlight the contribution of scholars of Subcontinent in the English language
