Ehsan Elahi Zaheer

Ehsan Elahi Zaheer (Urdu: احسان الہی ظہیر‎) (31 May 1945 – 30 March 1987) was a Pakistani Islamic theologian and leader of the Ahl-e-Hadith movement.[1][2] He died from an assassin's bomb blast in 1987.

Allama

Ehsan Elahi Zaheer
Personal
Born31 May 1945
Ahmedpura, Sialkot, British Raj, now Punjab, Pakistan
Died30 March 1987 (aged 41)
Lahore, Pakistan
ReligionIslam
EraModern era
CreedAhl-e-Hadith
Main interest(s)Salafism

He was known for his stance against other groups in Sunni Islam, against the Ahmadiyyah and particularly against the Shias he considered to be non-Muslims.[3]

Early life and education

Born in 1945 in Sialkot into a deeply religious trading Punjabi family of the Sethi clan, he was educated in Salafi seminaries from Gujranwala and Faisalabad before earning Masters in Arabic, Islamic studies, Urdu and Persian at the University of the Punjab and further continuing his studies in Islamic law at the University of Madinah under many scholars, most importantly Ibn Baz.[4] Zaheer will eventually become Ibn Baz's "star student", and Saudis would translate his books (written directly in Arabic instead of his native Urdu) and distribute them all over the world at cheap prices.[5]

Assassination

While Zaheer was giving a speech, a bomb which had been planted on the stage exploded, killing him, his family accused Iran Backed Shia terrorists of killing him.[6]

His funerals were held in Saudi Arabia, attended by millions including the country's main Islamic scholars, and he was buried next to Imam Malik.[7]

Family

Many of his relatives are involved in the Islamic sciences, including his son Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, a famous scholar who also leads the Jamiat Ahle Hadith party he founded,[8] while another son, Hisham Elahi Zaheer, is a well-known Islamic scholar as well.

Books

He mainly wrote in Arabic but his works would be translated into Urdu and many other languages:[9]

Urdu
  • Mirzāʼiyyat aur Islām, Idārat Turjumān al-Sunnah, 1972, 240 p. Criticism of the Ahmadiyya. Rad e Bralviyat Shia wa sunna,

Arabic
  • al-Qadiyaniyat : dirasat wa-tahlil, Idārat Turjumān al-Sunnah, 1976, 320 p. Criticism of the Ahmadiyya. Translated into English as Qadiyaniat : an analytical survey.
  • al-Shīʻah wa-al-Sunnah, Idārat Turjumān al-Sunnah, 1977, 216 p. Criticism of the Shia view of the Sunnah. Translated into English as The Shi'ites and the Sunnah.
  • al-Bābīyah : ʻarḍ wa-naqd, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1981, 288 p. Criticism of Babism.
  • al-Bahāʼīyah : naqd wa-taḥlīl, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1981, 375 p. Criticism of Bahaism.
  • Aš-Šhīʻa wa-ahl al-bait, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1982, 316 p. Criticism of the Shia view of the Ahl al-Bayt.
  • Aš-Šhīʻa wa'l-Qurʼān, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1983, 352 p. Criticism of the Shia view of the Quran.
  • al-Barīlawīya : ʻaqāʼid wa-taʼrīḫ, Idārat Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1983, 253 p. Criticism of the Barelvis. Translated into English as Bareilawis : history and beliefs.
  • Bayna al-Shīʻah wa-ahl al-Sunnah, Idārat Tarjamān al-Sunnah, 1985, 218 p. Refutation of a book by the Egyptian scholar ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Wāfī (1901-1991).
  • Ismāīlīyah : tārīkh wa-aqāid, Idārah Tarjumān al-Sunnah, 1986, 757 p. Criticism of the Ismailis.

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.
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References
  1. Ravinder Kaur, Religion, Violence and Political Mobilisation in South Asia, p 153. ISBN 0761934308
  2. Roy, Olivier, The Failure of Political Islam, by Olivier Roy, translated by Carol Volk, Harvard University Press, 1994, p.118-9
  3. Moghadam, Assaf (2011-07-21). Militancy and Political Violence in Shiism: Trends and Patterns. Routledge. p. 166. ISBN 9781136663536.
  4. Mariam Abou Zahab, Pakistan: A Kaleidoscope of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2020, note 19 of chapter 6.
  5. Kim Ghattas, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East, Henry Holt and Company, 2020, chapter 6.
  6. Derrick M. Nault, Development in Asia: Interdisciplinary, Post-neoliberal, and Transnational Perspectives, p 184. ISBN 1599424886
  7. Imtiaz Alam, Religious revivalism in South Asia, South Asian Policy Analysis Network, 2006, p. 85
  8. Kalbe Ali (30 April 2014), "Another side of the story in the missing persons’ saga", Dawn. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  9. Ẓahīr, Iḥsān Ilāhī, profile on WorldCat
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