Younus AlGohar (, born Mohammad Younus; 16 June 1968) is a British co-founder of Messiah Foundation International (also known as Kalki Avatar Foundation and Mehdi Foundation International), a spiritual organisation which advocates for

Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi ( ur, ) (born 25 November 1941) is a spiritual leader and founder of the spiritual movements ''RAGS International'' (now known as Messiah Foundation International) and ''Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam''. He is the author ...

mystical teachings and claims he is the Messiah (Mahdi). He authored the books ''Mysterious Horizons – Beyond God'' (2007), and ''Nisāb-e-Mehdi'' ‎ (2010).

Biography

In 1983, at the age of 15 he met

and spent 18 years as a close disciple, until Shahi's disappearance in 2001.

Messiah Foundation International

''RAGS International'' was founded by

in 1980, and renamed in 2000 as Messiah Foundation International. The first centre for MFI was established in London, which is the headquarters of MFI. MFI has grown to include centres in Canada, USA, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, India, Greece, Thailand, Bangladesh, Taiwan and Pakistan and Nepal.

Beliefs and views

AlGohar considers himself a "devout servant" of Shahi who practices "The Religion of God", which AlGohar says Shahi has introduced to humanity. According to AlGohar, he believes in all the

Prophet 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 s ...

s, the Messengers and the

saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...

regardless of their religion. He asserts that he does not reject or hate any religion but believes that the spiritual system in all religions, which helped humanity find God, has diminished due to modifications in the religions. According to him, his goals include preaching spirituality irrespective of religious or cultural boundaries, revolutionising humanity by reviving spiritual insight, establishing inner and outer peace, eliminating hatred from society, enlightening hearts with divine energy, and heralding the second coming of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi. He has openly challenged

Islamic Scholars 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 ...

to have "a healthy debate on this topic should it arise a theological reservation among the minds of petty scholars." In particular, AlGohar has challenged

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri ( ur, ‎; born 19 February 1951) is a Pakistani–Canadian Islamic scholar and former politician who founded Minhaj-ul-Quran International and Pakistan Awami Tehreek. He was also a professor of international cons ...

to debates on spirituality,

Imam Mehdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. AlGohar also declares that the world is in the

end times Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...

Stand against Terrorism

AlGohar opposes

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, an ...

which he considers a threat to Islam and the entire world. He has spoken out against

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

. He believes that Wahhabism is the ideology of

Islamic militants ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

, stating that

madrassas Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , Plural, pl. , ) is the Arabs, Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. T ...

teaching the Wahhabi ideology are engaging in hate preaching and are producing terrorists. He has urged world leaders to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia for their role in promoting terrorism. He has called for Wahhabism to be banned in the United Kingdom, United States of America and

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 ...

. He engages in efforts to de-radicalise Muslim youth by promoting

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

and has started an initiative called ''Young Sufis of the Great Britain'' with the Messiah Foundation International for this purpose.

Malaysian Court Ruling

AlGohar criticised the October 2013 Malaysian court ruling banning non-Muslims from using the word, 'Allah'. He accused the judges who made the decision of being 'highly ignorant, shortsighted and prejudiced.' He argued that to confine Allah to Islam was to suggest that the God of

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

was different from the God of all others and that it was shirk.

Prosecution and Persecution

Many attempts were made on the lives of Gohar Shahi and Younus AlGohar including a

petrol bomb A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...

thrown into AlGohar's residence in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where Shahi stayed when he toured the United Kingdom. In August 2014, AlGohar was a vocal supporter of Imran Khan's rally against

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

in Pakistan's 2013 elections. AlGohar's support of Imran Khan and

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

was a matter of controversy in the Pakistani media, drawing comments from

Nusrat Javed Nusrat Javed ( ur, ), is a Pakistani columnist, journalist and a former news anchor. Early life and career Nusrat Javed was born on 14 March 1954. He is among the senior most journalists in Pakistan having started his career in 1975. Beginni ...

and

Mushtaq Minhas Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas ( ur, مُشتاق احمد مِنہاس)(Born 12 August 1970) is a Pakistani politician who is former minister of Information, Tourism and Culture in the AJK assembly. He is a member of the 8th Legislative Assembly of AJK ...

, who alleged on ''

Bolta Pakistan Bolta Pakistan is a live current affairs talk show on AAJ TV. The show was originally hosted by Nusrat Javed and Mushtaq Minhas (from 7 May 2007 to 15 April 2010) and ran Monday through Friday from 11 PM to midnight (Pakistan Standard Time.) A ...

'' that AlGohar was funding Imran Khan's campaign and conspiring against Pakistan. Immediately after the episode was aired, Mehdi Foundation International posted AlGohar's video response on their YouTube channel, in which AlGohar stated that he had no affiliation with Imran Khan, but was rather hoping for justice. Shireen Mazari soon issued a statement distancing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf from AlGohar. AlGohar later withdrew his support of Imran Khan. In 2013, AlGohar was convicted of

benefit fraud Benefit fraud is a form of welfare fraud as found within the system of government benefits paid to individuals by the welfare state in the United Kingdom. Definition of benefit fraud The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) define benefit fr ...

. He pleaded guilty to 11 out of 12 charges of dishonesty under the Social Security Administration Act 1992. AlGohar was ordered to pay a £6000 fine and perform 240 hours of community service.

Media coverage

AlGohar was featured in an article by the Lakbima newspaper and was interviewed by the Sri Lankan newspaper, The Island. He was featured by

Your Local Guardian ''Waltham Forest Guardian'' now known as '' Your Local Guardian'', is a weekly local newspaper sold every Thursday in the London boroughs of Waltham Forest and Redbridge. The newspaper's weekly circulation is 2,508 copies, according to ABC fig ...

in 2009. He was also interviewed by various Sri Lankan media in 2011, 2012 and 2015, including ''

The Sunday Leader ''The Sunday Leader'' was an English-language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are the '' Iruresa'' ('' Irudina'') and the ...

'' and the ''Island''. He was covered by

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

newspapers and television stations. In addition, he was invited by the

Brahma Kumaris The Brahma Kumaris are a spiritual movement that originated in Hyderabad, Sindh, during the 1930s. and by Good Morning Sri Lanka to discuss spirituality. AlGohar was also invited by TNL TV in Sri Lanka to explain the message of Kalki Avatar Foundation. During his tour of Sri Lanka in December 2013, he was interviewed on TNL TV again and spoke on ITN Prime TV's ''Face On''. His visit was also covered by national Tamil-language newspapers. AlGohar's comments on the

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n court ruling regarding the prohibition of the word '

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

' for non-Muslims were published in

Free Malaysia Today Free Malaysia Today (FMT) is an independent, bilingual news online portal with content, in both English and Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), with a focus on Malaysian current affairs, published since 2009.

in January and February 2014. In

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, he was interviewed by ''Asia Today'' about his beliefs, Shahi and Messiah Foundation International. His next interviews with the Island were published in September 2015 and May 2016. His article entitled 'Dysfunctionality of Religions' was published by Asia Today in September 2016. His commentary on Saudi Arabia's links to

were noted in an article published in ''News Rescue''.

Bibliography

References

External links

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Official WebsiteSite About TerrorismTwitter AccountMediumBlogFacebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algohar, Younus 1968 births Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester Founders of new religious movements Nonviolence advocates Pakistani pacifists Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Pakistani humanitarians Pakistani poets Pakistani Sufis Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi Pakistani spiritual writers Sufi poets Sufi teachers University of Karachi alumni British people convicted of fraud