Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez (also transliterated Parvez, Perwaiz, Parvaiz, etc.) (1903–1985) was a prominent Islamic scholar, famous in the area around Lahore. He urged the Muslims to ponder deeply over the Message of the Quran. He considered Islam a din (way of life), a form of government, a system of government like democracy, autocracy, or socialism. He proclaimed that according to Islam all authority rests with "the law of God" as given in the Quran, whereby food and wealth are to be distributed equally to everybody. He preached that Islam was not a typical religion of rituals and superstitious beliefs but was a challenge to the very institution of organized religion.
His writings describe how Islam was treacherously transformed into a religion by kings who had perverted Islam for their vested interests. "The kings sponsored the creation and fabrication of hadith," he declared. Pervez denounced the Hadith which described Ayesha, the prophet's wife, as a nine-year-old girl. "These are fabricated stories written by the enemies of Islam," he said. He attempted to prove from historical record that Ayesha was much older when she married the prophet. Some contemporary Hadither Scholars declared Pervez a heretic for denying the authority and authenticity of the Hadiths. Pervez himself condemned the Mullahs for "always serving as agents of the rich people" and being "promoters of uncontrolled Capitalism." In 1951, Parvez criticized Jamaat-e-Islami through several articles in Tolu-e-Islam. "The mullahs have hijacked Islam," he said.
Reviled especially in Pakistan, Pervez's students are amongst the most deviant scholars. Pervez was the right hand man of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and was one of the leading activists of the Pakistan movement.
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Ghulam Ahmed Pervez was born in Batala, Dist. Gurdaspur, on 9 January 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?
For his denial of Hadith he was declared an apostate by 500 Hadith scholars.
He him self clarifies all the allegation on him in some last days TV interviews. Like all Muslims he feel pain that being Islam the dominant in whole world, where Muslims ruled the Europe Asia and other parts of the world successfully. What are the understanding and implementing conflicts which are in between existing that we are not able to rule the world in peace and harmony which the Islamic prophet Mohammad has shown
He has written books which are unique in that he has always shown references from Hadith. His view about hadith was that it should be accepted only if it is in agreement with Quran. Any hadith that goes against Quran is false because Muhmmand can say or do nothing that goes against Quran. His claim, however, that authentic hadith are fabricated is not shared by any mainstream Muslim scholar. They assert that the authentic hadith have chains of narrators that can be traced back to Muhammad, and these chains have been reviewed and researched by every generation. It is also believed by the mainstream scholars, such as Yousuf Ludhianwi, that Pervez's theory of hadith being fabricated can be attributed to Egotism and his theory is incorrect as an individual cannot suddenly refute the beliefs of scholars of 1400 years with only his intellect as proof. Yousuf Ludhianwi also stated that Pervez's theory is also incorrect as his own religion reached him through the chain of narrations from Muhammad to his companions and so on; and now he claims these chains are false hereby declaring his own religious knowledge invalidated.
Parvaiz joined the Central Secretariat of the Government of India in 1927 and worked in the Home Department, Establishment Division. He had come in close contact with Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who inspired him. In 1938 Parwez started publishing the monthly Tolu-e-Islam where he propagated his interpretation of the Qur'an. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, he worked in the Central Government and was also a counselor to Muhammed Ali Jinnah. Parwez took early 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 1985. 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.
For a long time Sir Muhammad Iqbal wanted a journal to propagate his ideas and the aims and objective of the Muslim League. Syed Nazeer Niazi, a close friend and a regular visitor during his last two years, started such a journal at his instructions in 1935, naming it Tolu-e-Islam[1] after Iqbal's famous poem "Tulu'i Islam" (Resurgence of Islam). He also dedicated the first edition of this journal to Sir Muhammad Iqbal.
Afterward, this journal was continued[2] by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez, who had already contributed many articles. He was such a devoted admirer of Sir Iqbal that he printed the picture of him on the cover page of this journal every month. He also named his movement Tolu-e-Islam. This journal is still published by Idara Tolu-e-Islam, Lahore. Initially, "Its primary object was to tell the people (of British India" that according to the Quran, ideology and not geographical boundary was the basis for the formation of nation, and that a politically independent state was pre-requisite to live in Islam."