Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar


Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad is the Grand Mufti of India and President of the Islamic Community of India. He is also the Chancellor of the Jamia Markaz, Chairman of the Siraj Daily and General Secretary of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama,.

Grand Mufti of India

Musliyar was chosen as the Grand Mufti of India by the All India Tanzeem Ulamae Islam in a programme conducted at Ramlila Maidan after the death of Grand Mufti Akhtar Raza Khan, following an illness on 20 July 2018.
After his election conducted several receptions in various countries including UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Malaysia and Indonesia especially at his birthplace in India, Kozhikode. Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly Sri P. Sreeramakrishnan, Kerala Minister TP Ramakrishnan, Karnataka Ministers UT Khader and Rahim Khan, and A Pradeepkumar member of 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly, Kerala Haj Committee chairman C Mohammed Faizi, Tamil Nadu Haj Committee chairman Haji Abdul Jabbar, Mayor of Kozhikode Thottathil Raveendran, Zamorin K.C. Unniyanujan Raja and Dr MGS Narayanan, politicians, religious and cultural leaders including from other Indian states participated in the civil reception. In the function, Minister T. P. Ramakrishnan expressed appreciations to the Grand Mufti for the Government of Kerala.

Peace and interfaith dialogue work

Musliyar has conducted and attended many national and international conferences for peace and interfaith dialogue.
He is the Chairman of the Sheikh Zayed International Peace Conference and was one of the speakers at the First World Tolerance Summit, conducted by the International Institute for Tolerance Dubai, UAE. The tagline of the second Sheikh Zayed International Peace Conference was "Renaissance of the World Through Peace". In 2019 he attended Global Conference of Human Fraternity and met with Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church.
In 2014 he launched a campaign to plant 100,000 trees throughout India as part of preparations for the Sheikh Zayed International Peace Conference, held in New Delhi.

Educational revivalist

Musliyar educated several scholars from different parts of India. He is involved with Markaz Knowledge City, Unani Medical College, and with higher education and research. He said in an interview with Khaleej Times that the "Education is key to peace".

Views

Musliyar has condemned Islamic extremism. He says that "Militant groups such as the Islamic State are trying to defame a religion that advocates peace and tolerance." In November 2015, he commented on gender equality, saying: "Gender equality is something which is never going to be a reality. It is against Islam, humanity and was intellectually wrong."

Fatwa against ISIS

Musliyar was the first to issue a fatwa against ISIS.

On CAB and CAA

Musliyar opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill and Citizenship Amendment Act, and he organised and attended in many protests against the act. He has not supported the hartal was organised by SDPI and said the hartal is needless. He visited the family members of protesters killed in police firing at Mangalore to expressed his condolences.

On Babri Masjid Verdict

Musliyar appealed to the Islamic Community of India to welcome the Supreme Court verdict in the Babri Masjid dispute case before the verdict and accepted after. He said "We respect the Supreme Court. Everyone must strive for peace in India. The victory or defeat over the Babri Masjid incident may be significant to every party, but the protection of India and its sovereignty is much more important." "Babri Masjid is a place of worship for Muslims, but equally important is that all people live peacefully in India."

Organisations

In the late 1980 Musliyar was a leader of the Samastha Kerala Jamiat-ul-Ulema together with E. K. Aboobacker Musliyar but due to personality differences chose to split off a group which came to be known as the AP Faction; the residual group becoming referred to as the EK Faction.
Both factions, which are pre-dominately based in Kerela, have set up a set of broadly parallel organisations at both All India and state level, with Musliyar dominant in those of the AP Faction.
In January 2018 committees were formed to re-unite the factions with the objective of re-uniting the groups to achieve an improved political influence,. there has been no merger.
At the time of his assumption of the title of Grand Mufti of India in February 2019 he was variously described as general secretary of the All-India Muslim Scholars Association for over 25 years, and as general secretary of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama.

Honours, awards and international recognition

Works by Musliyar include: