Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi ریاض احمد گوہر شاہی
Gohar Shahi during an event held in Pakistan
Born	(1941-11-25)25 November 1941 Dhok Gohar Shah, Rawalpindi, British India
Other names	Sultan ul Salateen ul Fuqra Imam Mehdi, His Divine and/or Sublime Eminence, Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi, Ra Gohar Shahi
Organization	Messiah Foundation International

Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi (Urdu: ریاض احمد گوھر شاہی‎) born 25 November 1941) is a spiritual leader and founder of the spiritual movements RAGS International (now known as Messiah Foundation International) and Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam.

He is the author of a number of Urdu books on topics relating to spirituality, the most successful among these being Deen-e-Ilahi "The Religion of God" (2000), which was republished by Balboa Press, a division of Hay House and translated into English and other languages by Messiah Foundation International in 2012.

RAGS International was renamed to Messiah Foundation International in 2000. MFI claims that Shahi is the Mehdi, Messiah, and Kalki Avatar. Shahi disappeared from public view in 2001. There have been claims that he died in that year or in 2003, but these are unconfirmed.

Shahi was born on 25 November 1941 in the village of Dhok Gohar Shah in the district of Rawalpindi of British India. He is a fifth generation descendant of the Sufi Baba Gohar Ali Shah.

At the age of twenty, when he was the owner of F.Q. Steel Industries, Shahi began to search for spirituality. Eventually he became disillusioned in this search and returned to work. Shahi then married and had three children.

In 1975, he went to Sehwan Sharif for self-mortification; he spent a period of three years in the mountains of Sehwan Sharif and the forest of Laal Bagh in self-purification, "for the sake of God's love".