Indian Muslim Leader Mustafa Rifai Passes Away

The Indian Muslim community lost a distinguished leader in late February 2025 with the demise of Mustafa Rifai, an active and much-loved Muslim preacher and activist. Over a fifty-year career in both education and social work, he left a strong legacy in the often-embattled lives of Indian Muslims, the world’s biggest religious minority.

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Syed Mustafa Rifai Jilani Nadvi grew up and studied in the southern subcontinent, completing his primary school in Bengal and then studying at the prestigious Baqiyath Salihath Seminary in Vellore. He came from a family that claimed descent from the renowned Islamic scholar Abdul-Qadir Gilani, after whom the Qadri Sufi order is named. In addition to his education and social work, Rifai was an advocate of tasawwuf as a means of spiritual enrichment on the established practices of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah give him blessings and peace.

Mustafa Rifai studied with a number of renowned scholars including Ali Hassani Nadwi of the prestigious Nadwatul-Uloom Seminary, as well as Mohammad Rabai and Zakaria Kandhlawi. In 1973 he co-founded the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board led by Rabay, which advocated for the promotion and defense of Islamic law in the personal lives of Indian Muslims. This has been a particularly hard-pressed issue in recent years with the increased incitement against Muslims by far-right and even many liberal circles in India.

A longstanding yet humble and approachable pillar of the Indian Muslim community, Mustafa Rifai passed away in February 2025 and was buried in Bengaluru. His life was another chapter in the rich history of Muslim leaders, preachers, and educators in the Indian subcontinent.

Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Rajioun

 – by Ibrahim Moiz

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