Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri


Syed Shuja’at Ali Qadri was judge of Federal Shariat Court, a member of the Pakistani Council of Islamic Ideology and a scholar of Islamic Sciences and modern science. He was influenced by Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvin and worked for the Barelvi movement.
He held various offices and wrote books. He authored books on Islamic fiqh, economics and inheritance, and also translated books from Arabic to Urdu.

Birth and family

Shujaat Ali Qadri was born in Uttar Pradesh, India, in January 1941. He was the son of Syed Masood Ali Qadri, who served in the office of Afta at the Jamia Islamia Anwar-ul-Uloom, a madrasah in Multan, Punjab. Qadri was the second eldest child of his father; his brothers are:
Qadri was the father of three sons and a daughter.

Education

Qadri got his initial education from Madrasa-e-Arabia Hafizia Saadiya, District Dadu, Aligarh. He learned the Quran from Ghulam Rabbani and Shah Ahmad Noorani Siddiqi. He then, at the age of 10, migrated with his parents in 1951 to Multan, Pakistan and began his education in Madersah Anwar-ul-Ulum and eventually completed his darse nizami from this institute. He also received Ijaza or authority in the Qadri tariqa of Sufism from Pir Kifayat Ali Shah. He graduated from the Jamia Islamia Anwar-ul-Uloom, Multan at the age of eighteen. Besides this he achieved the following qualifications:
Qadri worked as a teacher and mufti in different institutes or madaris of Muslims. He served as the Head of Department and Mufti in Darul Uloom Amjadiya from 1960 to 1973. Thereafter he established Darul Uloom Naeemia. Thereafter, from 1973 till his death, he held the offices of Sheikh ul Hadith and Mufti in Darul Uloom Naeemia, Karachi. Qadri also served as a Lecturer in Liaqat Government College, Karachi, for 12 years and as a member of University of Karachi Syndicate for two years.

Ranks and offices held

Besides serving the offices of Sheikh-ul-Hadith and Afta at Darul Ulum Naeemia, for ten years, from 1973 to 1983; he remained as a judge of Federal Shariat Court, Pakistan for six years from 1983 till 1989. He was appointed as Aalim Judge of the Federal Shariat Court on 2 July 1983 and performed his duties till 1 July 1989. He also served as a member of Council of Islamic Ideology, Pakistan and as a member of Karachi University Syndicate.

Books, texts and translations

His scholarship includes:
  1. Islam mein Murtid ki Saza
Shujaat was a prominent scholar of the Barelvi Movement and was respected by the scholars of major sects of Islam and people of Pakistan.

Death

On 24 January 1993 Qadri went on an official tour of Indonesia with a delegation of the Ministry of Population Control. It was during this tour that on the fourth Shabaan 1413 Hijri, 27 January 1993 he died of a heart attack in Jakarta. Qadri's funeral procession was led by Hamid Saeed Kazmi, who was at that time the MNA of JUP, in Jakarta. It was estimated that approximately fifty thousand people attended the procession along with the ambassadors and religious scholars from Islamic countries, Indonesian officials and Pakistan's foreign delegation in Indonesia. His body was brought back to Pakistan on 1 February 1993, by Singapore Airlines, where he was buried in Darul Uloom Naeemia, Karachi. Qadri's funeral procession, in Karachi, was led by his brother, Syed Saadat Ali Qadri, in the presence of a large number of people, journalists, politicians and scholars from all schools of thought. An estimated crowd of fifteen thousand attended his funeral procession. His tomb is located inside the Daru Uloom Naeemia.

Condolences

Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri's death was termed as a national tragedy and a great loss of eminent religious scholar of Islam for the people of Pakistan. Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, expressed his shock and grief over Qadri's death in the following manner:

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the opposition leader in the National Assembly of Pakistan at that time, Benazir Bhutto, expressed her deep sorrow and grief over his demise:
The then Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi expressed his condolences and said:
Ahmed Noorani Siddiqui visited Qadri's home to offer his condolences to Qadri's family: