Funeral prayers of Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani offered, laid to rest at graveyard adjacent to Darul Uloom Karachi Korangi
KARACHI, Nov 20, (SABAH): Pakistan’s renowned religious scholar Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani’s funeral prayers have been offered in Karachi on Sunday. Later on he was laid to rest at the graveyard adjacent to Darul Uloom Karachi Korangi.
Mufti Rafi Usmani’s brother Mufti Taqi Usmani led the funeral prayers, while a large number of people including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman, Governor Sindh Kamran Tessori, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, Wafaqi Madaris Al Arabiya Pakistan General Secretary Qari Mohammad Hanif Jalandhri, Maulana Anwarul Haq Haqqani, Maulana Syed Suleiman Banori, Pak Sarzameen Party Chief Syed Mustafa Kamal, Anees Qaimkhani, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqui and leaders of the other political parties and ulema participated.
Strict security arrangements were made on the occasion of offering the funeral prayer.
The cleric, 86, was the eldest son of Mufti Shafi Usmani, a renowned cleric and founder of Darul Uloom Karachi Korangi — one of the largest seminaries of the Deoband school of thought in the country. He was also the elder brother of Wifaqul Madaris Al Arabia Pakistan President Mufti Taqi Usmani.
Mufti Rafi’s funeral prayers were offered at the Darul Uloom Karachi after which the scholar was buried adjacent to his father’s grave in the graveyard next to the mosque.
Survived by a wife, a son and three daughters, Mufti Usmani was suffering serious health complications after surviving Covid-19 some two years ago, his close aides said.
Condolence messages over his demise poured in from all segments of society with many religious scholars terming the demise a great tragedy for the Islamic world.
President Dr. Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, and others offered condolences on his demise and paid tribute to the scholar’s religious and academic services while extending their grievances.
Born in July 1936 in the town of Deoband in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Mufti Usmani migrated to Pakistan with his family in 1947.
In 1986, he became the chief of Darul Uloom Karachi and in 1995, the clerics and scholars representing the Deoband school of thought appointed Mufti Usmani as the Mufti-i-Azam.
Author of almost 27 Urdu and Arabic books — he had served as the vice president of Wifaqul Madaris Al Arabia Pakistan and as a syndicate member of public and private varsities including Karachi University and Dow University of Health Sciences.
Furthermore, he had been a senior member of Ruet-i-Hilal Committee, Council of Islamic Ideology, Zakat Council of the Government of Sindh and All Pakistan Ulema Council. He had also served as an adviser to the Shariat appellate bench of Supreme Court.