Ihsan Ilahi Zahir

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Shaykh
Allamah
Ehsan Elahi Zaheer
احسان الٰہی ظہیر
1st Ameer of Jamiat Ahle Hadith
In office
March 1986 – 30 March 1987
Preceded bypost established
Succeeded byIbtisam Elahi Zaheer (as Ameer of JAHP)
Sajid Mir (as Ameer of MJAH)
Personal details
Born31 May 1945
Sialkot, Punjab, British India
Died30 March 1987(1987-03-30) (aged 41)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
PartyJamiat Ahle Hadith
ChildrenIbtisam Elahi Zaheer
Hisham Elahi Zaheer
Motasim Elahi Zaheer
ParentHaji Zahoor Elahi (father)
EducationUniversity of Madinah

Ehsan Elahi Zaheer (Urdu: احسان الہی ظہیر c. 31 May 1945 – 30 March 1987) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar who was the founder of Jamiat Ahle Hadith.[1]

He died from an assassin's bomb blast in 1987.[2] He was taken to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in an injured condition on the orders of King Fahad.[3] He died in Riyadh and, according to his last wishes, was buried in the Jannat al-Baqi Cemetery in Medina.[4][5] His assassination marked the beginning of the sectarian violence in Pakistan.[1]

Early life and education

Zaheer was born in 1945 in Sialkot into a deeply religious trading Punjabi family of the Khatri community (Sethi clan) and was formally educated in Ahl-e-Hadith establishments in Gujranwala and Faisalabad, before earning Masters in Arabic, Islamic studies, Urdu, Persian, History and Philosophy at the University of the Punjab, and further continuing his studies in Islamic law at the Islamic University of Madinah (1963–1968) under many prominent scholars, including Sheikh al-Albani and Sheikh Ibn Baz.[1] He was the first Pakistani student at University of Madinah, graduating in 1968, and built long lasting relations with the Saudi scholars and publishers.[6] He also received an LLB from the University of Karachi.[7]

Political career

Jamiat Ahle Hadith

In March 1986, Zaheer founded his political party Jamiat Ahle Hadith. Zaheer used to criticize Zia-ul-Haq. After Zaheer was assassinated, the party was led by his son Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer.[8] He was also the editor of monthly Tarjuman Ahl al-Hadith, and the khatib of Masjid Ahl al-Hadith in Lahore.[7]

Assassination

On 23 March 1987, while Zaheer was addressing a public meeting of Jamiat Ahle Hadith in Lahore, a bomb which had been planted in the flowers on the stage exploded, severely injuring him. Upon the request of Saudi Grand Mufti Abd al-Aziz Ibn Baz, Zaheer was transferred to Saudi Arabia for treatment at The National Guard Hospital. However, he died of injuries on 30 March. His funeral prayer was led by Ibn Baz and attended by thousands, including President of Pakistan Zia-ul Haq, ISI chief Akhtar Abdur Rahman, and the Pakistani foreign minister Sahabzada Yaqub Khan.[3][1] He was buried in the Jannat al-Baqi Cemetery.[4]

Personal life

Zaheer's father-in-law Hafiz Muhammad Gondalvi (1897–1985) was also a famed Ahl-e-Hadith scholar.[9]

Zaheer had three sons, themselves involved in Islamic scholarship and activism: Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, Hisham Elahi Zaheer and Motasim Elahi Zaheer.[10]

Books

Zaheer wrote fifteen books, mainly in Arabic, although his works have been translated into Urdu and many other languages.[6][11] After 1979, his works were translated and published across South and South-east Asia.[4]

Urdu

  • Mirzāʼiyyat aur Islām, Idārat Turjumān al-Sunnah, 1972, 240 pages.

Arabic

  • al-Qadiyaniyat : dirasat wa-tahlil, Idārat Turjumān al-Sunnah, 1976, 320 pages.[12][13]
  • al-Shīʻah wa-al-Sunnah, Idārat Turjumān al-Sunnah, 1977, 216 pages.
  • al-Bābīyah : ʻarḍ wa-naqd, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1981, 288 pages.
  • al-Bahāʼīyah : naqd wa-taḥlīl, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1981, 375 pages.[14]
  • Aš-Šhīʻa wa-ahl al-bait, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1982, 316 pages.
  • Aš-Šhīʻa wa'l-Qurʼān, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1983, 352 pages.
  • al-Barīlawīya : ʻaqāʼid wa-taʼrīḫ, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1983, 253 pages.
  • Bayna al-Shīʻah wa-ahl al-Sunnah, Idārat Tarjamān al-Sunnah, 1985, 218 pages.
  • Ismāīlīyah : tārīkh wa-aqāid, Idārah Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1986, 757 pages.[15]

English translations

  • Ibn Taymiyyah's Kitab-al-wasilah. Foreword and translation under the guidance of Ehsan Elahi Zaheer.
  • Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's Kitab at-Tawheed. Foreword and translation under the guidance of Ehsan Elahi Zaheer.

References

  1. Zahab, Mariam Abou (2020). Pakistan: A Kaleidoscope of Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 200, note 19. ISBN 978-0-19-753459-5.
  2. Umar, Ayesha (15 June 2011). "Kill, in the name of religion". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2025-04-12.
  3. Shah, Sabir (14 February 2017). "Notables killed in Lahore in six decades". The News International. Retrieved 2025-04-12.
  4. Matthiesen, Toby (2023). The Caliph and the Imam: The Making of Sunnism and Shiism. Oxford University Press. pp. 349–350. ISBN 978-0-19-252920-6.
  5. Mahmud, Sayyid Qasim, ed. (1998). Encyclopedia Pakistanica (in Urdu). p. 165. OCLC 49673004.
  6. Fuchs, Simon Wolfgang (2017). "The Long Shadow of the State: The Iranian Revolution, Saudi Influence, and the Shifting Arguments of anti-Shi'a Sectarianism in Pakistan". In Jaffrelot, Christophe; Louër, Laurence (eds.). Pan-Islamic Connections: Transnational Networks Between South Asia and the Gulf. Oxford University Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-19-086298-5.
  7. Masud, Muhammad Khalid (2013). "The obligation to migrate: The doctrine of hijra in Islamic law". In Piscatori, James; Eickelman, Dale F. (eds.). Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration and the Religious Imagination. Routledge. p. 26, note 1. ISBN 978-1-136-11260-7.
  8. "Allama Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer". Pakistan Herald. Archived from the original on 2017-11-22. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  9. Dorsey, James (2022). "Saudi Arabia: A South Asian Wrecking Ball". In Mandaville, Peter (ed.). Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 195.
  10. Ali, Kalbe (30 April 2014). "Another side of the story in the missing persons' saga". Dawn. Retrieved 2025-04-12.
  11. "Ẓahīr, Iḥsān Ilāhī". WorldCat. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. Retrieved 2025-04-12.
  12. Zaheer, Ehsan Elahi. al-Qadiyyania (in Arabic) – via Internet Archive.
  13. "Al Qadianiat (Study and Analysis)". Noor Library (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  14. "Baha'iyah (Study & Analysis)". Noor Library (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-05-28 – via Noor Library.
  15. "Ismailiyah (History & Doctrine)". Noor Library (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-05-28.