LAHORE: Senior cleric, senator and head of Jamiat Ahle Hadith Prof Sajid Mir passed away on Saturday. He was 86.

Prof Mir had been unwell for some time, having undergone heart bypass surgery and a spinal operation, which left him bedridden. He died of cardiac arrest at his residence in Sialkot, his birthplace, where he had moved after falling ill. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.

News of his death prompted an outpouring of grief across religious and political circles, with many expressing deep sorrow and paying tribute to his services.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement issued by his office, expressed deep sorrow and described Prof Mir as a foresighted political figure and Islamic scholar whose passing had created a vacuum in the national political scene that would be difficult to fill.

He said Prof Mir always raised his voice against extremism and sectarianism, which was a golden chapter in his contributions to politics and religion. The prime minister also shared his and the entire nation’s sympathies with the bereaved family in this hour of grief.

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, in a post on X said he was “deeply saddened” by Prof Mir’s sudden demise.

“His [Prof Mir’s] religious, academic, and parliamentary services are unforgettable,” the former prime minister said, praying for his high ranks and patience for his family.

Academic, political background

Prof Sajid Mir had shifted to his native Sialkot after he started suffering ailments, and that was where he breathed his last. He was born in Sialkot on Oct 3, 1938.

Popularly known as Prof Sajid Mir for his stint as a teacher in Nigeria in the 1980s, he returned to join his fellow Sialkoti, Allama Ehsan Elahi Zaheer, who had just formed Jamiat Ahle Hadith, a political wing of Ahle Hadith Movement.

When Mr Zaheer lost his life to a terrorist attack in 1987, Jamiat split into two factions: one headed by Mr Mir and renamed as Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith and the other by Mr Zaheer’s son Ibtisam Elahi, and renamed as Jamiat Ahle Hadith Pakistan. Ibtisam, however, merged his faction with Prof Mir’s faction in 2018.

Mr Mir held two master’s degrees from Punjab University — in English Literature (1960) and Islamic Studies (1969) — followed by a traditional Islamic qualification, Dars-i-Nizami (Faazil).

Being the head of a Salafi party, Prof Mir was considered close to the Saudi royal family. He was also considered one of the reasons for, and a result of, the Sharif family’s closeness to the Saudi royals.

He was elected to the Senate multiple times since 1994, always with PML-N support. According to his party, he never applied for any ticket but was nominated and backed consistently.

On his part, the professor kept his party at the beck and call of the PML-N, joining the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in 2020 and participating in its protest movement until the fall of the PTI government.

Some PML-N insiders claim that he anchored ties between the party and the religious fraternity.

Though the PML-N itself is a rightist party with deep religious leanings, it did outsource relationship building to the professor for smaller religious groups and organisations.

Abid Mahmood in Narowal also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2025