Bareilly: Chief cleric of the influential Dargah Aala Hazrat here, Mufti Mohammad Akhtar Raza Khan Qadiri aka Azhari Miyan, died on Friday night. Azhari was in his 70s and had been suffering from illness for a long time.A renowned Sunni Barelvi cleric, Azhari had occupied 24th place in the annual list of 500 “most powerful and influential Muslims” across the world, a record prepared by the Jordanian think tank, Royal Islamic Strategic Study Centre (RISSC), affiliated with the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman. The RISSC publication highlights people who have influenced and benefitted others within the Muslim community through their practice of Islam. Azhari was one of the few Indians to regularly feature in the list.Azhari had crores of followers across the country. As news of his demise broke in Bareilly, a large number of people rushed to Dargah Aala Hazrat to pay their respects to the chief cleric. Azhari was the great grandson and successor of one of the most distinguished sub-continental Islamic scholars in history, Ahmad Raza Khan, popularly known as Aala Hazrat. Khan had founded the Barelvi movement in South Asia.Mufti Mohammad Salim Noori, spokesperson, Dargah Aala Hazrat, said, “Azhari Miyan breathed his last at his house on Friday around 7.25 pm. He has been suffering from illness for a long time. He was discharged from Mission Hospital on Thursday. People across the world are shocked and sad with his demise.”An author of more than 50 books on Islamic theology and thought in Urdu and Arabic, Azhari inspired hundreds of scholars. After receiving his basic education at the Manzar-e-Islam madrassa of the Dargah Aala Hazrat and Islamia Inter College, Bareilly, he pursued higher studies at Al-Azhar University, Egypt. He was honoured with the prestigious ‘Fakhre Azhar’ (pride of Azhar) award by the university.“He is the lone cleric in India to get a title of “Tajushariya”. He was one of the few prominent persons across the world to be allowed to visit inside Kaaba in Mecca,” said Noori.Maulana Subhan Raza Khan, head, Dargah Aala Hazrat, said, “Tajushariya was one of the most influential clerics of the world. Our family has always been proud of him.”

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