Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat ( ur, مجلسِ تحفظِ ختمِ نبوت, translation="The Assembly to Protect the End of Prophethood") is the programmatic name of a Pakistani Barelvi organization and Islamic religious movement in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

aiming to protect the belief in the finality of

prophethood In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the su ...

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

based on their concept of

Khatam an-Nabiyyin Seal of the Prophets ( ar, خاتم النبيين, translit=khātam an-nabīyīn or khātim an-nabīyīn; or ar, خاتم الأنبياء, translit=khātam al-anbiyā’ or khātim al-anbiyā), is a title used in the Qur'an and by Muslims ...

. It was founded by

Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi Akhundzada Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi ( ur, اخوندزادہ محمد عبدالغفور ہزاروی چشتی) (1 January 1909 – 9 October 1970) was a Muslim theologian, jurist, and scholar of ahadith in Pakistan (''South Asia' ...

in 1950 with

Zafar Ali Khan Zafar Ali Khan (1874– 27 November 1956) ( pnb, – ), also known as Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, was a Pakistani writer, poet, translator and a journalist who played an important role in the Pakistan Movement against the British Raj. He is genera ...

, Abdul Hamid Qadri Badayuni,

Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi Khawaja Muhammad Qamar Ud Din Sialvi (1906–1981) known as Shaykh-ul-Islam was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, religious leader and politician. He was a Waliullah (Sufi saint) of the Chishti Sufi order; his Sufi convent (zawyah) is located in t ...

Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah Faiz-ul Hassan Shah, known by some as Khatib ul Islam, was a Pakistani Islamic religious scholar, orator, poet, and writer. Political and social contribution He was president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan for ten years, and struggled to establi ...

Ahmad Saeed Kazmi Ahmad Saeed Kazmi (1913 – 4 June 1986, ur, ) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar and Sufi. He migrated to Multan in 1935 from Amroha. He is known for his contribution to the Pakistan Movement, Urdu translation and explanation (Tafseer) of ...

Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi (مولاناعبدالستارخان نیازی) (1 October 1915 – 2 May 2001) was a Pakistani religious and political leader. Early life He was born on 1 October 1915 at Isakhel in Mianwali District, Punjab, Br ...

, Pir of Manki Sharif

Amin ul-Hasanat Amin ul-Hasanat (1 February 1922 – 5 January 1960), better known as the Pir of Manki Sharif, was the son of Pir Abdul Rauf and an Islamic religious leader in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of British India (now Pakistan). After j ...

Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari (1 July 1918 – 7 April 1998) was an Islamic scholar of Hanafi jurisprudence, Sufi, and Muslim leader. He is known for his magnum opus,'' Tafsir Zia ul Quran fi Tafsir ul Quran,'' meaning “The light of the ...

, Sardar Ahmad Qadri and Muhammad Hussain Naeemi. Later on the prominent

Barelvi The Barelvi movement ( ur, بَریلوِی, , ), also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement following the Hanafi and Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, with strong Suf ...

leaders

Shah Ahmad Noorani Shah Ahmad Noorani Siddiqi (1 October 1926 – 11 December 2003, known as Allama Noorani) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, mystic, philosopher, revivalist and politician. Siddiqi was founder of the World Islamic Mission, leader of the Jamiat ...

, Shaikh ul Quran Allama Ghulam Ali Okarvi,

Pir Muhammad Alauddin Siddiqui Muhammad Alauddin Siddiqui ( ur, ; 1 January 1938 – 3 February 2017) was an Islamic Sufi scholar and social personality. He appeared in islamic educational programmes on ARY Q TV and on NOOR TV. He established madrassas for religious a ...

, Muhammad Shafee Okarvi,

Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri Syed Shuja’at Ali Qadri (Urdu: ) (January 1941 – 27 January 1993) was the first Grand Mufti of Pakistan, Judge of Federal Shariat Court,Federal Shariat Court Annual Report 2003, p56 a member of the Pakistani Council of Islamic Ideolo ...

, Iftikharul Hasan Shah and

Khalid Hasan Shah Khalid Hasan Shah was an Islamic religious leader and an exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism. Birth He was born in Allo Mahar, Pakistan. His father was Faiz-ul Hassan Shah. Education He gained secular knowledge during the day, and in the eveni ...

also joined them to oppose the

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

Movement.

After Independence of Pakistan

The roots of Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat can be traced back to the 1880s when

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metaphoric ...

Qadian Qadian (; ; ) is a city and a municipal council in Gurdaspur district, north-east of Amritsar, situated north-east of Batala city in the state of Punjab, India. Qadian is the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya move ...

proclaimed himself to be a prophet in Islam. The organization gained momentum during the 1953 riots against Ahmadi Muslims. The Court of enquiry report on the disturbances explains the real reasons for this violent uprising against

. Main reasons being criticism of Ahmadi was due to the theological differences and using the

issues by Muslim conservatives to gain political mileage. The rioters had three major demands: # Removal of Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan from the foreign ministry # Removal of Ahmadi Muslims from top government offices; # Declaration of Ahmadis as non-Muslims. The movement launched countrywide campaigns and protests to persecute Ahmadis across the nation. Majlis, along with many religious leaders, spearheaded this movement to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims.

Ahmadis declared Non-Muslims in 1974

Many Islamist theologians Pakistan particularly Ulama-I-Ahle-Sunnat under the leadership of Shah Ahmad Noorani Siddiqui started a successful campaign against the

Ahmadis Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

and compelled the members of the National Assembly to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims. And such a clause was inserted in the 1973

Constitution of Pakistan The Constitution of Pakistan ( ur, ), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. Drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with additional assistance from the country's Pakistani political parties, opposition ...

declaring that followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed are non-Muslims by

Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan The Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan ( ur, ) became a part of the Constitution of Pakistan on September 7, 1974 under the Government of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. It declared that Ahmadis were non-Muslims. It also made way ...

. After meeting the first agenda, Khatme-Nabuwat started the next phase of their campaign – to force Ahmadis to comply with the new law. They started demanding legal sanctions on Ahmadis barring them from using the title of Muslim. This campaign was at its peak when

and Punjab-based

were leading the Kul Jamaati Majlis-e-Amal Tahafuz-e-Khatam-e-Nabuwat in 1984 and 1985. The then president General

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...

passed an ordinance in 1984 amending the

Pakistan Penal Code The Pakistan Penal Code (; ), abbreviated as PPC, is a penal code for all offences charged in Pakistan. It was originally prepared by Lord Macaulay with a great consultation in 1860 on the behalf of the Government of India as the Indian Penal ...

(PPC) that called for punitive sanctions on Ahmadis in 1984, commonly known as

Ordinance XX Ordinance XX ( ur, آرڈیننس 20) is a legal ordinance of the Government of Pakistan that was promulgated under the regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq on 26 April 1984 and is meant to prohibit the practice of Islam and the usage of Islamic ...

Present

The TLP political party opposes any change in the blasphemy law of Pakistan and also claims the hanging of

Mumtaz Qadri Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri (1985 – 29 February 2016), better known as Mumtaz Qadri (, ur, ), was the assassin of Salmaan Taseer, Governor of Punjab. Qadri was a commando of the Elite Police and, at the time of the assassination, a member o ...

was unjustifiable. They demand that

Sharia law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the Five Pillars of Islam, religious precepts of Islam and is based on the Islamic holy books, sacred scriptures o ...

be established as law of

through a gradual legal and political process. This is a Sunni majority group and most of its members belong to

school of thought.Kalbe Ali
Who is leading this sit-in?
Dawn (newspaper), 29 March 2016, Accessed 10 April 2019

Restoration of Khatm e Nabuwat Bill

The government of Pakistan uses the word "oath". This word was changed to "declaration" in "Elections Bill 2017", by government authorities. Country wide objections arose about this change, Minister of Law

Zahid Hamid Zahid Hamid (; born 24 October 1947) is a Pakistani politician, and lawyer. A member of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Hamid previously served as the Minister for Law and Justice and Minister of Climate Change in the Third Sharif ministry b ...

said "The statement of objects and reasons of the amended in order to avoid controversy, there is a consensus among the political parties in the National Assembly that the original text of ‘Declaration and oath by the person nominated”, included in original form-1A should be restored in toto'.

Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (; TLP) is a far-right Islamic extremist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Khadim Hussain Rizvi in August 2015. It became the fifth largest party at the 2018 Pakistani general election, but faile ...

, being a pro-Muslim party, went on to protests. The protests occurred in whole country including federal capital, Islamabad.

Khadim Hussain Rizvi Khadim Hussain Rizvi ( ur, ; 22 May 1966 – 19 November 2020) was a Pakistani Islamic author and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a political-religious organization founded in 2015, known to protest against any change to Pakistan's blasphe ...

declared to continue the protests until their demands were met. In November 2017, government restored the previous version of the blasphemy law and Khatm e Nabuwat. They continued their protests even after restoration of words for Khatm-e-Nabuwat for elections bill. According to this Tehreek, it was a plan to weaken Khatm-e-Nabuwat. The Tehreek demanded resignations of

for he was held responsible for the change of words and Rana Sanaullah Khan for his pro-

speeches. The government cut off food and water supply to participants of sit-in but they declared to continue the protests until all of their demands were fulfilled.''Pakistan army called on to stop 'blasphemy' clashes in Islamabad''
bbc.co.uk website, Retrieved 10 April 2019 The political unrest caused economic damage to the country.Islamabad Metro bus station resumes service after bearing damage of Rs12m
Pakistan Today (newspaper), 31 March 2016, Accessed 10 April 2019

Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Conference

Annual Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Conference is held every year at Jamia Masjid Ahrar

Rabwah Rabwah (Urdu, pnb, ), officially known as Chenab Nagar ( ur, ), is a city in Chiniot District, Chiniot, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan on the bank of Chenab River. It was the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community since Septemb ...

under the aegis of Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat and

Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) on 29 Dece ...

References