Muneeb-ur-Rehman

Grand Mufti of Pakistan (Barelvi)[1] Muneeb-ur-Rehman Sitara-i-Imtiaz (SI)
منیب الرحمن
Muneeb-ur-Rehman
Chairman of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee
In office 2001–2020
Preceded by	Muhammad Abdullah Ghazi
Succeeded by	Abdul Khabeer Azad
President of Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 2003
Nazim-e-Aala, Ittehad-ul-Tanzeemat-ul-Madaris Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 2021
President of Darul Uloom Jamia Naeemia, Karachi
Incumbent
Assumed office 1993
Member, Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee
In office 1997–2001
Member, Provincial Ruet-e-Hilal Committee
In office 1985–1997
Personal details
Born	(1945-02-08) 8 February 1945 Mansehra, North-West Frontier Province, British India
Alma mater	Darul Uloom Amjadia University of Karachi Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan
Occupation	Islamic scholar; professor; Mufti
Personal life
Main interest(s)	Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Hadith, Tafsir, Usul al-fiqh, Islamic theology, contemporary Islamic issues, and Islamic legal thought
Notable work(s)	Tafheem-ul-Masail Aaina-e-Ayyam Khulasa-e-Tafseer
Known for	Educational leadership[2], religious leadership and author of books
Religious life
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Sunni Islam
Jurisprudence	Hanafi
Creed	Maturidi
Movement	Sunni
Muslim leader
Awards	Sitara-i-Imtiaz The 500 Most Influential Muslims

Muneeb-ur-Rehman^[a] (born 8 February 1945) is a Pakistani Islamic scholar (mufti), professor, religious leader, and public intellectual associated with the Sunni tradition of Islam, particularly the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. He is widely known for his long tenure as Chairman of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee of Pakistan (2001–2020), where he oversaw the national system for moon sighting used to determine the Islamic lunar calendar, including Ramadan and Eid festivals.^[3][4]

Born in Mansehra in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he received his early education in his hometown before pursuing higher studies at the University of Karachi, where he obtained degrees in Islamic Studies, Law (LL.B), and Education (B.Ed). He also completed traditional Islamic studies, including Dars-e-Nizami, Hadith, and Arabic literature from Darul Uloom Amjadia, Karachi, and obtained Shahadat-ul-Aalamiyah through Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan.^[5][6]

Throughout his career, he has held teaching positions at several institutions, including Jinnah University for Women and NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi.^[6] He has also been associated with Jamia Naeemia Karachi, where he has taught Islamic jurisprudence, Hadith, Tafsir, and Arabic literature for several decades, and has been issuing fatwas since the mid-1980s.^[7]

Muneeb-ur-Rehman has served on multiple national religious advisory bodies, including the Council of Islamic Ideology (2001–2004), where he contributed to discussions on Islamic law and legislative reform in Pakistan.^[8] He has also been part of provincial and federal religious committees related to Islamic governance, including Zakat administration and Shariah implementation bodies.

In addition to his religious and academic roles, he has been active in Islamic finance and banking, serving on several Shariah boards, including advisory positions with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and leadership roles in institutions such as Burj Bank and MCB Islamic Bank.^[9][10]

He is also a prolific author of Islamic literature, with works including Tafheem-ul-Masail, a multi-volume collection of fatwas addressing contemporary religious and social issues. His writings are widely used in religious seminaries and Islamic academic institutions across Pakistan.^[7]

He has participated in numerous national and international conferences, seminars, and interfaith dialogues across the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Asia, representing South Asian Sunni scholarship in global religious discussions.^[11]

He has been listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims from 2009 to 2020, reflecting his influence in contemporary Islamic scholarship and public religious affairs in Pakistan.^[7]

Muneeb-ur-Rehman was born on 8 February 1945 into a Pashtun family of the Tanoli tribe in Mansehra, in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.^[12] He received his early education from his parents^[13] before completing his matriculation from Government High School, Mansehra. He pursued higher education in multiple disciplines, earning a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies from the University of Karachi. He also obtained degrees in Law (LL.B) and Education (B.Ed) from the same institution, alongside formal training in Arabic language and Islamic sciences. In addition to his university education, he completed traditional Islamic studies, including Fazil-e-Arabi and advanced Hadith studies (Dars-e-Hadith) from Darul Uloom Amjadia, Karachi, and achieved Shahadat-ul-Aalamiyah through Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan.^[12][14] His combined academic and traditional religious education laid the foundation for his later scholarly career, during which he became a prominent Islamic scholar, teacher, and jurist in Pakistan. He is associated with the Hanafi school of thought and has been active in religious education, issuing fatwas, and participating in national religious institutions, particularly in matters related to Islamic jurisprudence and moon sighting in Pakistan. ^[12][14]

In 1998, Government of Pakistan appointed him chairman of Ruet-e-Hilal Committee. He served for approximately 22 years as chairman and removed from his office on 30 December 2020. He is also considered as the Grand Mufti Of Pakistan by Sunni Barelvi.^[15][16]

In December 1999, Mohammed Yousuf Qureshi, a member of the committee from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, accused Muneeb-ur-Rehman and others of distrusting testimonies from his home province to make a hasty announcement that the new moon had not been sighted anywhere in the country.^[14] Peshawar has always remained a controversial place when it comes to moon sightings.

Muneeb-ur-Rehman received his formal religious education under prominent scholars of his time at Darul Uloom Amjadia, Karachi, where he studied advanced Islamic sciences including Hadith, Fiqh, and Arabic literature. Among his notable teachers in the field of Islamic jurisprudence and traditional Dars-e-Nizami curriculum were senior scholars such as Mufti Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Hazarvi, Justice Dr. Mufti Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri, and Allama Abdul Mustafa Al-Azhari^[17], who contributed to his training in classical Islamic scholarship and juristic reasoning within the Hanafi tradition. In addition to his formal academic teachers, his intellectual and spiritual framework is generally grounded in the broader Islamic scholarly tradition, which traces its authority to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his Companions (Sahaba), as well as the classical jurists and scholars of Islam. This conceptual lineage is commonly referenced within traditional Sunni scholarship as a source of religious authority and continuity rather than direct personal instruction.

Through this combined exposure to traditional Islamic seminaries and contemporary scholars, he developed expertise in Islamic jurisprudence, fatwa issuance, and religious education, which later formed the basis of his academic and institutional career.

Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman is part of the broader South Asian Sunni Islamic scholarly tradition, which preserves the classical system of knowledge transmission known as isnād (chain of narration). This system traces religious learning through successive generations of teachers back to the classical scholars of Islam, and ultimately to the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who directly transmitted his teachings.^[18] He received advanced religious education (Dars-e-Nizami) from Darul Uloom Amjadia, Karachi, and was certified through Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan, an institution that operates within the traditional sanad-based framework of Islamic seminaries. Through his teachers in these institutions^[19], his scholarly training is connected to established chains of transmission in the Hanafi and Ahl-e-Sunnah scholarly tradition. Within this framework, his authorization in Islamic sciences such as Hadith, Tafsir, and Fiqh reflects his position as a recipient and transmitter of religious knowledge preserved through classical scholarly networks. These chains are considered significant in Islamic scholarship because they ensure continuity of interpretation and methodology that historically originates from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through his Companions and subsequent generations of scholars.^[20] In addition to his academic certification, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman has contributed to the continuation of this tradition through teaching, issuing fatwas, and supervising students in Islamic seminaries^[21], thereby participating in the preservation and transmission of traditional Islamic knowledge within contemporary Pakistan.

Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman is regarded as a prominent Pakistani Islamic scholar associated with the Sunni(Ahlesunnah) tradition of jurisprudence. His intellectual career spans teaching, issuing religious rulings (fatwas), curriculum development, and participation in national religious institutions. He has taught subjects including Tafsir, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh), and Arabic literature at Jamia Naeemia, Karachi since 1973, and has been issuing formal religious fatwas since 1985.^[22]

In addition to his academic work, he has played a significant role in Pakistan’s religious advisory and regulatory bodies. He served as a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology (2001–2004), contributing to policy-level discussions on the Islamization of laws and contemporary legal issues in Pakistan.^[23] He also participated in various governmental committees related to Islamic law, including the Nifaz-e-Shariat Working Committee under the Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman is widely recognized for his long-standing association with moon sighting institutions in Pakistan. He served in the Provincial Moon Sighting Committee (1985–1997), later became a member of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee (1997–2001), and subsequently chaired the committee from 2001 to 2020, overseeing nationwide announcements of Ramadan and Eid dates.^[24] His tenure is noted for institutional continuity in moon sighting decisions and public religious coordination.

His intellectual outlook is generally aligned with the Hanafi school of thought within the Maturidi theological framework, and he is associated with the Sunni movement in South Asia. He has also engaged in contemporary issues of Islamic finance, serving on Shariah advisory boards of several Islamic banks, including roles in regulatory and supervisory capacities for financial institutions in Pakistan.^[25]

Beyond institutional roles, he has contributed to public religious discourse through columns, sermons, and published works, addressing contemporary social, legal, and ethical issues from an Islamic jurisprudential perspective.

Muneeb-ur-Rehman is widely regarded as one of Pakistan’s prominent contemporary Sunni religious scholars, particularly within the Barelvi tradition. His long tenure as Chairman of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee (2001–2020) established him as a key public figure in matters of Islamic lunar calendar determination in Pakistan, where his decisions directly influenced the observance of Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, and Eid-ul-Adha nationwide.^[26]

In addition to his administrative religious role, he has contributed significantly to Islamic jurisprudence through issuing fatwas and teaching Islamic sciences for several decades at Jamia Naeemia Karachi. His scholarly influence extends to Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), theology, and contemporary legal issues, particularly through his extensive written works and academic guidance.^[27]

Muneeb-ur-Rehman has also played a role in Pakistan’s religious advisory institutions, including membership in the Council of Islamic Ideology and various federal and provincial religious committees, where he contributed to policy recommendations on Islamic legal and financial matters.^[28]

In the field of Islamic finance, he served on multiple Shariah boards, including advisory roles for major Islamic banking institutions, where he contributed to the development and supervision of Shariah-compliant financial frameworks in Pakistan.^[29]

His scholarly and institutional contributions have also been recognized internationally, with participation in conferences, seminars, and interfaith dialogues across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. These engagements reflect his role in representing South Asian Sunni scholarship in global religious discourse.^[30]

Overall, his legacy is associated with religious leadership, institutional religious governance, Islamic scholarship, and contributions to contemporary Islamic finance and jurisprudence in Pakistan.

Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman has played a significant role in the development and supervision of Islamic banking and Shariah-compliant financial institutions in Pakistan. He has served on several Shariah advisory bodies, where he contributed to ensuring that financial products and banking operations comply with Islamic jurisprudence principles. His expertise in Hanafi fiqh and contemporary financial مسائل has made him a key figure in the formulation of Shariah governance frameworks within the country’s Islamic banking sector. He served as a member of the Shariah Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP)^[31], where he contributed to regulatory oversight of Islamic financial instruments and policy development. He has also held advisory and leadership positions in Islamic banks, including serving as Shariah Advisor to Dawood Islamic Bank^[32] and as Chairman of the Shariah Board of Burj Bank Limited^[33]. In addition, he has been associated with MCB Islamic Bank Limited as Chairman of its Shariah Board^[34], where he has guided the bank on compliance with Islamic financial principles and the approval of Shariah-compliant products. Through these roles, he has contributed to the standardization and institutional development of Islamic banking practices in Pakistan, particularly in areas such as Islamic financing structures, profit-and-loss sharing mechanisms, and Shariah audit frameworks. His work is frequently cited in discussions on the evolution of Islamic finance in Pakistan’s regulatory and banking environment.

• Khulasa E Tafseer^[35][36]
• Arbaeen e Tijarat Wa Maeshat^[37]
• Tafheem-ul-Masail (12 Vol)^{[38][39][40][41]}
• Qanoon-e-Shariat^[38]
• Tafseer Surah-Tu-Nisa^[42]
• Usool-e-Fiqah Islam^[38]
• Sultan Shamasuddin Altamsh: History and Story^[43][44]
• Zakat Ke Masail^[45][46]

• Subject page on Internet Archive