Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf— A friend of Pakistan
By M Abbas Khan
Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf who died in the evening of 10 March was a wonderful friend of Pakistan and tried to connect Pakistan with Central Asia.
He was Chairman of the Spiritual administration of Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in the dignity of mufti during 1989-1993.
During this period, he was elected people’s Deputy of the USSR. In recent years, the theologian actively engaged in scientific and educational activities. He was co-founder and member of the Board of secretaries of the world Union of the Muslim Ulema. In memory of the famous theologian, who was a teacher and became a close friend of the father of the leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of the Chechen Republic Akhmad Kadyrov in the years of study at the Tashkent Islamic Institute, one of the streets of Grozny will be named Yusuf.
“In all the mosques and villages of Chechnya read prayers in memory of Sheikh. I decided to call his name one of the streets of Grozny,” reported on Instagram page of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.
He received his primary religious education from his father. After he finished a middle school in 1970, Muhammad-Sodiq was accepted into the Mir-i Arab madrassa in Bukhara. He then studied at the Higher Islamic Institution in Tashkent, finishing with distinction in 1975.
In 1976, Muhammad Sodiq Muhammd Yusuf was admitted to ad-Dawa al-Islami National Islamic University in Libya, which he finished with distinction and a financial award. This period of study exposed him to a future generation of Muslim clerics, mostly from the Arabic world but even reaching to places as far away as Japan.
In 1997 Sheikh Muhammad Sodiq Muhammd Yusuf was put in charge of Muslim countries and federations of the Commonwealth of Independent States within Rabita al-Alam al-Islami (Muslim World League), an international Islamic organization in Saudi Arabia. He was a permanent member of the governing council of this organization.
Muhammad-Sodiq passed away on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 in Tashkent.
Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf received all delegations from Pakistan in his office during 1982-1993. When he was Deputy of USSR Congress, he worked hard to create good relations between Pakistan & Soviet Union. He visited Pakistan and held talks with Benazir Bhutto, Mehraj Khalid. Aftab Sherpao and with various groups of Mujahdeen to develop direct understanding between Pakistan & USSR on Afghan issue. Ha had many talks with Mikhail Gorbochov on this subject. Pakistani Ambassador in Moscow Abdul Sattar played an important official roll, whereas writer of these lines worked unofficially for this cause.
Pakistan should not forget his services and should remember him because he was an icon of interfaith harmony and a true friend of Pakistan.
