8/3/2019 Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi

1/2

Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi

Dr. Ghazis father, Mr. Muhammad Ahmad migrated from india to karachi in 1954, seven years after the creation of Pakistan. At Karachi, Ghazi attended Binnauri Town madrassa. Subsequently when his father shifted to Islamabad, Ghazi joined Madd

rasa Talimul Quran in Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi. In 1969 he qualified Maulvi Fazal,and then did his M.A. in Islamiat. It seems that he received little education in liberal and secular disciplines. In his youth, he had close contacts with Jamaat Islami

s student wing, the Islamee Jamiat Talaba and also with Tehrik Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, another politico-religious party. He and his brother, MuhammadGazali, were both anti-shia activists and were helped financially by tribal chiefs of Dera Ismail khan.

Thereafter, Ghazi took up the anti-ahmadiyya cause also, and proceeded support to Maulvis Ghulam Haider and Abdulla of Islamabadn in anti-Shia and Khatame Nabuwwat issues. Moulvi Ghulam Haider was later caught for his moral perversions, while Abdullah met a violent death. When Mulla Chinioti, the notorious MPA (Member

Provincial Assembly) of the defunct Punjab Assembly, gained influence at Islamabad, he developed friendly relations with Mr. Ghazi. However, the friendship didnot last long.

General Ziaul Haque developed a liking for Ghazi and appointed him his Arabic interpreter. The new situation helped Ghazi promote his career and ideas. In 1984he was member of a committee that recommended imposition of Death punishment forapostasy in Pakistan. In an article in the monthly Fikro Nazar (Vol: 1:20 Sr: 9/10) he recommended that an Ombudsman should force people to offer Juma prayersunder compulsion, and punish those who deviate from the standard form of prayers. Ghazi once wrote a thesis for his doctorate on Islamic Role of Shah Waliullah. One of the written comments on his thesis was: The author has tried to promote violence among sects. The thesis is an intellectual crime. The man is heartless. Acc

ording to Abu Nasr, an Iranian research scholar, the thesis sanctioned genocide.Ghazi was not awarded a Ph.D. He, however, got it later on.

Dr. Ghazi traveled as far as South Africa a few years ago to present himself ina case in which two Sunni ulema were interlocked in a legal battle in a disputein which Ahmadiyyat was an important factor. Dr. Ghazi, appeared before the Supreme Court of South Africa (Cape of Good Hope, Provincial Division) as an expertwitness. Some comments of the Supreme Court on the personality and roll of Dr. Ghazi are taken from its Decision on case No. 1438/86 - Muhammad Abbas Jaseem VSSheikh Nazim Muhammad etc. - dated 23 February, 1990 and are produced below:

Professor Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi comes from Pakistan. His CV Exhibit 291, looks impr

essive. He was either a child prodigy or standards are lower in Pakistan than inthe Western world. Since according to Exhibit 291 he acquired the equivalent ofan MA degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the age of 16 and had been teaching and lecturing on and off since the age of 17... A good deal of what he said was oratory rather than evidence.He concedes that he has strong anti-Ahmedi feelings - a concession it was necessary to extract from him since he seldom missed an opportunity of running Mirza down...How much of Dr. Ghazi

s evidence was intended for the court and how much for theaudience in court, invited by him to attend, is difficult to judge...His evidence was often illogical, inferences unjustified. Indeed, he appears to be more interested in the political than the spiritual aspect of Islam.Ghazi has dual standards for apostasy and almost everything else, one for Mirza a

nd one for others.Ghazi concedes that logic and wisdom may take second place or apparently have nopart at all in interpreting the Quran by a most unscientific exercise he refers

8/3/2019 Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi

2/2

to as the science of Tafsir.What follows (page 2831) reveals Ghazi a confused thinker, dictatorial and payingbut lip service to the statement that Muslims are not expected to be slavish.Dr. Ghazi knows the art of political survival. During the tenure of Benazir Bhutto, Ghai used to write presentations for her political ally, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman of JUI. She appointed him member of the Islamic Ideology Council. Nawaz Sharif appointed him judge of the Shariat Appellate Court. Recently, Dr. Ghazi was a

ctive against Mr. Meraj Khalid, the liberal and tolerant rector of InternationalIslamic University, Islamabad. The new Government has appointed him Member of the National Security Council for being a

non controversial figure in the fieldof religion

. Interesting!