[15] His father, a doctor by profession, founded the first mosque in the area, while his mother is a microbiologist, both from Karachi in Pakistan and whose ancestral homeland is Uttar Pradesh in India.

[17] After a short stint working in engineering at Dow Chemical, in 1996 Qadhi enrolled at the Islamic University of Medinah in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

In 2006, at a conference at Harvard Law School, Qadhi presented a 15-minute analysis of the theological underpinnings of an early militant movement in modern Saudi Arabia headed by Juhayman al-Otaibi.

[27] In regards to religious liberties, Qadhi believes that Islamic teachings don't support or require that Muslim business owners discriminate or refuse service to LGBTQ individuals.

Nonetheless, Qadhi expresses concern that Islamic institutions may face issues if they speak in a vulgar manner and employ or fire employees that don't conform to conservative beliefs regarding sexual behaviors.

[15] In January 2010, the British The Daily Telegraph reported that in 2001 Qadhi had described the Holocaust as a hoax and false propaganda, and had said that "Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews.

[31] Qadhi added that he firmly believes "that the Holocaust was one of the worst crimes against humanity that the 20th century has witnessed" and that "the systematic dehumanization of the Jews in the public eye of the Germans was a necessary precursor" for that tragedy.

[31] More generally, he said that he "fell down a slippery slope", expressing anger at actions of the Israeli government in the form of anti-Semitic remarks he later recognized as wrong.

[16] In July 2010, Qadhi was selected to participate in an official delegation of eight U.S. imams and Jewish religious leaders to visit the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau.

[33][34] On June 8, 2020, Qadhi was interviewed by Muslim theologian Mohammed Hijab, where he was asked about the perfect preservation of the Qur'an, in light of different Qira'at and Ahruf.

"[35][36] His comments became fodder for Christian polemicists, becoming an Internet meme, and prompted negative reactions from Muslim scholars and proselytizers, leading Qadhi to private the video on his YouTube channel.

[37] In an April 2024 interview, Harvard University Islamic studies PhD candidate Javad T. Hashmi joked that he considered naming his lecture on the preservation of the Qur'an, as part of a course taught alongside New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman, "Holes in the Narrative," as a reference to Qadhi's controversial comments.