The original name of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi is Shafīq Ahmed, other reports say Muhammad Shafīq. He was born in 1951, in a district of Sahiwal, Pakistan.

After passing Matric level schooling at his local school, he came to Lahore in 1967. He began to study the traditional sciences under a number of teachers. In 1973, he began to learn under Amīn Ahsan Islāhī. Amīn Ahsan Islāhī had a great impact on his life and thought.

From 1979 to 1991, Javed Ghamidi served as an Arabic teacher at the Civil Services Academy in Lahore. After September 11, there seems to be a significant shift in the ideas and teaching of Javed Ghamidi, where he leans towards a framework of Islām that can be brought in conformity with American interests.

This comes as no surprise, especially since realising that his mentor, Islahi, was significantly influenced by Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy to India (Redefining tradition in Political Thought, p.438, Iqtidar).

The Muslim youth who have been deprived of primary Islāmic education as well as the Muslims educated in various fields that speak Urdu, and some of them have fallen in the trap of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi.

The followers of Ghamidi see themselves as progressive and modernistic. Under the tutelage of their masters, they have set about their work of trying to change the meanings of the words of the Noble Qur’ān and Hadīth in order to prepare their ‘American Edition’ of Islām.

Javed Ahmed Ghamidi is not only a denier of the Hadīth, but he is the flagbearer of a parallel religion to Islām. By means of his eloquent tongue, this mischief has spread far and wide. He has the help of electronic media – and his message is promoted widely as though it is gospel truth.

There are a number of reasons why Javed Ahmed Ghamidi is said to be a denier of the Hadīth. He has his own set of principles for Hadīth. Then, he has changed the technical definition of Hadīth and Sunnah, all the while denying thousands of authentic Ahādīth. To make it easy to understand, he does not accept a Sahīh Hadīth reported from Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam to stand as proof in Islām.

The traditional scholars of Pakistan have been at the forefront of refuting Javed Ahmed Ghamidi. A number of books that contain the statements of Ghamidi have been penned. A time came when Ghamidi resorted to exile because of the infertile ground for him that the scholars had prepared. He now resides in Dallas, USA.

Problematic Statements of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi:

1. ‘Īsā ‘alayhi as-salām has passed away.^[1]
2. No Mahdī will come close to Qiyāmah.^[2]
3. No practice or belief can be proven from the Hadīth at all.^[3]
4. The total number of Sunnah practices are 27.^[4]
5. The beard has no place in the Sunnah or religion.^[5]
6. The hadd for adultery and drinking are not Shar’ī punishments.^[6]
7. There is only one Qirā’ah of the Qur’ān. The rest of the Qirā’āt are the fitnah of the non-Arabs.^[7]
8. Every person has the right of Ijtihād. There are no conditions stipulated for being able and worthy of making Ijtihād. Whoever feels that he has acquired an understanding of religion, i.e., tafaqquh fid dīn, he can make Ijtihād.^[8]
9. The government has the right to change the nisāb amount in Zakāt.^[9]
10. The Jews and Christians are not bound to believe in Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam. They will be forgiven, even if they do not hold this belief.^[10]
11. Sunnah is only that which Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam had stipulated as religious practice from the Abrahamic Religion. This was even before the Noble Qur’ān. If there is a clash between the Noble Qur’ān and the thought of the Jews and Christians, then instead of the Noble Qur’ān, preference will be given to the mass transmitted practices of the Jews and Christians.^[11]