Muhammad Zafrulla Khan

Infobox Celebrity
name = Sir Chaudhry Muhammad Zafarullah Khan
caption =
birth_date = 6 February, 1893
birth_place = Sialkot British India
death_date = September 1, 1985,
death_place = Lahore Pakistan
nationality = Pakistani
religion = Ahmadiyya Muslim
occupation = Amir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Lahore, Pakistan's Permanent Representative at the UN, President of the International Court of Justice, Pakistan's first Foreign Minister, President of the UN General Assembly

Al-Hajj Sir Chaudhuri Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, KCSI (6 February 1893 - 1 September 1985) was a Pakistani diplomat, President of the International Court of Justice, Pakistan’s first foreign minister, renowned international jurist and a member as well as scholar of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Zafrullah Khan was born on February 6, 1893, in Sialkot, India, the son of Nasrullah Khan. He graduated from the Government College, Lahore, in 1911. Between 1911 and 1914 he studied at King's College London and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. Returning to India he practised law in Sialkot, until July 1916, and lectured in the Law College, Lahore, during 1919 to 1924, and practised law in Lahore up to 1935.This is evident from the following from Vali Khan’s book; http://www.anp.org.pk/factsAreSacredchapter5.htm

quotation|Writes the Viceroy:

“I may do what I like it, including sending a copy to you; thirdly, the copies have been passed to Jinnah and I think to Hydari (Sir Akbar Hydari, then Prime Minister of the Nizam of Hyderabad), and, fourthly, while he, Zafrullah, cannot of course admit its authorship, his document has been prepared for adoption by the Muslim League with a view to be given the fullest publicity.”

The Viceroy explains that although the scheme had been drawn up at his instance, since Zafrullah was Qadiani, the Muslims’ knowing that it was his handiwork would make it suspect in their eyes from the very start. Consider the dates. This letter was written on April 12, 1940. The plan had been sent earlier. A copy of it had also gone to Mr. Jinnah, and also to Sir Hydari (for the financing of it). Obviously it was much the same scheme that was adopted as the Pakistan Resolution just at that time, on March 23, 1940.

As an active Ahmadi-Muslim he was the Amir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Lahore during the period 1919 to 1935. He served as Secretary to Khalifat-ul Masih II, the second successor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad at the occasion of Shura (Advisory Council) for the first time in 1924 and did so on a further seventeen occasions. And was member of the delegation which represented the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at the All Parties Conference held in 1924. In 1927, he acted successfully as representative counsel for the Muslims of the Punjab in the contempt of court case against the 'Muslim Outlook'.

He was elected a member of the Punjab Legislative Council in 1926 and presided at the Delhi Meeting of the All India Muslim League in 1931, where he advocated the cause of the Indian Muslims through his presidential address. He participated in the Round Table Conferences held in the years 1930, 1931, and 1932, and he was member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy of India, during the years 1935 to 1941. He became the Minister of Railways in May, 1935. In 1939, he represented India in the League of Nations. He was appointed the Agent General of India in China in the year 1942 and represented India as the Indian Government's nominee in the Commonwealth Relations Conference in 1945, where courageously spoke for the cause of India's freedom. Was appointed Judge of the Federal Court of India in September 1941, which he held until June 1947. At the request of Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, known by the title Quaid-e-Azam (Pakistan's founding father and first leader), represented the Muslim League in July 1947 before the Radcliffe Boundary Commission and presented the case of the Muslims in highly commendable manner. In October 1947, represented Pakistan in United Nations General Assembly as the head of the Pakistan delegation and advocated the stand of the Muslim world on the Palestinian issue. Was appointed as Pakistan's (first) Foreign Minister a post he held for 7 years from 1947. In 1948 to 1954 he represented Pakistan at the Security Council (UN) and admirably advocated the case of liberation of the occupied Kashmir, Libya, Northern Ireland, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, and Indonesia. In 1954 he became Judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which he held until 1961. He became the Vice President of the International Court of Justice, the Hague, in 1958 until 1961. Then between 1961 unto 1964 he was Pakistan's Permanent Representative at the UN and in 1962 for 2 years was President of the UN General Assembly. In March, 1958, he performed Umra and visited the shrine of Prophet Muhammad in Medina, Saudi Arabia. He also met Sultan Abdul Aziz Ibne Saud and stayed in the Royal Palace as the King's personal guest. He performed Hajj in the year 1967 and produced a new English translation of the Holy Qur'an in 1970. The same year, he was elected President of the International Court of Justice, The Hague, a post he held until 1973. He lived in England for the period 1973 to 1983 and went back to Lahore, Pakistan in 1983 and died on September 1, 1985, after a protracted illness. He was buried in the city of Rabwah which was the world headquarters of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at that time with the current world headquarters being London, England.

Zafrullah Khan advised the Nawab of Junagadh that should he make the decision to join his state with Pakistan it would be both moral and legal. Nawab then proceeded to announce this decision. http://www.ummat.com.pk/Report.ummat.com.pk/26102007-Misc_Reports/InterweuSaifUllahKhalid-26102007.html

Freedom of religion

Mohammed Zafrullah Khan, the country’s Foreign Minister and an Ahmediya by faith, had this to say,

“It is a matter of great sorrow that, mainly through mistaken notions of zeal, the Muslims have during the period of decline earned for themselves an unenviable reputation for intolerance. But that is not the fault of Islam. Islam has from the beginning proclaimed and inculcated the widest tolerance. For instance, so far as freedom of conscience is concerned the Quran says “There shall be no compulsion” of faith…”

[http://arunshourie.voiceofdharma.com/articles/19970721.htm]

Views on Apostasy

"Apostasy means a plain and clear repudiation of Islam of a professing Muslim …. Simple apostasy, which is not aggravated by rebellion, treason or grave disorderliness, is not punishable in any manner in this life…."

Muhammed Zafrullah Khan, Punishment of Apostasy in Islam, p. 59

http://www.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2005/indp2005/indp03.htm

External links

* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=6LXJelgCVQE Video - President of the seventeenth session of General Assembly]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=r5W2q6iU3pg Video - First Foreign Minister of Pakistan in UN]
* [http://www2.alislam.org/gallery/zafrulla?page=1 Pictures of Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan]
* [http://www.un.org/ga/55/president/bio17.htm Elected President of the seventeenth session of the General Assembly] (UN)
* [http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A039 Round Table Conferences (1930-33)]
* [http://www.khalidhasan.net/fridaytimes/2003-08-15.htm Remembering Zafrulla Khan by Khalid Hasan]
* [http://www.alislam.org/library/zafar2.html Chaudhry Muhammad Zafarullah Khan's Services to Pakistan and The Muslim World]
* [http://www.alislam.org/library/zafar1.html Brief Life Sketch of Chaudhry Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan]
* [http://pakistaniat.com/2007/02/12/sir-zafarullah-khan-ahmaddiya-pakistan-movement/ Forgotten: Sir Zafrullah Khan (1893-1983) by Yasser Latif Hamdani]

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