Allama Mufti, Mujtahid and first leader of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafaria (TNFJ) Mufti Jafar Hussain

Early Life

Born in 1914 in the Indian subcontinent (Gujranwala, Punjab). He began his religious education under his uncle Hakeem Shahab-ul-deen, a noted physician and scholar, learning the Quran and Arabic from an early age. By about the age of twelve he had gained a command of Urdu, Arabic and Persian along with the foundations of medicine, hadith and jurisprudence.

Mufti Jafar Hussain (1914 - 29 August 1983) was a Pakistani Shia Islamic scholar, jurist (mujtahid) and religious leader. After early studies under his uncle, he travelled to Lucknow, then the centre of Shia learning in South Asia, where he studied for several years at the Madrasa-e-Nazmia under prominent scholars including Sayyid Ali Naqi Naqvi. He then went to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq around 1935, where he studied for about five years and was certified as a jurist by teachers such as Sayyid Abu al-Hasan al-Isfahani. Returning to the subcontinent, he devoted himself to religious teaching and scholarship and served as principal of the Howza Ilmiya Jamia Jaffria. He is especially remembered for his scholarly Urdu translations of Nahj al-Balagha and Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, which made these classical Shia texts accessible to Urdu readers. Following the death of Syed Muhammad Dehlavi, Mufti Jafar Hussain was elected the first president and leader of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafaria (TNFJ), the movement formed to secure the rights of Pakistan's Shia community, notably regarding the application of Jafari jurisprudence. He led the organisation until his death in 1983 and is regarded as a foundational figure in the political and religious organisation of Shias in Pakistan.