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.
Source/Credit: The Economic Times
By Tufail Ahmad | January 20, 2012
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."
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.
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.
There is a critical distinction about Pakistani clerics' fatwas against suicide bombings, unnoticed by the international media. In recent years, several Pakistani clerics have issued fatwas against suicide bombings "in Pakistan", but they failed to condemn such attacks in Afghanistan. Before Qadri's fatwa was issued, his own website published a report saying that he considers suicide attacks and bomb blasts "in a Muslim country" as anti-Islamic.
He is also careful not to condemn nationalist militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad. On a visit to Vadodara last year, Indian reporters sought Qadri's stance on terrorist attacks in India. He declined to speak about Pakistani terror groups, though he condemned terrorism in general, saying: "I will not comment on matters between India and Pakistan. I condemn terrorism in general, whether it be in any country, any religion."
He also extended a hand of friendship to the Pakistani Taliban, describing them as "sons of the soil". It should also be noted that the Barelvi school to which Qadri adheres is no less intolerant than the Taliban.
Wrong Time, Wrong Place
Though he once got elected as a lawmaker, Qadri has failed politically. The Pakistan Awami Tehreek, the party he founded in May 1989, has not grown. In calling for the overthrow of the elected Asif Zardari government, which is the first government in Pakistan's history set to complete its full term in eight weeks' time, he misjudged today's Pakistan.
Tahirul Qadri: A preacher who is no politician, and shouldn’t be
His demands for the immediate dissolution of the government did not find popular support, especially as he appeared to be courting the support of Pakistani military and judiciary, both of which are disliked for dislodging elected governments in the past. His attempt to lay siege on Islamabad fizzled out on January 17, with his face-saving compromise with the government.
Ahead of the US exit from Afghanistan by 2014, the Taliban and other groups in the region see an opportunity. Qadri too sensed a political opportunity, especially inspired by the recent success of Islamists in Egypt. Before his march to Islamabad, when politicians met him for reconciliation, he asked them to call him "doctor" as he holds a PhD, not maulana, a title for clerics.
Qadri may fancy himself as a modern politician, yet religion is his calling, not democratic politics. To be fair to him, for a religious leader whom Pakistani masses were beginning to forget, his is indeed a spectacular return to his motherland.
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Tufail Ahmad is director of South Asia Studies. Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington, DC
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