PESHAWAR: Prominent religious scholar and distinguished orator Maulana Mohammad Ameer, popularly known as Maulana Bijlighar, passed away here Sunday after protracted illness. He was 85. His funeral would be offered at the Qayyum Stadium here today at 11am. The Maulana, a witty man and popular broadcaster due to his audio-cassettes containing his speeches, left behind three sons and three daughters to mourn his demise. He had been ill for almost two years. He was suffering from multiple diseases, including diabetes, hypertension and peptic ulcer. Born in 1927, Maulana Bijlighar received his religious education at the Darul Uloom-e-Sarhad in Peshawar in 1950 and joined the institution as teacher and taught the Quran and Hadith. He was an active member of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and held various positions in the party. He remained provincial vice-president and district president of the party. Maulana Bijlighar, an outspoken religious scholar, also founded an organisation, Anjuman Tableegh-e-Quran and Sunnah, for promotion of the teachings of the Quran and sayings of Hazrat Mohammad (peace be upon him). He remained patron-in-chief of the organisation for almost four decades. He was a close companion of Maulana Mufti Mahmood and played an active role in national politics, particularly in 1970s and afterwards. He was sent to jail four times for his political activities during Martial Law regimes. He was the chief cleric at the main mosque in Bhana Mari locality in Peshawar where he used to deliver the Friday sermon. He was one of the most heard speakers in the province as people from far and wide used to come to the mosque to listen to his sermon. He used to deliver speech in Pashto, though he was well-versed in Arabic, Persian, Hindko and Urdu. He also owned a medical store in Bhana Mari bazaar where he could be seen at times. JUI-F head Maulana Fazlur Rahman, provincial President Sheikh Amanullah and Secretary Information Jalil Jan expressed grief over the sad demise of Maulana Bijlighar. In a joint statement, the JUI-F leaders said that Maulana Bijlighar was a great religious scholar and had rendered great services for the implementation of Islamic system in the county. They said the vacuum created with his death would never be filled.
