Abstract
Jihadist ideology in the religious intellectual discourse, accelerated in the recent years in
Pakistan is having its roots in an atomistic approach to the holy texts and a narrative which
sanctified the killing of non-Muslims and their Muslim collaborators alike. Ghamidi (b. 1951),
an ardent religious scholar challenged the Jihadists ideology in its bases. The counter
narrative of Ghamidi on Jihad, Muslims and non-Muslims relations, Islamic state/relation of
religion with politics and many other issues cannot be easily ignored intellectually. His views
are ingrained in the main Muslim religious treatise and have a profound divergence from the
contemporary exclusivist interpretation/narrative of the Muslims. Ghamidi’s views,
embedded in Farahi-Islahi school of South Asia, a relatively unknown religious trend, is
upholding a holistic approach to Quran based on structural and thematic coherence in Quran
(Nazm-i-Quran) against the disjointed and isolationist approach of the dominant religious
discourse sometime appeared in the shape of religious militancy. Pakistani society ridden
with an armed religious conflict cannot overwhelm the militant elements through the use of
force unless it is encounter with a stronger ideological counter narrative. Ghamidi’s work is
relevant to societies elsewhere in the Muslim world also. In this paper roots and standing of
Ghamidi against the dominant religious discourse in Pakistan is investigated and evaluated in
the light of his publications and his presentation in electronic media while the same was
adopted for the Jihadist ideology and added with the stories narrated among the masses
through interaction of the researcher with the conflict ridden areas in the north-western part
of Pakistan called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.
