1. Israr Ahmed developed a following in Pakistan and the rest of South Asia but among some South Asian Muslims in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America.
26 Facts About Israr Ahmed
1. 2.
Israr Ahmed has written around 60 books in Urdu on Islam and Pakistan, of which twenty nine have been translated into several other languages, including in English, as of 2017.
3.
Israr Ahmed was known for his belief that Pakistan, not Arab lands, should be the foundation for a new caliphate, that democratic governance was un-islamic.
4.
Israr Ahmed was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the third-highest civilian award of Pakistan, in 1981.
5.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad was born on 26 April 1932 into a Ranghar Muslim Rajput family in Hisar, Punjab.
6.
Israr Ahmed's father was a civil servant in the British government who relocated his family from Hisar to Montgomery, now Sahiwal, Punjab Province of Pakistan.
7.
Israr Ahmed received his MBBS degree from King Edward Medical University in 1954 and began practising medicine.
8.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad worked briefly for Muslim Student's Federation in the Independence Movement and, following the creation of Pakistan in 1947, for the Islami Jami`yat-e-Talaba and then in 1950 joined Jamaat-e-Islami led by Abul Ala Maududi.
9.
Israr Ahmed left the party when the latter opted for participating in electoral politics in 1957 in the belief that involvement in national politics was irreconcilable with the revolutionary methodology adopted by the Jama'at in the pre-1947 period.
10.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad worked closely with Syed Abul A'la Maududi and Amin Ahsan Islahi,.
11.
Israr Ahmed has acknowledged the "deep influence" of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, the 18th century Indian Islamic leader, anti-colonial activist, jurist, and scholar.
12.
In 1971 Israr Ahmed Ahmad gave up his medical practice to "launch a movement for the revival of Islam".
13.
Israr Ahmed is thought to have been instrumental in bringing changes to Pakistan TV during that time eliminating Western dress for women and requiring hijab.
14.
Israr Ahmed later refused to appear on TV after segments of his program calling for a ban on televising cricket matches were censored, but by then had developed a large following in Pakistan.
15.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad has authored over 60 books in Urdu on topics related to Islam and Pakistan, nine of which have been translated into English and other languages.
16.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad opposed modern democracy and the prevalent electoral system, arguing that in a true Islamic state the ruler has the power to overturn the majority decisions of an elected assembly.
17.
Scholar Vali Nasr argues that in the 1980s Israr Ahmed Ahmad became part of Saudi Arabia's anti-Shiite campaign, particularly his "popular Friday sermons in Bagh-i Jinnah park in Lahore".
18.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad maintained that only men should be allowed to watch cricket matches.
19.
Israr Ahmed later complained that bowlers were rubbing the cricket ball suggestively on their bodies.
20.
Israr Ahmed would include comments on the "Jew World Order", descriptions of "Jews as 'cursed people' or 'cursed race' who had conspired against Muslims for centuries", and were 'followers of Satan, intent on destroying Islam'.
21.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad opposed the 2007 Pakistani state of emergency and in a televised press conference called for the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf.
22.
Israr Ahmed Ahmad relinquished the leadership of Tanzeem-e-Islami in October 2002 because of bad health.
23.
Israr Ahmed had appointed Hafiz Akif Saeed the Emir of the Tanzeem to whom all rufaqaa of Tanzeem renewed their pledge of Baiyah.
24.
Israr Ahmed had given up the leadership of Tanzeem-i-Islami in 2002 due to poor health.
25.
Israr Ahmed's survivors included a wife, four sons and five daughters.
26.
Israr Ahmed spent almost four decades in trying to reawaken interest in Quran-based Islamic philosophy.