Maulana Nazar Muhammad Didgah; a Different Islamic Scholar

Maulana Nazar Muhammad Didgah, an outstanding Iranian Sunni Baloch scholar passed away. He was 89. He served as member of local council of the city of Iranshahr for 16 years. Then he was elected by people of Iranshahr and Sarbaz as their representative in the first term of Islamic Council of Assembly after the 1979 revolution. Maulana Didgah played a key role in foundation of Shams political organization that was banned by the authorities.

He was a unique scholar; studied at famous Pakistani schools (Darululoom Karachi, Madrassah Tando Allahyar, Darulhuda of Tidi in Sindh, Dar-ur-Rashad of Pir Jhanda) learning from Mufti Muhammad Shafi Deobandi, Maulana Ghulamullah Khan and Maulana Abdul-Ghani Jajravi). In the same time, he had a soft corner for Maulana Maudoudi and respect for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Umar.

Maulana Nazar Muhammad Didgah used to express his opinions and viewpoints overtly without any allusion and hesitation. He was an active politician against the left wing and communist parties in Iranshahr. Before the revolution, he traveled to different cities to talk against the Shah regime in public places.

People of Iranian Balochistan knew him well because he was living in a very simple, small and humble adobe. As he was suffering from leg palsy, he rarely left home to travel. He was detained and sent to jail in 1986 for almost three years and he suffered a lot in the prisions of Zahedan and Tehran. He migrated to Pakistan and some Arab gulf countries in 1995. Six years later, he moved to his hometown where he lived until his last breath.

Maulana Nazar Muhammad was a sincere advisor to all classes of the society. National and provincial officials, tribal chiefs and elders, Ulama and Baloch politicians and workers used to visit him and benefit from his knowledge and advice always.

In January 2015, I could meet him along with two other colleagues for an interview that was published in Nedaye Islam Magazine. I found him very knowledgeable, modern, brave and respectable.

Tens of thousands people with different backgrounds took part in his funeral ceremony in Iranshahr on Sunday 6th June, 2021. Talking to the attendees, Maulana Abdol-Hamid called him a brave national personality. May Allah have mercy on him.