Imad ud-din Lahiz

Who was Imad ud-din Lahiz?

Rev. Mawlawi Dr. Imad ud-din Lahiz was a prolific Islamic writer, preacher and Quranic translator, who converted to Christianity. Imad-ud Din Lahiz wrote his autobiography in 1866.

Imad ud-din Lahiz was among the fourth generation of Islamic scholars in the family. His father, Mohammed Siraj ud-din, grandfather and great grandfather had all been maulvis. The Lahiz family hailed from Panipat, a town situated in the modern day Haryana state of India. The Muslims of Panipat had a reputation for being zealous the faith of Islam and were well-versed in fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence. For centuries, the town of Panipat claimed Muslims who excelled in spiritual leadership and Islamic scholarship.

Imad ud-Din Lahiz was a prolific writer. He translated the Quran into Urdu and also composed several Bible commentaries. In addition to Lahiz’s writings about Islam, its history, faith and practices, his translation of the Quran into Urdu and his many Bible commentaries, he wrote many rebuttals to the works of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyyah movement in Islam.

His works reflect the influence of the chief contenders of a famous debate between the Muslim and Christian scholars. The Muslim side was represented by Rahmatullah Kairanawi and Muhammad Wazîr Khân, and the Christian side by the German preacher, Karl Gottlieb Pfander, that took place in Agra in 1854. The debate itself went badly for Pfander because Kairanawani used arguments from European theologically critical works, and arguments from the Catholic missionaries in India, who strongly disliked the work of their Protestant colleagues. Pfander was unable to respond to this criticism since his books only responded to the traditional Muslim charges against Christianity and he decided to withdraw from the debate.