Contribution of Qazi Family of Matiari in Sindhi Literature

Abstract

The literary and educational history of Matiari could not be completed without the mention of certain scholars of the Qazi family of Matiari. We find a fair contribution of some scholars belong to the Qazi family of Matiari in the fields of education, literature, and Kazza during the Twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries of Hijra calendar. There were prominent personalities in this family who had a great impact on the literature and education of Sindh. The first Sindhi prose writer of Indo-Pak subcontinent, in fact of South Asia, Akhund Azizullah Matiarivi was among renowned personalities of this city, he was the first person to translate the Holy Quran into Sindhi prose. Mukhdoom Mohammad Osman Matiarivi and his son Mukhdoom Abdul Kareem Matiarivi, who is considered to be the last traditionalist (Muhadis) of Sindh also hailed here. Apart from that, there was Qazi Mian Lal Mohammad Matalvi, who was the greatest scholar of Islamic Law, who was consulted for shaira and inheritance problems not only from Sindh but other parts of the subcontinent as well, there are some 2000 manuscripts (handwritten) of religious opinions (Fatwa) in his library. Among the scholars of Matiari, Qazi Hiddayatullah Mushtaq Matiari is also one of them. His poetry is full of astonishing and mind-blowing resemblances and references. He was well known among eminent scholars and without mention such scholars our Sindhi literature would remain incomplete.