Syed Jawad Naqvi


Allama Syed Jawad Naqvi is a Pakistani Twelver Shia cleric, religious leader and Quran interpreter.

Early life and family details

He was born on 5 March, 1952 in Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Career

He has three PhD in philosophy, sociology and Fiqh. He has studied and taught Islam in Iran for more than 30 years. His most prominent teacher was Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli. Naqvi is the principal of Jamia Urwa-tul-Wusqa and Jamia Jaffria, Shia Islamic seminaries in Lahore and Gujranwala respectively. He is also the principal of Jamia Ummul Kitaab in Lahore, head of Deen-ul-Qayyim Online Islamic school and Siraat Education School System. Naqvi is also the editor of the monthly magazine Masharab-e-Naab. He is a staunch supporter of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. In many of his speeches he propagates the hard-line version of Wilayat-e-Fiqh.

Allegations and controversies

In a 2012 report by, he has been described as pro-Iran and to be financially supported by Iran. Alex Vatanka writes in an article titled "The Guardian of Pakistan's Shia" published by Hudson Institute, a strategic think-tank based in Washington. It says:

"Accordingly, many of Pakistan’s Shia religious figures have become highly vocal and partisan supporters of Khamenei. For example, Syed Jawad Naqvi, a prominent activist preacher and the head of a recently-launched Shia seminary in Pakistan, idealizes the theocracy in the Islamic Republic of Iran and calls himself a devoted follower of Khamenei. He has additionally published articles as well as a book denouncing Iran’s anti-clerical Green opposition movement.27 Not surprisingly, Naqvi’s seminary was reportedly established in part with financial support from the Iranian state."

In 2019, an article in The News described him of having "uniquely Iran-centered career".
As recent as January 2020, he has been described as "a major supporter of Iran’s theocracy" by Foreign Policy, an American news publication.
In 2013, Mohammadi Masjid stopped Naqvi’s sermons after there was scuffle occurred when Police prevented Naqvi's security from entering the mosque, sparking mass protests outside the mosque. Allegedly his security guard was carrying unlicensed weapon. Police accused students of Naqvi, for creating the chaos and roughing up the cameraman, the varsity condemned the irresponsible behavior of the police. Subsequently, Naqvi was banned by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif from lecturing at Mohammadi Masjid in Lahore.
In 2020, after his alleged comparison of Azadari with Tarawih during a lecture, Indian daily and weekly Urdu newspapers Sahafat and Nauroz published articles critical to him.
Indian daily and Urdu newspaper Sahafat and Hindi newspaper Bhumitra again criticised his May 29, 2020 Friday sermon, for targeting Indian Shia leadership.
In July 2020 Jawad Naqvi criticised Imamia Students Organisation for not being the pride of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist which sparked a reaction and a resolution by Imamia Students Organization against him.

Views on women's roles

According to academic scholar Wendy Qian, Syed Jawad Naqvi holds over all socially conservative views about women's roles. Qian says, Naqvi's views on women seems to have been influenced by South Asian conservative Islamic advise literature, and overall he reiterates same views with only addition that he expects women's roles in his idealistic Islamic political revolution in Pakistan, on which he has written a book The Role of Women towards the System of Wilayat.
In 2019, Naqvi termed Aurat March Organisers 'Most Evil Of All Women'.

Works

Books

Naqvi has written many books on the Quran, Pan Islamic Unity, Karbala and Islam including:

Urdu