Hazrat Ghulam Ali Okarvi

Mazar of Hazrat Moulana Shaikh-ul-Quran Ghulam Ali Okarvi

Ghulam Ali Okarvi (11 June 1919 CE or 20 Ramadan 1337 AH - 16 May 2000 CE or 11 Safar 1421 AH) was an Islamic scholar, orator, jurist, muhaddis, mufassir & linguist from Pakistan. He taught the Quran & Hadith for more than 50 years.

Biography:

Ghulam Ali was born in the small village of Babanian near Lalamusa, Gujrat in British India. His ancestors were founders of the village. Around five to six generations before his birth, they arrived from Srinagar & named the village Babanian.

Okarvi's primary education was at Govt. Model Primary School in the neighbouring village Umar Chak & middle-level education at Middle School Jora Karnana in the neighbouring village Jora Karnana. He started his early Persian language education at Umer Chak.

For higher education, he formally studied in Jamia Arabia Karimia Hanfia (branch of Anjuman Hizbul Ahnaf, Lahore) in Jalandhar, India & Hizb-ul-Ahnaf, Lahore. Furthermore, he was greatly influenced by different scholars of his era, including Naeem-ud-Din Muradabadi, Ahmed Yaar Khan Naeemi, Abul Hasanat Qadri, Syed Muhammad Ashrafi, etc.

He studied in Lahore with Abul Barakat Syed Ahmad Qadri from Hizb-ul-Ahnaf who gave him the title "Shaikh ul-Quran", later adopted by others.

Okarvi died on Tuesday 11 June 2000 CE (11 Safar 1421h) at the age of 80 in Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. He was buried on land he owned in Ashraf ul Madaris, GT Road, Okara.