Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar

Comp. by: KArunKumar Stage: Galleys Chapter No.: 1940 Date:16/5/14 Time:23:07:04 Page Number: 1 1 2 Au1 3 4 5 6 Title Name: EIR R Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar Iqbal S. Akhtar New College School of Divinity, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA Synonyms 7 Allama; Sa’id; Sayed Akhtar Rizvi; Sayyid 8 Definition pursued further study at Jawadia Arabic College in Banaras from 1942 to 1947. He continued through various traditional schools until he completed his high school diploma at Aligarh University in 1958. In 1960 he was called by the Ithnā ʿAsharı̄ Khōjā jamāt (“community”) of Lindi, Tanzania, to be the imam of the mosque and served there for 2 years until 1963 when he was appointed to the Arusha jamāt and finally led the Dar es Salaam jamāt from 1965 to 1969. The Bilal Muslim Mission (BMM) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Saeed Akhtar Rizvi (1927–2002) was an Indian preacher who established the Bilal Muslim Mission in East Africa to spread the Ithnā ʿAsharı̄ creed to Africans through the support of the Ithnā ʿAsharı̄ Khōjā community of Dar es Salaam and the Africa Federation. Introduction Saeed Akhtar Rizvi was born (Fig. 1) in Gopalpur in the state of Bihar, India, on 5 January 1927 (1 Rajab 1345 A.H.) and died in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 20 June 2002 (8 Rabı̄ʿ ʾal-Thānı̄ 1423 A.H.) (Fig. 2). Reported to be a sayyid, of the Prophetic bloodline, he was the son of Syed Abul Hasan. After completing his elementary education in Goplapur, Rizvi received a traditional Shi’i religious education at Madrasa Abbasia in Patna where his father was the viceprincipal until 1940. In 1941 he continued to the Madrasa Sulaimania, also in Patna, after which he The creation of the Bilal Muslim Mission (BMM) in 1964 was Rizvi’s defining legacy. Rizvi’s initial proposal in 1962 to create this body for tablı̄gh (“to propagate Shiism”) to Africans was received hesitantly by the Khōjā who for more than a hundred and fifty years in Africa had practiced their religion as an insular caste tradition rather than as a missionary religion (Fig. 3) [2]. It was only with an appeal to Near Eastern authority, a fatwa from Ayatollah Syed Mohsin alHakeem, did the resolution to establish the mission pass at the 1964 triennial conference of the Africa Federation in Tanga [3]. Since its inception, there has been a massive expansion of the project with more than 10,000 African converts in Tanzania [4]. As of 2008, the BMM had 57 locations throughout Tanzania managing a range of services from the building of shallow water wells to the establishment of schools and housing for its community members. Projects in the Dar es Salaam region include the Bilal Comprehensive School and the Ahl al-Bayt Teachers Training College among a wide range of other initiatives [1]. BMM is organized both nationally and regionally. It has been A. Sharma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Indian Religions, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1989-7, # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 Comp. by: KArunKumar Stage: Galleys Chapter No.: 1940 Date:16/5/14 Time:23:07:04 Page Number: 2 R 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 Title Name: EIR 2 expanded globally, to include the Bilal Muslim Mission of Americas and Bilal Muslim Mission of Scandinavia. Funding for the BMM is based on both private donations and the community’s coffers through a dispensation provided for the remittance of khums (“1/5th Shi’i tithing”) to Ayatollah al-Sistani. The BMM functions nationally and internationally as a development nongovernmental organization through a Shi’i Islamic rubric. Female economic empowerment is seen through the observance of “Islamic” norms which include strict gender segregation and the adoption of the hijab [8]. The veiling of women is integral to this development model that has been adapted from and developed in conscious opposition to the historical success of Protestant missionaries in the region [6]. Rizvi’s background and traditional madrasa training provided him linguistic competencies in Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Arabic, and English. Upon arrival in Tanzania, he learnt conversational Gujarati and Swahili. The latter would be critical in the publishing of materials for his propagation efforts, such as the periodical Sauti ya Bilal (“The Voice of Bilal”). His writings can be categorized into four broad categories: propagation, translation, polemic, and responsa. One of Rizvi’s the most comprehensive translations was that of Tabātabāʾı̄’s al-Mı̄zān fı̄ tafsı̄r al-Qurʾān (“Bal˙ ˙ ance in the interpretation of the Quran”) [10]. Rizvi’s polemics were directed both internally at Muslim critics of Shiism [5] and externally to Western critics of Islam [9]. His responsa series Your Questions Answered was published by BMM and his “Question and Answer” column regularly appeared in the African Khōjā community’s preeminent periodical The Federation Samachar. Legacy His ultimate impact upon the Khōjā was to promote a normative Near Eastern legalistic form of Shiism, [7] which replaced the apolitical communal form of Islam practiced by the African Khōjā hitherto his arrival in Lindi. He promoted religious engagement with Africans for conversion on the premise of economic and social development [11]. His propagation initiatives have spurred other such programs which continue to expand on the impetus of the BMM mission in Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar Tanzania, such as WIPAHS, Radio Maarifa, and IBN-TV. Cross-References ▶ Africa ▶ Aga Khan ▶ Diaspora ▶ Education ▶ Ethics ▶ Ismāʿı̄lı̄ ▶ Ithnā ʿAsharı̄ ▶ Jñāna ▶ Khoja ▶ Missionaries ▶ Monotheism ▶ Muharram ▶ Nizari Ismailis ▶ Pir Hasan Kabirdin ▶ Pir Sadruddin ▶ Reform movements ▶ Satpanth ▶ Shi‘ism in India ▶ Shiism ▶ Taqiyah References 1. Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania. Annual report. Dar es Salaam: s.n., 2007. Annual report 2. Daya M (2002) A global tragedy – Allamah Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi passes away. Federation Samachar. 23 Sept 2002, pp 43–45 3. Daya M (ed.) 52 YEARS DOWN.... A special coverage. Federation Samachar. 30, Zilhajj/April 1418 A.H./1998C.E., vol. 7, pp 61–65 4. Jaffer A (2013) Conversion to Shi’ism in East Africa. J Shi’a Islamic Stud VI:131–154 5. Kanju MS, Rizvi SA (1999) Fitina za Wahhabi zafichuliwa. Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam 6. Kassamali H, Walji H, Bhimji S (2004) Tabligh task force. The World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities, Leeds. Tabligh task force report 7. King NQ, Rizvi SA (1973) Some East African Ithna-Asheri Jamaats (1840–1967).1, s.l. : Brill, 1973. J Religion in Africa 5:12–22 8. Rizvi SA (1997) Hijab, The muslim womens dress, islamic or cultural? Ja‘fari Islamic Centre (Tabligh Committee), Toronto 9. Rizvi SA Need for religion. Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 Au2 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 Au3 150 Comp. by: KArunKumar Stage: Galleys Chapter No.: 1940 Date:16/5/14 Time:23:07:05 Page Number: 3 Title Name: EIR Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar 3 R 11. Services recognized: Hujjatul Islam Maulana Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi. Federation Samachar 23:1 Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar, Fig. 1 Saeed Akhtar Rizvi (1927–2002) 151 152 153 10. Tabātabāʾı̄ ‘Allāmah (1973) al-Mı̄zān fı̄ tafsı̄r al-Qurʾān. ˙ ˙ Saeed Akhtar Rizvi). World Organization for Islamic (trans: Services, Tehran Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar, Fig. 2 Prayers at the sarcophagus of Saeed Akhtar Rizvi at the Khōjā cemetery in Central Dar es Salaam 154 155 Comp. by: KArunKumar Stage: Galleys Chapter No.: 1940 Date:16/5/14 Time:23:07:06 Page Number: 4 R Title Name: EIR 4 Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar, Fig. 3 Logo of the Bilal Muslim Mission with the Arabic balāgh (‘declaration’) inscribed within it Rizvi, Saeed Akhtar