Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri محمد طاہر القادری
Founder Minhaj-ul-Quran International
Incumbent
Assumed office October 1981
Personal details
Born	Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadrii (1951-02-19) 19 February 1951 Jhang, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani, Canadian
Alma mater	University of the Punjab
Occupation	scholar, politician
Religion	Islam
Website	www.tahir-ul-qadri.com

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (Urdu: محمد طاہر القادری‎) (born 19 February 1951) is a Pakistani politician, former law professor and a Sufi Islamic scholar. He was a former professor of international constitutional law at the University of the Punjab. Qadri is also the founding chairman of Minhaj-ul-Quran International.

Personal life

Background

Qadri was born on 19 February 1951 in Jhang. His father Farid-ud-Din Qadri was an Islamic scholar and his ancestors belonged to the Punjabi Sial family.^{[citation needed]} Qadri's primary education took place at the Sacred Heart School in Jhang, where he learned English and was exposed to Christianity. He formally started his Islamic education under Diya' al-Din al-Madani at the age of 12.^{[citation needed]}

Qadri has also learnt from a number of other classical authorities in Islamic sciences, including Abu al-Barakat Ahmad al-Qadri al-Alwari, Tahir Allauddin al-Qadri al-Gilani and Ahmad Saeed Kazmi

Qadri studied law at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, where he graduated with an LLB in 1974, gaining a Gold Medal for his academic performances. Following a period of legal practice as an advocate, he taught law at the University of the Punjab from 1978 to 1983 and then gained his PhD in Islamic Law (Punishments in Islam, their Classification and Philosophy) from the same university in 1986 where his supervisors were Bashir Ahmad Siddiqui (‘Ulum al-Islamiyya) and Javaid Iqbal. He was appointed as a professor of law at the University of Punjab, where he taught British, US and Islamic constitutional law.

Political career

On 25 May 1989, Qadri founded a political party: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). This party aims to introduce the culture of democracy, economic stability, improve the state of human rights, justice and the women's role in Pakistan. The PAT also aims to remove corruption from Pakistani politics. Its official website contains its formal manifesto. In 1990, he participated in the national election. In 1991, PAT and TNFJ (Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafria A shia political group ) now known as Tehreek-e-Jafria introduced the idea of political working relationship. From 1989 to 1993, Qadri continuously worked as an opposition leader.

He was also elected as a Member of the National Assembly for his constituency. On 29 November 2004, Qadri announced his resignation as a Member of the National Assembly. Qadri views an Islamic state as a Muslim-majority country which respects freedom, the rule of law, global human rights (including religious freedom), social welfare, women's rights and the rights of minorities. He also claims that the Constitution of Medina "declared the state of Madinah as a political unit". He also mentions that the Constitution declared the "indivisible composition of the Muslim nation (Ummah)". With respect to the Constitution of Medina, Qadri says: "This was the constitution, which provided the guarantee of fundamental human rights in our history." He believes that "a constitution is a man-made law and by no means it can be declared superior to a God-made law."

Long March

Main article: Long March (Pakistan)

In December 2012, after living for seven years in Toronto, Canada, Qadri returned to Pakistan and initiated a political campaign which called for a "democratic revolution" through electoral reforms. Qadri called for a "million-men" march in Islamabad to protest against the government's corruption. On 14 January 2013, crowds marched down the city's main avenue. Thousands of people pledged to sit-in until their demands were met. When he started the long march from Lahore 10,000 people were with him. He told the rally in front of parliament: "There is no Parliament; there is a group of looters, thieves and dacoits [bandits] ... Our lawmakers are the lawbreakers." After four days of sit-in, the Government and Qadri signed an agreement called the Islamabad Long March Declaration, which promises electoral reforms and increased political transparency.

Critics have charged that the protests were a ploy by the Pakistan Armed Forces to delay elections and weaken the influence of the civilian government, citing Qadri's close ties to the military, dual nationality and foreign sources of funding. Lawyers for the Supreme Court of Pakistan claimed that Qadri's demands are unfeasible because they conflict with the Constitution of Pakistan. The Tribune reported on 17 February 2013, that Qadri seemed to have capitulated on most of his demands in the Islamabad Long March Declaration.

Founding of Minhaj-ul-Quran

Main article: Minhaj-ul-Quran International

Qadri at the Peace for Humanity Conference, 24 September 2011

Qadri founded a Sufism-based organisation, Minhaj-ul-Quran International, in October 1981 and has subsequently expanded it nationally and internationally. In 1987, the headquarters of Minhaj-ul-Quran, based in Lahore, Pakistan, was inaugurated by Sufi saint Tahir Allauddin, who is regarded as the organisation's spiritual founder. The organisation aims to promote religious moderation, effective and sound education, inter-faith dialogue and harmony, and a moderate interpretation of Islam employing methods of Sufism. Over the past thirty years, the organisation has reportedly expanded to over ninety countries. During its March 2011 session, the United Nations Economic and Social Council granted special consultative status to Minhaj-ul-Quran International. Qadri also founded the Minhaj University in Lahore, of which he heads the Board of Governors, as well as an international relief charity, Minhaj Welfare Foundation.

Noteworthy events

In 2006, Qadri attended the Muslims of Europe Conference in Istanbul, Turkey to discuss identity, citizenship, challenges and opportunities for European Muslims. Also in 2006, he attended several gatherings around the world in which he delivered his lectures on the topic of "Islam on Peace, Integration and Human Rights".

On 2 March 2010, Qadri issued a 600-page Fatwa on Terrorism, which is an "absolute" scholarly refutation of all terrorism without "any excuses or pretexts." He said that "Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it"

Qadri at a news conference in London explaining the Fatwa on Terrorism.

The fatwa gained widespread media attention and he appeared on various international media outlets. On Frost Over The World he told David Frost that the "he wanted to take Islam back from the terrorists". The US State Department declared the fatwa to be a significant publication which takes back Islam from terrorists. Qadri told the American Foreign Policy magazine: "I am trying to bring [the terrorists] back towards humanism. This is a jihad against brutality, to bring them back towards normality. This is an intellectual jihad."

In August 2010 Qadri held an anti-terrorism camp for Muslim youth at the University of Warwick with the aim of tackling extremism in the UK. He organised the camp under the auspices of Minhaj-ul-Quran UK.

He has been invited to deliver his lectures by several organisations. For example, Qadri spoke at the World Economic Forum in January 2011 alongside Imran Khan.

In July 2011, he gave a lecture on the issues of terrorism and integration at the Parliament of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia where he was invited by the member of the NSW Legislative Council, Shaoquett Moselmane MLC. Qadri also made appearances on Australian media, where he discussed Islam, terrorism and possible troop withdrawals from Afghanistan. On 24 September 2011, Minhaj-ul-Quran convened the "Peace for Humanity Conference" at Wembley Arena in London where Tahir-ul-Qadri and the assembled speakers issued a declaration of peace on behalf of religious representatives of several faiths, scholars, politicians, and 12,000 participants present from various countries. This conference was endorsed by, or received supportive messages from, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, Ban Ki-Moon (Secretary General of the United Nations), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), David Cameron (British Prime Minister), Nick Clegg (British Deputy Prime Minister), Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury) and others. On 30 November 2011, Qadri delivered a lecture at the "Peaceful Future of Afghanistan" conference in Istanbul, Turkey which was organised by the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution of George Mason University together with Marmara University and was attended by more than 120 Afghan leaders.

On 22 February 2012, Qadri visited Delhi for a four-week tour of India. Qadri delivered a message of peace and said: "Terrorism has no place in Islam", while addressing the fatwa book launch in Delhi. People gathered to listen to Qadri along with government officials in Gujarat. Qadri also urged the Pakistani and Indian governments to reduce their defence expenditures and instead spend money on the welfare of poor people. He also visited Ajmer, where he was given a large reception, at which he gave a lecture on Sufism.

Publications

He has authored many published works in Arabic, English and Urdu, including:

• “Tafsir Sura al-Fatiha” (a seven-volume commentary on Sura al-Fatiha which is the largest available publication on this subject).
• “Tafsir Minhaj al-Quran” (al-Futuhat al-Madaniyya - 14 volumes).
• “Jami‘ al-Sunna fi ma Yahtaju ilayhi Akhir al-Umma” (A comprehensive compilation of 25,000 hadith totalling 20 volumes).
• “Minhaj al-Sawi min al-hadith al-nabawi’” ((A hadith collection of 2,200 hadith compiled on the pattern and style of Imam Nawawi’s Riyad al-salihin and al-Khatib al-Tabrizi’s Mishkat al-Masabih relevant to the modern age). al-Minhaj al-Sawi was published with compliments and tributes of Shaykh al-Azhar al-Sayyid Dr Muhammad ?antawi, a renowned Muhaddith of Egypt, al-Shaykh Dr Ahmad ‘Umar Hashim (Ex-Vice Chancellor of Jami‘a al-Azhar, Cairo), and Grand Mufti of Egypt al-Shaykh Dr ‘Ali Jumu‘a and others.).
• “Al-‘Ata fi Ma‘rifa al-Mustafa’” (a four-volume collection of 5,000 hadith on the subjects of the excellence, habits, morals, specialties and miracles of Muhammad on the pattern and style of al-Shifa’ of Qadi ‘Iyad).
• “Hidaya al-Umma ‘ala Minhaj al-Quran wa al-sunna” (a two-volume collection of 2,200 hadith).
• “Al-Najaba fi Manaqib al-Sahaba wa al-Qaraba” (virtues of the Companions and the Family of Muhammad).

In English

• Righteous Character & Social Interactions: Minhaj us Sawi (2012)
• Prophetic Virtues and Miracles: Minhaj us Sawi (2012)
• The Glorious Qur'an English Translation (2011)
• Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings (2010)
• Irfan ul Quran (Modern and Scientific English translation of the Quran) renamed to The Glorious Qur'an
• Beseeching for Help
• Peace, Integration and Human Rights
• Ijtihad (meanings, application and scope)

See also

• Minhaj-ul-Quran International
• Qadiriyya Sufi Order
• Minhaj us Sawi
• The Amman Message
• Contemporary Islamic philosophy
• London Declaration for Global Peace and Resistance against Extremism 2011

References

Sufism and Tariqa
Ideas Abdal Baqaa Dervish Dhawq Fakir Fanaa Haal Keramat Haqiqa Ihsan Irfan Kashf Lataif Manzil Marifa Nafs Noor Qalandar Qutb Silsila Sufi cosmology Sufi metaphysics Sufi philosophy Sufi poetry Sufi psychology Sulook Tazkiah Wali Yaqeen
Practices Anasheed Dhikr Haḍra Muraqaba Qawwali Sama Whirling Ziyarat
Sufi orders Akbarī Alevī Alians Ashrafia Azeemia Ba 'Alawī Bayramī Bektashī Chishtī Galibī Gulshanī Ḥurūfī Idrīsī Jelvetī Jerrahī Khalidī Khalwatī Kubrāwī Madarī Malāmatī Mawlāwī Mourīdī Noorbakshia Naqshbandī Naqshbandi Uwaisī Nasuhī Ni'matullāhī Nuqtawī Qadirī Qalāndārī Rifa'ī Safāvī Shadhilī Shattārī Suhrawardī Sunbulī Tijanī Ussakī Uwaisī Zahedī
Notable early Sufis Abdūl-Khāliq Ghujdawanī Zarruq Abdullah Ansari Abdūl-Qādir Gilanī Abūl-Khāyr ad-Dağhestānī Afaq Khoja Ahmad Ghazālī Ahmed Yasavī al-Badawi Al-Ghazālī Al-Hallaj Amīr Kulal Ali-Shir Nava'i Fozail al-Khārāqānī Al-Qāsim al-Qayṣarī al-Qunawī Ardabilī Ata Allah Attar Balım Sultan Baba Fakruddin Baha ūd-Dīn Naqshband Bande Nawāz Baqī Billah Bayazid Bastamī Bhita'ī Bulleh Shah Dehlāvī El-Desoukî Erbili Erzurumī Farīd ūd-Dīn Fuzûlî Gālib Gharīb Nawāz Ghulam Farīd Gül Baba Hajji Bayram Hajji Bektash Hāfez-e Shīrāzī Halidī Bağdādī Haddad Hamadānī Hansvī Harabatī Baba Harooni Hujwirī ibn Adham ibn ʿArabī Iraqi Jābir ibn Hayyān Ja'far al-Sadiq Jahangasht Jamī Jan-e-Jānāān Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani Mir Sham ud-Din Iraqi Karkhī Magtymguly Pyragy Jazoulī Jilī Junayd Baġdādī Kākī Kaliyarī Omar Khayyam Khusrow Kubrā Mahmud Hüdayī Nāimī Najib al-Suhrawardī Nasir Khusraw Nasīmī Nasreddin Hoca Nathar Vali Ni'matullāh Wali Nizām ūd-Dīn Nurī Nursī Otman Baba Pir Sultan Qutb ūd-Dīn Haydār Qutb ūd-Dīn Shīrāzī Rabbānī Rabia Basri Razī Rifa'ī Rukn-e-Alam Rūmī Saadī Salman al-Farisī Sanai Noorbaksh Sarı Saltuk Sheik Edebali Semnanī Silistrevī Shadhilī Shah Waliullah Shahāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī Shams Tabrizī Shiblī Sultan Walad Surkh Bukharī Taj al-Dīn Gilanī Umar al-Suhrawardī Sahl al-Tustari Yunus Emre Zakariya Zū'l-Nūn al-Misrī
Notable modern Sufis Baba Rexheb Abdal Hakīm Murad Abdalqadir as-Sufi Ahmet Kayhan Dede Abdullah Naqshbandi Ahmad al-Alawi al-Shaghouri Ashfaq Ahmed Qalandar Baba Auliya Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Feisal Abdul Rauf Fethullah Gülen Gohar Shahi Galip Hassan Kuscuoglu Ghulam Mustafa Hafiz Qamaruddin Hisham Kabbani Mai Safoora Meher Ali Muhammad Madani Miya Ashrafi al-Jilani Muhammad Malikī Nazīm Al-Haqqanī Peer-e-Noorbakshia Syed Waheed Ashraf Nuh Keller Nooruddeen Durkee Omar Shah Osman Nuri Topbaş Pir Zulfiqar Qadeer Piya Raza Khan Reshad Feild Saheb Qibla Fultali Said Afandi al-Chirkawi Shahab Sufi Barkat Ali Syed Shujaat Tahir ul-Qadrī Tahir Allauddin Tajuddin Babaī Waris Ali Shah Wasif Zaheen
Topics in Sufism Tawhid Shariah Haqiqah Art History Music Poetry Shrines Texts
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