A man of manifold and
staggering achievements, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri is the
founding leader of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an International (MQI), an organization with
branches and centres in more than 90 countries around the globe, working for the
promotion of peace and harmony between communities and the revival of spiritual
endeavour based on the true teachings of Islam. Shaykh-ul-Islam is a scholar of
extraordinary proportions and an intellectual leader for all seasons. He is a
living model of profound classical knowledge, intellectual enlightenment,
practical wisdom, pure spirituality, love, harmony and humanism. He is well
known for his ardent endeavour to strengthen bonds among people, by bringing
them together through tolerance, dialogue, integration and education. He
successfully bridges the past with his image of the future and finds convincing
solutions for contemporary problems. He has been teaching Hadith, Tafsir, Fiqh,
Theology, Sufism, Seerah, Islamic philosophy and many other rational and
traditional sciences to thousands of people, including Ulema, scholars, Shuyukh,
students, intellectuals and academics in the east and the west.
Shaykh-ul-Islam was born on February 19, 1951 in the historical city of Jhang,
Pakistan, and is the son of the great spiritualist and intellectual of his time
ash-Shaykh Dr Farida’d-Din al-Qadri. He was educated from the young age in both
the Islamic and secular sciences simultaneously. Although he had already started
his religious education under his father two years earlier, his formal classical
education was initiated in Madina at the age of 12, in Madrasa al-‘Ulum
ash-Shar‘iyya, which was situated in the blessed house of Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub
al-Ansari, the first residence of the Holy Prophet (blessings and peace be upon
him) after his migration. By the time he had received a First Class Honours
Degree from the University of the Punjab in 1970, he had also completed his
Classical Islamic Studies, having spent over ten years under the tutelage of his
father and other eminent Shuyukh of his time and achieving an unparalleled
understanding of the classical shari‘a sciences and Arabic language. He earned
his MA in Islamic Studies in 1972 with the University of the Punjab Gold Medal,
achieved his LLB in 1974 and began to practise as a lawyer in the district
courts of Jhang. He moved to Lahore in 1978 and joined the University of the
Punjab as a lecturer in law and then gained his PhD in Islamic Law. He was also
a member of the Syndicate, Senate and Academic Council of the University of the
Punjab, which are the highest executive, administrative and academic bodies of
the University.
In a short span of time, he emerged as the country’s leading Islamic jurist and
scholar and revivalist of the Islamic ideology. He was appointed as a Jurist
Consult (legal adviser) on Islamic law for the Supreme Court and the Federal
Shari‘a Court of Pakistan and also worked as a specialist adviser on Islamic
curricula for the Federal Ministry of Education of Pakistan at various times
between 1983 and 1987. In the 1980s, a number of historical judgments in the
legal and constitutional history of Pakistan were passed by the Federal Shariʻa
Court and the Appellate Shariʻa Bench, Supreme Court of Pakistan as a result of
Shaykh-ul-Islam’s juristic arguments, documented in the Pakistan Legal Decisions
(PLDs) and Pakistan Legal Judgments (PLJs).
He is also a former Professor of Islamic Law at the University of the Punjab,
Lahore, Pakistan, and the youngest person ever to have been awarded a
professorship in the history of the University. Shaykh-ul-Islam has also
previously held the position of the Head of the Department for LLM in Islamic
Legislation.
Shaykh-ul-Islam founded Minhaj-ul-Qur’an in 1981 and established its
headquarters in Lahore. In less than 30 years, Minhaj-ul-Qur’an has expanded and
spread over more than 90 countries around the world; and in terms of its
comprehensive and all-encompassing sphere of activities, educational, social,
cultural and spiritual, Minhaj-ul-Qur’an is probably one of the largest
non-governmental organizations in the world.
Shaykh-ul-Islam is founder and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Minhaj
University Lahore which is chartered by Government and is imparting higher
education to thousands of students in the faculties of basic, modern, social,
management and religious sciences. He is the founder of Minhaj Education Society
which has established more than 570 schools and colleges in Pakistan. He is also
the founding Chairman of Minhaj Welfare Foundation, a humanitarian and social
welfare organization working globally. He is the founding leader of different
forums of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an including Minhaj-ul-Qur’an Ullama Council,
Minhaj-ul-Qur’an Women League, Minhaj Youth League, Mustafavi Students Movements
and Muslim Christian Dialogue Forum.