Tahirul Qadri: A preacher who is no politician, and shouldn’t be

By Tufail Ahmad


Pakistani religious scholar Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, who returned last month from a five-year self-exile to launch an anti-government march on Islamabad, has a record of using people’s religious vulnerabilities to advance his personal aura. In a black-and-white video whose date is difficult to ascertain, he is shown addressing a gathering of clerics and devout followers. Throughout the video, Qadri weeps as he explains a dream in which Prophet Muhammad visited him in Pakistan and requested him to be his host since the Pakistani religious groups which had invited him failed to welcome him.

As he repeatedly wipes his tears and the audience sobs, Qadri says that the prophet told him: “Promise me one thing. You will have to arrange my stay. You will be responsible for my food and drink. You will be responsible for my [bus and train] ticket... And when I have to return to Medina, then too only you will buy me a ticket....” Qadri also says that the prophet urged him to establish his religious organisation Minhaj-ul-Quran.

Forked Tongue

Qadri was born on February 19, 1951, in the Pakistani town of Jhang. Unlike other Pakistani clerics, his excellent command over spoken English has helped him gain acceptance in the West. His organisation, Minhaj-ul-Quran, is active in more than a dozen countries. His followers number in millions in Pakistan and India. He is a leading pioneer of the Barelvi school of Sunni Islam.

Qadri alters interpretations of Islam as it suits him. Addressing Western audiences, he is on record for arguing that Islam’s blasphemy laws do not apply to non-Muslims, but he is also on record for supporting the killing of Jews, Christians and Hindus for blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.

In English, he tells a Western audience: “Whatever the law of blasphemy is, [it] is not applicable to non-Muslims; is not applicable to Jews and Christians and other non-Muslims, minorities. It is just to be dealt with Muslims.” However, in Urdu, he tells his followers: “...whoever be guilty of blaspheming the prophet, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, man or woman; whether he be Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu or any other, the punishment... is death.”

A Pakistani journalist was so concerned about his use of facts that he asked him how much truth he uses in his life. “Thanks to Allah,” Qadri responded, “I speak 100% truth.”

Janus-faced

Qadri’s so-called million-man march to Islamabad from January 14 and his threat to bring down the elected parliament resulted from his self-confidence boosted by his growing reputation as a “moderate” Islamic cleric. He gained acceptance in the West after he issued a 600-page fatwa on terrorism and suicide bombings 2010. In interviews, he has condemned terrorism both in Islamic and non-Islamic countries. He told Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that Islam denounces suicide attacks.