Islamic scholar Maulana Ghulam Vastanvi passes away at 75

Indian Express

05-05-2025

Renowned maulana Ghulam Vastanvi, a native of Surat district, passed away due to a progloned illness at his home in Maharashtra Sunday afternoon. He was 75.
Sharing more details, maulana's son, Mufti Uzaifa Vastanvi (45) said: ' My father was a diabetic patient for the last 10 years. For the last three years, he had been undergoing kidney dialysis. He had suffered an injury followed by an infection as a result of which he was not keeping well for the last two months'.
'He received medical treatment in multiple hospitals in Maharashtra. For the last two days, his body was not responding to medicines, following which he was brought to Akkalkuwa (Nandurbar district), where he breathed his last on Sunday afternoon,' said Mufti Uzaifa.
Mufti Uzaifa, who is presently pursuing his PhD on an Urdu subject said, 'My father had set up an empire to impart education to Muslim people'.
Meanwhile, the cleric's funeral procession was attended by hundreds of people at his home in Akkalkuwa town in Maharashtra's Nandurbar district Monday. The social media platforms were also flooded with condolence messages from different parts of the country and abroad.
Maulana Vastanvi, a cleric from the remote Kosadi village in Surat district, had set up an institution, Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom, imparting education covering engineering sector, medical and paramedical courses. The students were taught in English and Urdu medium. Apart from providing education from Class 1 to 12, the institution also offered diplomas, bachelors and masters courses. Presently, over 15000 students are studying in the educational institution set up by Vastanvi.
The cleric also served as a vice chancellor in Darul Uloom Deoband, one of the highest Islamic seminaries in India, in 2011. He had to resign amid an uproar by the board members over his statements praising the then Gujarat chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Apart from this, he also had started an MBBS college at Jalna in Aurangabad.
Maulana Vastanvi is survived by three sons and six daughters. All the daughters are married. His eldest son, Mohammed Saeed Vastanvi had died five years ago. His other two sons, Mufti Uzaifa and Mufti Uvesh Vastanvi, look after his empire. 'Today, a large number of people not only from Gujarat and Maharashtra, but also from different parts of the country like UP, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, etc. attended my father's funeral procession. There were over 50,000 people present. I prayed namaz-e-janaza (final prayer for the deceased) for my father. He was active in India and had also received great recognition in Saudi Arabia, where he was engaged in charity and educational work,' said Mufti Uzaifa.