The Man Behind The Tolu-e-Islam Movement
( A LIFE SKETCH )
The founder of the Tolu-e-Islam movement, Allama Ghulam
Ahmad Parwez s/o Chaudhary Fazal Din, was born in a Sunni ( Hanafi ) family of Batala,
Dist. Gurdaspur, on the 9th of July, 1903. Batala, a town now in the Punjab Province of
India, was at that time a very prominent seat of Islamic learning, philosophy and culture
where his grand-father Hakim Maulvi Raheem Bakhsh enjoyed the status of a celebrated
scholar and eminent Sufi of the Chishtia Nizamia discipline of mysticism.
Allama Parwez studied the Quran and the classics of Islam
under the sole guidance of his grandfather. His other early teachers were Khateeb Jamia
Masjid Batala Maulana Mohammad Ibrahim and his younger brother Maulana Zafrul Haq, two
celebrities of the time. He completed his high school studies from "A Lady of
England" High School Batala in 1921 and graduated from the Punjab University in 1934.
At an early age, he acquired a thorough understanding of
the traditions, beliefs and practices of conventional Islam including the once widespread
discipline of Tasawwaf (Muslim mysticism) along with its arduous practical course
of esoteric meditation and solitary "spiritual" exercises. This thorough
grounding in the entire system of ideas which has traditionally passed under the name of
religion in the Muslim society, formed the basis of Mr. Parwez’s critical study in
the all pervading light of the Holy Quran, of not only the history of Islam and Muslims,
of the beliefs and practices of the pre-Islamic religions of humanity but also of the
total area of human thought and socio-ideological movements throughout the ages.
He joined the Central Secretariat of the Government of
India in 1927 and soon became an important figure in the Home Deptt: (Establishment
Division). On the emergence of Pakistan he occupied the same seat in the Central
Government and took pre-mature retirement as Assistant Secretary (Class I gazetted
Officer) in 1955 in order to devote his entire time towards his mission.
In "twenties" during his stay in Lahore, he came
into close association with Mufakkar-e-Pakistan, the late Allama Iqbal who
inspired him and gave his specific guide-lines on the understanding of the Quran. It was
the Allama who infused in him the spirit of being a pioneer worker for Pakistan Movement.
The Allama also led him to one of the greatest Muslim Scholars of the sub- continent Hafiz
Mohammad Aslam Jairajpuri, for higher studies in Arabic literature, in whose
company Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez stayed and benefited from the vast knowledge he
possessed, till independence in 1947, though close contacts between them were maintained
till Hafiz Sahib’s death in 1955.
In 1938, at the instance of Allama Mohammad Iqbal
and under the instructions of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
Allama Parwez started publishing monthly Tolu-e-Islam Its primary object
was to tell the people that according to the Quran, ideology and not geographical
boundary, was the basis for the formation of nation, and that a politically independent
state was pre-requisite to live in Islam. For this it has to face not only the British and
Hindu opposition but also the fanatic nationalism of Muslim individuals and groups such as
represented by the Jamiat-ul-Ulema, Ahrar-e-Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami, etc.
After the emergence of Pakistan, the chief objective before
Tolu-e-Islam was to propagate the implementation of the principle which had inspired the
demand for separate Muslim State that is, to help transform the live force of Islamic
Ideology into the Constitution of Pakistan.
During the Pakistan Movement, Allama Parwez had been a
gratifying counselor to the Quaid-e-Azam in the matters pertaining to the
Quranic values and principles.
He had been a member of the Law Commission
formed under the 1956 Constitution of Pakistan. He was the founder Chairman of the Quranic
Education Society and the Director of the Quranic Research Center established under his
guidance at 25-B Gulberg-2, Lahore.
His life long research produced many valuable books on Quranic teachings, the most celebrated of them being Ma’arif-ul-Quran
in eight volumes, Lughat-ul-Quran in four volumes, Mafhoom-ul-Quran in three volumes, Tabweeb-ul-Quran
in three volumes, Nizam-e-Rabubiyyat, Islam A
Challenge to Religion, Insaan Ne Kiya Socha (History of
human thought), Tasawwaf Ki Haqiqat, Saleem Ke
Naam in three volumes, Tahira Ke Naam, Qurani Faislay in five volumes and Shahkar-e-Risalat
(the biography of the second Caliph Hazrat Omar - may God be pleased with him).
Since he owed a gratitude to Allama Mohammad Iqbal for his
guiding principles on the understanding of Quran, he delivered many important lectures on
Iqbal’s viewpoint of implementing the Quranic injunctions, which were later compiled
and published as an unequalled presentation on Iqbal’s philosophy under the title
"IQBAL AUR QURAN". He was among pioneers who started Bazme-Iqbal.
He started weekly lectures on exposition of the Holy Quran
at Karachi which feat he continued (even after shifting to Lahore in 1958) till October
1984 when he was taken Hl and expired subsequently on 02-24-1985. This was in addition to
his innumerable lectures on the Quranic teachings to college and university students,
scholars and general public at various occasions.
He organized a country-wide network of spreading the
pristine Quranic teachings called Bazm-e-Tolu-e-Islam.
Such organizations have now been formed by the followers of the Holy Quran in a number of
foreign countries as well.
He left behind a widow and a brother (both now deceased)
and a sister. He himself was issue-less in the conventional sense but Idara-Tolu-e-Islam, The
Tolu-e-Islam Trust, The Quranic Research Centre, the Quranic
Education Society, the Parwez Memorial (Research Scholars) Library
and world over spread Bazms and his audio
and video Dars-e-Quran are ample means
of carrying his name to immortality. (May Allah’s blessings be upon him)
Compiled by: Sh. Allah Ditta and Late Mohammad Omar
Draz
Published by Tolu-e-Islam Trust, 25-B, Gulberg-2,
Lahore-11
