Monday, November 15, 2010

Tasleem Ahmad Sabri

Sahibzada Tasleem Ahmad Sabri opened his eyes to a devout Muslim family living in Karachi. He was greatly influenced in his childhood and early youth by the enormous and virtuous saint of the Qadria and Chishtia Schools of Sophia, Syed Muhammad Abdullah Shah (Mian Jee), whose humbleness and piety left a lasting impression on Tasleem and taught him the base virtues of the religion that he would devote his life to. Mian Jee passed away in 1989 and was laid down to rest in an elegantly built shrine in Korangi. Tasleem Sabri’s father, Muhammad Adil Sabri is the Sajjadah Nasheen in succession and custodian of the Shrine.

Sahibzada Tasleem Ahmad Sabri had natural talent for speech from childhood and contested in scores of programs and competitions during school and college life during which he won numerous awards and trophies. At the same time, he stayed true to his family legacy of spirituality and developed an intense interest in Na’at and the study of Seerat-e-Rasool (SAW). He completed his Graduation & Post Graduation in Accounting and Finance, and also served in the Accounts & Finance Department of a well-reputed organization in Karachi for few years.

From the early 90’s however, he started taking a more active interest in hosting Na’at and Seerat programs in public gatherings, and afterwards on PTV. Later on, he joined the ARY Digital Group, the largest media group in Pakistan, when their Islamic Channel, QTV started in the end of 2004. Sahibzada Tasleem Ahmad Sabri was the first person to appear onscreen. Within a very short span of this appearance, he established himself as one of the most beloved and admired anchors and hosts for Islamic Talk Shows and Na’at programs in the world.

Sehri Time transmissions with Tasleem Sabri is widely known to be one of the most popular Islamic programs broadcast on QTV during the month of Ramzan ul Mubarak every year- Tasleem Sabri’s hosting and conversation has captured the hearts of millions of Muslims from around the world.. QTime is another unique program in which he interviews many celebrities about their personal lives, religious interests, and activities. Occasionally, he hosts in Na’at and Seerat programs on QTV in his particular, distinctive style which has made him an icon amongst viewers from around the globe- and indeed he is often invited to host such events all over the world.

He released two CDs (Tasleemat and Tasleem-o-Raza) in 2007-2008 in which he, for the first time in the history of na’at, recited na’ats in his own poetic, declamatory style (Teht-ul-Lafz)- an something that was a completely new innovation and unheard of at the time, but which has now inspired many people.

Tasleem Ahmed Sabri also has the distinction of being one of the very few people to have recorded the entire Holy Qur’an in audio form. This recording was played on QTV during the month of Ramzan in which the voice narrating the Urdu translation was taken from this work.

Tasleem Sabri is a person of many interests- his hobbies include playing cricket and reading books. He is a well read person, and remembers thousands of poems and stanzas by heart and shares these with the public, which are one of the hallmarks of his particular, literary style of oratory. Sahibzada Tasleem Ahmad Sabri has a pleasant and witty personality with a good sense of humor, enjoyed by his family and close circle of friends- he is deemed to be as endearing personally as he is as a TV personality.