Muhammad Ali Mirza

Muhammad Ali Mirza, known as Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza, is a Pakistani Islamic scholar and commentator and a mechanical engineer, born on 4 October 1977 in Jhelum, Punjab, Pakistan. He gives video lectures on religious questions through his YouTube channel and runs a research academy in his city that teaches religion on the basis of his understanding of the Quran and Sunnah, presenting himself as a critic of sectarian division. His lectures have drawn wide controversy; he was arrested in 2020 and 2025 and survived assassination attempts. ^{1 2}

Muhammad Ali Mirza was born in Jhelum, Punjab. His father, Mirza Arshad Mahmud, reportedly used to work in Allied Bank. He obtained his education in mechanical engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila. He worked as a mechanical engineer for the Government of Punjab on the 19th pay scale, but later quit when the department asked him to leave because he had become a public figure. ¹

The Urdu article adds that he lives in Machine Mohalla No. 1 in Jhelum, that he is neither a madrasa graduate nor a mosque imam under the system prevailing in Pakistan, and that his religious learning was self-directed. ²

Mirza gives online lectures on religious and social questions from his research academy in Jhelum. His official YouTube channel, "Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza - Official Channel", has been active since 2014 according to the article's table, which records about 3.19 million subscribers and 688 million views — platform figures the table dates to 8 March 2026, recorded here only with that date. His official website is Ahl-e-Sunnat-Pak (ahlesunnatpak.com), which publishes his biography and lectures. ^{1 2}

Mirza says that he does not earn his living from religious services, but covers his expenses from his salary. ²

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

His approach as he presents it. His project, as the sources describe it, calls for rising above sectarian divisions and returning to the Quran and Sunnah; it addresses especially young and educated people; he presents his positions supported by references from the hadith collections and the Quran, and says his lectures are presented cut out of context. ^{1 2}

His critics. His critics claim that he uses derogatory terms for the awliya (Muslim saints) and scholars, and that he harshly criticises Companions who stood against Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him). He had a public feud with the Pakistani Deobandi scholar Mufti Tariq Masood: in 2021 Mirza challenged him to come to Jhelum for a face-to-face debate; it was planned for May 2021, then postponed until October, and never took place. Masood claimed he had travelled to Jhelum but was unable to make contact with Mirza, and he and his supporters declared victory. On 26 November 2023 Hanif Qureshi travelled to Jhelum for a planned debate (munazra); Mirza cancelled it, police prevented Qureshi from entering the academy, and he returned to Rawalpindi and proclaimed victory. ^{1 2}

The 2022 remarks affair. In June 2022 Mirza criticised Taslim Rehmani for badmouthing Hindu gods in front of the BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Times Now, and said Sharma had abused Muhammad in reaction to that. An Indian journalist, Rubika Liaquat, praised his stand, and many Indian and Pakistani scholars were furious with him for the comment. ¹

His reported view of Ahmadis. In one video, Mirza considered present-day Ahmadis to be better than Jews and Christians (the People of the Book); he also said they are not Muslims, and that his video clips have been presented out of context. ¹

Mirza was arrested on 4 May 2020 on suspicion of hate speech directed at religious scholars; the case in Jhelum was registered under Section 153-A (incitement of hatred). The Pakistani actor Hamza Ali Abbasi and the anchor Shafaat Ali, among others, condemned his arrest on social media, and he was released on bail two days later, on 6 May. He said one of his lectures had been presented completely out of context. ^{1 2}

In April 2023 a blasphemy case was registered against him under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, accusing him of insulting the Prophet ﷺ Muhammad and of downplaying the Pakistani legal ruling that considers Ahmadis non-Muslims. The cleric Pir Afzal Qadri had offered a reward of Rs. 500,000 for his assassination in 2023, stating that he deserved to be killed, as the sources report. ¹

On 25 August 2025 he was detained by Jhelum police under Section 3 of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, and the authorities locked his academy in Machine Mohalla. He was charged under the blasphemy law with outraging religious feelings and making derogatory remarks against the Companions and family of the Prophet Muhammad. He was transferred between the jails of Jhelum and Hafizabad, and on 18 September 2025 he was moved to Adiala Jail under high security. On 3 December 2025 the Lahore High Court (Rawalpindi Bench) granted him bail, directing him to submit two surety bonds of Rs. 500,000 each. ¹

Mirza survived a first assassination attempt in October 2017 and a second on 14 March 2021, when an attacker visited his academy in Jhelum at a weekly meeting and tried to stab him with a knife while taking a picture with him; Mirza escaped with minor arm injuries, police arrested two suspects, and the attacker had travelled from Lahore to Jhelum to kill him. In August 2023 a man from Gujrat attempted to barge into the Jhelum academy armed with a knife and was overpowered by guards and academy members. ¹

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.