AmitNeogi at 22:04, 28 April 2026

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{{Short description|Former Muslim organisation in the Indian subcontinent}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=December 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
| formation = {{start date and age|df=yes|p=y|1929|12|29}}
| native_name = {{lang|ur|مجلسِ احرارِ اسلام}}
| native_name_lang = ur
| logo = Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Logo.png
| image = Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Flag.svg
| caption = Flag of Majlis-e-Ahrar
| founder = [[Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari]] [[Dawood Ghaznavi]]
| type = [[Religious organisation]]
| purpose = [[Khatam an-Nabiyyin|Finality of Prophethood]] [[Rule of law|Hukumat-e Ilahiyya]] [[Pakistani nationalism]]
| headquarters = Ahrar Central Secretariat. 69-C, New Muslim Town, Wahdat Road, [[Lahore]], Pakistan
| secretary_general = Abdul Latif Khalid Cheema<ref name="thenews"> {{cite news|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/amp/653367-ministry-lauded-for-summary-on-proposed-minorities-commission|title=Ministry lauded for summary on proposed minorities' commission|date=3 May 2020|access-date=24 August 2021|work=The News International (newspaper)}}</ref>
| leader_title = President
| leader_name = Syed Muhammad Kafeel Bukhari<ref name="jasarat">{{cite news|url=https://www.jasarat.com/2021/02/26/210226-11-18/|publisher=Daily Jasarat (newspaper)|language=ur|title=سید محمد کفیل بخاری مجلس احرار اسلام کے قائم مقام مرکزی امیر منتخب|date=26 February 2021|access-date=12 April 2021|archive-date=13 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231113135823/https://www.jasarat.com/2021/02/26/210226-11-18/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| leader_title2 = Central & Senior Vice-President
| leader_name2 = Professor Khalid Shabbir Ahmad Malik Muhammad Yousuf
| leader_title3 = Central preacher
| leader_name3 = Maulana Muhammad Mugheera
| leader_title4 = Central Information Secretary
| leader_name4 = Dr. Umar Farooq Ahrar
| affiliations = Tehreek-e Talaba-e-Islam Ahrar Students Federation (ASF)
| website = {{URL|http://ahrarindia.com/}} {{URL|http://www.ahrar.org.pk}}
}}
{{Deobandi}}

'''Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam''' ({{langx|ur|مجلسِ احرارِ اسلام}}), also known simply as the '''Ahrar''', is a religious Muslim organisation in the [[Indian subcontinent]] that was formed during the [[British Raj]] (prior to the [[Partition of India]]) on 29 December 1929 at [[Lahore]].<ref name="MilliGazette">{{cite web|url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/3252-ahrar-a-chapter-in-indian-muslim-history |title=Ahrar: a chapter in Indian Muslim history|date=14 February 2012|work=The Milli Gazette|access-date=16 December 2018}}</ref>

The group became composed of Indian Muslims inspired by and supporting the [[Khilafat Movement]], which cleaved closer to the [[Indian National Congress|Congress Party]].<ref name="jaf"/> The organisation was based in [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]] and gathered support from the urban lower-middle class. [[Chaudhry Afzal Haq]], [[Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi]], [[Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari]] [[Muhammad Ali Jalandhari]] were the leaders of the organisation.<ref name="books.google.com">Ahmad, Syed N. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=wzm36rEol3sC Origins of Muslim consciousness in India: a world-system perspective]''. New York u.a: Greenwood Press, 1991. p. 175</ref>

Religious leaders from all sects [[Barelvi]], [[Deobandi]], [[Ahle Hadith]], [[Shia]] [[Progressivism|Progressive]] and politically [[Communists]] were the members of Majlis-e-Ahrar. [[Chaudhry Afzal Haq]], [[Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari]], [[Muhammad Ali Jalandhari]], [[Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi]], [[Mazhar Ali Azhar]], [[Zafar Ali Khan]] and [[Dawood Ghaznavi]] were the founders of the organisation.<ref name="books.google.com"/> The Ahrar was composed of Indian Muslims disillusioned by the [[Khilafat Movement]], which cleaved closer to the [[Indian National Congress|Congress Party]].<ref name="jaf">Christophe Jaffrelot. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9sI_Y2CKAcC&q=militia&pg=PA243 A history of Pakistan and its origins]''. Anthem Press, 2004. {{ISBN|1-84331-149-6}}, {{ISBN|978-1-84331-149-2}}</ref>

The organisation, being a member of the [[All India Azad Muslim Conference]], is associated with [[Opposition to the partition of India|opposition]] to [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]] and establishment of an independent Pakistan.<ref name="Ali2017"/><ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/> [[Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah]] was the only ahrari leader who actively participated in the Pakistan independence movement.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

After 1947, it separated into the '''Majlis-e-Ahrar Islam Hind''' ({{lang|ur|مجلس احرارلأسلام ہند}}), based in [[Ludhiana]] and led by descendants of [[Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi]], as well as the '''Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam''' ({{lang|ur|مجلس احرارلأسلام اسلام}}), based in [[Lahore]] and led by descendants of [[Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari]].{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

==History and activities==
===Ideology and philosophy===
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam or simply called 'Ahrars' had an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and Indian nationalist ideology. It worked to free India from the British rule. This party, before fading away, was highly active in [[Punjab Province (British India)]] and left an impact on major cities of Punjab like [[Amritsar]], [[Lahore]], [[Sialkot]], [[Multan]], [[Ludhiana]] and [[Gurdaspur]].<ref name=MilliGazette/>

The Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam,<ref>Samina Awan, ''Political islam in colonial Punjab Majlis-e-Ahrar 1929–1949'', P.153, Politics of Islamic symbolism, The MAI: Politics of Personalities, Oxford University Press</ref> was originally part of the failed [[Khilafat movement]] and emerged as a religio-political party after the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] of 1919 and the disintegration of the Khilafat movement in 1922.<ref name=MilliGazette/>

[[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 first line offending party against [[Ahmadi Muslim]]s by declaring 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.<ref>Samina Awan, Political Islam in colonial Punjab Majlis-e-Ahrar 1929–1949, P.27, Politics of Islamic symbolism, The MAI: Politics of Personalities, Oxford University Press</ref>

By the early 1930s, the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (hereafter called Ahrars) 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 and 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.<ref>Samina Awan, ''Political Islam in colonial Punjab Majlis-e-Ahrar 1929–1949'', P.67, Politics of Islamic symbolism, The MAI: Politics of Personalities, Oxford University Press</ref>

The Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam [[Opposition to the partition of India|stood strongly against the partition of India]], with its leader Afzal Haq stating that the "Partition of India is, in fact, the cry of upper classes …. It is not a communal demand as some people think but a stunt in order that the poor classes may not concentrate their thought and energies on all important questions of social and economic justice."<ref name="Ali2017">{{cite web |last1=Ali |first1=Afsar |title=Partition of India and Patriotism of Indian Muslims |url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/15756-partition-of-india-and-patriotism-of-indian-muslims |work=[[The Milli Gazette]] |date=17 July 2017}}</ref> It was a member of the [[All India Azad Muslim Conference]], which gathered to show support for a united India.<ref name="QasmiRobb2017">{{cite book |last1=Qasmi |first1=Ali Usman |last2=Robb |first2=Megan Eaton |title=Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108621236 |page=2 }}</ref>

=== Activism in Pakistan ===
Syed Muhammad Kafeel Bukhari is present President Of Majlis Ahrar Islam Pakistan.
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]].{{cn|date=October 2024}}
In Pakistan, the party opposed the [[Ahmadiyya Movement]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/archive/6620371/pakistan-the-mad-mullahs/|title=PAKISTAN: The Mad Mullahs|date=30 March 1953|website=TIME}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Kalim | last=Bahadur | title=Democracy in Pakistan: crises and conflicts | page=176 | publisher=Har Anand Publications | year=1998}}</ref><ref>[https://herald.dawn.com/news/1398687 The early champions of anti-Ahmadi cause] Herald (Dawn Group of Newspapers), Published 3 November 2018, Retrieved 19 December 2018</ref> This culminated in the [[1953 Lahore riots]]; in 1954, Majlis-e-Ahrar was banned. The associated Islamist religious movement Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat remains.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

==List of organisation leaders==
*[[Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari]], founder, 1st president<ref name="ReferenceA">Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam, History, Introduction, Achievements, published from Multan edited by Syed Kafeel Bukhari editor of Naqeeb-e-Khatme Nabuwwat</ref>
*[[Chaudhry Afzal Haq]], co-founder, 2nd president, [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]], 1934–1942
*[[Mazhar Ali Azhar]], co-founder, secretary General, [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]], 1934–1942
*[[Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi]], third President, 1942–1944
* Syed Muhammad Kafeel Bukhari, President<ref name="jasarat"/>
* Professor Khalid Shabbir Ahmad, Vice president<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* Abdul Latif Khalid Cheema,<ref name="thenews"/> vice President.
* Muhammad Mughira General Secretary
* Dr Omar Farooq Ahrar, Secretary Information,
*[[Master Taj-ud-Din Ansari]]
*[[Sheikh Hissam-ud-Din]]
*[[Agha Shorish Kashmiri]]
*[[Janbaz Mirza]], official Ahrar historian

==Notable members and leaders==

===Presidents===
* [[Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari]], founder and first President, 1929–1930, 1946–1948
* [[Chaudhry Afzal Haq]], second President, 1931–1934 [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]]
* [[Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi]], third President, 1935–1939
* [[Sheikh Hissam-ud-Din]], 1939–1940, 1942–1946, 1962–1966
* [[Master Taj-ud-Din Ansari]], 1948–1952
* [[Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi]], 1958
* Ubaid Ullah Ahrar, 1966–1974
* [[Syed Abuzar Bukhari]], 1975–1978, 1993–1994
* Malik Abdul Ghafur Anwari, 1979–1980
* Mirza Muhammad Hassan Chughtai, 1981–1992
* Abdul Haq Chauhan, 1995–1997
* [[Syed Ata-ul-Mohsin Bukhari]], 1998–1999
* [[Syed Ata-ul-Muhaimin Bukhari]],<ref name="ReferenceA"/> President 1999–2021 president of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam, Pakistan<ref name=TNI>[https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/341559-khatm-e-nabuwwat-oath-religious-parties-flay-govt-for-challenging-verdict Khatm-e-Nabuwwat oath: Religious parties flay govt for challenging verdict] The News International (newspaper), Published 14 July 2018, Retrieved 19 December 2018</ref>
* Syed Muhammad Kafeel Bukhari, President 2021–present

===Secretaries general===
* [[Maulana Dawood Ghaznavi]], founder, 1st Secretary General, 1929–1932
* [[Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar]], founder, 2nd Secretary General, 1932–1933, 1933–1938, 1941–1945 [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]]
* [[Agha Shorish Kashmiri]], 1939–1940, 1945 secretary Ahrar Punjab
* [[Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan]], 1946–1947
* [[Sheikh Hissam-ud-Din]], 1948–1953
* [[Syed Abuzar Bukhari]], 1962–1963, 1965–1973
* [[Janbaz Mirza]], 1964–1965
* Chaudhry Sana Ullah Bhutta, 1973–1974
* [[Syed Ata-ul-Mohsin Bukhari]], 1975–1983, 1990–1995
* Abdul Aleem Raipuri Shaheed, 1984–1986
* Syed Ata-ul-Momin Bukhari, 1987–1989
* Ishaq Saleemi, 1990–1995
* Professor Khalid Shabbir Ahmad, 1998–2008
* Abdul Latif Khalid Cheema,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> 2008–2011, 2012–present<ref name=TNI/><ref name="thenews"/>

===Other===
* [[Janbaz Mirza]], journalist
* [[Muhammad Ismail Zabeeh]], Secretary, Punjab, 1937
* [[Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah]], scholar
* Haji Abdul Jabar Khan Abbottabad NWFP

== See also ==
* [[List of Deobandi organisations]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite journal |last1=موذنی |first1=علی محمد |last2=عالمی |first2=خدیه |last3=کاظمی پور |first3=محمد |date=2021|title=نقش ملس احرار اسلامی در نبش‌های ضدقادیانی در پناب (1929-1953م) |url=https://doi.org/10.22111/JSR.2020.36016.2118 |journal=مطالعات شبه قاره |volume=13 |issue=41 |doi=10.22111/JSR.2020.36016.2118}}
* {{citation |last=Copland |first=Ian |title=Islam and Political Mobilization in Kashmir, 1931-34 |journal=Pacific Affairs |volume=54 |number=2 |date=1981 |pages=228–259 |doi=10.2307/2757363 |jstor=2757363}}
* {{citation |last=Copland |first=Ian |title=State, Community and Neighbourhood in Princely India, c. 1900–1950 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2005 |isbn=0230005985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=squHDAAAQBAJ }}

{{Islam in South Asia}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Islamic organisations based in India]]
[[Category:Indian independence movement]]
[[Category:Sunni Islamic movements]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Punjab, India]]
[[Category:1930 establishments in India]]
[[Category:Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam]]
[[Category:Deobandi organisations]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1930]]
[[Category:Islamic organisations based in Pakistan]]

Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam - Revision history

AmitNeogi at 22:04, 28 April 2026