Qazi Hussain Ahmad ( ur, قاضی حسین احمد ; born 12 January 1938 – 5 January 2013) was an

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 ...

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

activist, and former

Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fr ...

, the socially conservative Islamist political party in Pakistan. He opposed the United States' participation in the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

against the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

in neighbouring

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

.Former JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad passes away in Islamabad
Dawn (newspaper), Published 5 January 2013, Retrieved 10 December 2017

Early life

Background

Ahmad was born in 1938 in the house of Muhammad Abdul Rab at Ziarat Kaka Sahib,

Nowshera District Nowshera District ( ps, نوښار ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The capital and district headquarter is Nowshera city. Overview and history Nowshera was a tehsil (sub d ...

, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A teacher by profession, Ahmad was appointed as the President of

Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Fi ...

for its Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa branch before 1947. Qazi Hussain Ahmed was the youngest among his ten siblings. After having completed early education at home, Ahmad was admitted to

Islamia College, Peshawar Islamia College Peshawar (ICP) ( ur, اسلامیہ کالج پشاور) is a public university located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.Peshawar University The University of Peshawar ( ps, د پېښور پوهنتون; hnd, پشور یونیورسٹی; ur, ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a public research university located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pa ...

. He served as a lecturer at Jehanzeb College

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

for three years, teaching at the graduate level. After that, he started his own business. He was elected as vice-president, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Provincial)

Chamber of commerce and industry A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

. Living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa gave him some familiarity with political affairs in neighboring

Personal life

Ahmed had two sons (Asif Luqman Qazi and Anas Farhan Qazi) and two daughters. His wife and children all are Jamaat-e-Islami activists. He spoke

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Persian in addition to his native tongue,

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

. He was a great admirer of the poet

Allama Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...

and employed quotes from both Iqbal's Urdu and Persian poetry in his speeches and conversations.

Political career

His association with the ''Islamic Movement'' started in his school days when he first joined

Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba ( ur, ) IJT is the largest student organisation in the world. It was founded by 25 students on 23 December 1947 at Lahore, Pakistan. Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba is working in Pakistan to eliminate the non-Islamic elements an ...

, Pakistan. He became member of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1970 and was elected to the office of President of its

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

branch. He served Jamaat-e-Islami as Secretary and then Ameer of its Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial branch. After the resignation of Maulana

Naeem Siddiqui Maulana Naeem Siddiqui (1916 – 25 September 2002) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, writer and politician. He was among the founder-members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and a close associate of Abul A'la Maududi and Amin Ahsan Islahi. Early life an ...

, he was promoted to the office of Secretary General, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in 1978. and then elected as Ameer (Chief) of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in 1987, continued to serve in that capacity, getting re-elected four more times (1992, 1994, 1999 and 2003). In 2008, Syed Munawwar Hasan was elected to head Jamaat-e-Islami, when Qazi Hussain Ahmad chose not to run for the office. Qazi Hussain Ahmad remained head of Jamaat-e-Islami for nearly 22 years. In the

Parliament of Pakistan The Parliament of Pakistan ( ur, , , "Pakistan Advisory Council" or "Pakistan Consultative Assembly") is the federal and supreme legislative body of Pakistan. It is a bicameral federal legislature that consists of the Senate as the upper ...

, he also served as the parliamentary leader of

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 su ...

Politics

Within Pakistan, he was a patron of organisations such as Pasban and founder of

Shabab e Milli Shabab-e-Milli Pakistan ( ur, شبابِ ملی پاکستان is a youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami political party of Pakistan. It was formed In 1994 by Jamaat-e-Islami to disown its previous youth group Pasban. It was expected to replace the ...

, youth wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. Qazi Hussain Ahmad was first elected as member of the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly makes up the Parliament of Pakist ...

in 1986 for a term of six years. He was re-elected for that position in March 1992. To protest against the corrupt political system, he resigned as a Senator in 1996. He was elected as a Member of

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 r ...

in the 2002 Pakistani general election from his native town, Nowshera. Qazi Hussain Ahmad traveled abroad widely to represent the Jamaat at the international forums, lead goodwill missions, and in a personal capacity to mediate in issues concerning Muslims, such as the Iran–Iraq War and the Persian Gulf War, the Balkan (Bosnia) crisis and the post-Soviet power struggle in Afghanistan. Even before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad was in close contact with Afghan mujahideen and met with top Afghan leaders. He helped build support in Pakistan for the movement and introduce the

Afghan jihad ''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 ...

to the outside world. He was a staunch supporter of the Kashmiri insurgency against India and the initiator of the

Kashmir Solidarity Day Kashmir Solidarity Day ( ur, ) or Kashmir Day is a national holiday observed in Pakistan on 5 February annually. It is observed to show Pakistan's support and unity with the people of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmiri separ ...

Successful Long March

On 20 July 1996, started protests against the government alleging corruption. Qazi Hussain resigned from the senate on 27 September and announced to start a long march against the Benazir's government. Protests started on 27 October 1996 by Jamaat e Islami and the opposition parties. On 4 November 1996,

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

's government was dismissed by President

Farooq Leghari Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari ( ur, ; 29 May 194020 October 2010), was a Pakistani politician who served as the eighth president of Pakistan from 14 November 1993 until resigning on 2 December 1997. He is the first Baloch to have been elected a ...

primarily because of corruption.Former President Farooq Leghari passes away
''Dawn'' (newspaper), Published 20 October 2010, Retrieved 11 December 2017

Death

Ahmad died of a heart attack late in the evening on Saturday, 5 January 2013, at a son's house in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

.Transition: Qazi Hussain Ahmad dies at 74
''The Express Tribune'' (newspaper), Published 6 January 2013, Retrieved 11 December 2017

Books

By him

*''Inqilābī qiyādat'', Karachi : Saba Publications, 1988, 109 p. Memoirs, arranged by K̲h̲urram Badr.

About him

*K̲h̲urram Badr, ''Muḥabbaton kā safar'', Karachi : Saba Publications, 1988, 136 p. Reports of a meet-the-public tour of the country. *Arshad Baloch (ed.), ''Qāz̤ī yā bāg̲h̲ī?'', Lahore : ʻIlm Dost Publications, 2002, 184 p. Collection of articles on Qazi Hussain. *Kāmrān Rajpūt, ''Qāẓī Ḥusain Aḥmad kī dīnī aur siyāsī k̲h̲idmāt'', Lahore : Shirkatulimtiyāz, 2005, 368 p. Political biography. *Jamāl ʻAbdullāh ʻUs̲mān (ed.), ''ʻAzīz-i jahān Qāẓī Ḥusain Aḥmad'', Islāmābād : Idārah-yi Fikr va ʻAmal, 2014, 387 p. Collection of condolence notes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Qazi Hussain 1938 births 2013 deaths People from Nowshera District Pashtun people Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan politicians University of Peshawar alumni Pakistani MNAs 2002–2007 Islamic democracy activists 20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Members of the Senate of Pakistan Emirs of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan