Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

MFI reports that Shahi claimed to be the Mahdi, Messiah, and Kalki Avatar. Shahi disappeared from public view in 2001. There have been claims that he died in that year or in 2003, but these are unconfirmed.

• Name — Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi ریاض احمد گوہر شاہی • Born — 25 November 1941 • Birthplace — Dhok Gohar Shah, Mohra Noori, Rawalpindi, British India (now Pakistan) • Disappeared Date — 2001 • Movement — Bewaqoof banana • Organization — Messiah Foundation International

Shahi was born on 25 November 1941 in the village of Dhok Gohar Shah in the district of Rawalpindi of British India. He is a fifth generation descendant of the Sufi Baba Gohar Ali Shah. At the age of twenty, when he was the owner of F.Q. Steel Industries, Shahi began to search for spirituality. Eventually he became disillusioned in this search and returned to work. Shahi then married and had three children. In 1975, he went to Sehwan for self-mortification; he spent a period of three years in the mountains of Sehwan Sharif and the forest of Laal Bagh in self-purification, "for the sake of God's love".

• Name — Messiah Foundation International • Formation — 1980 • Type — Non-profit organisation • Headquarters — London, United Kingdom • Language — Urdu & English • Leader Title — Co-Founder • Leader Name — Younus AlGohar • Website — http: www.goharshahi.us/ Shahi became popular as a Sufi preacher in Pakistan during the late 1970s. He formed RAGS International and Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam in 1980. Of the two organisations, RAGS International is still active as Messiah Foundation International whereas Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam was reported to have been dissolved and banned in Pakistan in 2011. • Illustration — Shahi at an event at Imam Bargah-e-Noor-e-Iman Mosque, in Karachi, Pakistan. He is seen here speaking to two religious clerics from different sects within Islam: Shia Islam and Sunni Islam. The CEO of Messiah Foundation International is Younus AlGohar. Shahi claimed to have met with Jesus Christ in 1997. Lebanese American mystic Hisham Kabbani has sat at his feet, learned from him, and praised him. Singers such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ghulam Farid Sabri have been presented the message of Shahi. Some singers such as Aziz Mian and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have performed at Shahi related events.

He and many of his followers have been convicted under Islamic blasphemy laws by an antiterrorist court in Sindh. After he fled to England, Shahi was convicted in absentia, receiving sentences that totaled approximately 59 years.

Shahi was reported to have disappeared in 2001, in London; afterwards, sightings of him were reported around the world of people claiming to have met and received spiritual guidance from him. In February 2002, prior to any decision on appeals filed with the High Court of Sindh, Ardeshir Cowasjee claimed in an article he wrote for the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, that unnamed people who identified themselves to him as office-bearers of the All-Faith Spiritual Movement told him that Gohar Shahi died abroad, but this report was unconfirmed. There have been rumours of him dying, with some sources reporting that he died in 2001 and others saying he died in 2003. According to the Pakistani Press Foundation Shahi died in 2001. An article from 2006 in the Sunday Telegraph reports that Shahi died in 2003, and a 2009 article in Your Local Guardian also says that he was reported to have died in 2003. However, none of these reports have been confirmed, as there is no body. On the other hand, the Indian news agency PTI reported in 2008 that Shahi was based in the United Kingdom after being convicted of blasphemy by the High Court of Sindh. This view is supported by the Indian Express which reported in 2008 that Shahi had fled to the United Kingdom and was presently based there. Zee News also supported this claim. The Hindustan Times has reported that he is "serving a life term". The Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka stated that Shahi disappeared in 2001 and sightings of him were thereafter reported around the world. Of the two factions of Shahi's followers, the Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam had asserted that Shahi died, and built a tomb for him at the Markazi Aastana in Kotri, where devotees performed pilgrimage. The MFI, in contrast, declares that he merely disappeared.