Aamir Liaquat Hussain
Aamir Liaqaut Hussain
Minister of State for Religious Affairs Member of National Assembly Pakistan
In office 2002–2007
Personal details
Born	5 July 1971 Karachi
Nationality	Pakistan
Political party	Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) (Expelled 2010)[1]
Occupation	Media Icon, Anchorperson, Entertainer, Politician,
Religion	Islam
Website	Aamir Liaquat Hussain

Aamir Liaquat Hussain (Urdu: عامر لیاقت حسین) is a politician, actor, broadcaster, and anchorperson from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Husasin was born on 5 July 1971 at Karachi.^[2] He has been the host of the TV programme Aalim Aur Aalam on ARY Digital since 6 August 2010. Aamir Liaquat Hussain contested 2002, he was elected to the National Assembly affiliated party with Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He resigned from his post a member of the National Assembly and from his seat as the Minister of Religious Affairs in 2007. In 2005, an investigation into his background revealed that his degrees were fake.^[3] In 2010 he was expelled from Muttahida Qaumi Movement.^[1]

Personal life[link]

This section requires expansion.

Hussain was born in Karachi. His father Sheikh Liaquat was also a member National Assembly from Karachi. He won the seat in 1997, after having joined the party in 1994. ^[4]

TV career[link]

This section requires expansion.

Geo TV[link]

As host he did his first program on Geo television network. The show was called Aalim Online and its name has been changed to Aalim Aur Aalam^[when?]. Shortly after a broadcast in 2008 in which he urged fundamentalist Muslims to kill members of the Ahmadi religion, two Ahmadis were killed.^[1][5]

ARY Network[link]

In 2010, he joined ARY Digital Network. There he participated in Ramadan special transmissions for Sahoor and Iftaar, just like he had on Geo TV. In 2011, however, the program took an entirely new format and was titled Rahman Ramadan.

Controversial video[link]

During his show Rahman Ramadan, on 14 August 2011, a video of him was released that showed Hussain abusing and making fun of a rape situation during the outtakes.^[6][7]

Political career[link]

Minister of Religious Affairs[link]

Hussain was the Minister of Religious Affairs until 4 July 2007, when he resigned from his position as Minister of State for Religious Affairs and from his seat a member of the National Assembly. According to the party official statement, the party was unhappy with the statements given by Aamir on Salman Rushdie.^[1]

Fake degrees[link]

In 2002 Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf had made it compulsory for contestants of elections for seats in the Provincial and National Assembly of Pakistan to hold at least a Bachelors degree. Hussain submitted to the election commission his BA degree in Islamic Studies issued by a now known degree mill, Trinity College and University (based in Spain but incorporated in Dover, Delaware (USA)), while filing his nomination forms for October 2002 general elections. He also claimed to hold a Masters degree and a PhD from the same university. However, in 2005 the University of Karachi declared his degree not recognised.^[8] In 13 June 2006, the Higher Education Commission, also revealed that the degree of Aamir Liaquat Hussain was not recognised.^[9]

Expulsion from Muttahida Qaumi Movement[link]

According the the official press release Hussain had been warned against acts that might create religious hatred. As a part of those warnings he was relived of all of his responsibilities in the part and unofficially removed from the party. A year-and-half later, on 10 September 2010 He was officialy expelled from Muttahida Qaumi Movement for misusing the part platform to advance his agenda even if it conflicted with the party's philosophy. ^[1]

2005 attack[link]

In 2005 he was attacked during his visit to Jamia Binoria. Provincial minister for Planning and Development Shoaib Bukhari was also with him during this visit. He was detained in Jamia Binoria after a member of the crowd stole a gun from his gunman. It was reported that the windscreen of his car was broken and he had to go hide in the girls' hostel, from there he made a frantic call to the police claiming that his life was in danger. Although, police later reported that it was never the case, he did suffer some injuries.^[10]

References[link]

Tahir Shah
Tahir Shah
Born	(1966-11-16) November 16, 1966 (age 45) London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Writer, documentary maker
Subjects	Travel, exploration, Arab World, cross-cultural studies
Spouse(s)	Rachana Shah
Children	2
Relative(s)	Shah family
Influences Travel writers Heinrich Barth, Sir Samuel White Baker, Sir Wilfred Thesiger, Norman Lewis, Bruce Chatwin, Sir Fitzroy Maclean.
www.tahirshah.com

Tahir Shah (Persian: طاهر شاه‎, Gujarati: તાહિર શાહ), né Sayyid Tahir al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد طاهر الهاشمي) (born 16 November 1966 in London) is an Anglo-Afghan Indian author, journalist and documentary maker. He lives in Casablanca, Morocco.

Family origins and life[link]

Shah was born into a distinguished family of Saadat (= Arabic plural of Sayyid) who had their ancestral home at Paghman, not far from Kabul.^[1][2] His paternal great-grandfather, Sayyid Amjad Ali Shah, was the nawab of Sardhana, in the North-Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.^[3] The principality was awarded to his ancestor Jan-Fishan Khan during the British Raj, and had been ruled formerly by the Kashmiri-born warrior-princess, the Begum Samru.^[4] His mother is of Indian Parsi ethnicity.^[5]

Tahir Shah is the son of the well-known Sufi teacher and writer Idries Shah,^[6] and the grandson of the writer and diplomat Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. His elder sister is the award-winning documentary filmmaker Saira Shah.^[6] He also has a twin sister, Safia Nafisa Shah.^[7]

Born and brought up in Britain, Shah says he was encouraged from an early age to never follow the pack, and to strive for originality.^[6] His father believed strongly that education was about more than school lessons, and was something that continues after childhood throughout one's life. This sense of a quest for knowledge colours all of Shah's work, most notably his travel literature.

Tahir Shah was educated at Bryanston School, Dorset, England^[6] and at universities in London, Nairobi and San Diego. He left London for Morocco in 2003.^[6] Today, he lives in Casablanca with his wife, Rachana, and their two children, Ariane and Timur, in a large home named Dar Khalifa, set in the middle of a "sprawling shantytown".^[6][8]

Works[link]

Tahir Shah is the author of more than a dozen books and several documentary films. He also writes introductions, academic pieces for journals, and book reviews for newspapers such as the Washington Post.^[9]

Shah's books have appeared in a dozen languages and have been published in more than forty editions. His films have been screened on National Geographic Channel, Channel 4, Five and The History Channel, as well as in cinemas worldwide.

Books[link]

Shah's books include (in order of publication):

• Cultural Research (editor) for the London-based Institute for Cultural Research
• The Middle East Bedside Book
• Beyond the Devil's Teeth
• Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Trail of Feathers
• In Search of King Solomon's Mines
• House of the Tiger King
• The Caliph's House
• In Arabian Nights
• Travels With Myself: Collected Work
• Timbuctoo

In The Middle East Bedside Book (1991), Shah examines the Arab and Islamic worlds through their literature and folklore.

Beyond the Devil's Teeth, Shah's first traditional travelogue, published in 1995, is the narrative of an epic journey, made through Africa, India and much of Latin America. The book follows the geological concept of an ancient supercontinent known as Gondwanaland, and links this idea to a primitive aboriginal tribe, known as the Gonds, once dominant in central India.

Sorcerer's Apprentice (1998) is an account of Shah's initiation into the world of Indian "Godmen".

Trail of Feathers (2001) is an examination into the idea that man may have been able to glide – albeit in the most rudimentary way – in ancient times. Having read in a Spanish manuscript that "the Incas flew over the jungle like birds," Shah set out to see what truth there could have been for a Conquistador monk to have penned such words. After a journey into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, to the world of the Shuar tribe, he concluded that the Incas were taking a powerful hallucinogen known as Ayahuasca that induces a sense of imaginary flight.^[10]

Shah's next book, In Search of King Solomon's Mines (2002), chronicles a journey to Ethiopia. Obsessed by the location of the source of King Solomon's astonishing wealth since childhood, Shah travelled to Ethiopia, which he equated with the biblical land of Ophir.

House of the Tiger King (2004) was the result of a seventeen-week journey through the Madre de Dios jungle of Peru, in search of the lost city of Paititi. The book considers matters such as the importance of searching for a lost city, and finding it. The book was selected to be read on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week.^[11]

Sick of living in a London apartment, Tahir Shah moved to Morocco along with his wife and two infant children, where he bought a crumbling mansion in Casablanca located in the middle of a huge shantytown. The Caliph's House (2006) charts the highs and lows of integrating into the new life, and exorcising the Djinn from the house they now call home.^[12] The book was rated by Time Magazine as one of the top ten books of the year.^[12] It was also selected to be read on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week.^[13]

In Arabian Nights (2009), examines the role traditional stories play in the transmission of values and information, especially in eastern societies, and continues his account of his life in Morocco.

Travels with Myself: Collected Work (2011) is a selection of writing about his travels in such places as Africa, Asia and Latin America, made over a period of twenty years.

Shah's latest work, Timbuctoo (2012) is the fictional account of the illiterate American sailor Robert Adams' true life journey to Timbuktu, and his arrival in Regency London.

Films[link]

The main films presented by Shah include:

• The Search For King Solomon's Mines
• House of the Tiger King
• Search For the Lost City of Gold
• Search For the Lost Treasure of Afghanistan

Videos[link]

• Tahir Shah's guide to Casablanca

Influences[link]

Shah himself has written about his fascination with the works of Bruce Chatwin, especially his book The Songlines,^[14] as well as with a range of the classic nineteenth century explorers, such as Samuel White Baker, Heinrich Barth and Sir Richard Burton. He had a close friendship with Wilfred Thesiger, whom he considered a mentor and a source of inspiration.^[15]

Other projects[link]

In the years before he turned his hand primarily to book writing, Shah wrote a large number of serious reportage-type magazine features, highlighting the lives of the voiceless in society, especially those of women. These included pieces about women on Death Row, widows who cleared mines in Cambodia, the trapped lives of bonded labourers in India, and the women-only police stations in Brazil, known as "Delegacia da Mulher" (Woman's Police Station). He continues to write journalistic pieces, especially aimed at drawing attention to causes he believes deserve public attention.

As well as writing and film making, Shah writes screen material and co-wrote Journey to Mecca,^[16] an Imax film charting the first journey made by Ibn Battuta to Mecca for the Hajj, in 1325. He also does corporate guest lectures on problem-solving and leadership, and states on his website that he has worked in this capacity for Shell Petroleum and Procter and Gamble.^[17] In addition, he reviews for a selection of other media on both sides of the Atlantic, and writes pieces for the radio, such as The Journey,^[18] which was read on BBC Radio 3.

Imprisonment in Pakistan[link]

In July 2005 (a week after the 7 July London bombings) Shah and two colleagues from Caravan Film in London were arrested in Peshawar in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, and held without charge in solitary confinement in a torture prison. Much of the time they were handcuffed, stripped virtually naked, and blindfolded. After sixteen days of interrogations in a "fully equipped torture room," Shah and his colleagues were released. The Pakistani government agreed that they had done nothing wrong. Tahir Shah gave an interview which was screened on British TV's Channel 4 News, and published an article in the British Sunday Times about the ordeal.^[19] Shah has publicly maintained his affection for Pakistan, despite the rough treatment he and his film crew received at the hands of the Pakistani secret services. The illegal custody earned Shah and his film crew a mention in the United States Department of State's 2005 report on Pakistan's human rights practices.^[20] The news story came back into the spotlight in July 2008, when a British MP claimed that the British government had 'outsourced' the torture of UK citizens to Pakistani security agencies.^[21][22][23]

East-West Bridge[link]

Tahir Shah is also a champion of what he calls "the East-West Bridge".^[24]

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, Tahir Shah began to devote a great deal of time and energy into establishing and promoting a "cultural bridge" made up by those who, like him, are both from the East and from the West.^[25] One example of this work is the Qantara Foundation (from "qantara" meaning "bridge" in Arabic). He has spoken and written on the idea that people such as he have a responsibility to "show the East to the West, and the West to the East," highlighting the common cultural heritage of the two, and working towards a common goal.^[25] Shah's greatest interest within the East-West theme is probably the subject of the legacy of science in medieval Islam, and its role in creating a foundation for the Renaissance. He has lectured publicly on the subject and believes strongly in the importance of drawing attention to the polymath poet-scientists from the Golden Age of Islam.^[26]

Gallery[link]

• 

  Sayed Idries Shah (father)

• 

  Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah (grandfather)

• 

  Nawab Amjad Ali Shah (pictured seated in centre) (great-grandfather)

• 

  Jan Fishan Khan (great-great-great-grandfather)

References[link]

Interviews with Shah[link]

• Time Magazine
• Wanderlust
• Citadine
• BBC Yorkshire
• Rolf Potts
• BBC Excess Baggage
• Richmond Review
• Laura Lee

Reviews of Shah's books[link]

• Review of Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Review of Trail of Feathers in The Spectator, by Doris Lessing
• Review of In Search of King Solomon's Mines
• Review of House of the Tiger King in The Independent
• Review of The Caliph's House in the New York Times
• Review of In Arabian Nights in The Independent

External links[link]

• Official website
• Tahir Shah in the Internet Movie Database
• Caravan Film
• The Institute for Cultural Research

v t e Shah family 1st generation Muhammed Shah (Jan-Fishan Khan) 2nd generation Nawab Muhammad Ali Shah-Nawab Of Khanpur Sardar Bhadur Meer Khan 3rd generation Amjad Ali Shah-Sultan Mohammed Khan 4th generation Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah · Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah · Rahat Ali Shah.Saadat Ali Shah 5th generation Amina Shah · Omar Ali-Shah · Idries Shah · Aqil Hussain Barlas · Naseeruddin Shah · Syed Kamal · Agha Sarwat Ali Shah . Mobeen Zehra Shah(Suhaila). Mir Ahmed Shah 6th generation Arif Ali-Shah · Amina Ali-Shah  · Saira Shah · Tahir Shah · Safia Shah · Owais Shah · Imaad Shah · Faraaz Ahmed Shah. Meraj Ahmed Shah.  · Adil Hussain Barlas  · Sifat Ali Shah. Samat Ali Shah.  · Fahad Ali Shah ·