Shah Ahmad Noorani Siddiqi (1 October 1926 – 11 December 2003, known as Allama Noorani) was a Pakistani

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

, mystic,

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, revivalist and politician. Siddiqi was founder of the World Islamic Mission, leader of the

Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) ( ur, ) is a Islamist political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1948 by leaders of All India Sunni Conference. JUP exercised considerable political influence in Pakistani politics during 1970s to 2003. Its stud ...

(JUP) and founder president of the

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal (MMA; Urdu: , "United Council of Action") is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, religious, and far-right parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui (the founder of Tehreek e Islami) proposed suc ...

(MMA).

Early life

Ahmad Noorani was born in

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(now

), into an

Urdu-speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccani people of the Deccan plateau in south-central India (who speak Deccani Urdu) and the ...

Siddiqui Siddiqui ()( Romanized: Ṣiddīqī ) are a South Asian Muslim Sheikh community found mainly in India and Pakistan and in expatriate communities in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region. They claim to be the descendants of Abu Bakr, the first ...

Shaikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

family on 31 March 1926 (17 Ramadan 1344). His father,

Abdul Aleem Siddiqi Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqi (3 April 1892 – 22 August 1954) was an Islamic scholar, spiritual master, author and preacher from Pakistan. He was a student of Imam of Ahlus Sunnah Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Muhaddith barelwi Rahimahullah. He was lea ...

was also an Islamic scholar and had accompanied him on Islamic missionary tours to various parts of the world in his early youth. He received his BA degree in Arabic language from the

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

, and certified from the Darul-Uloom in Meerut in

Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ex ...

. He became a hafiz-ul-Quran at the age of eight. His family moved to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

, Pakistan after the partition of

. He established World Islamic Mission in 1972 which is based in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valle ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

. He established himself as Islamic scholar and worked in the developing the

Islamic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, ...

as well as helping found the World Islamic Mission in 1972. He has been described as a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

who "was conversant with 17 languages and eloquent in six,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, French and Swahili."

Career

Noorani was elected as member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from Constituency NW-134 (Karachi-VII) after participating in

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held in 1970 on

's platform. The JUP was the main

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 ...

political party of Pakistan until the establishment of

Tehreek-e-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 fail ...

. The second time he was elected as MNA from Constituency NA-167 (Hyderabad-II) in

1977 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 7 March 1977 to elect 200 members of the National Assembly. They were the second general elections held in Pakistan and the first to be held after the Bangladesh Liberation War, which saw East Pakistan ...

. Since then, his influence on national politics further grew and he became a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the ...

in 1980s. After disassociating from politics in 1990s, he made his notable come back after rigorously opposing and further forming an ultra–conservative alliance to oppose the regime of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

. Assuming the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

(MMA), he was known to use tough rhetoric against

Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

and formed a public support against

's policies in the country.

Role for strengthening democracy in Pakistan

Noorani took stand against the martial law regime of

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 ...

. His party was one of the founding members of

Pakistan National Alliance The Pakistan National Alliance (Urdu: پاکستان قومی اتحاد, Acronym: PNA), was a populist and consolidated right-wing political alliance, consisting of nine political parties of the country. Formed in 1977, the country's leading ...

(PNA) formed on January 10, 1977 and “Pakistan Awami Ittihad” (PAI) in 1988. During Zia's regime, he raised his voice for the rehabilitation of the political parties, restoration of the judicial powers and finishing the military courts, elimination of the Martial law; and announcement of the election schedule. He was also guiding force for the formation of another electoral alliance Islami Jamhuri Mahaz in May 1999. Through his efforts, Noorani, formed an alliance of six religious, political parties, named as the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), came into being in 2001. He was chosen as its founding President.EMERGENCE OF RELIGIO-POLITICAL LANDSCAPE IN PAKISTAN AND SWAY AND DISMAY OF THE RIGHTIST JAM’IYYAT ULEMA-I-PAKISTAN-JUP (1970-2003) Dr. Mazher Hussain The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan Muhammad Anwar Farooq The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan IJSSHE-International Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education Volume 1, Number 3, 2017 ISSN 2521-0041

Views

Noorani argued with ideologies such as

Deobandi Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, R ...

Wahhabism Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...

Salafism The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islah, reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three g ...

and

Ahl-i Hadith Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...

, and most strictly from

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 ...

. He spent his scholarly life in promoting Barelvism and Ahmed Raza Khan as the

Mujaddid A ''mujaddid'' ( ar, مجدد), is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" ( ar, تجديد, translit= tajdid, label=none) to the religion. According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every ...

(Muslim Reviver) of the 14th Islamic century.

Death

On 11 December 2003 (17 Shawwal 1424), Noorani died from a massive

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

when he was preparing to leave his residence for the Parliament House to address a press conference along with other opposition leaders at noon. The funeral prayer was done in

Nishtar Park The Nishtar Park ( ur, ) (''formerly'' Patel Park) is located at Parsi Colony, off M.A. Jinnah Road in the area of Soldier Bazaar, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Nishtar Park was originally called Patel Park, named after Congress leader Vallabhbhai Pa ...

on Friday and he was buried at the foot of his mother in the graveyard situated in the premises of the Abdullah Shah Ghazi Mausoleum in Karachi.

Condolences

expressed profound grief in a condolence message in which he paid tribute to Noorani for his "great services for Pakistan and his tremendous contributions to national politics. MMA General Secretary

Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman ( ur, مولانا فضلُرحمٰن; born 19 June 1953) is a Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist politician who is the president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F). He is also the president of the Pakistan Democratic Movemen ...

described the passing away of Noorani as a "great loss for the whole nation." Fazal said Noorani was a "moderate, polite and kind person and due to his qualities he was elected as chief of the united religious front.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad Noorani, Shah 1926 births 2003 deaths Muhajir people Islam in India Islam in Pakistan World Islamic Mission People from Meerut Pakistani Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam University of Allahabad alumni Islamic democracy activists Urdu-language non-fiction writers Pakistani theologians Quranic exegesis scholars Islamic mysticism Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan politicians Barelvis Critics of Ahmadiyya