In the Name of Allah, the
Compassionate and the Merciful
LATE DR
ISRAR AHMAD SAHEB MERHOOM
Dr Israr Ahmad Saheb is no more in
this world but he left a name that will always be associated in rendering
eloquent services to the Qur'an and its introduction at mass level through his
"Daroos-e-Qur'an", lectures, cassettes, Friday sermons,
presenting in easy and understandable language the meanings of the
entire Qur'an during Taraviah in Ramadan for years together, addressing mass
meetings of hundreds and thousands of people in India and Pakistan
and writing Tafseer-e-Qur'an in fluent Urdu and English both for the
common man and the students at large.
This all was possible for him to accomplish
because of the fact that he was a Da'ee Ilallah through and through with all
its inherent qualities of heart and mind. He was born in 1932, was an active
Muslim Youth during Pakistan Movement
and then joined Islami Jameeat -e-Tulaba,
Pakistan and
became its vibrant President in early fifties. That paved his way to become
an active Rukn [Member] of Jamaat-e-Islami and moved to Lahore,
the hub of Pakistan
politics.
Jamaat participated in the Provincial
Elections of Punjab and could not do well. The
controversy started that it should not participate in elections. It became a
crisis and, therefore, to resolve the issue an all Pakistan Conference of Jamaat's Arkan [Members]
was held at Machigot in Rahimyar Khan District of Punjab in a ginning
factory in February 1958. 1035 Arkan [Members of JIP] attended this
meeting, including 15 from East Pakistan and,
fortunately, I was one of them, to decide whether JIP should
participate in elections or not? The meeting continued for five days where
Merhoom Israr Saheb opposed and presented his paper that took three hours
undisturbed to complete. Maulana Maududi (RA) replied his view
points in six hours with logical arguments by thread bear discussion of
the history of JIP till that time and soundly proved that election
participation was correct for the change of leadership of the country. Out
of 1035, Arkan 1015 supported Moulana’s viewpoint and the Resolution was
adopted to continue the Methodology that JIP was pursuing towards the change
of leadership through election process.
Late Dr Israr Saheb differed and resigned from
JIP along with Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi (RA) and nine other members of Jamaat.
Later on he published his speech of Machigot Ijtemaa and started his
own Movement In the name of Tanzeem-e-Islami, Pakistan (TIP) and published Magazines
like Meesaque, Hikmat-e Qur'an and many other Institutions to augment his
Movement and establishing Khilafah in Pakistan to serve the cause of
the Qur'an.
He used to visit the USA
on regular basis but stopped subsequently after the unfortunate tragedy of
9/11. He started an extended organization of TIP as TINA in the USA which
is alive still in some pockets of this country.
He has a great desire that I should
join TINA but I asked him: has he any Program for the USA? He replied
in negative. I, therefore, declined respectfully. However, I am
a regular subscriber of his papers and periodicals that help a lot in
understanding the on-going Islamic Movements of Indo-Pak subcontinent.
One may differ from his political views but
his contribution to popularize the message of the Qur'an in Pakistan, India, ME and around the
world is voluminous and a record by itself. The young generation
can reach to the message of the Qur'an directly through his various
efforts and eloquent cassettes in different languages of the world.
His legacies will be paramount for centuries
to come. He has left behind a team of trained and trusted workers like Dr
Sami Ali and his entire family which he groomed patiently for
the Iqamah of Allah's Deen in Pakistan and elsewhere in the
world.
May Allah pardon his sins, if any,
multiply reward of his good deeds manifold, place his soul in
Jannatul Firdaus and give Tawfeeq to Br. Hafiz A'kif Sayeed who is now
the current Amir of TIP to continue his legendary work incessantly and try
to cooperate with his parent body, the JIP, to get his agenda of
Iqamatuddeen fulfilled. It was his earnest desire and he put me to that
task to materialize in early eighties by developing a working cooperation
between the two Movements but it could not materialize due to negative
attitude of some of Jamaat's leaders.
The field is still wide open in the
context of Pakistan
and Mohtram A’kif Bhai should explore every opportunity to attain that
end. This is the need of time.
Shamim Siddiqi
New York
WWW.dawahinamericas.com