In less than three decades, the Minhaj-ul-Quran International has made tremendous achievements in various fields of work. Taking its work span, time span and geographical work span, the results achieved so far are dazzlingly astonishing. Detailed information in this regard requires volumes of written work. We can have only the synopsis of the MQI performance in terms of solid results it has produced under the most dynamic and galvanizing leadership of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.
1. In a short period of 30 years, the MQI has established its educational, welfare & organizational set-up outside Pakistan in 74 countries with 69 educational and cultural centres, while number of its membership network over the globe has risen to 93.
2. The MQI Organizations at tehsil level and union council have been set up in all the four provinces of the country and Azad Kahsmir.
3. Its registered membership has gone as high as 2,80,000 worldwide.
4. Struggling hard against ignorance and pursuing the target of establishing 1,000 schools and colleges in the country, the Minhaj Education Society has by now set up more than 600 schools imparting education to 170,000 students through 5000 teachers all over Pakistan.
5. It has established one chartered university as well, the Minhaj University Lahore (MUL), which is placed in ‘W’ grade, the highest rank granted by the Higher Educationn Commision of Pakistan. MQI has a well chalked out plan to raise one chartered university in each of the provinces and one in Azad Kashmir in addition to one international university.
6. There are 5,000 libraries/CD exchanges and mass education centres being run in the country under the auspices of MQI.
7. Its organizational network ever expanding and deepening to the UCs level, more than 300 monthly Irfan-ul-Qur’an gatherings have been set up by its Da‘wa Directorate where renowned scholars of MQI deliver talks on the Qur’anic guidance in removing difficulties and issues of the modern age. Similarly the Da‘wa Directorate is also running Irfan-ul-Qur’an courses for masses and completed more than 500 three-month-long courses till now. Moreover this is also running Come to Learn Islam courses at a large scale.
8. The Minhaj-ul-Quran Women League closely following its laid down targets has set up 242 Irfan-ul-Qur’an circles and more than two thousand Durood Circles. Moreover, they have organized 478 Irfan-ul-Qur’an courses along with Come to Learn Islam courses and other conferences and seminars They are also functioning to provide Qur’anic guidance to the womenfolk.
9. Over 40,000 men and women attend the annual Collective Itikaf in the sacred month of Ramadan at Township Lahore every year. They are imparted training in spiritual elevation, character building, moderation and tolerance techniques directly by Shaykh-ul-Islam. In 2010, when the worst flood struck the half of Pakistan, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri cancelled this historic retreat and instructed all participants of Itikaf and workers of MQI to serve the flood-stricken people.
10. Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has, over the years, brought about a culture of love for the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him). Pursuing this objective he promoted hymnody (sessions of chanting Na‘at, the poetic eulogies to glorify the Holy Prophet [blessings and peace be upon him]) and Sama‘ gatherings in the holy month of Rabi-ul-Awwal (the month when the Prophet Muhammad [blessings and peace be upon him] was born). One of the salient features of this culture is serving common man with Ziyafat-e-Milad (extended meals) within the first 12 days of Rabi-ul-Awwal. The celebration consists of daily gatherings at the MQI headquarters where recitations of the Qur’an take place along with the Na‘at sessions followed by food served to every participant. An open invitation is served to everybody rich or poor to attend the Ziyafat. When food is served everybody sits and eats together, breaking barriers of wealth and poverty, removing all inhibitions and uniting people under the supreme banner of mercy of the Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him).
11. The annual International Meelad Conference is held at Minar-e-Pakistan Lahore on the 12th night of Rabi-ul-Awwal and lasts till the early morning of 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal for the celebration of Milad-un-Nabi (blessings and peace be upon him). This event has become a regular feature for last two and a half decades. Hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world attend the gathering. Rejoicing on the occasion, all these participants are served with Ziafat, the grand extended food. The night commences with the recitation of the Holy Qur’an, followed by Na‘at chanting to glorify the Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him). Then Shaykh-ul-Islam delivers a lecture, followed by invoking greetings and salutations upon the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him). This is one of the largest gatherings of the Muslim Umma around the world telecast live on satellite channels and internet for the benefit of all the Muslims around the world.
12. The most soothing feature of this culture of love for the Holy Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) is invoking durood, blessings, and salutations, on the Messenger of Allah. For this purpose, Gosha-e-Durood has been set up at MQI central headquarters Lahore. More than thirty-one billion (31,00,00,00,000) times salutations have been invoked on the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) at this Gosha-e-Darood so far. Following the line, Durood circles have come up in thousands in streets of the towns where the salutations are invoked on the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) and are deposited with the central directorate.
13. Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has authored 1000 books out of which 430 books have been published. His works are being translated into different foreign languages as well such as English, Arabic, German, Danish, Korean, Norwegian etc.
14. 5000 lectures by Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri have been delivered and are available on audio video cassettes and different CD formats. Over a 1500 lectures have been produced on CDs and DVDs and are available on all the Minhaj-ul-Quran sale centres around the world. His lectures sold so far run in millions.
15. Fighting poverty in the country, Shaykh-ul-Islam formed a new sister organisation in 1989 for social welfare and disaster and poverty relief, later to be known as the Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF), which has benefited victims of natural disasters such as the Tsunami affecting Indonesia; the Bam earthquake, Iran; the South Asian earthquake in Pakistan, as well as various developments and educational projects in Pakistan and other underprivileged countries. Aid worth crores of rupees has been distributed so far among the victims.
16. The construction of a huge four-storey orphanage known as Aaghosh to house 500 orphans has been erected at Township Lahore. Already commissioned, Aaghosh is functional providing children with the umbrella of love, care and education to foster them into useful and balanced citizens.
17. A heavy-budgeted institution known as Bait-uz-Zahra, is under construction at Township Lahore. This will complete within next few years and provide residence as well as education for the needy and talented girls.
18. Minhaj Welfare Foundation arranges scholarships for those poor and needy students who are otherwise very intelligent and competent but due to lack of resources cannot get education. Under Minhaj Welfare Foundation, Student Welfare Board was established for this purpose. Scholarships are given to poor and needy students for secondary and higher education. The students benefiting from this scheme are in thousands studying at Minhaj schools and colleges. Millions of rupees have been spent on thousands of students so far. A large number of donors are given direct access to the schools to monitor progress of their respective donees.
19. Eid Gift and Ration Scheme was started by MWF to provide relief to the destitute. Under this scheme, ration, sweet and food stuff are distributed among the poor on the occasions of Eids including Meelad-un-Nabi (blessings and peace be upon him). Millions of rupees have also been distributed among the sufferers of drought in the province of Baluchistan. The plans for provision of ration on permanent basis were also launched incurring huge budget.
20. The total number of Minhaj Free Clinics throughout the country is 110. The establishment of this network has cost Rs. 3,30,00,000 and 550 thousand people have, so far, benefitted from this.
21. Minhaj Welfare Foundation established five hospitals in different cities of Pakistan to provide better health facilities to the helpless and the poor.
22. There are around 6 million blind people in the world today. The number of blind people in Pakistan is also increasing. Keeping this situation in view, Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF) started holding free eye surgery camps in the backward and far-flung areas of Pakistan. According to the prevalent concept of eye-camp in Pakistan, it is getting oneself checked up by a doctor one day and getting a prescription of medicine. Whereas annual free surgery eye camps are held under the banner of Minhaj Welfare Foundation benefiting thousands of patients each year.
23. Arrangement of collective marriages by the Minhaj Welfare Foundation has become a feather in its cap for last few years. Collective marriages are also arranged not only in Lahore but also in other cities of the country. The branches of Minhaj Welfare Foundation undertook this project with great zeal and determination. The marriages of 630 girls have been arranged by Minhaj Welfare Foundation. These marriages cost rupees 9,45,00,000. The cooperation of local wealthy individuals extended to the Minhaj Welfare Foundation is a sign of trust in the organization.
24. More than half of Pakistani population is deprived of clean drinking water today. Unclean water is available for drinking at most of the places giving birth to fatal diseases. Given this growing need of clean drinking water, Minhaj Welfare Foundation has installed 1500 water pumps across the country costing Rs. 7 million. The water pump installation campaign has covered numerous districts in all the four provinces of the country.
25. The MWF has arranged Free Legal Assistance for the exploited/abused women. This is to rehabilitate the women sent to prison for failing to pay the fines/penalties or for other reasons and provide them Free Legal Assistance. The objective is also to provide them legal cover at police stations for safe and fair proceedings of their cases; develop a powerful, effective program to expose police atrocities and restrict injustice at police stations. In addition, women in Dar-ul-Amaan (House of Safety/Protection), Orphanage or Mental Hospitals are provided legal aid. The MWF works for creating awareness about the significance of Legal Assistance through seminars and presentations and struggles to remove social discrimination and ensure restoration of women’s social status.
26. The MQI has launched sewing machine scheme as well to enable the poor women earn their living through sewing clothes. It is a very flourishing job within the Pakistani industry. A considerable number of people earn their living through this skill. Therefore, MWF launched a Sewing Machine Scheme to provide the destitute women with the machines. It facilitates them earn a respectable living and meet their basic domestic needs.
27. But great achievement is the change that has taken place in peoples’ hearts and minds towards promotion of peace and harmony in the society. The MQI has considerably reduced sectarianism due to its dynamic struggle launched for this purpose. Inter-faith dialogue too has brought people of two faiths closer. The MQI has definitely achieved a degree of moderation, tolerance and promotion of human dignity and restoration of human rights and women rights through its Da‘wa, Training and organizing programmes in progress in country and abroad. This is heartening to see that people have started understanding the message of MQI and very bright prospects can be visualized in near future.
28. Peace for Humanity Conference: It was on September 24, 2011, you saw Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri in Wembley Arena, where some 12000 people had gathered to attend peace for humanity conference. The conference launched a campaign to get one million people to sign an online declaration of peace by 2012. According to BBC: “Normally it’s pop stars who attract the big crowds at Wembley Arena. Today it is the renowned Islamic scholar Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. You can even see posters of him on the buses travelling through the streets near the stadium. But his message is a serious one. He preaches that there are no conditions under which extremism and the violence it endorses can be excused. It’s a message that has found a big audience here at Wembley but one which has ironically made him the subject of death threats from those who don’t believe in peace. ” The audience heard the pre-recorded messages of support from, amongst others, Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, opposition leader Ed Miliband, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. And there were prayers for peace from representatives from a number of different religions including the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Rev David Hawkins, Jewish rabbis and representatives from the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh faiths. The declaration of peace included a call for democracy and good governance in the Muslim world, respect for human rights, and alleviation of poverty throughout the world.
29. UN grants ‘Special Consultative Status’ to Minhaj-ul-Quran International: Recognizing the efforts and achievement of MQI in the field of education, social welfare and humanitarian development the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has formally granted the ‘Special Consultative Status’ to Minhaj-ul-Quran International. UN ECOSOC consultative status allows NGOs to attend UN conferences and meetings, submit written statements and reports, make oral interventions, and host panels in UN buildings. Minhaj-ul-Quran International was recommended by the Committee on NGOs at its 2011 regular session and formally recognized during the UN Annual session. This award of special status at UN speaks of the global stature Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri has been bestowed upon for his love for humanity and his exalted services he has rendered to the interfaith cohesion and inter-communal integration at international level.
30. Anti-corruption Long March: On 23 December, 2012 we witnessed the signature “save the state, not politics” campaign of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri launched while addressing an ocean of people gathered at Minar-e-Pakistan Lahore. : “We reject the corrupt electoral system of Pakistan. ” He elaborated his message and put forth his 7-point demand during Long March, in the sea of people surging into the sit-in at D-Chowk Islamabad, asking the government to step down and step up the process towards real democracy under articles 62, 63 and 217 of the constitution of Pakistan, reconstituting the ECP and putting a neutral caretaker government in place. However, in Pakistan, politics means continuing with the corrupt electoral system. The venom of corruption has eaten deep into the vitals of its institutions—the ECP, the parliament, the constitutional amendments, the political parties and the governance. Under the curse of corruption, the corrupt elements in power quite duplicitously employed the ruse of an agreement—the Islamabad Long March Declaration (ILMD)—signed by the PM of Pakistan and all the leading politicians. Later, the corrupt, most brazenly and blatantly, backed out of ILMD. The custodians of the corrupt system—the corridors of power—dubbed Dr Qadri coming after years from abroad, was up to derailing the democracy—a conspiracy against the system.

The people of Pakistan and those endeavouring for a change have once again been duped and hoodwinked. Those who saw a hidden hand behind the historic long march fell prey to what Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri called the corrupt system of electioneering to vote the corrupt to power. That is what Dr Qadri forewarned them at the beat of the drum, risking his life and the lives of the poor millions who glued to him during the hazardous and chill-bitten Long March. Yet the most strikingly peaceful and disciplined Long March at the D-Chowk and Dr Qadri’s waking-the-dead stance have stamped the veracity of his riling struggle. Contrary to the corrupt rulers and the custodians of the corrupt system, the people of Pakistan felt convinced, believed him and joined him in the historic millions Long March, on 14 January 2013. Those who contested the rigged elections are dressing their wounds they sustained through the bamboozled polling.

The unfortunate victims of the corrupt electoral system regret today that they mistook Dr Qadri’s message and failed to follow him at the ripe time. Today everybody is calling him right and are stretching them up for a mega change based on the signature “save the state, not politics” campaign of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri that he has ineradicably engraved on the national psyche through a socio-political commotion and the intellectual regurgitation of perceiving the abysmal ground reality. He accomplished a socio-political renaissance in the country—the decades’ task—performed only in four extremely cold days—14 to 17 January 2013—of the freezing two months. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri has enormously succeeded in awakening the masses to the butchery going for the jugular and sucking their blood, and has blown into them the spirit to rise and snatch their rights from the democratic monarchs. He has given a call for morphing millions into billions to wreak hurricanes and wreck the corrupt system with gales of street power.
31. Minhaj Education City: It is over three decades now when Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri founded the Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI) in 1981 and developed an MQI education complex in the Township of the metropolitan city, Lahore. Over the decades, the MQI has risen in many dimensions—many new buildings for Minhaj University, College of Sharia & Islamic Sciences, Minhaj College for Women, Jame al-Minhaj, Tahfeez-ul-Quran Institute, Aghosh Orphan House, Suffah Hall and Gosha-e-Durood were constructed, forums like Minhaj Education Society, Minhaj Welfare Foundation, Minhaj Youth League, Mustafavi Students Movement, Minhaj Ullama Council and Minhaj Women League were formed and more than two dozen directorates like Foreign Affairs, Dawah, Training, Research, Minhaj Production, Minhaj Publications, Minhaj Marketing, Sales Center, Minhaj Printing Press, IT Bureau and Minhaj TV were established. These huge establishments have used the secretariat facility and the bastion at Township to its capacity, and are now spilling over the precincts. The dynamic leadership of MQI has ambitious plans to keep pace with the fast moving modern life, maintain its effectiveness in the field, in Pakistan and the world over. The extending requirements for religious, educational and welfare projects of MQI need much more area for expansion and development. Therefore, Shaykh-ul-Islam has decided to acquire a 120-acre piece of land in the peripheries of Lahore to cater imminent needs of the coming decades. This piece of land will host a great seat of learning called Minhaj Education City. It is a colossal plan seeking a prodigious architectural set up to translate it into reality that is now being examined and finalized. It has voluminous details to sketch a comprehensive introduction to the gigantic project. Only some of the salient features of Minhaj Education City have been described here to bring forth an image of the visualized future.