Minhaj-ul-Quran

Minhaj-ul-Quran International (منہاج القرآن انٹرنیشنل) (or MQI) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri in 1980 in Lahore, Pakistan. It's headquarters is based in Lahore, Pakistan and has branches in 93 countries.

Kristiansand

Minhaj-ul-Quran International
MottoA broad-based Islamic organisation
Founded17 October 1980
FounderMuhammad Tahir ul-Qadri
TypeNGO
FocusReligion, Spiritual, Educational, Human Rights, Women Empowerment, Activism
Location
MethodEducation, Training
Websitewww.minhaj.org

International network
Minhaj-ul-Quran International Headquarters, Pakistan

Minhaj-ul-Quran Pakistan

MQI organised the Annual Milad Conference which was held at Iqbal Park, Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore. The chief guest was Al-Azhar University Vice Chancellor Dr Osama Muhammad Al-Abd at the conference while hundreds of thousands of people from all four provinces and delegations from Middle East and parts of Europe attended the conference. It observed one-minute silence against blasphemous caricatures published by France.

It arranged the World Islamic Banking and Finance Conference to find solutions to banking, finance and sociopolitical issues faced by Muslims. In 2019, it launched the "interest free" Al-Muwakhat Islamic Micro-Finance project.

Female activists of the organisation observed the International Women's Day at a rally in Islamabad.[1] It protested in Lahore against Honour Killings of women.[2]

The Model Town Massacre took place outside the premises of MQI Secretariat in Model Town, Lahore on 17 June 2014. The Court directed the police to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the Prime Minister, Punjab Chief Minister, Deputy Inspector of the Police and 18 others which included police officials and politicians.[3]

Minhaj-ul-Quran UK

Minhaj-ul-Quran UK organised a three-day anti-terrorism camp at Warwick University to tackle extremist ideology with expected attendance of over 1,000 young Muslims. Al Hidayah (organisation) is a part of Minhaj-ul-Quran .

It held a Peace Conference to condemn terrorism in which 12,000 people gathered in Wembley Arena, London. The conference had messages of support from Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg, opposition leader Ed Miliband, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. There were peace prayers from people of different religions.[4] MQI UK published the Islamic Curriculum on Peace and Counter-Terrorism and Fatwa on Terrorism.

Minhaj-ul-Quran runs a radio station from its mosque in Forest Gate London, it operates Minhaj Welfare Foundation from the mosque and organised a candle lit vigil for people who died in all sorts of terrible ways.

Youngsters from Wimbledon Chedar and MQI Mosque teamed up in their Jewish-Muslim interfaith initiative to make a Challah for homeless people and conduct a workshop.[5]

Minhaj-ul-Quran Denmark

The Danish branch of the Minhaj-ul-Quran International organization was founded in 1987. It consists of four departments, in which three are located in the Copenhagen area and one in Odense.[6]

In 2006 newspaper Jyllands-Posten revealed how the Danish imam and member of Minhaj-ul-Quran Naveed Baig urged the murder of apostates from Islam in a video recording from a gathering held in Minhaj-ul-Quran's mosque in Valby in 1994. Baig was translating a speech held in Urdu by a guest imam from Pakistan to Danish.[7]

Minhaj-ul-Quran Norway

Having established in Copenhagen during the late 1980s, Tahir-ul-Qadri's cassettes and videotapes started spreading throughout much of the Pakistani diaspora community in Norway. In 1990 the Norwegian branch of the Minhaj-ul-Quran International organization was founded in Oslo in 1990. It was started out by 20-30 people renting two small rooms in Tøyengata at Tøyen in central Oslo. Its number of memberships quickly increased.[8] In February 1999 a department of Minhaj-ul-Quran was founded in Stavanger. In 2006 the Oslo department had close to 4000 members, and was the third largest mosque in Oslo after Central Jamaat-e Ahl-e Sunnat and World Islamic Mission.[9] Drammen Moské, founded in 1987, was affiliated with Minhaj-ul-Quran for some time, but chose to cut their ties.[10]

MQI has various community related projects which are supported by the Norwegian Government.[11] One of the main projects is the Minhaj Conflict Resolution or Minhaj Konfliktråd (MKR).[12]

The MQI mosque took part in distributing 10,000 copies of the Quran in Norway. The decision came after an extreme right wing tried to burn a copy of the holy book.[13]

Minhaj-ul-Quran India
Main article: Minhaj-ul-Quran India

MQI India organised a tour of it's Pakistani-Canadian founder Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri who visited India upon the request of Indian Muslims. The schedule of his visit was from 25th February to 17th March 2012. He addresses a historical gathering of Minhaj-ul-Quran International in Ajmer Sharif India.[14] He attended the World Sufi Forum.[15] The Indian government red flagged his comments that "Kashmiris should be able to choose freedom through a plebiscite" and blocked his visa for his planned visit in 2020.[16]

Minhaj-ul-Quran USA

The MQI mosque in New Jersey is part of the Eid Committee which ensures that Muslims in different parts of the country can pray together at the same time.[17]

Minhaj-ul-Quran Australia

The NSW Australian Parliament passed a motion in which Minhaj-ul-Quran Australia was congratuled on their services to the Australian Muslim Community.[18]

Achievements

Minhaj-ul-Quran holds one of the largest annual Itikaf gatherings during the month of Ramadan with approximately 37,000 people sitting congregational Itikaf in 2007. It holds the largest Laylat ul Qadr night event on the 27th Ramadan with millions of attendees.[19][20]

On 3 December 2005 Minhaj-ul-Quran established a full-time institution called Gosha-e-Durood where any individual can apply to sit for reciting salutations on Muhammad. A building dedicated to this purpose with Mawlana Rumi style minarets is under construction.[21]

Minhaj-ul-Quran International is the first organisation of its kind that has initiated interfaith dialogues with religious minorities in Pakistan. Its founder is the Chairman of the 'Muslim Christian Dialogue Forum' to highlight and promote their citizen rights.[22][23][24]

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has formally recognised and granted a 'Special Consultative Status' to Minhaj-ul-Quran International for its work.[25]

In September 2011, Minhaj-ul-Quran organised a major "Peace for Humanity" conference at Wembley Arena in London at which, under the auspices of Tahir-ul-Qadri, its 12,000 attendees announced a global declaration denouncing racism, interfaith intolerance, extremism and terrorism.[26] Minhaj-ul-Quran strategist Joel Hayward[27] wrote the declaration text for Qadri[28] and was its second formal signatory after Qadri himself. Notably, senior Al-Azhar University leaders and dignitaries then signed it before Minhaj-ul-Quran opened it up via the internet for public signing.[29] They aim to get one million signatures within a year.[26] The London Declaration for Global Peace and Resistance against Extremism is intended as an interfaith document which unequivocally condemns all extremism and terrorism, "because at the heart of all religions is a belief in the sanctity of the lives of the innocent".[30] The Declaration adds: "The indiscriminate nature of terrorism, which has in recent years killed far more civilians and other non-combatants than it has combatants, is un-Islamic, un-Judaic, un-Christian and it is indeed incompatible with the true teachings of all faiths".[31] The London Declaration also "unequivocally condemn[s] anti-Semitism (including when sometimes it is disingenuously clothed as anti-Zionism), Islamophobia (including when it is sometimes disingenuously dressed up as patriotism) and all other forms of racism and xenophobia".[31] Some extremists have already tried to prevent the success of the Declaration via cyber-attacks on the website hosting it.[32]

Tahir-ul Qadri announced the largest March in modern times in Pakistan; a march to take place on 14 Jan 2013 at 'Tahrir Square' Islamabad. The agenda of long march is to voice elimination of feudalism, introduction of real democracy, rule of law and implementation of constitution.[33]

Forums and sub-organisations

References
  1. Gannon, Kathy (01.05.2020). "Report gives Pakistan failing grade on human rights". ABC News. Retrieved 05.02.21. Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  2. "2 Pakistani women allegedly killed by relatives for kiss seen in online video". CBS News. 19.05.2020. Retrieved 05.02.21. Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  3. "Model Town violence: Lahore court orders FIR against PM, Punjab CM". The Express Tribune. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  4. "Muslim peace conference condemns terrorism". BBC News. 25 September 2011.
  5. "Jewish and Muslim students make challah for the homeless". Jewish News. 08.05.2018. Retrieved 04.02.21. Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  6. "Minhaj og de radikale" [Minhaj and the radicals] (in Danish). Danmarks Radio. 2001.
  7. Puk Damsgård Andersen (22 July 2006). "Afsløret på video: Imam opfordrede til drab" [Revealed on video: Imam called for murder] (in Danish). Jyllands-Posten.
  8. Kari Vogt (2008). Islam på norsk: Moskeer og islamske organisasjoner i Norge [Islam in Norwegian: Mosques and Islamic organizations in Norway] (in Norwegian). Norway: Cappelen Damm. p. 76,77. ISBN 9788202293468.
  9. "Moskeer i Oslo" [Mosques in Oslo] (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. 11 March 2006.
  10. Hege Storhaug (31 October 2018). "Nesten hver 10. borger i Drammen er medlem av moské" [Almost one out of every ten citizens in Drammen is member of a mosque] (in Norwegian). Human Rights Service.
  11. "Minhaj-ul-Quran Norway". Archived from the original on 11 July 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  12. "Minhaj Konfliktråd (MKR).<". Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  13. Altuntas, Atila (5 December 2019). "Norway to distribute 10,000 Qurans to fight racism". Anadolu Agency.
  15. "At Sufi meet, PM Modi touches hearts of Muslims; says Allah has 99 names and none of them stands for violence". DNA India. Retrieved 04.02.21. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  16. Singh, Vigaita (11.02.2019). "Pakistan cleric's remarks on Kashmir red-flagged". The Hindu. Retrieved 03.02.21. Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  17. Adely, Hannan. "North Jersey Muslims gather to celebrate Eid al-Adha with prayer". North Jersey News and Information. Retrieved 03.02.21. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  18. Paper 26 - 4 August 2011 S .docx "Legislative Council Notice Paper No. 26" Check |url= value (help). Parliament of New South Wales. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  19. About Cordoba Schools October 2019}}
  20. Around 50,000 to take part in Aitkaf at Minhajul Quran Archived 1 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  21. About Gosha-e-Darood
  22. Minhaj-ul-Quran International holds demonstration to protest the killing of Shahbaz Bhatti
  23. Minhaj-ul-Quran International wishes Christian community a Happy Christmas
  24. MQI celebrates Minorities Day at Sikh Gurdwara Dera Sahib Lahore
  25. United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
  26. "Thousands of Muslims Rally against Extremism in London", The Times of India, 24 September 2011
  27. Urdu statement
  28. Joel Hayward’s Books and Articles: London Declaration Archived 11 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  29. "Sign The Declaration". Archived from the original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  30. "منصة التدريبات العقلية". Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  31. "London Declaration for Global Peace and Resistance against Extremism". Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  32. Extremists block Muslim website just hours after it appears online, Metro, 26 September 2011
  33. "Tahirul Qadri's entry in political arena". Pak Tribune. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
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