Shibli Nomani (4 June 1857 – 18 November 1914) was an Indian Islamic scholar, poet, philosopher, historian, educational thinker, author, orator, reformer and critic of orientalists during the British Raj.

[5] As a supporter of the Deobandi school, he believed that English language and European sciences should be incorporated into the education system.

Nomani was born on 4 June 1857 in Bindwal near Azamgarh into a Muslim Rajput family, his ancestor Sheoraj Singh being a Bais who accepted Islam many generations ago,[8] to Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon.

[13] He taught Persian and Arabic languages at Aligarh for sixteen years, where he met Thomas Arnold and other British scholars from whom he learned first-hand modern Western ideas and thoughts.

He travelled with Thomas Arnold in 1892 to the Ottoman Empire including Syria, Turkey and Egypt and other locations in the Middle East and got direct and practical experience of their societies.

[16] After the death of Sir Syed Ahmed in 1898, he left Aligarh University and became an advisor in the Education Department of Hyderabad State.

In 1905, he left Hyderabad and went to Lucknow as principal and driving force of the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, a madrasa founded by the Nadwat tul-'Ulum.

He stayed at the school for five years, but the orthodox class of scholars became hostile towards him, and he had to leave Lucknow to settle in the area around his hometown, Azamgarh in 1913.

However, Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslims from the wrath of the British rulers after their active participation in the War of Independence of 1857, called the "Sepoy Mutiny" of 1857 by the British colonialist rulers, whereas Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition.

In another book, 'Ataturk Fi Karbala by Arif ul Islam', the author alleged that Shibli was not happy with Sir Syed's policies and ideologies and was involved vehemently against Aligarh movement.

[22] Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, the poet, author, critic and literary theorist argued that Shibli's work has been unjustly dealt with:[23][verification needed] While Maulana Aslam Jairajpuri pointed out errors in Sher-ul-Ajam, it was not mentioned that Shibli was the first to write a biography of Maulana Rumi.

Sir Syed lamented that Shibli's Persian poetry was never tested on its merit and was wrongly associated with his acquaintance with an enlightened intellectual lady of the time, Madam Atiya Fyzee.Faruqi refuted S. M. Ikram's claim in this regard and subtly highlighted the delicacy of Shibli's thought moulded into his Persian poetry.

"Ultimately, the Nadwa gave up its notions of uniting occidental and oriental knowledge and concentrated on Islamic scholarship, and on the dissemination of biographical and historical writing in Urdu.