Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri محمد طاہر القادری
File:1399866556fec2c-big-1 Tahir ul Qadri after an episode of Mcdonalds
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
Website	www.tahir-ul-qadri.com

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (Template:Lang-ur) (born 19 February 1951) is a Pakistani politician, former law professor and 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.

Early years

Qadri learned from a number of classical authorities in Islamic sciences, including Abu al-Barakat Ahmad al-Qadri al-Alwari.

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) in 1986 from the same university. 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, promote economic stability, and improve the state of human rights, justice, and women's roles in Pakistan. The PAT also aims to remove corruption from Pakistani politics. Its official website contains its formal manifesto. In 1990, Qadri 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."

Pakistan's blasphemy law

Qadri apparently made contradictory statements regarding his role in the making of Pakistan's blasphemy Law. In an Urdu-language speech he said: "I would like to lift the veil that this blasphemy law ... it was I who had this law made, that no matter who commits blasphemy, whether Muslim or Non-Muslim, man or woman, Christian or Jew, whoever commits blasphemy should be killed like a dog!" Yet in another video he says: "Whatever the Law of blasphemy is, is not applicable on non Muslims, is not applicable on Jews, Christians, and any other non-Muslims. I was never a part of shaping this law in the parliament made by Zia-ul-Haq.". After the disclosure of this apparent contradiction in the Danish Media, the Integration and social affairs minister, Karen Hækkerup, pulled out of a conference on religious radicalism after she discovered that Qadri helped to fashion Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law. She said she would not share a stage with a controversial Muslim scholar who helped to create that 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 about 15,000 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. Although Qadri called for a "million-men" march, the estimated total present for the sit-in in Islamabad was 25,000 according to the government.

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

File:Tahir-ul-Qadri at Peace for Humanity Conference 2011.jpg

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.

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