Sahibzada Haji Muhammad Fazal Karim (1954 - 2013) was a Pakistani Religious leader and politician who belonged to a great Intellectual and Spiritual family of the World of Islam. He was a senior and the most vocal member of Pakistan MuslimLeague (N), from which he separated later on, for not adopting a Principled stand against Terrorism.He was elected as founder General Secretary of Jamat e Ahle Sunnat Pakistan in 1978 and later served as Senior Vice President of

Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) ( ur, ) is a Islamist political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1948 by leaders of All India Sunni Conference. JUP exercised considerable political influence in Pakistani politics during 1970s to 2003. Its stud ...

(JUP).He was elected from

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Paki ...

, twice as a member of the Provincial Assembly and Twice as Member of

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

from 1993 to 2013 (till his death). He also served as Minister for Auqaf and Religious Affairs as well as Chairman Muttahida Ulema Board Punjab. He was also the Founder Chairman of the

Sunni Ittehad Council The Sunni Ittehad Council, formed in 2009, is an alliance of Islamic political and religious parties in Pakistan which represents followers of the Barelvi (Sufi) school of Sunni Islam. The current chairman of the main 'M' faction is Sayyid Ma ...

, which is an amalgamation of several Barelivi parties across the globe. Suffering from liver cancer, he was hospitalised in Faisalabad in critical condition on April 4, 2013, and died on 15 April 2013.

Early life

Fazal Karim was born on 24 October 1954 at

. He was son of Islamic scholar

Sardar Ahmad Chishti Sardar Ahmad Chishti Qadri (1903–1962) (Urdu محدث اعظم مولانا سردار احمد چشتی قادری) was a Pakistani Sufi saint, Muhaddis, teacher, jurist, author, Islamic scholar, and debater recognized by his followers as ...

He did his post graduation in Islamic studies from Jamia Rizvia in the year 1987.

Political career

Karim got elected to

Provincial Assembly Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in 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, comprising ...

in 1993 as a member of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and remained till the dissolution of the assembly in 1997. He held the office of Provincial Minister for Religious Affairs during this tenure. In 2002 he got elected on Pakistan Muslim League (N)'s ticket from NA-82 this time for the National Assembly of Pakistan and completed his five-year term. He was again elected in 2008 from the same constituency. Under his leadership SIC started long March named, Labaik Ya Rasoolallah long march with the support of

Jamaat Ahle Sunnat The Jamaat Ahle Sunnat ( ur, ) is a Muslim religious organization in Pakistan that represents the Barelvi movement. It was supported by Muhammad Shafee Okarvi. As a Sunni organisation it has adopted many Sufi customs and traditions. History In ...

, the

Sunni Tehreek Sunni Tehreek is a Pakistani Barlevi organization. The organization was founded by Muhammad Saleem Qadri in 1990 in order to prevent Barelevi mosques from being seized by Deobandi and Wahabi organizations. It also sees itself as a defender o ...

and Jamia UlemaPakistan. Karim stated his view that Pakistan is not a secular country, but rather an Islamic state, and “we will continue our efforts till the enforcement of Islamic law in the country established in the name of Allah after numerous sacrifices."

Death

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi, former chief minister Shahbaz Shari, and other dignitaries sent their condolences. PST also announced mourning and suspension of political activities for three days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karim, Sahibzada Haji Muhammad Fazal 1954 births 2013 deaths Pakistan Muslim League (N) politicians People from Faisalabad Punjabi people Pakistani MNAs 2002–2007 Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013