‘Divided we stand’: Some clerics reconcile, others fall out
Pir Jillani to support Minhajul Quran conference in Britain.
LAHORE:
As two major clerics appeared to have resolved their differences ahead of an upcoming conference in London, their coming together prompted divisions elsewhere among Barelvi groups in the United Kingdom.
Tehreek-i-Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri is to chair the Peace for Humanity Conference at Wembley Arena on Sunday. Sources said that Minhajul Quran leaders, concerned that they wouldn’t be able to fill the 12,000-seat arena for the conference, had reached out to Pir Syed Abdul Qadir Jillani,
Markazi Jamaate Ahle Sunnat Britain and Europe chief, to seek his support.
Prominent UK cleric Pir Munawwar Hussain Jamati arranged a meeting between the two leaders and Jillani organised a reception at Pavilion Hall in Walthamstow shortly afterwards where several Barelvi scholars including Jamaate Ahle Sunnat president Maulana Nisar Beg Qadri, former Jamaate Ahle Sunnat UK president Syed Zahid Hussain Shah, Syed Anwar Kazmi, Syed Ahmad Shah Tirmizi, Allama Qazi Abdul Aziz Chishti, Syed Sabir Hussain and Mazhar Hussain Gilani, pledged their support for the peace conference.
Pir Jillani later received 4,000 tickets for the conference to give to his followers, said an official of the JAS UK chapter.
But the apparent reconciliation between Jillani and Qadri, said to have been at odds for 30 years, did not sit well with everyone. Shortly after their coming together, a group of 200 JAS clerics organised a meeting in Bradford where they announced that they would boycott the peace conference and Pir Abdul Qadir Jillani. They said that the Barelvi Muslims of the UK had no link with Minhajul Quran.
Sunni Ittehad Council chairman Sahibzada Fazle Karim also refused the Minhajul Quran’s invitation to the conference during his recent visit to the UK.
JAS Pakistan Secretary General Allama Syed Riaz Hussain Shah arrived in London a few days ago and held “marathon meetings” over the last few days to try and forge unity, said sources.
Mazhar Hussain Gilani, a central leader of Markazi Jamaate Ahle Sunnat and son-in-law of Pir Jillani, denied that Jillani or Qadri had ever issued fatwas against each other. He said ‘some people’ had ‘created misconceptions’ between the two.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2011.
As two major clerics appeared to have resolved their differences ahead of an upcoming conference in London, their coming together prompted divisions elsewhere among Barelvi groups in the United Kingdom.
Tehreek-i-Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri is to chair the Peace for Humanity Conference at Wembley Arena on Sunday. Sources said that Minhajul Quran leaders, concerned that they wouldn’t be able to fill the 12,000-seat arena for the conference, had reached out to Pir Syed Abdul Qadir Jillani,
Markazi Jamaate Ahle Sunnat Britain and Europe chief, to seek his support.
Prominent UK cleric Pir Munawwar Hussain Jamati arranged a meeting between the two leaders and Jillani organised a reception at Pavilion Hall in Walthamstow shortly afterwards where several Barelvi scholars including Jamaate Ahle Sunnat president Maulana Nisar Beg Qadri, former Jamaate Ahle Sunnat UK president Syed Zahid Hussain Shah, Syed Anwar Kazmi, Syed Ahmad Shah Tirmizi, Allama Qazi Abdul Aziz Chishti, Syed Sabir Hussain and Mazhar Hussain Gilani, pledged their support for the peace conference.
Pir Jillani later received 4,000 tickets for the conference to give to his followers, said an official of the JAS UK chapter.
But the apparent reconciliation between Jillani and Qadri, said to have been at odds for 30 years, did not sit well with everyone. Shortly after their coming together, a group of 200 JAS clerics organised a meeting in Bradford where they announced that they would boycott the peace conference and Pir Abdul Qadir Jillani. They said that the Barelvi Muslims of the UK had no link with Minhajul Quran.
Sunni Ittehad Council chairman Sahibzada Fazle Karim also refused the Minhajul Quran’s invitation to the conference during his recent visit to the UK.
JAS Pakistan Secretary General Allama Syed Riaz Hussain Shah arrived in London a few days ago and held “marathon meetings” over the last few days to try and forge unity, said sources.
Mazhar Hussain Gilani, a central leader of Markazi Jamaate Ahle Sunnat and son-in-law of Pir Jillani, denied that Jillani or Qadri had ever issued fatwas against each other. He said ‘some people’ had ‘created misconceptions’ between the two.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2011.