Mawlānā Muhammad Abdullah Ghazi ( – 17 October 1998) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar who served as Chairman of Ruet-e-Hilal Committee and as the first Imam of Lal Masjid, and founded Faridia University and Jamia Hafsa. He Graduated from Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia and served as the first Imam and Khatib of Lal Masjid, the first mosque to be established in the new capital. In 1971, he founded Jamia Faridia in Islamabad, the first Islamic seminary to be established in Islamabad. He taught hadith at the madrasah, and was well-known by the title "Shaykh al-Hadith". He also served as the Chairman of Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, and led the organization till assassination in 1998. Early life Muhammad Abdullah Ghazi was born on 1 June 1935 in a village of Basti-Abdullah, district Rajanpur into the family of Ghazi Muhammad descending from the Sadwani (Sodvani) clan of the Mazari tribe of Baluchistan. His father was socially active, which got him in trouble many times and he was arrested by the British and sentenced to 8 years in Jail. In Jail, he became religious and motivated Abdullah to join a local madrassa. At the age of seven, Ghazi enrolled into Madrasa Khudam-ul-Qur'an of Rahim Yar Khan, to complete the Hifz (memorization of the Quran). After his primary education, Ghazi went to study at Jamia Qasim Ul Uloom in Multan for further education, where he studied for 5 years and was a student of Mufti Mahmud. He then went to Karachi, and joined Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia, Karachi, from where he completed his Dars-i Nizami in 1957, and was among the top students of Muhammad Yousuf Banuri. After completing his Dars-i Nizami, he served as Imam of Jamia Masjid Rashidiya, Malir for few years. When the capital moved to Islamabad, and Lal Masjid, Islamabad was established, Ghazi became its first sermon preacher in 1965 upon the recommendation of his teacher Muhammad Yousuf Banuri. Lal Masjid His Friday sermons attracted thousands to the mosque. Before Faisal Mosque's completion Lal Masjid was the first and only Central Mosque of Islamabad and President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was a regular visitor of the mosque. upon completion of the Faisal Mosque, Zia ul Huq wanted Ghazi to take a position at the newly built mosque as its first Imam but Ghazi did not take the offer. Establishing Jamia Faridia In 1966, He established a small seminary at Lal Masjid, in which there were about 20 to