Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhī rājiʿūn. Indeed, to Allah we belong, and to Him we are returning.
It is with sadness that we share the news of the passing of Professor Khurshid Ahmad, one of the leading Muslim thinkers and Islamic economists of our time. He was 93-years-old. [1]
Giving over five decades towards furthering Islamic thought research and education in the West, Professor Ahmad died on Sunday, in the British city of Leicester — where he had co-founded The Islamic Foundation 52 years prior.
Farooq Murad, Director General of the publishing house, said of the passing,
Professor Khurshid Ahmad was a towering intellectual, a visionary Islamic economist, and a principled thought leader whose influence extended across continents.
A pioneer in modern Islamic economics and interfaith dialogue, he had a profound impact on Islamic intellectual thought in the 20th and 21st centuries.
His commitment to policy development and education was deeply rooted in Islamic values, and his scholarship and public service shaped generations of minds across the Muslim world and beyond.” [1]
He added,
Through his founding role at The Islamic Foundation, he nurtured people and institutions that continue to inspire critical thinking and bridge-building among communities, nations, and faiths.
His passing is an immense loss not only to the institutions he helped build but to the global academic, spiritual, and intellectual community.” [1]
For his scholarly efforts, Professor Ahmad was awarded Pakistan’s highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, on 23 March 2011. [2]
Formative years
Professor Khurshid Ahmad was born in Delhi on 15 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1350 (23 March 1932). [3]
As a young boy, he studied at Zakir Husain Delhi College (then known as Delhi College).
Following the 1947 partition of India, he and his family moved to Lahore for a short while. Here, he enrolled at the Government College University and undertook studies in Economics and Business.
He penned his first English-language article in 1949 for the Muslim Economist, the topic of which was Pakistan’s budget. [4]
Academia
Receiving his first-class honours in Economics in 1952-3, Professor Ahmad went on to complete a master’s in the same field, at Karachi University in 1955. He secured an LLB in 1958.
In 1962, he attained a master’s degree in Islamic Studies, and later pursued a doctorate in Economics at the University of Leicester, with his thesis on Islamic economic jurisprudence. [4]
In recognition of his efforts towards literacy, the University of Leicester awarded him an honorary doctorate in Education in 1970. [3]
Activism
Professor Ahmad joined Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba — Pakistan’s largest student body — in 1949, and was its chief administrator between 1953 and 1955.
He introduced and sat as Editor of a bi-weekly paper called The Students Voice between 1952-5.
In 1956, Professor Ahmad joined the political party Jamaat-e-Islami, later serving as Vice President.
In addition to editing The Students Voice, he edited three other Jamaat publications including:
- The New Era (1955-6)
- The Voice of Islam (1957-64)
- Chiragh-e-Rah (1957-68)
- the Iqbal Review (Associate Editor, 1960-64). [4]
Professor Ahmad was the author of approximately 70 books, equally split in the Urdu and English languages.
Politics
He was elected to the Senate of Pakistan for two terms from 1985-1997, and for a third term from 2003-12. [5]
And he also held the critical position of Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission between August 1978 and April 1979 — the Chairman ordinarily being the Prime Minister of Pakistan, although the office was held by General Zia under martial law from 1979 to 1988.
In this role, Professor Ahmad had a highly influential role over public and economic policy, wherein he worked to Islamise Pakistan’s economy.
These efforts have had a lasting impact to this day.
“A major loss”
Remarking on the scholar’s passing, Shaykh Dr. Haitham al-Haddad said,
This is a major loss for the Ummah in general.
And it is a huge loss, in particular, for the Muslims of the West, because Professor Khurshid Ahmad was one of the leading scholars who offered an intellectual discourse regarding the presence of Muslims in the UK.
We ask Allah to illuminate his grave, to grant him the highest level of Paradise, and to grant his loved ones patience to deal with their loss.”
Source: Islam21c
Notes
[1] https://www.islamic-foundation.org.uk/blog/Mourning-the-loss-Prof-Khurshid-Ahmed
[2] https://www.nation.com.pk/24-Mar-2011/nishaneimtiaz–for-pccr-members
[4] http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/ahmad_khurshid
[5] https://www.prideofpakistan.com/who-is-who-detail/Professor-Khurshid-Ahmad/130
