Mian Asghar Hussain‘s ancestors came to India from Baghdad and are descended from Abdul Qadir Jeelani. During the era of Shah Jahan, Ghulam Rasool had moved to India along with his family. He was entrusted the imamat and khitabat at the Shahi Masjid of Deoband. He had two sons, Ghulam Nabi and Ghulam Ali. Both brothers married daughters of Shah Ameerullah. Sayyid Ghulam Ali had three daughters and two sons. The elder son Alam Meer was the grandfather of Mian Asghar Hussain. Alam Meer married Azeemun Nisa, the daughter of Shah Hafeezullah. They had a daughter Wajeeh-un-Nisa and son Muhammad Hasan, who was the father of Mian Asghar Hussain. Muhammad Hasan married twice, first to Maryam-un-Nisa, who bore him a son, Sayyid Khursheed, and a daughter Masum-un-Nisa. After Maryam-un-Nisa died, Muhammad Hasan married her sister Naseeb-un-Nisa, who bore him a son, Asghar Hussain..
Birth and education
Birth
Mian Asghar Hussain was born on 16 October 1877 in Deoband to Sayyid Muhammad Hasan and Naseebun Nisa bint Sayyid Mansub Ali.
Name and Lineage
His ism is: Sayyid Asghar Hussain ibn Sayyid Shah Muhammad Hasan ibn Sayyid Shah Alam Meer ibn Sayyid Ghulam Ali ibn Sayyid Ghulam Rasool Baghdadi ibn Sayyid Shah Faqeerullah Baghdadi ibn Sayyid A’zam Saani ibn Sayyid Nazar Muhammad ibn Sayyid Sultan Muhammad ibn Sayyid A’zam Muhammad ibn Sayyid Abu Muhammad ibn Sayyid Qutbuddin ibn Sayyid Baha’uddeen ibn Sayyid Jamalauddin ibn Sayyid Qutbuddin ibn Sayyid Dawud ibn Muhi’uddin Abu Abdullah ibn Sayyid Abu Saleh Nasr ibn Sayyid Abdur Razzaq ibn Abdul Qadir Jilani.
Education
When he turned eight, he began studying with Muhammad Abdullah, alias Miyanji Munne Shah and studied Quran from his father and then started to study Persian from him. Later he was enrolled in Darul Uloom Deoband. He continued with the Persian class and studied Persian from Maulana Muhammad Yaseen, the father of Muhammad Shafi Deobandi. He studied mathematics from Maulana Manzoor Ahmad. He passed the class of Persian with first position and soon received Muwatta Imam Malik as an honorary gift. As Mian Asghar turned 17 or 18 and reached the Arabic classes in Darul Uloom Deoband, his father died on 20 September 1894. He discontinued his studies for almost one year and started to teach in his ancestral madrasa. At the request of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, Mian Asghar entered the Darul Uloom Deoband again on 1 April 1896 and continued with Arabic classes. He studied Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Jami` at-Tirmidhi and Sunan Abu Dawood from Mahmud Hasan Deobandi. His other teachers included Azeezur Rahman and Ghulam Rasool Baghwi. He graduated in 1320 AH and was awarded his certificate from Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad.
Career
After graduating from the Darul Uloom Deoband, he worked in the office department of the Darul Uloom for more than one year. Then his teachers Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad sent him to the madrassa of the Atala Masjid, Jaunpur for the post of head-teacher and he served there for 7 years. In the meantime in 1327 AH, he laid the foundation stone of Madrasatul Islah in Sarai Meer, Azamgarh in 1908. He was called to Darul Uloom Deoband and was entrusted with co-editorship of the journal Al-Qasim of the Darul Uloom, while the editor was Maulana Habeebur Rahman. He was entrusted the teaching of Sunan Abu Dawud in Darul Uloom Deoband and he also taught the books of tafsir and fiqh like Jalalayn and Durr-e-Mukhtar.His notable students include Muhammad Shafi Deobandi,Manazir Ahsan Gilani. and Mufti Naseem Ahmad Fareedi. He restarted his ancestral madrasa which had been closed since the death of his father. The madrasa came later under the care of his son Sayyid Bilal Hussain Mian and is now known as Madrassa Asgharia Qadeem whilst its historical name is Darul Musafireen, Madrasa Taleemul Quran.
Literary works
Asghar Hussain has written about thirty books in the Urdu language, including:
Hayat-e-Shaykhul Hind.
Dast-e-Ghayb
Sawaneh Maulana Rum.
Gulzar-e-Sunnat
Khawab-e-Shireen
Mufeed-ul-Wariseen
Marriage and family life
During his student days at Darul Uloom Deoband, Hussain married the daughter of Mushtaq Hussain. She bore him two sons, Mian Akhtar and Mian Bilal Hussain, and one daughter, Fehmeeda.
Death
Mian Asghar Hussain died of cardiac arrest on 8 January 1945. He is buried in Rander, Surat.
