He was born born in Meerut (UP,India) on October 1, 1926 in the holy month of Ramadan. He became a hafiz-ul-Quran at the tender age of eight. He graduated from the National Arabic College, Meerut, and obtained the Fazil-i-Arabi degree from Allahabad University and Dars-i-Nizam (Fazil) from Darul-Uloom Arabia, Meerut. He had perfect command of Arabic, Urdu, Panjabi, English, French, Bhojpuri and Swahili. He was a gifted qari whose unique style of recitation of the Holy Qur'an is known to be addictive. His wife is from the holy city of Madina and the language of his household is Arabic. They were blessed with two daughters and two sons. Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani was an accomplished 'alim who mastered all four schools of fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) and followed the madhab of Imam Abu Hanifa both in practice and ijtihad (reasoning). He was a visiting professor who taught al-fiqh al-hanafiyya and 'aqida (belief) of Ahl Sunna wal Jamaah in Baghdad for a number of years. He was Honorary Secretary General of the World Muslim Ulama Organization, with the Grand Mufti of Palestine being its president. He held this office continuously for eleven years and worked for unity of Muslim brotherhood amongst all Muslim nations. Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani was an ardent lover and drank deeply from the monumental writings of Imam Ahmad Raza Khan RA, affectionately known as Ala Hazrat by the Sunni masses. He and other 'ulama worked to bring to light the importance of Ala Hazrat's contribution to Islam in the twentieth century. He always maintained that had it not been for the single-handed effort of Ala Hazrat RA, especially for his twenty seven volumes of fatawa (Islamic Rulings) in the form of Fatawa- Rizwiyya and his tafsir Kanzul Iman, Sunni Islam as we know it today could have disappeared. Not only has the contribution of Ala Hazrat ensured that Hanafi Jurisprudence remained intact as the legal framework for such countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan and India in the context of the twentieth century, but also the body of knowledge he re-interpreted in the revisionist context he found himself in, was used and is still being used to counter the forces which are intent in eradicating the spiritual dimension of Islam by an attempt to re-writing the very history of Islam. The contribution of Ala Hazrat RA, Maulana Noorani argued, effectively checked the tide of recently concocted ideologies in the form of Wahabism, Deobandism, and Qadianism. Maulana Noorani spent a good portion of his scholarly life promoting Ala Hazrat as the mujaddid (Muslim Reviver) of the 13th Islamic century. In particular, due to his leadership he was able to influence two generations of Muslim scholars to appreciate the full impact of Ala Hazrat's thoughts and writings. Maulana Noorani RA will always be remembered to exemplify without pretence and awkwardness, the sunnah of the Holy Prophet SAW in both his inner and outer character. He was thus able to demonstrate the relevance of the Prophetic traditions in the modern age. He displayed a rare form of unselfish purpose possessed by few leaders of his time. His very existence has been a pre-occupation with the issue of unity of Ummat-e- Muhammadiyya. He argued that the excellence of Muslims over other nations can only be based on the fact that the Muslim ummah has the perfect role model - Prophet Muhammad SAW. However, the status of the Muslim nation plummeted only because it allowed others to divide itself into tribes, secular ideologies and nationalities. He was convinced and proved on many occasions that, whenever Muslims leave aside their differences and united; Islam takes on a different dimension and becomes an unstoppable phenomenon with unimaginable potential. Maulana Noorani maintained that Muslim unity is the essence of the Muslim struggle at both an individual and at the global level. His influence permeated higher seats of learning in every continent. He taught subjects ranging from economics to fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) and from political science to tasawwuf. In his teachings, whether addressing scholars or laymen - the underlying reality of his reasoning was always guided by an undying and uncompromising love for the Holy Prophet SAW. Driven by such devotion to the Holy Prophet SAW he argued that leaders will try but they will not be able to establish "Nizam-e-Mustafa" or the 'Order of Mustafa SAW' without a true attachment to the Beloved Prophet SAW.
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