Identity: Eminent Islamic Thinker, Historian, Scholar of Quran & Hadith, and Pioneer of the Movement for Religious Renewal.

Aslam Jairajpuri was born on January 27, 1882, in Jairajpur, Azamgarh. His father, Maulana Salamatullah Jairajpuri, was himself a distinguished religious scholar. Aslam Jairajpuri was raised in a purely academic and religious environment. He began his professional career with the daily newspaper Paisa in Lahore but soon started teaching at Aligarh Muslim University. Later, at the insistence of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, he moved to Jamia Millia Islamia, where he earned great renown as a Professor of Islamic History and Quranic Exegesis.

Allama Aslam Jairajpuri was a prolific writer. His masterpiece, Tarikh-ul-Ummat (in eight volumes), is a work where he relied solely on solid historical evidence and rational arguments. His other significant books include Tarikh-ul-Quran, Taleemat-e-Quran, Nawadirat, and Fateh-e-Misr. He believed that the Quran should be understood through the Quran itself. Due to this perspective, a section of thinkers categorized him as a 'Rejector of Hadith' (Munkir-e-Hadith), even though he considered the Uswah-e-Hasanah (the Prophet's example) and Sunnat-e-Mutawatirah as certain, while maintaining a distinct research-based stance on the historical status of individual Hadiths.

A vital aspect of his personality was his intellectual proximity to Allama Iqbal. He was influenced by Iqbal's thought, and Iqbal also respected his profound scholarship. When a controversy arose in academic circles regarding Iqbal's criticism of Hafiz Shirazi’s poetry in his poem Asrar-e-Khudi, Aslam Jairajpuri offered a very impartial and balanced commentary. He suggested to Iqbal that it would have been better if those verses about Hafiz had not been written, as they overshadowed the actual beneficial message of the poem. Iqbal viewed this commentary with great respect. Jairajpuri also considered the significance of Iqbal’s Javid Nama superior to the four great classic books of Persian literature. Allama Aslam Jairajpuri rendered unforgettable services in both religious understanding and the study of Iqbal.

Death: Allama Aslam Jairajpuri passed away on December 28, 1955, in Delhi.