In April 2008, the United States designated Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a Foreign Terrorist Organization; similarly, the United Nations declared Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist organization in December 2008.
In 1950, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was born in Sargodha, Punjab. His family lost 36 of its members when migrating from Shimla to Lahore during the Partition of India.
He is married and his wife's name is Maimoona.
General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq appointed Hafiz Muhammad Saeed to the Council on Islamic Ideology, and he later served as an Islamic Studies teacher at the University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore), Pakistan.