Mian Tufail Muhammad, former Amir of Jamaat Islami Pakistan breathed his last on June 25. He was 95.
Born in Kapurthala, Punjab State, India in an Arain family, Mian Tufail Muhammad received his B.A. (Hons) in Physics and Mathematics from Government College, Lahore, with distinction in 1935 and completed his LL.B. (specialising in witness and land laws) in 1937 from the University Law College, Lahore, securing second position.
For his religious orientation, he owes much to Sayyid Abul A’ala Maudoodi and Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi for taking his lessons in Qur’ān and Hadith.
He started his career as a Lawyer, working as junior to Justice Muhammad Sharif in 1938 in Jalandhar, but moved to his Kapurthala State after one year. He was the first Muslim lawyer of the princely State. In 1942 Mian sahab got married.
When the Jamaat political party was founded in August 1941, Mian Tufail Muhammad was one of its 75 founding members. He left practising law on January 23, 1942 and joined a relative in business in Lahore. His vehemence and intense zeal for the Islamic movement were noticed.
In the All India Conference of the Jamaat in March, 1944, he was appointed the first permanent Secretary General (Qayyim) of the party. He immediately abandoned his business in Lahore and moved to Pathankot. From that moment on, he was always in company of Sayyid Maudoodi.
Except for the periods when he was put in jail, he worked as Secretary General of the Jamaat till 1965. From January 1966 to 1972 he was Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami in West Pakistan . In between, he also assumed the position of Ameer-e-Jamaat of Pakistan when occasion so demanded, particularly when Sayyed Maudoodi was ill or on leave.
When Sayyid Maudoodi resigned as Ameer-e-Jama’at of Pakistan in October 1972, for health reasons, Mian Tufail Muhammad was elected Ameer for five years. He was also re-elected for two more terms. In 1987 he declined further service in the post because of a long ailment, and Qazi Hussain Ahmad was elected to the top position. Mian Sahib confined himself to research work of the Idara-e-Ma’arif-e-Islamia in Mansoorah, Lahore.
Like Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Mian Sahib also did not have much time for literary activities. Yet some of his works are widely hailed. The Urdu rendition of Kashaf-al-Mahjub and Dawat-e-Islami and Its Demands (Urdu) co-authored with Sayyid Maudoodi and Amin Ahsan Islahi, are the prominent pieces. His articles and interviews to press are numerous and cover most scholarly and political topics.
He had been several times invited by world leaders such as Gamal Abdul Nasser (President of Egypt) for advising on political conflicts as he was widely respected and known for being just. He also led the first delegation from Karachi, Pakistan of Muslim World Leaders to Tehran after the formation of the Islamic government over there. At that time, Pakistan was the first country to recognize the new Iranian regime after the fall of Shah of Iran.
Invited by different world Islamic Movements, he visited UK (1974), U.S. and Canada (1974), Iraq , Saudi Arabia (1975) and many more countries. He also had the honour of being one of the few early members of the Muslim World League. He had been specially associated with Rabita-al-Aalam-e-Islami and the Aalami Masajid Conference; of the latter he has been one of 26 members. In 1976 he participated in the Islamic Fiqh Conference.
He passed his later years at home reading books and writing articles. Mian Sahab visited Karachi in 2007 to attend a Jamaat Conference and delivered a speech regarding his experience of working under the inspirational leadership of Sayyid Maudoodi. Despite falling health and serious vision impairment in recent times, Mian sahab retained an excellent memory and being a devout Muslim, prayed five times in the Jaamia Masjid in Mansoorah, Lahore.
On June 7, 2009, he suffered a brain haemorrhage. He was hospitalized at Shaykh Zaid Hospital in Lahore. He was in a state of coma at the time of his death. He is survived by eight daughters and four sons and more than 40 grand and great grand children who live in Pakistan, Middle East and USA. Various political and religious leaders have expressed deep sorrow and grief over the sad demise of former JI chief.