Since the publication of the March issue of The Islamic Post in which we, Al-Azhar University scholars in Cairo, Egypt, exposed Tahir Qadri as a fraud, multiple exposés have been posted regarding Mr Muhammad Tahir, who has given himself the title “Sheikh-ul-Islam” and conferred upon himself the alias of “Tahir-ul-Qadri”, having spent a great deal of time, money, and effort promoting himself under the aforementioned title. He has managed to deceive many Muslims who are ill-informed of his background and have been deceived by the media glitz & glamour of his paid advertising published on the Internet.
In reflecting upon the warnings of the Holy Last Messenger (PBUH), we find that such people who spend such effort to achieve this type of recognition and honour upon worldly pursuits are always disgraced.
Tahir-ul-Qadri (a native of Jhang, in Pakistan) is founding chairman of the political party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), which was organised during one of the most corrupt periods in the country. He is also the head of the Minhaj-ul-Quran (MQI) organisation, which he also founded.
Questions have been put forth demanding documentation that Tahir was given the most illustrious and respected title of “Sheikh-ul-Islam”; however, he has failed to respond except with a flood of internet videos posted on Youtube, showing the President of Al-Azhar University, Muhammad Usama Al-Abd, using the title “Sheikh-ul-Islam” in the introduction of Tahir-ul-Qadri. Why didn’t MQI also inform the people that Al-Abd’s function with the university is administrative and that he doesn’t have any such authority to officially confer such a title? Pakistan is not an Islamic state like that of Turkey during the time of the Khulafa Uthmani, wherein the Sheikh-ul-Islam was also an appointed position endorsed by the Khalifa. Thus, no authority in the respectable country of Pakistan - or Egypt - can sanction this title in such a manner.
One salient qualification that earns the title of “Sheikh-ul-Islam” is evident in those who have attained the level of friendship with Allah (Al-Wilaya). We repeat the quote from Allama Shams El-Din El-Sakhawi, from his book, Al-Jawahir ad-Durar fi Tarjima Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Hajar, in regards to the title of Sheikh-ul-Islam: “Sheikh al Islam, as inferred from its use as a term among the authorities, is a title attributed to that follower of the Book of Allah Most High and the example of His Messenger, who possesses the knowledge of the principles of the Science (of Religion), has plunged deep into the different views of the scholars, has become able to extract the legal evidences from the texts, and has understood the rational and the transmitted proofs at a satisfactory level.” Sakhawi added that, “At times, this title is given to those who have attained the level of friendship with Allah (Al-Wilaya), and from whom people derive blessings both when they are alive and when they have passed on. Similarly, whoever has tread the true path of the People of Islam and has come out unscathed from the folly and ignorance of youth; and whoever has become a living apparatus for others in solving difficulties or winning a struggle, and a refuge in every difficulty: these are the meanings of the word as used by the general public.”
From an academic standpoint, it is becoming increasingly well known that Mr Tahir has plagiarised works that many Ulema have spent their lives researching and developing. Common sense leads us to inquire as to why he was in Egypt and needed Arabic translators - in areas where the colloquial Arabic was minimal. Every Aalim in Islamic history that held the title of “Sheikh-ul-Islam” (especially in the Arab world) was known, first and foremost, to be advanced in his knowledge of the Arabic language. Take from the example of perhaps the greatest Aalim in the Islamic world, Sheikh-ul-Islam Abdul Qadir Gilani. Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani was, and still is, known throughout the whole Islamic world for surpassing all of his teachers in all of the Islamic sciences he studied, including extraordinary levels of the Arabic language. Are we to believe that Tahir-ul-Qadri is of the same calibre of those who have excelled - via honest efforts and sacrifices - in Islamic knowledge and authored numerous beneficial literary works? Why is it no other follower of the Qadiri Tariqah, or even the Sheikh of the Qadiri Tariqah himself - El Sheikh Sayyid Mubarik Ali Gilani - has come to know of this declaration?
Our demand to Tahir-ul-Qadri for answers still stands:
1. Who made you Sheikh-ul-Islam, and on what ground?
2. Why are you accepting funding from Iran, especially when Iran has established its enmity with Pakistan? The Sharia is the standard of laws that Muslims obey and is an absolute must for any seeker on the Qadiri path, which your suffix suggests. Under which law are you adhering, wherein you find it legitimate to project interminable waves of flyers and big-screen television projections of yourself like that which is found in Iran and acceptable under Shia convention? Know that Almighty Allah condemns such people, as they are people of Shaitan. There is a strange tie that you still have not revealed to the public in regards to your relations with Iran, especially with your trip to Iran ten years ago, wherein your return to Pakistan was an immediate/overnight change of disposition supplemented with millions of Pakistani Rupees to fund the building of elaborate complexes.
3. What do you have to say, officially, to the charges levied against you from one of the high courts in Pakistan?
We know that Tahir-ul-Qadri is planning to return to Pakistan to instigate a “revolution” like the ones that have brought civil wars and instability to North Africa (i.e. Libya) and the Middle East (i.e. Syria), causing catastrophic grief and releasing a flood of extremists. Our Ulema in the United States, Canada, and Al-Azhar are condemning this false Sheikh and therefore we advise people to avoid him and stay away from him. Our statement to Tahir-ul-Qadri still remains firm: Keep away from our homeland, the United States of America, as history shows that your intent is to exploit and undermine the hard works and sacrifices of American Muslims for the sake of the New World Order.
–The Islamic Post