Israr Ahmed

Israr Ahmad was born on 26 April 1932, into a Ranghar family of Muslim Rajputs in Hisar, a city in the Punjab Province of British India (now in Haryana, India). His ancestral roots lie in the Muzaffarnagar district of modern-day Western Uttar Pradesh, but following the 1857 War of Independence, his grandfather's properties were confiscated, so the family moved to Hisar. His father was a civil servant in the British government After graduating from a local high school, Israr Ahmad moved to Lahore to attend the King Edward Medical University in 1950. He received his MBBS degree from King Edward Medical University in 1954 and began practising medicine. In addition, he obtained his master's degree in Islamic Studies from the University of Karachi in 1965. Israr Ahmad worked briefly for Muslim Student's Federation in the Independence Movement and, following the creation of Pakistan in 1947, for the Islami Jami`yat-e-Talaba and then in 1950 joined Jamaat-e-Islami led by Abul Ala Maududi. He left the party when the latter opted for participating in electoral politics in 1957 in the belief that involvement in national politics was irreconcilable with the revolutionary methodology adopted by the Jama'at in the pre-1947 period. His interest in Islam and philosophy grew further and he subsequently moved to Karachi in the 1960s, where he enrolled in Karachi University to study Islam. == Influences ==

Supporters describe his vision of Islam as having been synthesised from diverse sources. Israr Ahmad worked closely with Syed Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979) and Amin Ahsan Islahi, (as did Wahiduddin Khan, Naeem Siddiqui and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi). He has also acknowledged the "deep influence" of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, the 18th-century Indian Islamic leader, anti-colonial activist, jurist, and scholar. "In the context of Qur'anic exegesis and understanding, Israr Ahmad was a firm traditionalist of the genre of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and Shabbir Ahmad Usmani; yet he presented Qur'anic teachings in a scientific and enlightened way". Israr Ahmad believed in what he called "Islamic revolutionary thought," which consists of the idea that Islam – the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah – must be implemented in the social, cultural, juristic, political, and economic spheres of life. In this he is said to follow Muhammad Rafiuddin and Muhammad Iqbal. The first attempt towards the actualisation of this concept was reportedly made by Abul Kalam Azad through his short-lived party, the Hizbullah. Another attempt was made by Abul A'la Maududi through his Jamaat-e-Islami party. Although the Jamaat-e-Islami has reached some influence, Israr Ahmad resigned from the party in 1956 when it entered the electoral process and believed that such an involvement led to "degeneration from a pure Islamic revolutionary party to a mere political one".{{cite web |url=http://tanzeem.info/webapps/tip_dnnweb/Organization/Background.aspx ==Career==

Jamaat-e-Islami Originally a member of Jamaat-e-Islami, Israr Ahmad stated that he became disappointed with its turn towards electoral activity, disagreed with it on "significant policy matters", including what he saw as the "lack of effort to create an Islamic renaissance through the revolutionary process." He considered Jamaat-e-Islami's "plunge" into "the arena of power politics," to have been "disastrous." "As a result of his efforts" the Markazi Anjuman Khuddam-ul-Quran Lahore was established in 1972, Tanzeem-e-Islami was founded in 1975, and Tahreek-e-Khilafat Pakistan was launched in 1991. Israr is thought to have been instrumental in bringing changes to Pakistan TV during that time eliminating Western dress for women and requiring hijab. Israr later refused to appear on TV after segments of his program calling for a ban on televising cricket matches were censored, but by then had developed a large following in Pakistan. Publications Israr Ahmad has authored over 60 books in Urdu on topics related to Islam and Pakistan, nine of which have been translated into English and other languages. ==Religious and political views==

Governance Israr Ahmad opposed modern democracy and the prevalent electoral system, arguing that in a true Islamic state the ruler has the power to overturn the majority decisions of an elected assembly. Hizb ut-Tahrir Both Hizb ut-Tahrir and Tanzeem-e-Islami share a belief in the revival of the Caliphate as a means of implementing Islam in all spheres of life, according to Tanzeem-e-Islami's FAQ. However, Tanzeem-e-Islami seeks a popular Islamic revival which will then lead to political revolution rather than involvement in electoral politics, armed struggle, coup d'état to establish a caliphate. Tanzeem-e-Islami believes that once the Islamic revolution has taken place, the election of the Khalifah would be done on the basis of electoral votes. Tanzeem-e-Islami emphasises that iman (faith) among Muslims must be revived in "a significant portion of the Muslim society" before there can be an Islamic revival. Non-violence According to the website of Israr Ahmad's organization, Tanzeem-e-Islam (as of 2017): However, critic Farhan Zahid notes that "a number" of the members of Tanzeem-e-Islam "have reportedly been arrested in connection with IS' Khurasan province and accused by the authorities of involvement in terrorist financing", and that "speeches" by Israr "still circulate online among jihadists, raising concerns that the group provides an entryway to Islamist extremism." This campaign eventually led to violence. As many as 4,000 people are estimated to have been killed by Shia-Sunni sectarian attacks in Pakistan between 1987 and 2007. Role of women In 1982 Israr Ahmad presented his view that women should 'be barred from all professions except medicine and teaching". He would include comments on the "Jew World Order", descriptions of "Jews as 'cursed people' or 'cursed race' who actually conspired against Muslims for centuries", and were 'followers of Satan, bent on destroying Islam'. Views on foreign powers Israr Ahmad opposed the 2007 Pakistani state of emergency and in a televised press conference called for the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf. Asia Times reports that in September 1995 Israr Ahmad told the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America: "The process of the revival of Islam in different parts of the world is real. A final showdown between the Muslim world and the non-Muslim world, which has been captured by the Jews, would soon take place. The Gulf War was just a rehearsal for the coming conflict." He appealed to the Muslims of the world, including those in the US, to prepare themselves for the coming conflict. Babri Masjid demolition After the Demolition of the Babri Masjid in India, Israr criticised the vengeful demolition of Hindu temples in Pakistan, calling them un-Islamic and making the perpetrators the same as Hindu extremists in India. == Death and legacy ==

Israr Ahmad relinquished the leadership of Tanzeem-e-Islami in October 2002 because of bad health. He had appointed Hafiz Akif Saeed the emir of the Tanzeem (from 2002 to 2020) to whom all rufaqaa of Tanzeem renewed their pledge of Baiyah. 12 days before his 78th birthday, Israr Ahmad died of cardiac arrest at his home in Lahore on the morning of 14 April 2010 at the age of 77. He had given up the leadership of Tanzeem-i-Islami in 2002 due to poor health. According to his son, his health deteriorated at around 1:30 am with pain in the back. He was a long time heart patient. His survivors included a wife, four sons and five daughters. His four sons, Arif Rasheed, Akif Saeed, Asif Hameed and Atif Waheed, have all been involved in Islamic activism. One major Pakistani English-language newspaper (Dawn) commented after his death, "Founder of several organisations like Anjuman-i-Khuddamul Quran, Tanzeem-i-Islami and Tehrik-i-Khilafat, he had followers in Pakistan, India and Gulf countries, especially in Saudi Arabia. He spent almost four decades in trying to reawaken interest in Quran-based Islamic philosophy." == Awards and recognition ==

• Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) award by the president of Pakistan in 1981 for his contribution in the field of religion. == Notes ==

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