Ghulam Ahmed Pervez

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Ghulam Ahmad Parwez (1903 - 1986)
Ghulam Ahmad Parwez (1903 - 1986)

Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez (also transliterated in different ways- Parvez, Perwaiz, Parvaiz, etc.) (1903-1986) was a 20th century Muslim reformer. He is today most known for denying the authority and authenticity of some of the fabricated Hadiths which go against Quran and initiating the Tolu-e-Islam movement. He is also considered as a leading activist in the Pakistan movemnet. He is the one who denies Ahadith.

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[edit] Biography

Ghulam Ahmed Pervez was born in a Sunni (Hanafi) family of Batala, Dist. Gurdaspur, on the 9 July 1903. Batala, a town now in the Indian part of Punjab, was at that time a very prominent seat of Islamic learning, philosophy and culture where his grandfather Hakim Maulvi Raheem Bakhsh enjoyed the status of a celebrated scholar and eminent Sufi of the Chishtia Nizamia discipline of mysticism.

According to his own writings, from a very early age he possessed an inquisitive nature and never let any thought pass unquestioned. As he grew, he often questioned that if the Islamic beliefs and practices are true and correct, then why do these not produce the results the Qur'an promises?

He joined the Central Secretariat of the Government of India in 1927 and worked in the Home Dept, Establishment Division. He is also supposed to have come in contact with Allama Muhammad Iqbal whom he became inspired of. In 1938 Parwez started publishing monthly Tolu-e-Islam where he propagated his interpretation of the Qur'an. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947 he worked the Central Government and was also a counselor to Muhammed Ali Jinnah. Pervez took pre-mature retirement as assistant secretary in 1955 to focus more on the religious work.

His work and research produced many books on Qur'anic teachings, the most well known of them being Lughat-ul-Qur'an in four volumes, Mafhoom-ul-Qur'an in three volumes, Tabweeb-ul-Qur'an in three volumes, Nizam-e-Rabubiyyat, Islam A Challenge to Religion, Insaan Ne Kiya Socha (History of Human Thought), Tasawwaf Ki Haqiqat, Saleem Ke Naam in three volumes, Tahira Ke Naam, Qur'ani Faislay in five volumes and Shahkar-e-Risalat (the biography of the second Caliph Hazrat Omar). He delivered many lectures on Iqbal’s viewpoint of implementing the Qur'anic injunctions, which were later compiled and published as a presentation on Iqbal’s philosophy under the title "Iqbal aur Qur'an".

He also gave weekly lectures on exposition of the Qur'an at Karachi which he continued (even after shifting to Lahore in 1958) till October 1984 when he was taken ill and expired subsequently on 24 February 1986. This was in addition to his lectures on the Qur'anic teachings to college and university students, scholars and general public at various occasions.

He organized a country-wide network of spreading his ideas of the Qur'anic teachings called Bazm-e-Tolu-e-Islam. Such organizations have now been formed in a number of foreign countries as well.

He left behind a widow and a brother (both now deceased) and a sister. He had no children. His works are being continued through Idara-Tolu-e-Islam, The Tolu-e-Islam Trust, The Qur'anic Research Centre, the Qur'anic Education Society, the Parwez Memorial Library and his audio and video recordings.

[edit] Parwez's legacy

Allama Ghulam Ahmed Parwez was one of the most controversial religious figures of the sub-continent in the last century. He alongside Sir Syed Ahmad Khan are accused by an overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars for bringing in heterodoxical freethinking in to the fold of Islam in the sub-continent. He had a critical view of the hadiths and for example denied the existence of jinns and angels in the traditional context and also had different views on the miracles described in the Qur'an.

For his openness towards full re-interpretation of all Qur'anic verses and his controverisal ideas many traditional Muslim ulema declared him a kafir (infidel).

The mainstream ulema argue that Islam has always been present in the world in the the form of the pious Muslims and that the Perwezi school of thought borders on the idea that the real spirit of Isalm got vanished and that it was rediscovered by the Allama.

He was very close to President General Ayub Khan the military ruler of Pakistan and was instrumental in the formulation of the Muslim Family Laws framed during the time. He is also accused of attributing to his own name the books written by his desciples.

[edit] Major Publications

  • Matalibul Furqaan (7 vol)
  • Lughat-ul-Quran (4 vols.)
  • Mafhoom-ul-Quran (3 vols)
  • Tabweeb-ul-Quran (3 vols.)
  • Nizam-e-Rabubiyyat
  • Islam A Challenge to Religion (English version)
  • Insaan Ne Kiya Socha (History of human thought)
  • Islam kia he (second part of Insan ne kia socha)
  • Tasawwaf Ki Haqiqat
  • Saleem Ke Naam (3 vols.)
  • Tahira Ke Naam
  • Qurani Faislay (5 vols.)
  • Meraj-e-Insaaniat (about Muhammad S.A.S)
  • Barke toor (about Mosa)
  • Joe noor (about Ibrahim)
  • Shola e mastoor (about Esa)
  • man(o) yazdan (about ALLAH in light of Holy Quran)
  • Shahkar-e-Risalat (about Khalifa Omar)
  • Iblis o Adam
  • Jahane farda
  • Mazahebe Alam ke Asmani kitaben

[edit] See also

See also: Liberal movements within Islam

[edit] External links

[edit] Sources

Biography compiled by: Sh. Allah Ditta and Late Mohammad Omar Draz and Published by Tolu-e-Islam Trust, 25-B, Gulberg-2, Lahore-11, Pakistan (http://www.pakistanvoice.org/GA_pervez.htm)

Tolu-e-Islam homepage (http://www.tolueislam.com/)