Israr Ahmed

Doctor Israr Ahmad (26 April 1932 – 14 April 2010) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, orator and theologian. He developed a following in Pakistan and the rest of South Asia and also among some South Asian Muslims in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America. He founded Tanzeem-e-Islami and also served as a member of the National Assembly from 1981 to 1982.

He has written around 60 books in Urdu on Islam and Pakistan, of which twenty-nine have been translated into several other languages, including in English, as of 2017.

In 1956, he left the Jamaat-e-Islami, which had become involved in electoral politics, to found Tanzeem-e-Islami. Like many other Sunni Islamic activists/revivalists he preached that the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah and divine law of Sharia must be implemented in all spheres of life, that the Caliphate must be restored as a true Islamic state, and that Western values and influences were a threat to Islam and Pakistan. He was also known for his staunch belief that only Pakistan, not any Arab land, should be the foundation for a new caliphate, and that democratic governance was un-Islamic.

He was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the third-highest civilian award from Pakistan, in 1981.