If we look through the pages of history it won’t be surprising to see the names of Muslim scholars with miraculous achievements. Muslim scholars have made various contributions to the world of learning with the aid of their gifted intelligence.

This article is about the author of the book Ilm us Sigha, Mufti Inayat Ahmed who wrote this book all from his extraordinary memory while he was detained on Kalapani Island. He was born in the year 1228 Hijri in a town named Deewa in India. He got his early education in Arabic under the supervision of Syed Ahmed Barelvi. He was then sent to Maulana Haider Ali Tonki and Maulana Noor ul Islam Dehlvi for further education. Also, he studied the knowledge of Hadith from Shah Muhammad Ishaq in Delhi. Later, he went to Aligarh to study further from Sheikh Ali Mahrwi. He started teaching there and then also continued his services as Mufti. He was so efficient that he got promotions often and soon became the judges’ head.

After the defeat of Muslims in the war of 1857, he was deported to Kalapani by the British government as a punishment because he gave a fatwa for helping Muslim Mujahideen financially. He did not compromise on his passion for teaching and continued teaching and writing in the prison. Though he did not have any books, he did write several books on various subjects that were recognized and authenticated by scholars. This masterpiece, the book ‘Ilm us Sigha’, about Arabic Morphology (sarf), a sub-science of classical Arabic was also written on that island by using his extraordinary memory. This work got so much acceptance from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala that this book is being taught in the Dars e Nizami course in Pakistan, India, and other countries for hundreds of years. The British ruler of that island was inspired by his work and ordered him to translate “Taqweem Ul Buldan”, an Arabic book into Urdu so that it can be further translated into English. He translated the entire book in two years. He was then released earlier because of this accomplishment in the year 1279 Hijri. He moved to Kanpur permanently and established a school “Faiz Aam” which is one of the most famous schools in Kanpur.

After two years of his release in the year 1279 Hijri, he met with an accident while traveling on a ship to perform hajj and died. He was indeed an asset to the Muslim ummah and his name will always be taken with pride.