Ahl-i-Hadis

Sanaullah Amritsari (June 1868 – March 15, 1948) was a prominent intellectual figure, political leader, polemicist, and journalist of twentieth-century colonial India. Born into a family of Kashmiri migrants settled in Punjab, Amritsari received his education from leading religious seminaries in North India. Despite his affiliation with the Ahl-i-Hadis denomination, his religious instruction included teachings from influential Deobandi scholars.

In addition to his extensive scholarly works, which include a tafsir of the Quran, Sanaullah Amritsari’s enduring legacy lies in his role as the editor of the weekly journal, Ahl-i-Hadis. Launched on November 13, 1903, the journal remained in continuous publication until August 1, 1947. The complete archive of Ahl-i-Hadis spans hundreds of issues and more than 35,000 pages, covering a wide range of topics. It provided insights into pressing religious issues of the Muslim community, engaged in polemical debates with rival Muslim sects, critiqued contemporary political ideologies, events, and personalities, among other news items. Ahl-i-Hadis thus serves as an invaluable source for understanding the social, political, and religious history of South Asia during the first half of the twentieth century.

In addition to his work on Ahl-i-Hadis, Amritsari initiated the monthly publication Muraqqa-i-Qadiyan in 1907 and again from 1931 to 1933, which was later merged into Ahl-i-Hadis. He also launched Musalman in 1908 to counter the propaganda of Arya Samajis and Christian missionaries, though Ahl-i-Hadis remained his primary focus. With the outbreak of partition violence in Amritsar in August 1947, Sanaullah Amritsari lost his son to the violence and was compelled to migrate to Pakistan. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a paralysis attack and passed away in Sargodha on March 15, 1948.

Source: Suhail Anjum, Urdu Sahafat aur Ulema (Delhi: Educational Publishing House, 2016).

We are grateful to Mr. Shahid Hanif for providing us digital copies of the Ahl-i- Hadis