Khadim Hussain Rizvi ( ur, ; 22 May 1966 – 19 November 2020) was a Pakistani Islamic author and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a political-religious organization founded in 2015, known to protest against any change to Pakistan's blasphemy law. Fluent in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Punjabi, Arabic and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, he was known for his speeches in the defense of the Islamic prophet,

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

, and apart from the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

and

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

, for heavily quoting the poetry of Imam

Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi Ahmed Raza Khan, commonly known as Aala Hazrat, Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, or Ahmed Rida Khan in Arabic, (14 June 1856 CE or 10 Shawwal 1272 AH – 28 October 1921 CE or 25 Safar 1340 AH), was an Islamic scholar, jurist, mufti, philosopher ...

and

Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

, whom he considered to be his main influences.

Early life

Khadim Hussain Rizvi was born in 1966, into a Punjabi Awan family in Pindi Gheb,

Attock District Attock District (Urdu and pnb, ) is a district in Pothohar Plateau of the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Its capital is Attock city. The district was created in April 1904 by the merging of tehsils of nearby districts. Its former name was Ca ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprisin ...

. His brother, Ameer Hussain, is a retired Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) from

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

. He started hafiz class in

Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for pr ...

. Further, he took admission in Jamia Nizamia, Lahore. He is a Hafiz-e-Quran and

Sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

-ul-

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

. He delivered Friday sermons at Lahore's Pir Makki Masjid while in the Punjab Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department. He has been a wheelchair user since 2009 ever since an accident near

Gujranwala Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisal ...

as the driver of his vehicle fell asleep while driving from

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. In 2017, he founded a political party called

Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (; TLP) is a far-right Islamic extremist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Khadim Hussain Rizvi in August 2015. It became the fifth largest party at the 2018 Pakistani general election, but fail ...

(TLP), a political front for Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYP). TLP came into existence after the hanging of

Mumtaz Qadri Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri (1985 – 29 February 2016), better known as Mumtaz Qadri (, ur, ), was the assassin of Salmaan Taseer, Governor of Punjab. Qadri was a commando of the Elite Police and, at the time of the assassination, a member ...

, who assassinated

Salmaan Taseer Salman Taseer ( Punjabi and ur, ); ( 4 January 2011) was a Pakistani businessman and politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011. A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party since the 1980s, h ...

, the Governor of Punjab, for opposing the

blasphemy laws A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, which is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Research Center, about ...

and subsequently rose to fame. During the assassination of the Governor, Rizvi was serving as an auqaf official in the Punjab government. Rizvi had justified the assassination on the pretext that Taseer had termed the

blasphemy law A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, which is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Research Center, about ...

as a "black law". He was served warning notices to cease and desist from spreading his views in favour of blasphemy laws but his refusal to do so led to his removal from public service. After his removal, Rizvi had more opportunity to preach his views. He travelled across the country to build support for Section 295-C of the

Pakistan Penal Code The Pakistan Penal Code (; ), abbreviated as PPC, is a penal code for all offences charged in Pakistan. It was originally prepared by Lord Macaulay with a great consultation in 1860 on the behalf of the Government of India as the Indian Penal ...

, which deals with blasphemy committed against

. He also spoke out for the release of Mumtaz Qadri; his persistent advocacy earned him the nickname of "blasphemy activist" in religious circles. Rizvi was criticized for being preoccupied with blasphemy accusations while ignoring alleged sexual abuse in Pakistani madrassas.

Controversies

2017 Faizabad sit-in

On 6 November 2017, Rizvi organized a long march from

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

to press for the resignation of the Law Minister Mr. Zahid Hamid who belongs to PML(N) regarding an alleged ill-motive change and favouring Ahmadis, in bill of "2017 Election of Pakistan". Rizvi soon began receiving support from public, other religious political parties and other segments of society, making way for mushroom growth of protests nationwide. The general public took the same demand of resignation of the Law Minister to the streets. Thereafter, total shutdown began, and the government ultimately responded with a forced shutdown of all news channels, followed by blocking social media networks, to contain the situation and the flow of information. This created mayhem and confusion in the cities of Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore along with some others in Punjab. Finally, by late evening the army chief intervened and asked "both sides" to show restraint.

2018 Asia Bibi protests

On 31 October 2018, after eight years of detention and conviction by all the lower courts, a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy, was found innocent in a landmark Supreme Court verdict. The final judgment said that one of Bibi's accusers violated the

Ashtiname of Muhammad The ''Ashtiname'' of Muhammad, also known as the Covenant or Testament (''Testamentum'') of Muhammad, is a document which is a charter or writ written by Ali and ratified by Muhammad granting protection and other privileges to the followers of ...

, a "covenant made by Prophet Muhammad with Christians in the seventh century but still valid today". Justice

Asif Saeed Khosa Asif Saeed Khan Khosa ( ur, ; born 21 December 1954) is a Pakistani jurist who served as the 26th Chief Justice of Pakistan from 18 January 2019 to 20 December 2019. He joined the Supreme Court as a judge on 18 February 2010 and prior to that se ...

ruled that the two women who made accusations against Asia Bibi "had no regard for the truth" and that the claim that she blasphemed Muhammad in public was a "concoction incarnate". The Supreme Court of Pakistan's ruling cited "material contradictions and inconsistent statements of the witnesses" that "cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution's version of facts." This prompted the TLP, under the leadership of Rizvi to initiate demonstrations in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan. Clashes with police were reported. A leader of TLP, Muhammad Afzal Qadri, said all three Supreme Court judges "deserve to be killed". The Red Zone in the capital, Islamabad, where the Supreme Court is located, was sealed off by the police. In public speeches, Rizvi demanded that Asia should be subjected to the punishment for blasphemy under Pakistan's penal code. He was quoted as saying, "Our sit-in will go on until the government accepts our demand" denying reports that the sit-in would soon be over. He would later be arrested on 23 November 2018 along with other TLP leaders and then subsequently released on bail in May 2019

Murder of professors

In March 2019, a third year student at Bahawalpur's Government Sadiq Egerton College, Khateeb Hussain, stabbed associate professor Khalid Hameed in a fatal encounter. Khateeb Hussain was in contact with Zafar Gillani, a lawyer and senior member of the TLP prior to the murder, and obtained approval for the act over

Tinder Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...

. The supposed motive for the killing was blasphemous and insulting rhetoric towards Islam. In 2018, Sareer Ahmed, the principal of Islamia College in

Charsadda Chārsadda ( ps, چارسده; ; ur, ; ) is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

, was murdered by a 17-year-old student whom he had reprimanded for missing a number of classes. The student accused the professor of engaging in "blasphemy" for reprimanding him for skipping class to attend rallies held by the TLP. Both students stated that they were inspired by Rizvi.

2020 Zindagi Tamasha controversy

In 2020, Rizvi promoted protests on the release of the Pakistani film '' Zindagi Tamasha''. He accused film-maker

Sarmad Khoosat Sarmad Sultan Khoosat (born May 7, 1979) is a Pakistani actor, film/ TV director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing the super-hit TV dramas ''Humsafar'' and '' Shehr-e-Zaat''. He is considered to be one of the best South Asian ...

of blasphemy. The material he alleged to be blasphemous includes criticism of

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

and an alleged reference to

bacha bazi ''Bacha bāzī'' ( fa, بچه بازی, lit. "boy play"; from ''bacheh'', "boy", and ''bazi'' "play, game") is a slang term used in Afghanistan for a custom in Afghanistan involving child sexual abuse by older men of young adolescent males or b ...

. Pakistani author Mohammed Hanif, who had seen both the censored and uncensored versions of the film, denied that any criticism of ulama was contained in the movie.

Death

On 19 November 2020, Rizvi was taken to the Farooq Hospital in Allama Iqbal Town area of

after collapsing. Upon reaching the hospital, he was pronounced

dead on arrival Dead on Scene ('' 'DOS' '') Found dead before first responders get on scene and no medical treatment was given. Dead on arrival (DOA), also dead in the field and brought in dead (BID), are terms which indicate that a patient was found to be ...

. He was later taken to

Shaikh Zayed Hospital Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore ( ur, ) is a tertiary care Hospital located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is attached with Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Medical and Dental College as a teaching hospital and is part of Shaikh Zayed Medical ...

, where he was declared dead at 8:48 pm. He had been ill for a few days and had been a wheelchair user for some time. Rizvi's son Saad Hussain Rizvi said that his father had started breathing again for five minutes after being declared dead, but stopped breathing again and finally died. The funeral prayers were held at the

Minar-e-Pakistan Minar E Pakistan ( ur, , literally "Tower of Pakistan") is a tower located in Lahore, Pakistan. The tower was built between 1960 and 1968 on the site where the All-India Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution (which was later called the P ...

and were led by Saad. Rizvi was later buried inside Madrassah Abuzar Ghaffari, associated with Rehmatul Lil Alameen mosque. A local official estimated that nearly 200,000 people attended the event. Rizvi was suffering from fever and breathing problems before his death, but no COVID-19 or autopsy tests were conducted. Saad was appointed as the new ameer of TLP on 21 November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizvi, Khadim Hussain 1966 births 2020 deaths Pakistani Muslims Pakistani Islamists Awan Pakistani Sunni Muslims Pakistani Muslim activists Pakistani political party founders Barelvis Critics of Ahmadiyya Pakistani people with disabilities People from Attock District Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan politicians Pakistani prisoners and detainees Pakistani far-right politicians Pakistani YouTubers People from Pindigheb