82-yr-old scholar gets PHD

PESHAWAR — Come term end and students all over the world anxiously wait to do away with course books. Not Qazi Hafizullah. At the age of 82, he is probably one of the country’s oldest scholars to get his PHD degree.

“Studying and research are my hobbies and I never feel tired of them, even at this age,” Qazi said.

Qazi successfully defended his PHD thesis on Mullah Ali Al Qari’s famous ‘Tafsir Anwarul Quran wa Israrul Furqan’ last year at the department of Islamic Studies at University of Peshawar (UOP).

He is currently based in Peshawar with one of his sons while another teaches at a government university in their home town in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

Qazi has so far authored at least 173 books on different Islamic topics. Many of these serve as course text in Afghanistan, having been approved by the Ministry of Education. At least 53 of his books have been published, while some others are under the publication process by the Pashto Academy of the UOP.

Sporting along white beard and turban on his head, Qazi appears less a scholar and more a conventional grand parent figure, as the children gathered around tended to look at him with a hushed awe of reverence, listening to each word he spoke during the interview.

His approximately 1,000page dissertation deals with niceties of Tafsir, differences and other aspects of Mullah Ali Al Qari, also known as Al Hirawai, who was born in Herat in north western Afghanistan. Exact dates about Al Hirawai are not known, but he is believed to have lived in the fifteenth century.

Qazi received his earlier education in religious seminaries and after obtaining his Bachelors in Sharia from Kabul University, he worked in the office of judge in Kabul.

“1 served till the Communists came and quit my job when Babrak Karmal came into power,” he said.

Following his resignation, he started teaching Tafsir and Hadith (Interpretation of Quran and Traditions of the Prophet). — Internews