Abdul Latif Chowdhury Fultali

On Thursday 16 January 2008 at 2:10 am, Fultali died at his home in Subhanighat, Sylhet due to natural causes. His janazah (Islamic funeral) took place the day after his death following Asr prayer led by his eldest son. Reports in Bangladesh estimate that between 2 and 2.5 million attended his janazah. It is also estimated that further hundreds of thousands of people joined the janazah across the Indian border.

Fultali was the best known and most influential spiritual leader among the British Bangladeshi community. He was based in Bangladesh, but made well-attended visits to the United Kingdom. Among these visits, In 1978, he established Madrasah-e-Darul Qirat Majidiah UK, which has since vastly expanded (now known as Darul Hadis Latifiah) in London. He was a founder of numerous organisations related to religion, culture and education and a patron to a number of humanitarian and charitable organisations.

In 1940, Fultali founded the Darul Qirat Majidiah Trust and institutionalized his effort to teach the perfect recitation of the Quran. Now there are more than two thousand branches of the trust throughout the world engaged in educating people in the field of Tajweed. As a result of riots in the 1950s, Fultali briefly migrated to Pakistan.

Abdul Latif Chowdhury (Bengali: আব্দুল লতিফ চৌধুরী; 25 May 1913 – 16 January 2008), widely known as Saheb Qiblah Fultali, was a Bangladeshi Sufi Islamic scholar and theologian who is the founder of the Fultali movement.

Abdun Nur Ali (1880-1963) of Gorkapon in Badarpur was a Mawlana who requested Abdul Latif Chowdhury Fultali to visit the mosque conjoined to Adam Khaki's shrine. In 1946, Fultali announced that he would be travelling to Badarpur to give a lesson on qira'at at Adam Khaki's mosque. Abd an-Nur Gorkaponi and his students purchased a horse for the scholar to ride on so the journey could be easier. Afterwards he joined the then Satpur Alia Madrasah and Isamati Alia Madrashah as a Muhaddith and taught Hadith.