Person · 27 March 1677 – 8 May 1748 · born 1677 · Islamic scholar; compiler of the Dars-i Nizami curriculum at the Firangi Mahal madrasa, Lucknow

Nizamuddin Sihalvi

Mulla Nizamuddin Sihalvi, the third son of the scholar Qutb al-Din Shahid, received Firangi Mahal in Lucknow from the emperor Aurangzeb after his father's death and there compiled the Dars-i Nizami curriculum that spread through the madrasas of South Asia.

What the sources did afterwards. Even his birth year is unsettled between the two accounts this archive opened: Momen's 2023 survey of the Firangi Mahal family gives '(1678-1748)' for him — "Another son Nizam Uddin Sahalvi (1678-1748), had a reputation for being professors, scholars, and saints" (Momen, 2023, p.221) — while the English Wikipedia infobox, drawn from other references, gives his birth as 27 March 1677. The two accounts agree only on the year he died.

Draft. This entry is an unreviewed first draft. It has not yet been checked by a subject reviewer — see sources and method.

Firangi Mahal

Nizam al-Din Sihalvi was the third son of Qutb al-Din Shahid, a Firangi Mahal scholar who helped compile the Fatwa-i Alamgiri and was killed in a land dispute. "When Mullah Nizam Uddin was 14 or 15 years old in 1696, his father was assassinated in a political coup. After that, with his brother Maulana Muhammad Said Sahalvi, he travelled to Mughal court where Emperor Aurangzeb gave them the famed Firangi Mahal in Lucknow" (Momen, 2023, p.223). The brothers turned the confiscated house into a madrasa: "In 1693, Darul Uloom Firangi Mahal was founded. The curriculum of the academic institution was introduced by Mullah Nizam Uddin Sahalvi, who was the third son of Qutb Uddin Shaheed and regarded as the forerunner of structured Islamic curricula in this territory" (Momen, 2023, p.222). The source's own two dates do not quite agree — a 1693 founding before the 1696 grant it describes — and this archive repeats them as printed rather than smoothing the seam.

The curriculum

His own scholarship, not only the family's fortunes, made Dars-i Nizami possible. "Nizam Uddin (1678-1748), possessed a thorough understanding of all fields of knowledge grouped under the titles of maqulat (rational) and manqulat (traditional). Like his father, he was knowledgeable in both Arabic and Persian. He wrote much, primarily scholia and commentary on classic religious and philosophical writings" (Momen, 2023, p.224). What he left behind outlasted every one of his own students: "His primary accomplishments, however, were to establish the Firangi Mahal as a significant centre of spiritual learning and to create a curriculum which balanced the two areas of knowledge and is now used in the majority of Madrasahs in the subcontinent" (Momen, 2023, p.224).

Sources

222 · read as web In 1693, Darul Uloom Firangi Mahal was founded. The curriculum of the academic institution was introduced by Mullah Nizam Uddin Sahalvi, who was the third son of Qutb Uddin Shaheed and regarded as the forerunner of structured Islamic curricula in this territory.
223 · read as web When Mullah Nizam Uddin was 14 or 15 years old in 1696, his father was assassinated in a political coup. After that, with his brother Maulana Muhammad Said Sahalvi, he travelled to Mughal court where Emperor Aurangzeb gave them the famed Firangi Mahal in Lucknow.
224 · read as web Nizam Uddin (1678-1748), possessed a thorough understanding of all fields of knowledge grouped under the titles of maqulat (rational) and manqulat (traditional). Like his father, he was knowledgeable in both Arabic and Persian. He wrote much, primarily scholia and commentary on classic religious and philosophical writings.
224 · read as web His primary accomplishments, however, were to establish the Firangi Mahal as a significant centre of spiritual learning and to create a curriculum which balanced the two areas of knowledge and is now used in the majority of Madrasahs in the subcontinent.
221 · read as web Another son Nizam Uddin Sahalvi (1678-1748), had a reputation for being professors, scholars, and saints.
lede · read as web Nizamuddin Sihalivi Ansari (27 March 1677 – 8 May 1748) was the founder and designer of the Dars-i Nizami curriculum used in most South Asian madrasas.