Salaams
I know this is an old thread but I'm new here so I just wanted to add something which I think will benefit everyone inshallah.
About a year and a half ago I met a person who was a member of minhaj-ul-quran and an avid follower of Dr Tahir ul Qadri. This person wanted to dedicate their entire life to the organisation and encouraged me to listen to the Shaykh's talks and lectures.
I did some research and I will list the points which I find disturbing, all of which can be confirmed as being true:
1) Appearance
The first thing I noticed is that the sheikh has a
trim beard
I'm sure we're all aware of the sunnah of the beard:
"The upshot ... is that, all the four schools of Islamic law regard the trimming of the beard less than a fistful as blameworthy (unlawful, according to the three schools and disliked according to the Shafi’i school). Thus, one should not trim his beard less than a fistful.
Scholars and those associated to Da’wa work must take extra care with regards to this. Even if trimming the beard less than a fistful is considered to be disliked, it is unfitting for a person active in Islamic work to involve himself in such a practice, for a person is more effective with his actions than his words...." Mufti Mohammed ibn Adam.
http://www.daruliftaa.com/searchResult.asp#
You'll notice the sheikh wears a hat called a sindhi topi and doesn't raise his trousers above his ankles. Fair enough, he has his head covered but along with the hat, the style of trim beard and the trouser length his followers immitate him exactly and in direct opposition of the sunnah of our beloved messenger sallallahu alahi wassalaam
Maybe not the most important thing in life but important none the less especially for a sheikh-ul-islam.
2)Politics
Clearly politics is a part of islam but the sheikh's political ambitions are the raison d'etre of the organisation. This is the reason it exists and the shariah is swept aside if it gets in the way of those ambitions. This is illustrated by the Dr's relationship with ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto. There are plenty of photos of their meetings on the MQ website but I won't link to them as she is not doing any purdah at all.
What you would see is pictures of the ex-PM with her hair uncovered, with her body uncovered, speaking freely sitting opposite him or next to him in the company of many other men. You would see the Dr speaking freely to her with his gaze not at all lowered and we are told that this how today's politics is done in compliance with the Quran and the Sunnah. Does this look like Sunnah to you?
As a result of his political ambitions there are a number of dodgy fatwas issued by him and his followers to overcome certain obstacles in the shariah.
3)Female Leaders
‘When the Prophet was informed that the people of Persia had crowned the daughter of Kisra as their ruler, he said: No people will ever succeed if they hand their affairs to a woman.’ Sahih al-Bukhari.
We know that it is haram for a woman to be head of state, we know there is ijma on this yet in contradiction to the hadith of rasullallah sallallahu alaihi wassalaam, and generations of ulema karam over the last 1400 years he has declared it to not be haram but just makruh; "...As stated earlier, many Islamic commentators have said that a woman leader is haram, but Qaidi Mutharrram views this as a slightly harsh ruling, deeming it to be makruh, condemned, coming under the purview of a minor sin...."
link
Apparently this would sit better with his political allies
4)Mortgages
The Dr issued a fatwa stating that in the West it would be permissible for people to take up conventional mortgages because its the only option and it would strengthen the financial position of the ummah.
click here to listen
So basically its permissible to committ a sin, a sin which of its 72 types the least sinful is worse than committing zina with your mother, because you don't want to rent and to allow muslims to own more real estate. Prosituting our daughters seems financially viable and I think its less sinful than partaking in interest. Is that an option also?
5)Music
All songs with or without music are permissible including bollywood, as long as they don't contain bad lyrics. I would link to the fatwa but their online fatwa section is closed. Nevertheless, there are pictures of a milad gathering where the qawwali singers are out in full force, all clean shaven and with all their instruments singing about their ishq for rasullallah sallallahu alaihi wassalaam. The most despicable sight is the Sheikh actually throwing money on the singers.
Qawwali singers
Throwing Money
6)Pictures
All picture-making, photos or drawing, is allowed unless it is being worshipped. A large number of minhajians, men and women, possess pictures of the Sheikh.
7)Gender interaction
On the website you will find many pictures of lectures given by the Dr to a female audience. There is no purdah, just the Dr and other speakers in front of the women, some of whom observe hijab and some who don't.
All of the above I mentioned because they are simple and immediately recognisable as traits of a Sheikh who opposes the Sunnah. It gets worse with the lectures because he shows his true colours as a modernist/reformist in the same mould as Qaradawi or Israr Ahmed although not as extreme. They can never be of benefit to the ummah because the very thing they leave is where our success lies; the Quran and the Sunnah.
May Allah guide us all to the Truth
Wassalaam