Muhammad Rafique Ahmed Qasmi
(1365-1441H.)
Member Central Advisory Council and former National Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Maulana Muhammad Rafique Ahmed Qasmi breathed his last at Al Shifa Multispeciality Hospital, New Delhi following a massive heart attack early in the morning on June 6. He was 76 years old.
Born in Batauli (in former Gonda district and now) in Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh in 1365H. (1946 C.E.), Maulana Rafique Qasmi, son of Maulana Ilyas, got his primary education in Madrasa Furquania, Gonda; thereafter went to Darul Uloom Deoband wherefrom he did his Fazilat. He also benefited from Madrasa Mazahirul Uloom Saharanpur. After receiving education, he taught at Madrasa Shamsul Uloom in Siddharthnagar district, Madrasa Nasirul Uloom Gonda, Madrasa Islami Meerut and Madrasa Muhammadiya Balrampur, etc. before committing himself to Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.
In 1975 Maulana Rafique Qasmi was named Nazim of Gonda and Bahraich districts, later Nazim of entire Bareilly region. When Emergency was imposed in June 1975 and top leaders of the organisation were detained and its activities rendered illegal, Maulana Rafique Qasmi strived tirelessly to meet the detained leaders in different jails and getting their and their families’ problems resolved.
When, in 1982 Syed Hamid Husain was elected Ameer Halqua of Uttar Pradesh, Maulana Rafique Qasmi was named Assistant Ameer Halqua. After the demise of Hamid Husain, Maulana Rafique Qasmi was Acting Ameer Halqua for some time and then elected Ameer Halqua. In 1995, then Ameer Jamaat Maulana Muhammad Sirajul Hasan summoned him to JIH headquarters to join as National Secretary of Islami Muashira, which he retained till March 2019. He was currently on the Majlis-e-Numaindgaan as well as the Markazi Majlis-e-Shoora of the Jamaat. He was executive member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He was also founder member of Uttar Pradesh Falah-e-Aam Society.
Maulana was a prolific speaker and had excellent relations with the Ulema of other schools of thought as well as the religious leaders of other communities. He used to connect all of them for the collective efforts to resolve the various issues confronting the country and the community.
Allah had blessed Maulana with a commanding personality and he had a very refined sense of humour. The Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Syed Sadatullah Husaini along with senior Jamaat leaders offered their condolences and prayed to Allah for granting him forgiveness and blessing him with eternal Paradise. Maulana Muhammad Sufyan Qasmi, Rector Darul Uloom Waqf, Deoband, in a letter addressed to Maulana Rafique Qasmi’s son Anzarul Bari and other members of Maulana’s aggrieved family, also condoled the sad demise of Maulana, recalled his salient traits and prayed to Allah for his forgiveness.
Maulana Rafique Qasmi is survived by his wife, four daughters and six sons and a number of grandchildren and well-wishers. His funeral prayer was held after Asr prayer at Masjid Ishaat-e-Islam in two shifts and he was buried in the Shaheen Bagh cemetery the same evening.