Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam

Source :    Date : 07-Mar-2017

 

Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam (also known in short as Ahrar, was a religious secular Liberal Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) founded December 29, 1929 at Lahore. Religious leaders from all sects Sunni Barelvi, Deobandi, Ahle Hadith, Shia Progressive and politically Communists were the members of Majlis-e-Ahrar. Chaudhry Afzal Haq, Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari, Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi, Mazhar Ali Azhar, Zafar Ali Khan and Dawood Ghaznavi were the founder's of the party. The Ahrar was composed of Indian Muslims by the Khilafat Movement, which cleaved closer to the Congress Party. The party was associated with opposition to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and establishment of an independent Pakistan as well as persecution of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam. This culminated in the 1953 Lahore riots; in 1954 Majlis-e-Ahrar was banned. The associated Islamist religious movement Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat remains.

 

The Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam, was originally part of the failed Khilafat movement. Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari presided over the meeting and Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar delivered the manifesto of an All India Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam.It became 1st line offending party against Ahmadi Muslims declared that their objectives were to guide the Muslims of India on matters of nationalism as well as religion. Ahrar spearheaded the movement to have Ahmadi Muslims officially declared as non-Muslims. By the early 1930s, the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (hereafter Ahrar's) had become an important political party of Muslims in the Punjab. The activists' agitation centered on the princely states, and was predicated on mobilisation around socio-religious issues. Besides these campaigns, the Ahrar also participated in the mainstream political developments of British India between 1931 to 1947. Its political career can be divided into two parts; the AHRAR’s response to political and constitutional issues, and its performance in electoral politics.

 

In November 2012, the Government of Pakistan banned Abdul Latif Khalid Cheema, leader of Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat and Secretary General of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam, from delivering a speech in the Chichawatni and district Sahiwal area due to the security situation in Muharram. The president of Majlis-e-Ahrar Syed Ata-ul-Muhaimin Bukhari also banned from delivering speech for three months in Multan.