The cUlama o f Farangi Mahall and Islamic Culture

Abstract

The Farangi Mahall family of learned and holy men is remarkable in the history of India. Indeed, it would be in any society. Claiming descent from Ayyub Ansari, the host of the Prophet at Medina, through the 11th-century saint cAbd Allah Ansari of Herat, their ancestors migrated to India in the early years of the Delhi sultanate. One branch settled around Panipat, close to Delhi, and in recent times produced: Altaf Husayn Hali, the great poet of the Aligarh movement; Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, the progressive writer; and Dr M.A. Ansari, the pan-Islamic leader and president both of the Indian National Congress and of the all-India Muslim League.