Scholars and shared declarations documented for promoting Islamic learning, harmony and peace
Shared declarations
The Amman Message (2004–2005)
Issued in Amman on 9 November 2004; its three points — on who is a Muslim, who may issue fatwas, and whether declaring other Muslims unbelievers (takfir) is permissible — were agreed by scholars from about 50 countries in July 2005. The official list of endorsements includes, for Pakistan, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (listed with a fatwa) and Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.
Sources: Amman Message — the three points · Amman Message — grand list of endorsements
Paigham-e-Pakistan (2018)
- Launched on 16 January 2018 at Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad, and prepared by the Islamic Research Institute of the International Islamic University Islamabad.
- Declares suicide attacks, armed revolt against the state and the use of force in the name of Shariah forbidden, and calls for the protection of non-Muslims’ lives and property.
- Dawn reports that it declares spreading sectarianism and anarchy in the name of religion un-Islamic, and that it was endorsed by 1,829 scholars from nearly all mainstream schools of thought.
- Scholars named at the launch include Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Abdul Malik; Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani said scholars of all schools had deliberated over it for months.
Sources: International Islamic University Islamabad — Paigham-e-Pakistan launched · Dawn — Paigham-e-Pakistan · Dawn — Paigham-e-Pakistan launch
Milli Yakjehti Council (1990s)
A council of religious parties from different schools formed in the mid-1990s, which drew up a written code for sectarian harmony. Dawn reports that its leaders credited the late Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani and Qazi Hussain Ahmad with keeping good relations between the schools, and that the Shia leader Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi joined it in 1995.
Sources: Dawn — ulema prepare code for sectarian harmony · Dawn — law for sectarian harmony urged · Dawn — Allama Sajid Naqvi
Scholars
Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (مفتی محمد تقی عثمانی) — Deobandi
Endorsed the Amman Message with a fatwa. Vice President and Shaykh al-Hadith of Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi, and chairman of the Shariah Council of AAOIFI — a long record in Islamic teaching and Islamic finance. See also Scholars of the Deobandi tradition.
Sources: Amman Message — grand list of endorsements · Official profile — Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani (مفتی محمد رفیع عثمانی) — Deobandi
Spoke at the launch of Paigham-e-Pakistan in 2018, saying that scholars of all schools had deliberated over the declaration for months.
Sources: Dawn — Paigham-e-Pakistan launch
Maulana Tariq Jameel (مولانا طارق جمیل) — Deobandi / Tablighi Jamaat
In 2013, when sectarian tensions were high in Gilgit, he visited the city’s largest imambargah and gave a speech that a Gilgit-based journalist described to Dawn as “a turning point in sectarian relations in the city”. Dawn also notes his open acceptance of the Shia community.
Sources: Dawn — “A Maulana for our times” (2021)
Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (ڈاکٹر محمد طاہر القادری) — Ahl-e-Sunnat (Barelvi)
Founder of the Minhaj-ul-Quran movement. On 2 March 2010, at a press conference in London, he issued a fatwa of about 600 pages prohibiting terrorism and suicide bombing. He is also listed among Pakistani endorsers of the Amman Message.
Sources: Media Diversity Institute — anti-terrorism fatwa launched in London · Amman Message — grand list of endorsements
Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman (مفتی منیب الرحمٰن) — Ahl-e-Sunnat (Barelvi)
Named among the scholars at the launch of Paigham-e-Pakistan, the 2018 cross-school declaration against terrorism and sectarian violence.
Sources: International Islamic University Islamabad — Paigham-e-Pakistan launched
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan (مولانا وحید الدین خان) — India
- Founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality; The Muslim 500 describes him as advocating peaceful coexistence, interfaith dialogue and social harmony, and as the author of more than 200 books, including an English translation of the Qur’an.
- Awards listed by The Muslim 500 include the Padma Bhushan and the Imam al-Hasan ibn Ali Peace Award of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies.
- Died in Delhi in April 2021; India’s President said he had contributed to “peace, harmony and social reform” (CPS International).
Sources: The Muslim 500 — Wahiduddin Khan · CPS International — Maulana Wahiduddin Khan passes away
Maulana Sayyid Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi (مولانا سید ابو الحسن علی ندوی) — India
- Received the King Faisal Prize for Service to Islam in 1980 for his extensive Islamic teaching activities in the subcontinent and the wider Muslim world; died in December 1999.
- Founded the Payam-e-Insaniyat (“Message of Humanity”) movement, which, according to its forum, stands for mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and friendship between communities.
Sources: King Faisal Prize — Abul-Hasan Ali Al-Nadawi · All India Payam-e-Insaniyat Forum — about the founder
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (جاوید احمد غامدی)
His Ghamidi Center of Islamic Learning runs Qur’an, Arabic and weekend courses. Dawn reports that he wrote a counter-narrative to militant groups rejecting armed jihad by non-state actors and forced conversion; he has said that “sectarianism is rooted in ignorance”. Many traditional scholars dispute some of his interpretations.
Sources: Ghamidi Center of Islamic Learning · Dawn — Nikhat Sattar on Ghamidi’s counter-narrative (2015) · Pakistan Link — Ghamidi on sectarianism (2017)
Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi (علامہ ساجد علی نقوی) — Shia
Patron-in-chief of the Shia Ulema Council. Joined the cross-school Milli Yakjehti Council in 1995; Dawn reports that his supporters credit him with work for Shia–Sunni unity. His earlier organisation, Tehreek-e-Jafaria, was among groups banned in 2002.
Sources: The Muslim 500 — Sajid Ali Naqvi · Dawn — Allama Sajid Naqvi
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (السيد علي السيستاني) — Shia, Najaf
In February 2007 he urged Muslims to avoid sectarian fanaticism and said that Sunni–Shia differences should not be a cause of bloodshed (RFE/RL).
Sources: RFE/RL — Al-Sistani urges end to sectarian strife (2007)
Dr Mufti Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad (مفتی محمد عبد الخبیر آزاد) — Badshahi Mosque, Lahore
Khateeb of the Badshahi Mosque and head of a Pakistani interfaith council for peace and harmony; he has taken part in the Community of Sant’Egidio’s international peace meetings since 2011, and in October 2025 told Pope Leo XIV in Rome that interfaith harmony is “a need of the time”.
Sources: Community of Sant’Egidio — Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad · Daily Times — Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad meets Pope Leo XIV (2025)