Maulana Muhammad Shafee Okarvi

Maulana Muhammad Shafee Okarvi, also known by his honorific as Khateeb-e-Azam Pakistan, was a Pakistani religious scholar and orator who was one of the founders of the Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat Pakistan, a Sunni Barelvi organization. He was born in 1930 in Khem Karan, a town in Punjab province of British India. He studied at Jamia Nizamia Rizvia in Lahore and became a Hafiz-e-Quran and Sheikh-ul-Hadith. He was fluent in Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic and Persian, and was known for his speeches in the defense of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He also heavily quoted the poetry of Imam Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi and Muhammad Iqbal, whom he considered to be his main influences. He migrated to Pakistan in 1947 after the partition of India and settled in Okara, where he built Masjid Ghausiyah and established Jamia Hanafiya Ashraf-ul-Madaris. He also participated in the movement to protect the finality of prophethood and opposed the Ahmadiyya sect. He moved to Karachi in 1955 and became the imam and lecturer of Memon Masjid. He founded Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat Pakistan in 1956 and became its first chairman. He also founded the Gulzar-e-Habib Trust and the Okarvi Academy Al-Aalami to promote his religious and educational activities. He delivered over 18,000 speeches on various religious topics in Pakistan and abroad. He also wrote several books and pamphlets on Islamic issues. He received the Sitara-e-Imtiaz award from the government of Pakistan in 1985 for his services to Islam. He died of a heart attack in Karachi on April 24, 1984. His son, Kaukab Noorani Okarvi, is also a prominent scholar and orator who continues his father's legacy.