Saturday, July 18, 2026

2026: Tirmidhi - Tiwana

  Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Abd Allah al-

Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Abd Allah al- (Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Tirmidhi) (al-Hakim) (d. 898). Theologian from Khurasan, a jurist of the Hanafi school of law, and a mystic.
Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Tirmidhi see Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Abd Allah al-
Hakim, al- see Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Abd Allah al-


Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Isa Muhammad al-
Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Isa Muhammad al- (Abu ‘Isa Muhammad al-Tirmidhi) (Abū ‛Īsá Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sulamī al-Tirmidhī) (Tirmizi) (Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād al-Tirmidhī) (824 - October 8, 892). Author of one of the canonical collections of traditions. He travelled widely in order to collect traditions, which are brought together in the work which made him famous. Nearly one half is devoted to such subjects as dogmatic theology, popular beliefs, devotion, manners and education, and hagiology.

Tirmidhī was a medieval Arab collector of hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). He wrote al-Jāmi‛ al-ṣaḥīḥ,popularly called Sunan al-Tirmidhi, one of the six canonical hadith compilations used in Sunni Islam. He was born (and would die) in Bâgh (Persian meaning 'Garden'), a suburb of Termez (Arabic Tirmidh), Khurasan - present day in Uzbekistan, to a family of the widespread Banū Sulaym tribe. Starting at the age of twenty, he travelled widely, to Kufa, Basra and the Hijaz, seeking out knowledge from, among others, Qutaybah ibn Sa‛īd, Bukhārī, Imam Muslim and AbūDāwūd.

Tirmidhī was blind in the last two years of his life, said to have been the consequence of his weeping over the death of Bukhārī. Tirmidhi is buried in Sherobod, 60 kilometers north of Termez. He is locally known as Iso At Termizi or Termiz Ota (Father of Termez City).

Tirmidhī wrote nine books, of which, after the Jāmi‛, al-'Ilal and Shamā’il are best-known. Only four of his works survive. He played a major part in giving the formerly vague terminology used in classifying hadith according to their reliability a more precise set of definitions.

The life of al-Tirmidhī is poorly documented. He journeyed to Khorāsān, to Iraq, and to the Hejaz in search of material for his collection and studied with such renowned scholars of Hadith as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, al-Bukhārī, and AbūDāʿūd al-Sijistānī.

His canonical collection Al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ (“The Sound Collections”) includes every spoken tradition that had ever been used to support a legal decision, as well as material relating to theological questions, to religious practice, and to popular belief and custom. Of special interest in this work are the author’s critical remarks on the links in the chains of transmission (isnāds).

In the Kitāb al-shamāʾil (“Book of Good Qualities”), al-Tirmidhī presented those hadiths specifically commenting on the character and life of Muhammad.

Abu ‘Isa Muhammad al-Tirmidhi see Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Isa Muhammad al-
Abū ‛Īsá Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sulamī al-Tirmidhī see Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Isa Muhammad al-



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Imam
Al-Tirmidhi
Grave of Isa al-Tirmidhi inside his Tomb, near Amu Darya River, Termez, Uzbekistan
Personal life
Born824 / 209 AH
Termez, Abbasid Caliphate
Died9 October 892/ 13 Rajab 279 AH (aged 70)
Termez, Abbasid Caliphate
EraIslamic golden age
RegionAbbasid Caliphate
Main interestHadith
Notable work(s)Jami at-Tirmidhi
Shama'il Muhammadiyah
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
LineageBanu Sulaym
JurisprudenceIjtihad
CreedAthari[1][2]
Muslim leader
Influenced by

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Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi (Arabic: محمد بن عيسى الترمذي, romanized: Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā at-Tirmidhī; 824 – 9 October 892 CE / 209–279 AH), often referred to as Imām at-Termezī/Tirmidhī, was an Islamic scholar, and collector of hadith from Termez (early Khorasan and in present-day Uzbekistan). He wrote al-Jami` as-Sahih (known as Jami` at-Tirmidhi), one of the six canonical hadith compilations in Sunni Islam. He also wrote Shama'il Muhammadiyah (popularly known as Shama'il at-Tirmidhi), a compilation of hadiths concerning the person and character of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. At-Tirmidhi was also well versed in Arabic grammar, favoring the school of Kufa over Basra due to the former's preservation of Arabic poetry as a primary source.[3]

Biography

Name and lineage

Al-Tirmidhi's given name (ism) was "Muhammad" while his kunya was "Abu `Isa" ("father of `Isa"). His genealogy is uncertain; his nasab (patronymic) has variously been given as:

  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah (محمد بن عيسى بن سورة)‎[4]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk (محمد بن عيسى بن سورة بن موسى بن الضحاك)‎[5][6][7][8]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād (محمد بن عيسى بن سورة بن شداد)‎[9]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk (محمد بن عيسى بن سورة بن شداد بن الضحاك)‎[10]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād ibn ‛Īsá (محمد بن عيسى بن سورة بن شداد بن عيسى)‎[8]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Yazīd ibn Sawrah ibn as-Sakan (محمد بن عيسى بن يزيد بن سورة بن السكن)‎[5][6][8]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sahl (محمد بن عيسى بن سهل)‎[11][12]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sahl ibn Sawrah (محمد بن عيسى بن سهل بن سورة)‎[13]
  • Muhammad ibn 'Isa ibn Sawra ibn Shaddad ibn al-Dahhak al-Sulami al-Bughi al-Tirmidhi[14]

He was also known by the laqab "ad-Darir" ("the Blind"). It has been said that he was born blind, but the majority of scholars agree that he became blind later in his life.[5][15]

At-Tirmidhi's grandfather was originally from Marw (Persian: Merv), but moved to Tirmidh.[5] According to Britannica Online, he was an Arab.[16] According to S.H. Nasr and M. Mutahhari in The Cambridge History of Iran, Al-Tirmidhi was of Persian ethnicity.[17] His uncle was the famous Sufi Abu Bakr al-Warraq.[18] Al-Warraq was the teacher of Al-Hakim al-Samarqandi, a known associate of the famous theologian Abu Mansur Al-Maturidi.[citation needed]

Birth

Muhammad ibn `Isa at-Tirmidhi was born during the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun. His year of birth has been reported as 209 AH (824/825).[19][20][21] Adh-Dhahabi only states that at-Tirmidhi was born near the year 210 AH (825/826),[5] thus some sources give his year of birth as 210 AH.[4][22] Some sources indicate that he was born in Mecca (Siddiqi says he was born in Mecca in 206 AH (821/822))[23] while others say he was born in Tirmidh (Persian: Termez), in what is now southern Uzbekistan.[19] The stronger opinion is that he was born in Tirmidh.[5] Specifically, he was born in one of its suburbs, the village of Bugh (hence the nisbats "at-Tirmidhi" and "al-Bughi").[20][22][24][25]

Hadith studies

At-Tirmidhi began the study of hadith at the age of 20. From the year 235 AH (849/850) he traveled widely in Khurasan, Iraq, and the Hijaz in order to collect hadith.[4][9][10] His teachers and those he narrated from included:

At the time, Khurasan, at-Tirmidhi's native land, was a major center of learning, being home to a large number of muhaddiths. Other major centers of learning visited by at-Tirmidhi were the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Basra. At-Tirmidhi reported hadith from 42 Kufan teachers. In his Jami`, he used more reports from Kufan teachers than from teachers of any other town.[15]

At-Tirmidhi was a pupil of al-Bukhari, who was based in Khurasan. Adh-Dhahabi wrote, "His knowledge of hadith came from al-Bukhari."[19] At-Tirmidhi mentioned al-Bukhari's name 114 times in his Jami`. He used al-Bukhari's Kitab at-Tarikh as a source when mentioning discrepancies in the text of a hadith or its transmitters, and praised al-Bukhari as being the most knowledgeable person in Iraq or Khurasan in the science of discrepancies of hadith. When mentioning the rulings of jurists, he followed al-Bukhari's practice of not mentioning the name of Abu Hanifah. Because he never received a reliable chain of narrators to mention Abu Hanifa's decrees, he would instead attribute them to "some people of Kufa."[15] Al-Bukhari held at-Tirmidhi in high regard as well. He is reported to have told at-Tirmidhi, "I have profited more from you than you have from me," and in his Sahih he narrated two hadith from at-Tirmidhi.[15][19]

At-Tirmidhi also narrated some hadiths from Abu Dawud, and one from Muslim.[15] Muslim also narrated one hadith from at-Tirmidhi in his own Sahih.[19]

A.J. Wensinck mentions Ahmad ibn Hanbal as among at-Tirmidhi's teachers.[9][15] However, Hoosen states that according to the most reliable sources, at-Tirmidhi never went to Baghdad, nor did he attend any lectures of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Furthermore, at-Tirmidhi never directly narrates from Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his Jami`.[15]

Several of at-Tirmidhi's teachers also taught al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and an-Nasa'i.

Writings

  • Al-Jami' al-Mukhtasar min as-Sunan 'an Rasul Allah, known as Jami' at-Tirmidhi
  • Al-'Ilal as-Sughra
  • Az-Zuhd
  • Al-'Ilal al-Kubra
  • Ash-Shama'il an-Nabawiyya wa'l-Fada'il al-Mustafawiyya
  • Al-Asma' wa'l-Kuna
  • Kitab at-Tarikh

He is also reported to have a work on Islamic history and an exegesis of the Qur’an, but these are extinct.[26]

Accusation of heresy

Al-Tirmidhi was accused of being a Jahmi heretic and was harshly criticized by some fanatic Hanbali followers, including Abu Bakr al-Khallal (d. 311/923) in his Kitab al-Sunna (Book of the Prophetic Tradition), because he rejected a narration attributed to Mujahid ibn Jabr concerning the explanation of the verse 79 from Surat al-Isra' in the Qur'an about the praiseworthy station of Muhammad known as "al-Maqam al-Mahmud".[27][28][29]

The verse is: "And from [part of] the night, pray[a] with it [i.e., recitation of the Qur’ān] as additional [worship] for you; it is expected that[b] your Lord will resurrect you to a praised station."[c][Quran 17:79 -Sahih International]

The Hanbalites interpreted the Praiseworthy Station as the seating of Muhammad on the Throne next to God, despite the overall weakness of the narrations supporting it.[30]

Death

Tomb of Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi, near Amu Darya River, Termez, Uzbekistan. (2006)

At-Tirmidhi became blind in the last two years of his life, according to adh-Dhahabi.[10] His blindness is said to have been the consequence of excessive weeping, either due to fear of God or over the death of al-Bukhari.[4][5][10][15][19]

He died on Monday night, 13 Rajab 279 AH (Sunday night, 8 October 892)[d] in Bugh.[7][10][15]

At-Tirmidhi is buried on the outskirts of Sherobod, 60 kilometers north of Termez in Uzbekistan. In Termez he is locally known as Abu Isa at-Termezi or "Termez Ota" ("Father of Termez").[25]

See also

Early Islam scholars

Early Islamic scholars

Notes

  1.  Literally, "arise from sleep for prayer."
  2.  This is a promise from Allāh to Muhammad.
  3.  The position of intercession by permission of Allāh and the highest degree in Paradise.
  4.  In the Islamic calendar, the weekday begins at sunset.

References

  1.  El Shamsy, Ahmed (2007). "The First Shāfiʿī: The Traditionalist Legal Thought of Abū Yaʿqūb al-buwayṭī (d. 231/846)". Islamic Law and Society. 14 (3). Brill Publishers: 324–325. JSTOR 40377944. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  2.  Bearman, Bianquis, Bosworth, Donzel, Heinrighs, PJ., TH., C. E., E. Van and W. P. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Islam: New Edition Vol. X. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. p. 544. ISBN 90-04-11211-1.
  3.  "Sibawayh, His Kitab, and the Schools of Basra and Kufa." Taken from Changing Traditions: Al-Mubarrad's Refutation of Sībawayh and the Subsequent Reception of the Kitāb, p. 12. Vol. 23, Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics. Ed. Monique Bernards. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997. ISBN 9789004105959
  4.  Juynboll, G.H.A. (24 April 2012). "al-Tirmidhī". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online. Archived from the original on 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  5.  Abdul Mawjood, Salahuddin ʻAli (2007). The Biography of Imām at-Tirmidhī. Translated by Abu Bakr ibn Nasir (1st ed.). Riyadh: Darussalam. ISBN 978-9960983691.
  6.  Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Dhahabī (d. 1348) (2004). تذهيب تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال (Tadhhīb tahdhīb al-kamāl fī asmā' al-rijāl) (in Arabic). Cairo: al-Fārūq al-Hadīthah lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr. p. 248. ISBN 9773700100. Archived from the original on 2016-06-24. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  7.  Ibn Khallikan (1843) [Written 1274]. "At-Tirmidi the traditionist". Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary. Translated from Wafayāt al-a‘yān wa-anbā’ abnā’ az-zamān by Baron Mac Guckin de Slane. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 679–680.
  8.  Ibn Kathir (d. 1373). "ثم دخلت سنة تسع وسبعين ومائتين"  [Then entered year 279]. البداية والنهاية (al-Bidāyah wa-al-nihāyah) (in Arabic). Vol. 11 – via Wikisource.
  9.  Wensinck, A.J. (1993). "al-Tirmidhī". Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition (1913-1936). Vol. 8. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 796–797. ISBN 9004097961. Archived from the original on 2016-05-12. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  10.  Robson, James (June 1954). "The Transmission of Tirmidhī's Jāmi'". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 16 (2). Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies: 258–270. doi:10.1017/S0041977X0010597X. JSTOR 609168. S2CID 127754171.
  11.  Lane, Andrew J. (2006). A Traditional Mu'tazilite Qur'an Commentary: The Kashshaf of Jar Allah al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144). Leiden: Brill. p. 385. ISBN 9004147004. Archived from the original on 2016-05-01. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  12.  Sezgin, Fuat (1991). تاريخ التراث العربي (Tārīkh al-turāth al-'arabī) (in Arabic). Vol. 1. Translated by Mahmud Fahmi Hijazi. Part 4. p. 209. Archived from the original on 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  13.  Rushdī Abū Shabānah ʻAlī al-Rashīdī (2007). التضامن الدولي في النظام الإسلامي والنظم الوضعية : دراسة مقارنة (al-Taḍāmun al-dawlī fī al-niẓām al-Islāmī wa-al-nuẓum al-waḍʻīyah : dirāsah muqāranah) (1st ed.). Mansoura, Egypt: Dār al-Yaqīn. ISBN 9789773362409.
  14.  Robson, James (1954). "The Transmission of Tirmidhī's "Jāmi'"". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 16 (2): 258–270. ISSN 0041-977X.
  15.  Hoosen, Abdool Kader (1990). Imam Tirmidhi's contribution towards Hadith (1st ed.). Newcastle, South Africa: A.K. Hoosen. ISBN 9780620153140.
  16.  "Al-Tirmidhī | Muslim scholar | Britannica".
  17.  Nasr, S. H.; Mutahhari, M. (1975). "The Religious Sciences". In Frye, Richard N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 471. ISBN 0-521-20093-8.
  18.  "Abū Bakr al-Warrāq". Encyclopaedia Islamica. doi:10.1163/1875-9831_isla_com_0048. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  19.  Ali, Syed Bashir (2003). Scholars of Hadith. Skokie, IL: IQRAʼ International Educational Foundation. ISBN 1563162040. Archived from the original on 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  20.  Banuri, Muhammad Yusuf (April 1957). "الترمذي صاحب الجامع في السنن (al-Tirmidhī ṣaḥib al-jāmi' fī al-sunan)". Majallat Al-Majmaʻ Al-ʻIlmī Al-ʻArabīyah (in Arabic). 32. Damascus: 308. Cited by Hoosen, Abdool Kader (1990). Imam Tirmidhi's contribution towards Hadith (1st ed.). Newcastle, South Africa: A.K. Hoosen. ISBN 9780620153140.
  21.  Nur al-Din Itr (1978). "تصدير Taṣdīr" [Preface]. In Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (ed.). شرح علل الترمذي Sharḥ 'Ilal al-Tirmidhī (in Arabic) (1st ed.). Dār al-Mallāḥ. p. 11. Archived from the original on 2016-05-11. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  22.  Wheeler, Brannon M., ed. (2002). "Glossary of Interpreters and Transmitters". Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis. New York: Continuum. p. 358. ISBN 0826449565. Archived from the original on 2016-07-23. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  23.  Siddiqi, Muhammad Zubayr. Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development & Special Features. p. 64.
  24.  Adamec, Ludwig W. (2009). Historical Dictionary of Islam (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 307. ISBN 9780810861619. Archived from the original on 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  25.  "Termez". www.uzbek-travel.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-24. Retrieved 2013-01-08.
  26.  "Imam Tirmidhi and his Al-Jami' al-Sunan (الجامع السنن للإمام الترمذي رضي الله عنه)". 26 March 2005.
  27.  Abu Bakr al-Khallal. "Kitab al-Sunna (The Book of the Sunna)". Archived from the original on 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2020-09-25. فقد كان أحدث هذا الترمذي المبتدع ببلدنا ما اتصل بنا أنه حدث ببلدكم، وهذا أمر قد كان اضمحل وأخمله الله، وأخمل أهله وقائله، وليس بموجود في الناس، قد سلب عقله، أخزاه الله وأخزى أشياعه، وقد كان الشيوخ سئلوا عنه في حياة أبي بكر رحمه الله ومحدثي بغداد والكوفة وغير ذلك، فلم يكن منهم أحد إلا أنكره، وكره من أمره ما كتبنا به إليكم لتقفوا عليه، فأما ما قال العباس بن محمد الدوري عند سؤالهم إياه عنه ورده حديث مجاهد: ذكر أن هذا الترمذي الذي رد حديث مجاهد ما رآه قط عند محدث، ولا يعرفه بالطلب، وإن هذا الحديث لا ينكره إلا مبتدع جهمي، فنحن نسأل الله العافية من بدعته وضلالته، فما أعظم ما جاء به هذا من الضلالة والبدع، عمد إلى حديث فيه فضيلة للنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فأراد أن يزيله ويتكلم في من رواه، وقد قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: « لا تزال طائفة من أمتي على الحق، لا يضرهم من ناوأهم » ونحن نحذر عن هذا الرجل أن تستمعوا منه، وممن قال بقوله، أو تصدقوهم في شيء، فإن السنة عندنا إحياء ذكر هذا الحديث، وما أشبهه مما ترده الجهمية
  28.  Yusuf Aba al-Khail (17 May 2017). "محنة الإمام الترمذي مع التكفير". www.alarabiya.net. Al Arabiya. Archived from the original on 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  29.  Yusuf Aba al-Khail. "محنة الإمام الترمذي مع التكفير". www.alriyadh.com. Al Riyadh. Archived from the original on 2021-04-10. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  30.  Gibril Fouad Haddad. "The Prophet's (s) Seating on the Throne". www.naqshbandi.ca. Naqshbandi Order in Montreal. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2020-09-25.

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Tirmidhi, Sayyid Burhan al-Din
Tirmidhi, Sayyid Burhan al-Din (Sayyid Burhan al-Din Tirmidhi). Thirteenth century Sufi. He was the teacher of Jalal al-Din Rumi.
Sayyid Burhan al-Din Tirmidhi see Tirmidhi, Sayyid Burhan al-Din


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Tiwana, Malik Sir Khizr Hayat Khan
Tiwana, Malik Sir Khizr Hayat Khan (Malik Sir Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwana) (Malik Khizar Hayar Tiwana) (Nawabzada Sir Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana) (1900-1975). Unionist premier of the Punjab (1943-1946 and 1946-1947). He joined the first cabinet under provincial autonomy in 1937 and succeeded Sikandar Hayat Khan as premier after the latter’s death in December 1942. In 1946, following the election in which the Muslim League became the plurality party but was unable to form a ministry, Khizr headed a Unionist Congress-Akali Dal ministry until April 1947. He was not directly active in politics after India’s independence later that year.

Tiwana came from a Rajput family which had, since the 15th century, been prominent among the landed aristocracy of the Punjab. Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana's father was Major General Sir Malik Umar Hayat Khan (1875–1944), who acted as honorary aide-de-camp to George V and George VI and served as a member of the Council of the Secretary of State for India, 1924-1934.

Tiwana was educated, like his father, at Aitchison College, Lahore. At the age of 16 he volunteered for war service and was commissioned to the 17th Cavalry in 1918. As well as his brief World War I service, Tiwana served in the Afghan campaign which followed, earning a mention in dispatches.

Tiwana then assisted his father in the management of family estates in the Punjab, taking responsibility for them while his father was in London, 1929-1934. He was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1937 and immediately joined the cabinet of Sir Sikander Hyat Khan, who had successfully led the Unionist Muslim League in the election, as Minister of Public Works. Tiwana remained in this post until 1942, succeeding Sir Sikander as Prime Minister to the Punjab from 1942 until 1947. He was a member of the Indian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1946. Tiwana resigned his premiership on March 2, 1947. Although he remained at Simla until independence, he did not thereafter seek an active part in politics and left the country, returning to Pakistan in October 1949. Among his principal concerns was the preservation of the family estates at Kalra from the exigencies of land reform and government control.
Malik Sir Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwana seeTiwana, Malik Sir Khizr Hayat Khan
Malik Khizar Hayar Tiwana see Tiwana, Malik Sir Khizr Hayat Khan
Nawabzada Sir Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwanasee Tiwana, Malik Sir Khizr Hayat Khan

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Sir
Nawab
Malik
Khizar Hayat Tiwana
2nd Premier of the Punjab
In office
30 December 1942 – 2 March 1947
GovernorBertrand Glancy
Evan Meredith Jenkins
Preceded bySikandar Hayat Khan
Succeeded byGovernor rule
Personal details
Born7 August 1900
Chak Muzaffarabad, Punjab Province (British India)
Died20 January 1975 (aged 74)
Butte City, California, U.S.
RelativesMalik Munir Khan Tiwana (cousin)[1]
Military service
Branch/service British Indian Army
Years of service
1916–1923
RankCaptain
Unit17th Cavalry
Battles/warsWorld War I
Third Anglo-Afghan War
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Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (7 August 1900 – 20 January 1975)[a] was a British Indian statesman, landowner, army officer, and politician belonging to the Punjab Unionist Party. He served as the prime minister of the Punjab Province (British India) between 1942 and 1947. He opposed the Partition of India and the ideology of Muslim League. He was eventually ousted from office by the Muslim League through a civil disobedience campaign, plunging Punjab into communal violence that led to the partition of the province between India and Pakistan.

Early life

Khizar Hayat Tiwana was born at Chak Muzaffarabad, in the Shahpur District of the Punjab Province during British Raj in 1900. He was born into the feudal Tiwana family of Shahpur.[2] He was owner of 1,800 Murabba (45,000 acres) of agriculture land. His father Sir Umar Hayat Khan was also a wealthy landowner and soldier who was an elected member of the Council of the Secretary of State for India. Sir Umar Hayat was a close friend to King George V. He was educated at Aitchison College in Lahore.[3] Unlike his father, Sir Khizar was a religious person and is believed to be a follower of Sufism. He started managing his Kalra Estate at young age. His father Sir Umar Hayat was fond of cars, greyhounds and extravagant lifestyle. He was the first person to own cars in Shahpur district in 1920s. However, Sir Khizar was a much more calculated person; though he loved horses a lot. He owned the largest stud-farm at that time in Punjab with around 300 horses and mares. He was a renowned horse breeder. He had a huge horse breeding facility at his farmland at Khizarabad, near Bhalwal. Sir Khizar enjoyed playing polo. He had a private polo ground at his Kalra Palace. It was once visited by Lord Hardinge, the viceroy of British India. Lord Malcolm Hailey, the Governor of Punjab was among his close friend and a regular visitor at Kalra Estate. Sir Khizar had numerous palaces and properties in Sargodha, Lahore, Delhi and Simla.

Military career

At the age of 16, Tiwana volunteered for war service, and on 17 April 1918 he was commissioned into the 17th Cavalry as a temporary honorary second lieutenant in the Indian Land Forces.[4] In addition to his few months of First World War service, Khizar also briefly served in the Third Anglo-Afghan War which followed, earning a mention in dispatches. He was advanced to honorary second lieutenant on 21 November 1919[5] and was promoted to the honorary rank of captain on 17 April 1923.[6] He thereafter assisted his father in the management of the family estates in the Punjab, taking responsibility for them while his father was in London. He was promoted to honorary major on 17 April 1936[7] and to honorary lieutenant-colonel on 12 January 1943.[8]

Entry into politics

Tiwana was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1937. He immediately joined the cabinet of Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan as Minister of Public Works and Local Self Government.[9] Tiwana lacked public speaking skills and administrative experience and obtained the position largely through his father's reputation and the standing of his family.[9] Despite this, he became a trusted member of the cabinet and was entrusted with the home portfolio responsible for dealing with the police and law and order.[9] At the outbreak of the Second World War he had been placed in charge of the Manpower Committee of the Punjab War Board and the Civil Defence Departments.[9] In 1940 he was responsible for handling the Unionist Party's dealings with the Allama Mashriqi and for arranging security at the All-India Muslim League sessions in Lahore.

In his native constituency, he engaged in political rivalry with Nawab Muhammad Hayat Qureshi, a prominent supporter of Jinnah and the incumbent President of the All India Muslim League for Shahpur District. Sir Allah Buksh Tiwana was a relative and close political advisor to Sir Khizar Hayat.

His achievements included overseeing reform of the panchayat system by extending their administrative, fiscal and judicial functions, and ensuring improvements to infrastructure and irrigation networks.[10] He steadfastly supported pro-unionist agrarian policies, and sympathized with their efforts to promote communal harmony.[10]

Premier of the Punjab

1942–1946

In 1942 Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan unexpectedly died creating a vacancy as Premier. The position was eyed by the three dominant Muslim factions, the Noon-Tiwana, Daultanas and the Hayats.[11] Tiwana was unanimously selected as his successor on 23 January 1943.[11]

Tiwana assumed control during the height of the Second World War. Many Punjabi soldiers had been killed, others returned maimed, and demobilised soldiers were not being immediately allotted parcels of land in the canal colonies. To feed Bengalis suffering the Bengal famine of 1943, the central government in Delhi instructed Tiwana's government to introduce rationing in the Punjab and fix grain prices which in turn affected landowner's financially.[12] A war weariness descended over the Punjab, and food shortages, fixed prices, and their support for conscription, damaged attitudes towards Tiwana's government from rich and poor Muslim alike.[12]

Like Sikandar, Tiwana was staunchly opposed to the idea of Pakistan created by the Muslim League, yet unlike his predecessor was less willing to compromise or bow to the dictation of its leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah.[13] Jinnah increasingly sought to enforce the Sikandar-Jinnah pact and wield influence over the government claiming that as the Muslims of the Unionist party also belonged to the Muslim League, the Punjab government was a League government and should submit to directives of the Muslim League leadership.[13] In April 1944 Jinnah demanded that the name of the Unionist Party be changed to the Muslim League Coalition Party.[14] Tiwana rebuffed these demands asserting that his government was a coalition between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, rather than a Muslim League government[13] Tension with Jinnah simmered until Tiwana was expelled from the Muslim League later that year.[13] This opened a rift within the Unionist Party, with Muslim members now forced to choose between Tiwana and the Muslim League.[13] Following this clash, the Muslim League waged an increasing vitriolic campaign against him, denouncing him as a 'quisling' and 'kafir'. Mock funerals were held outside his official residence and he was greeted wherever he went with black flags of protest.[15]

Tiwana suffered a further blow in January 1945 with the death of Sir Chhottu Ram, the Unionist leader of the Hindu Jats in south eastern Punjab. Ram was a pillar of the Unionist Party and greatly respected by Muslims in the province.[13] Jinnah increased the pressure on Tiwana at the Simla Conference of 1945. Convened by the Viceroy of India Lord Wavell, the conference was to put together an interim government in India following the war. Jinnah insisted that any Muslim nominee to the government must be selected by the Muslim League, as only they spoke for the entirety of Muslims in India. This was seen as an attempt to undermine the influence of the Unionist Party, and its ability to represent its Muslim constituency.[13] In September 1945, Sir Feroz Khan Noon, a member of the Noon-Tiwana faction, resigned from the Unionist party and urged Tiwana and other Unionists to join the Muslim League.[11] Noon had previously been a key ally for Tiwana, assuring him that he would help heal his rift with Jinnah and urging him to not divide the Punjabi Muslims - the heart of Muslim India.[16] Noon's defection opened the gates for further defections from the party. Other defectors included Sikandar's son, Shaukat Hayat Khan and Mumtaz Daultana, who both realigned their families support towards the Muslim League.

1946–1947

At the Indian provincial elections of 1946, the Muslim League won seventy nine seats to the Punjab Assembly, and reduced the Unionists to just ten. Despite this crushing defeat for Tiwana and the Unionists, the Muslim League were unable to form a government as they lacked an absolute majority. Tiwana struck a deal with the Congress Party and Akali Dal and was invited to form a coalition government. His cabinet included Sir Muzaffar Ali Khan Qizilbash, Bhim Sen Sachar and Baldev Singh.[17] The coalition proved a disaster, as for the first time a predominately non-Muslim government held power. From the outset the Muslim League organised a programme of civil disobedience and disruption to the province.[18] The Muslim League argued it was an example of Hindu connivance to defeat the interests of the Muslim community.[19] Tiwana was portrayed as a traitor, clinging to power and office without regard for the interests of the Muslims.[19]

Tiwana remained opposed to the partition of India to the end.[20][21] He felt that Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus of the Punjab all had a common culture and was against dividing India to create a religious segregation between the same people.[22] Tiwana, himself a Muslim, remarked to the separatist leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah: "There are Hindu and Sikh Tiwanas who are my relatives. I go to their weddings and other ceremonies. How can I possibly regard them as coming from another nation?"[22] He refused to accept the two-nation theory, and believed that a Muslim majority government in the Punjab would be an important guarantee of the rights of Muslims in a minority province.[18] Tiwana advocated for amity between the religious communities of undivided India, proclaiming March 1 as Communal Harmony Day and aiding in the establishment of a Communal Harmony Committee in Lahore presided over by Raja Narendra Nath with its secretary being Maulvi Mahomed Ilyas of Bahawalpur.[22] As a last ditch attempt to avoid partition, Tiwana attempted to convince the British to accept his proposal for an independent Punjabi state, a separate entity to both India and Pakistan.[23]

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in the 1946 New Year Honours[24] and was a member of the Indian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in the summer of 1946. Due to the boycotts engulfing the Punjab, he resigned as Premier on 2 March 1947. Sir Evan Jenkins, as Governor of the Punjab assumed direct control of the Punjab until the day of partition, 14 August 1947.[18]

Later life

He retired from politics following his resignation, and lived for a time in Simla and Delhi following independence. He returned to the Kalra Estate, Jhawarian in the newly created Pakistan in October 1949.[25]

In 1951, Mumtaz Daultana targeted those who were against the Pakistan movement by proposing a law confiscating without redress, all land grants issued during the premiership of Tiwana.[26] In Tiwana's hometown of Shahpur, this would amount to 10,000 acres. Alarmed by these measures, Tiwana appealed to the British government without success.[26] In 1954, Daultana would confiscate all the private canals owned by Tiwana under the guise of the Punjab Minor Canals Bill.[26]

During his stay in United States Tiwana, reflecting on the creation of Bangladesh, echoed his opposition to the partition of India, particularly the division of the Punjab Province, stating: "I still think a Punjabi Muslim has more in common with a Punjabi Hindu or Sikh than with a Bengali (or any non-Punjabi really) and I think the separation of East Pakistan proved that."[27]

He died in Butte City, California, on 20 January 1975.[28] Indira Gandhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Louis Mountbatten shared condolences. His coffin was draped not in the Kalra tricolour.[27]

References

  1.  Punjabi: ملک خضرحیات ٹوانہ; Gurmukhī: ਸਰ ਖ਼ਿਜ਼ਰ ਹਯਾਤ ਟਿਵਾਣਾ
  1.  FROM SAPPER TO BRIGADIER. Indian Information. May 1947.
  2.  Jinnah, Mahomed Ali (1986). Jinnah-Wavell Correspondence, 1943-47. Research Society of Pakistan, University of the Punjab.
  3.  Talbot 2013, p. i.
  4.  "No. 31013". The London Gazette. 15 November 1918. p. 13508.
  5.  "No. 31773". The London Gazette. 10 February 1920. p. 1699.
  6.  "No. 32975". The London Gazette. 19 September 1924. p. 6910.
  7.  The London Gazette, Issue 34295, 19 June 1936, p. 3925
  8.  The London Gazette, Issue 35857, 12 January 1943 (Supplement), p. 259
  9.  Talbot 2013, p. 70.
  10.  Talbot 2013, p. 76.
  11.  Jalal 1994[page needed]
  12.  Shah 1997, p. 131.
  13.  Moon 1962, p. 39.
  14.  Hardy 1972, p. 234.
  15.  Talbot 2013.
  16.  Firoz Khan Noon to Tiwana Hayat Khan, 21 August 1945, SHC/Punjab vol. IV, 15.
  17.  Korson 1974, p. 20.
  18.  Korson 1974, p. 19
  19.  Moon 1962, p. 72.
  20.  Mansingh, Surjit (2006). Historical Dictionary of India. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810865020. Both Sikander Hayat Khan and his successor, Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwana, vehemently opposed the idea Partition when it was mooted in the early 1940s, partly because as Punjabi Muslims they did not agree with Jinnah on the need for a Pakistan and largely because the thought of partitioning Punjab, as an inevitable consequence, was so painful.
  21.  Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191004124. Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwana, a Unionist, who was the last Premier of the unified Punjab opposed Jinnah and the 1947 partition of India from a Punjabi nationalist perspective.
  22.  Talbot 2013, pp. 77, 303: "Khizr was opposed to the division of India on a religious basis, and especially to suggestions about partitioning Punjab on such a basis. He sincerely believed that Punjabi Muslims had more in common with Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs."
  23.  Pashaura Singh, Louis E. Fenech, The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies, OUP Oxford, 27 March 2014, p. 486.
  24.  "No. 37407". The London Gazette. 28 December 1945. p. 7.
  25.  "Remembering Khizar Hayat Tiwana". www.tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 2017-03-07.
  26.  Roger D. Long, Gurharpal Singh, Yunas Samad, Ian Talbot, State and Nation-Building in Pakistan: Beyond Islam and Security, Routledge, 8 October 2015, p. 27.
  27.  Talbot 2013, p. 173.
  28.  "Nawab Tiwana, Ex-Minister of Punjab, Led Unionists". The New York Times. 25 January 1975.

Bibliography


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