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Great pan-Islamist thinker Seyyed Jamaal od-Din Asadabadi
Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On March 9, 1897 AD, the great pan-Islamist thinker and leader of the anti-colonial struggles of Muslim lands, Seyyed Jamaal od-Din Asadabadi, attained martyrdom in Istanbul, at the age of 59 on being poisoned on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul-Hamid II. He was born in Asadabad near the western Iranian city of Hamedan.
He was skilled in philosophy, religion, astronomy, and history. He was well-versed in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, English, French, and Russian languages. He strove for Islamic solidarity and was one of the staunch opponents of infiltration of colonialists in Islamic countries. As of the age of 18, he started his visits to the major Islamic lands, living for several years in India, where under the patronage of Salar Jung Mokhtar ol-Mulk (Prime Minister of the Muslim state of Haiderabad-Deccan), he countered through pamphlets and treatises the “naturist” views of the pro-British Sir Seyyed Ahmad Khan, the founder of the Anglo-Mohammadan College that later became Aligarh Muslim University.
He had to leave India under pressure from the British and after performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, he travelled to Istanbul, the Ottoman capital, where after a few years’ stay he returned to Iran, and left for Afghanistan to serve as advisor to the emir, Dost Mohammad Khan. On being expelled from Kabul by the next ruler, Sher Ali Khan, he went to Egypt, where he stayed for several years winning admirers and students, the most prominent being Shaikh Mohammad Abduh.
Forced to leave Egypt, he travelled around Europe, visiting Paris, London, Munich, Moscow and St. Petersburg. From France, he published the daily “Orwat al-Wosqaa” and from Britain “Zia al-Khafeqin” to awaken the Muslim states. He was invited back to Iran by Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar to serve as political advisor, but following differences with the king, he was deported to Iraq, before leaving for Istanbul, where after sometime, he was poisoned to death.
His reformist and pan-Islamist ideas were opposed by colonial powers and the repressive regimes of Muslim countries. Among the works of this enlightened scholar is “ar-Radd ala ad-Dahriyyiin” (Refutation of the Materialists), in answer to Darwin's absurd theory of evolution titled “On the Origin of Species”.
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