ABHARĪ, MAḴDŪM ʿABD-AL-ʿAZĪZ MOḤADDEṮ, traditionist. A native of Herat, he migrated to Sind ca. 918/1512 to escape Safavid persecution of Sunnite scholars. He and his sons, Mawlānā Aṯīr-al-dīn and Mawlānā Yār Moḥammad (both reputable scholars), settled at Kāhān/Gāhān (Gāhā), about 21 miles northwest of Sehvān. This place had become a center of learning after the vizier of Sind, Daryā Khan, had been compelled to retire to his estate there by Jām Fīrūz, the last ruler of the Jamid dynasty. Maḵdūm Abharī was noted for his skill in the rational sciences and wrote a wide variety of works. His commentary on the Meškāt remained unfinished, though in popularity it exceeded the numerous ḥavāšī (marginal notes) he wrote on other books. He died at Kāhān. His tradition of learning was carried on by such pupils as Qāżī ʿAbdallāh of Darbela and the latter’s illustrious sons, Raḥmatallāh and Ḥamīd, of whom the former also studied with Shaikh ʿAlī Mottaqī.
Bibliography:
Mīr Moḥammad Maʿṣūm, Tārīḵ-e Send or (Tārīḵ-e Maʿṣūmī), Poona, 1938, pp. 76-77.
Mīr ʿAlī Šēr Qāneʿ Tattavī, Toḥfat al-kerām, Urdu tr., Karachi, 1959, pp. 171-77, 442-44.
Muhammad Ishaq, India’s Contribution to the Study of Hadith Literature, Dacca, 1955, pp. 234-35.
(Hameed ud-Din)
Originally Published: December 15, 1982
Last Updated: July 15, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 217
Hameed ud-Din, “ABHARĪ, MAḴDŪM,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 217; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abhari-makdum-16th-century-traditionist (accessed on 25 January 2014).
