Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

Early life Shahi was born on 25 November 1941 in the village of Dhok Gohar Shah in the district of Rawalpindi of British India. He is a fifth generation descendant of the Sufi Baba Gohar Ali Shah. At the age of twenty, when he was the owner of F.Q. Steel Industries, Shahi began to search for spirituality. Eventually he became disillusioned in this search and returned to work. Shahi then married and had three children. In 1975, he went to Sehwan for self-mortification; he spent a period of three years in the mountains of Sehwan Sharif and the forest of Laal Bagh in self-purification, "for the sake of God's love". Career as spiritual leader Shahi became popular as a Sufi preacher in Pakistan during the late 1970s. He formed RAGS International and Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam in 1980., Pakistan. He is seen here speaking to two religious clerics from different sects within Islam: Shia Islam and Sunni Islam. The CEO of Messiah Foundation International is Younus AlGohar. Shahi claimed to have met with Jesus Christ in 1997. Singers such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ghulam Farid Sabri have been presented the message of Shahi. Some singers such as Aziz Mian and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have performed at Shahi related events. Legal persecution and exile He and many of his followers have been convicted under Islamic blasphemy laws by an antiterrorist court in Sindh. After he fled to England, Shahi was convicted in absentia, In February 2002, prior to any decision on appeals filed with the High Court of Sindh, Ardeshir Cowasjee claimed in an article he wrote for the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, that unnamed people who identified themselves to him as office-bearers of the All-Faith Spiritual Movement told him that Gohar Shahi died abroad, but this report was unconfirmed. Zee News also supported this claim. The Hindustan Times has reported that he is "serving a life term". The Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka stated that Shahi disappeared in 2001 and sightings of him were thereafter reported around the world. == Claims and criticism ==

The teachings of Gohar Shahi have been a source of controversy. Many mainstream Muslim scholars have condemned his teachings as blasphemy. Claims made by Shahi and his followers have been strongly opposed by orthodox Islamic theologians in Pakistan and abroad. Shahi also predicts that the world would end in the year 2026 due to a comet heading towards earth. Many attempts were made on the lives of Shahi and Younus AlGohar including a petrol bomb thrown into AlGohar's residence in Manchester, where Shahi stayed when he toured the United Kingdom. A man attempted to attack him with a hand grenade during a discourse at his home in Kotri, Pakistan. Gohar Shahi claimed to have met with Jesus in America. Shahi's supporters claim that his face became prominent on the Moon, Sun, nebula star and the Black Stone in Mecca, as well as sayings from the likes of Nostradamus, and Ja'far al-Sadiq to support it. Journalists in Pakistan asked Shahi, "Many believe that you are the Mahdi, and God has revealed signs unto them which say that you are the Mahdi, but you do not officially announce that you are the Mahdi. Why?" Shahi gestured towards himself and answered, "Does Imam Mahdi not know the law of Pakistan? He knows that the law of Pakistan declares that 'whosoever claims to be the Mahdi, put him in jail'. I have given the signs of his [Mahdi's] characteristics, which the Mahdi knows and none other. Now, it is up to people to recognise him and believe him". On 18 November 1997, after appearing in court before Justice Rasheed A. Razvi of Sindh High Court Hyderabad Circuit, Shahi said, "The only justification to be Hazrat Imam Mahdi is the mark on [one's] back which can prove his existence". Of the groups following Shahi, Messiah Foundation International claims that Shahi is the awaited Mahdi, Messiah, and Kalki Avatar while Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam did not. According to MFI's website, Shahi is the Awaited Messiah, but they deny the notion that Shahi is another form of Jesus and claim that Jesus has also returned to support the Mahdi. == Bibliography ==