At a glance
- Roles
- Scholar · Preacher · teacher · writer · activist · Politician
- Region
- South Asia
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Place in the story
Unknown (unknown)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
In the Modern Islam Browser
Life and education
His full name is Muhammad Ashraf Asif, son of Sufi Ghulam Sarwar, and he was born on 12 April 1968 in Bhikhi Sharif, district Mandi Bahauddin.1 His party's website gives the same birth date and place.2 He is known by the honorific Kanzul Ulama.1 According to his organisation's official biography, he memorised the Qur'an at Jamia Muhammadia Nooriyah Razawiyyah in Bhikhi Sharif, completed the Dars-e-Nizami curriculum between 1984 and 1993, took a diploma in Modern Arabic at Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad, and completed a PhD in the Arabic department of the University of Punjab in 2001.1 The biography records that he took bay'ah in 1981 from Pir Syed Muhammad Jalaluddin Shah Naqshbandi Qadri.1 He began teaching in Lahore in the mid-1990s, including as principal of Jamia Jalaliyah Razawiyyah Muzaffar al-Islam in Darogha Wala.1
Movement leadership
On 11 May 2007 he founded Idarah Sirat Mustaqeem Pakistan, whose present centre is in Lahore.1 His party's website describes him as founder of Tehreek-e-Sirat-e-Mustaqeem (TSM) and chairman of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY).2 Tehreek Labbaik Islam (TLI), the political wing of TLY, was registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan in 2018 with Jalali as its chairman.2 His party's website describes him as affiliated with the Ahle Sunnat Wa Jamaat Barelvi movement.2
Reported positions and controversies
Bitter Winter's account of the November 2017 Faizabad sit-in reports that Jalali rejected the army-brokered agreement that ended the protest, continued protests in Lahore without Rizvi's support, and left Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan with his own splinter organisation.3 The same account reports that he claimed he, rather than Rizvi, had been the main founder of TLYRA.3 It also reports that he was arrested in 2020 after being accused of blasphemy over remarks about Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet ﷺ Muhammad.3 On 9 September 2024 the District Court of The Hague sentenced him in absentia to fourteen years in prison for public appeals to kill the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, his remarks construed as promoting terrorism.4 There is no extradition treaty between Pakistan and the Netherlands.4
Audience
His YouTube channel @thedrjalali had 413,000 subscribers, 57,349,175 total views and 3,514 videos as of 5 November 2026.5
Connections
- Lived in
- Lahore
People and things also explored
Badshahi Mosque· Ahmad Shah Durrani occupies Lahore, Muharram 1161/January 1748· al-Duz takes Lahore and is killed· Balban restores Lahore after his accession, 664/1266· Lahore formally annexed to the British empire, March 1849· First written mention of Lahore in the Hudud al-'alam, 372/982· Humayun reoccupies Lahore, Rabi' II 962/February 1555· Iltutmish's forces take Lahore, 613/1217
Sources
- Official biography of Dr Muhammad Ashraf Asif Jalali (Idarah Sirat-e-Mustaqeem)
- Tehreek Labbaik Islam official About page
- Bitter Winter series article 'Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. 4. Taking to the Streets' (Massimo Introvigne, 2021)
- Bitter Winter article 'Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan Leaders Sentenced for Death Threats Against Geert Wilders' (2024)
- vidIQ channel statistics for The Dr Jalali (@thedrjalali)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Muhammad Ashraf Asif Jalali”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/muhammad-ashraf-asif-jalali/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-05.
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