Bareilly, UTTAR PRADESH :
Bareilly :
Mufti Mohammad Akhtar Raza Khan Qadiri aka Azhari Miyan, chief cleric of the influential Dargah Aala Hazart here, has occupied 25th place in the annual list of 500 ‘most powerful and influential Muslims’ across the world.
The list was prepared by the Jordanian thinktank Royal Islamic Strategic Study Centre (RISSC), affiliated with the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman.
Azhari, 72, who has around five crore disciples in 55 countries all over the globe, has regularly featured in this list. He was ranked 22nd in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Considered as the ‘grand’ mufti in India, Azhari has written more than 5,000 fatwas, the most famous being one that was passed in 1975 against sterilisation.
“The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had made sterilization compulsory in the country. Even Darool Uloom Deoband had passed a fatwa, claiming the process is valid in Islam. But Azhari Miyan stood by his decision, saying the medical process was against sharia,” said Maulana Shahbudeen Razvi, Azhari’s secretary.
Azhari is the great grandson and successor of one of the most distinguished sub-continental Islamic scholars in history, Ahmad Raza Khan. Khan had founded the Barelvi movement in South Asia.
“Azhari Miyan shot into prominence after he refused to offer namaz at the Imam-e-Haram at Mecca in 1986 since a Wahabbi cleric was leading the prayers. Following this, he was arrested by the Saudi Arabian government. But largescale protests throughout the world forced the Saudi Arabian government to release him,” added Razvi.
Azhari has also authored more than 50 books on Islamic theology and thought in Urdu and Arabic. After receiving his basic education at the Manzar-e-Islam madrassa of the Dargah Aala Hazrat and Islamia Inter College, Bareilly, he pursued higher studies at the Al-Azhar University, Egypt. He was honoured with the prestigious ‘Fakhre Azhar’ (pride of Azhar) award by the Al-Azhar University. “It is considered as one the biggest awards in the Islamic world,” said Razvi.
Azhari’s son Maulana Asjad Raza Khan, who is also the Bareilly city Qazi, said, “My father has always given messages of love, peace and prosperity. He says that terrorism has no link with Islam and people should not keep any connection with it.”
Apart from Azhari, another Indian to feature among the top 50 in the list is Maulana Mahmood Madani, leader and executive member of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. Madani was ranked 43rd in the list. The RISSC publication highlights people who have influenced and benefitted others within the Muslim community through their practice of Islam.
The top ten personalities in the list this year included names of King Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein, king of Jordan, professor Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyeb, the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar University, King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran, Amir al-Mu’minin King Mohammed VI, king of Morocco, Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id Al-Sa’id, sultan of Oman, General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hussein Sistani, marja of the hawza, Iraq and Hajji Muhammad Abdul-Wahhab, Amir of Tablighi Jamaat, Pakistan.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Bareilly / by Priyangi Agarwal / TNN / August 08th, 2016