pat.com.pk Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (Urdu: محمد طاہر القادری‎; born 19 February 1951) is a Pakistani–Canadian Islamic scholar and former politician who founded Minhaj-ul-Quran International and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

Additionally, he has worked as a specialist adviser on Islamic curricula for the Federal Ministry of Education of Pakistan[5][6] and is the founding chairman of several sub-organizations of Minhaj-ul-Quran International.

[5] Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri was born on 19 February 1951 in Jhang, a city in Punjab, Pakistan,[12] into a Punjabi Muslim family with a strong scholarly and spiritual heritage.

[13][14][15] His father, Dr. Farid-ud-Din Qadri, was a respected physician, Sufi poet, and religious scholar who emphasized both secular and Islamic education for his son.

At 12, he traveled to Medina, Saudi Arabia, to enroll at Madrasa al-‘Ulum ash-Shar‘iyya, situated in the historic residence of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad.

[23][24] He learned under Mawlana Ziauddin Madani (d. 1981, aged 107) and studied Hadith from Muhaddith al-Hijaz al-Sayyid ‘Alawi ibn ‘Abbas al-Maliki al-Makki (d. 1971).

He earned a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1974, followed by a Master of Arts (MA) in Islamic Studies in 1972, where he received the university’s Gold Medal for academic excellence.

[31][32][6] Qadri’s intellectual development was shaped by his father’s Sufi teachings and his studies under scholars like Tahir Allauddin Al-Qadri Al-Gillani[5][33] and Maulana Zia-ud-Din Madani.

However, on 29 November 2004, Qadri announced his resignation from the National Assembly of Pakistan in protest of the counter-terrorism policies of then-President Pervez Musharraf, whom he viewed as dictatorial.

"[40] After four days of sit-in, the Government and Qadri signed an agreement called the Islamabad Long March Declaration, which promised electoral reforms and increased political transparency.

[41] Critics have alleged that the protests were a ploy by the Pakistan Armed Forces to delay elections and undermine the influence of the civilian government.

They have pointed to Qadri's close ties to the military, dual nationality, and questionable foreign and Pakistani sources of funding as evidence to support their claims.

[48] The Baqir Najfi inquiry found that police actively participated in the massacre to remove barriers that were installed on orders of the High Court.

[60][61][62] In August 2010, Qadri held an anti-terrorism camp for Muslim youth at the University of Warwick with the aim of tackling extremism in the UK.

[70] The standoff lasted for almost 11 hours when the police's anti-encroachment squad launched an operation to remove the barriers from the road leading to the offices of Minhaj-ul-Quran and the residence of PAT founder Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri in Model Town, Lahore.

[73][74] Qadri and his party observed Youm-e-Shuhada (Day of Martyrs) at 9 August 2014 in Tehreek-e-Minhaj ul Quran secretariat in Model Town.

After the gathering of People, He assured his supporters and the government that the rally on 10 August would be peaceful while requesting his followers to bring their prayer mats for recitation of the Quran.

[77][78] In July 2011, he gave a lecture on the issues of terrorism and integration at the Parliament of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia where he was invited by the member of the NSW Legislative Council, Shaoquett Moselmane MLC.

This conference was endorsed by, or received supportive messages from, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), David Cameron (British Prime Minister), Nick Clegg (British Deputy Prime Minister), Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury) and others.

[82] [84] Qadri also urged the Pakistani and Indian governments to reduce their defence expenditures and instead spend money on the welfare of poor people.

[93] Before it had been released, Douglas Murray described the Fatwa on Terrorism, in an article in the Evening Standard, as "potentially important", although he said "A single-fatwa will not change the level of denial and self criticism inherent in so much of modern Islam".

[94] ITV news channel questioned the credibility of the fatwa and asks if it was not by the British government because senior counter-terrorism officials from Scotland Yard and MI5 were present at the launch.

[99][100] Think Magazine (World Religions) cited Dr. Tahir ul Qadri as providing a competing vision of Islam against that of Osama Bin Laden.

[102][103] He has authored 1000 works[104] out of which 550 are published books, including an "eight-volume, 7,000-page Qur’anic Encyclopaedia in English covering all 6,000-plus verses of the Koran.

[104] His works include: Tahir Qadri has faced criticism from Islamic scholars and organizations for his unconventional views, such as celebration of Christmas.