Allamah Rasheed Turabi was a prominent and distinguished Pakistani scholar, religious leader, public speaker, poet and philosopher. He was born on 9th Jamadi-us-Sani 1326 / July 09, 1908 in Hyderabad, India.

He was the eldest son of Maulvi Sharaf Hussain Khan, a religious, pious, and a noble person from Hyderabad. He got his basic Islamic education from his father who taught him till the age of 5. He did matriculation from Hyderabad, intermediate-high school from Shia College Lucknow, BA from Osmania University (Hyderabad, India), and MA in Philosophy from Allahbad University, India. He got his basic and advanced religious studies from Syed Abubakr ibn Shahab-e-Urezi (descendent of Imam Jafar Sadiq (A.S.), Sadr-ul-Ulama Maulvi Syed Ghulam Hussain, Maulana Abbas Ali Sharif and Maulana Syed Sibte Hasan. He learned Urdu and Persian literature from Agha Mohsin Sheerazi, Ali Hyder Nazm Tabatabai, Allamah Zamin Kanturi, Agha Dai'yal Islam, and Agha Mohammed Kirmani. He learned Arabic language from Agha Tahir bin Mohammed, and Maulana Sadiq Hussain Majjan. His mentors in Urdu and Persian poetry were Agha Syed Hasan Isfahani, Allamah Zamin Kanturi, and Nawab Haider Yarjang Tabatabai. On the political side, he started his political career as a member of the working committee of Hyderabad Legislative Assembly and worked with Nawab Bahadur Yarjang. Later on, he was nominated by the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, as a member of the working committee of All India Muslim League, where he was involved in the organization of Muslim League and established its branches all over the South Asia. Simultaneously he had a responsibility to supervise the publication of newspapers and magazines of almost 600 states in then undivided India. He remained a member of the Hyderabad Assembly till 1942 and was associated with All India Muslim League till the independence of Pakistan. After independence he migrated to Pakistan in 1949, left active politics, and devoted himself only to religious erudition.

Allamah Rasheed Turabi had a remarkable accomplishment of having Ijazah of Riwayah and Narration from almost all of his contemporary Mashayekh mainly from Iran and Iraq, notably Ayatullah Sheikh Mohammed Mohsin al-Tehrani, Ayatullah Mohsin al-Hakim Tabatabai, Ayatullah Syed Hibbatuddin Shahristani, Ayatullah Syed Hadi al-Meelani, Ayatullah Syed Ibrahim al-Isfahani, Ayatullah Syed Shahabuddin Marashi Hussain Najafi, Aqaey AbulQasim Khoi, Allama Ayotullah Brojardi, and Ayatullah Syed Kazim Shariatmadari. He was superbly knowledgeable and gifted in many areas of Islamic sciences such as Tafseer, Hadith, Usool, and Fiqh. He was highly educated, who never claimed himself as jurist per se, and always kept himself advanced with contemporary research, comparative religious theories, and modern sciences. Thus he was able to present the teachings of Islam in the light of contemporary political, economic, and intellectual thought.

He was a literary authority on Arabic, Persian, and Urdu poetry. He literally memorized thousands and thousands of poetic lines, stanzas, verse paragraphs, and contos of different masters. He had a profound affection and respect for Allamah Sir Mohammed Iqbal, Mir Anees, Mirza Dabeer, Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafiz Shirazi, Sheikh Sa'adi Shirazi, Fariduddin Attar, Shamsuddin Tabrezi, Sa'eb Tabrezi, Ali Haider Tabatabai, and Yagana Changezi. A good evidence of his command can be seen in his speeches and writings. He delivered more than 5,000 religious lectures and speeches over the period of 57 years that he spent out of his 65 years of total physical life in the service of Ahlul Bayt(as).

Allamah Rasheed Turabi introduced many dimensions to the Art of Oratory. The most sought after Urdu public speaker of his times, he was indeed a persuasive and brilliant orator. He was the first person who delivered religious speeches for 10 days or more on selected topics. His speeches embodied a heady mix of superior intellect, sublime oratory, unfaltering memory, and diversified and vast knowledge of Tafseer, Hadith, Usool, Fiqh, literature, philosophy etc. He had been viewed as "stunning" in his range of scholarship, reported to be crystal clear and meticulous on challenging and versatile subject matters. Allamah's explanations on the verses of the Quran and its commentaries, sayings of Muhammad and his Ahlul Bayt were extremely convincing and forceful. Further to his magnum opus, he was a true genius in Ilm ar-Rijal (the study on the authenticity of the chain of narrators of a Hadith). During his life, he got numerous recognition from great shi'ite scholars of Rijal, who had unanimously considered him as "Wizard in Ilm-ul Rijal". Allamah did not get enough time during his lifetime to publish his master work on Ilm-ul-Rijal which he had already named in his life as "Wasl-e-Qawl". Allamah Rasheed Turabi was a refined poet appreciated by the stalwarts of his time. His book ‘Tib e Masoomeen’ is a valuable composition embodying a rich choice of antidotes from the Masoomeen(as) (the 14 infallibles as per the shia belief). His another composition is ‘The forests of Hyderabad’ that was published in two volumes. Rasheed Turabi also wrote a famous poem ‘Jawab e Shikwa’ as a sequel to Allam Iqbal’s ‘Shikwa’, which actually stirred Allamah Iqbal to write his own ‘Jawab e Shikwa’. His another renowned work was the idiomatic translation of Hazrat Ali’s famous letter of instructions addressed to the then Governor of Egypt, Malik Ashtar. This letter from Hazrat Ali(as) is a guiding light in just and fair governance and has been regarded by eminent Muslim scholars –like Ibn-i-Abil Hidaid (655 A.H), Ibn-iAbduh, and Allama Mustafa Bek Najib as a basic guide in Islamic administration.

Allamah Rasheed Turabi had a spiritual charisma and a mesmeric personality. In his majalis and speeches, people used to come from all over the country and the region to listen to his reasoning, insight, and spiritual enlightenment. Allamah Rasheed Turabi had received the title of Allamah (The Most Intellectual) from the living Shi'ite scholars of his time who unanimously acknowledged his wisdom and application methods. Like a bee winging from flower to flower, Rasheed Turabi as a speaker could be seen purveying diverse disciplines of knowledge with the sole aim to coordinate them through his articulacy. From Categorical Imperative to Logical Positivism in Ethics, from Cosmogony to Phenomenology, from Psychology to Religion, and from Divine Scriptures to General semantics, all were his realms that he would scan with an effortless ease with his eyes riveted on Ontology. And when he would talk of Karbala with might and feeling he would easily send a tingle down many a spine.

Allamah Rasheed Turabi had a legendary life. In his 65-year of lifetime, as mentioned above, he delivered more than 5,000 religious speeches, created poetic work of exquisite character, and wrote many books and articles. He was proud of his library that contained thousands of books and hundreds of rare manuscripts. His library was one of the famous religious libraries in Pakistan.

His brother, Dr. Mazhar Ali Khan, was a renowned professor of English and the Vice Chancellor of Peshawar University. Among Allama Rasheed Turabi’s fourteen children, his son Allama Aqeel Turabi was an eminent scholar, Dr. Salman Turabi and his daughters Dr. Batool Turabi and Majida Turabi are religious scholars and speakers of fame and his son Naseer Turabi is a well known Urdu poet.

Allamah Rasheed Turabi died on 22 Ziqada 1393 / December 18, 1973.