Professor Khurshid Ahmad was a towering and charismatic personality, held in high esteem across the Muslim world for over half a century for his wisdom, intellectual breadth, genuine affection for younger colleagues and a willingness to empower them, oratorical skills and powerful pen.
It was fortuitous that the mid-1960s brought two far-sighted Muslims, still in their thirties, together in the UK. Both were from Karachi, though with ancestral roots in the United Provinces of pre-Partition India. HashirFaruqi Sahib had arrived in London in 1963 for further research as an entomologist at Imperial College; Khurshid Sahib began his doctoral studies in Economics at the University of Leicester in 1965.
These were grim times for Muslims whose heart was in the welfare of the Ummah. There was the hanging of Sayyid Qutb in 1966 by Gamal Nasser’s repressive regime in Egypt, the debacle of the Six-Day War of 1967, the harassment of Maulana Maududi by the military regime of Ayub Khan in Pakistan in 1970, anti-Muslim riots in India and the Shah of Iran’s vainglorious celebration in 1971 to mark 2,500 years of the Persian Empire.
Khurshid Sahib’s reputation had preceded his arrival. He was already well-known in the English-speaking Muslim world as a communicator of the ideas of Maulana Maududi, who in 1941 had established the Jamaat-e-Islami as an organisation that would strive for an Islamic polity in a nation state. By the mid-1960s, Maulana Maududi’s seminal essays like First Principles of an Islamic State or Economic Problem, Islamic Solution, translated from Urdu into English byKhurshid Ahmad, and his own Fanaticism, Intolerance and Islam had become much appreciated popular reading in Muslim student circles in the West.
Over many a meeting across a kitchen table in HashirFaruqi’s small flat in Kilburn, and consultation with scholars such as Hamid Algar, the duo came up with a vision to address the needs of the hour. This led to the launch of the independent news analysis journal Impact International in London in1971, and the Islamic research and educational books publishing centre, the Islamic Foundation in Leicester in 1973. Their work would be separate, but complementary, and supportive of the UK Islamic Mission, an association of Muslims from the Subcontinent, and the Federation of Students Islamic Societies (FOSIS), both in existence since 1962.
Khurshid Sahib’s association with Maulana Maududi was based on family ties. In the early 1920s, when Maulana Maududi was a young editor of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind’s Urdu journal Muslim andbased in the Darya Ganj neighbourhood of Old Delhi, his circle of friends included Khurshid Sahib’s father, Nazir Ahmed Qureshi. Like Maududi, he was an activist in the Khilafat Movement, that rallied around the Ottomans facing a Greek invasion after the end of World War I. Qureshi assisted in the publication and distribution of three tracts written by Maududi on the situation in Anatolia. Khurshid Sahib, while still at school, signed up to the ‘Bachcha Muslim League’ – the first step in the eighty years of activism to follow.
After the 1947 Partition, both families migrated to Lahore, where the Jamaat-e-Islami had regrouped under Maulana Maududi’s leadership. Khurshid Sahib was an early member of the Islami Jamiat Taleba, the Jamaat’s student wing. However, the Jamaat, and student supporters at universities, faced government harassment. With his lifelong dear friend, Zafar Ishaq Ansari, he launched the magazine Students Voice in 1952. These were the years when Pakistan – still the ‘New Medina’ holding hope as the nucleus for a Pan-Islamic confederation – provided asylum to the IkhwanulMuslimin leader, Said Ramadan, who had fought in the southern front in the 1948 war against Israel. Following the army coup in Egypt that deposed King Farouk in 1952, Said Ramadan had to flee his homeland. His presence in Karachi provided Khurshid Ahmad and activist contemporaries with a cosmopolitan outlook and an introduction to the Ikhwan’s modus operandi of usra groups.
Khurshid Sahib was elected Nazim-e-Ala(President) of the Islami Jamiat Taleba in 1953 and again in 1954. His organisational and literary talents led to further editorial responsibilities: in English, New Era and Voice of Islam; in Urdu, Chiragh-e-Rah from 1959. He also took up a teaching post in Economics at the University of Karachi and began publishing in this field. These included Essays on Pakistan Economy in 1958, and Lectures on Economics, An Introductory Course in 1968 for the Karachi Institute of Chartered Accountants. He was elected to the Jamaat-e-Islami’sshura, and as an up-and-coming leader, endured a spell in prison following the controversial Presidential elections in Pakistan in 1965 that maintained Field Marshal Ayub Khan in post. Khurshid Ahmad left the country when awarded the scholarship for further studies in Britain.
Among his first contributions to FOSIS’s monthly journal The Muslim was The Bargain for Supreme Triumph, published in May 1968. It conveyed the relation between faith and practice, a principle in his own life and, through his lived example, an inspiration for many.
The belief in Islam is not a mere metaphysical conception; nor is it a jumble of barren words. It is a dynamic belief, a revolutionary doctrine, a historical force and a concord with destiny. It endows life with a lofty purpose. It crowns man with a noble outlook and a clear vision. It answers the riddles of the universe and solves the problems of existence. It enables man to live a dignified life. It tames his passions and directs his emotions into noble channels and spurs him to make his destiny glorious. This belief is a living reality and possess a sparkling eloquence which radiates from the words and deeds of its followers[. . .]
Belief in Allah is a covenant, to order the whole of life according to the tenets of Islam, to attune the manners to the ethics of the Qur’an, and to follow the example of the Prophet in every walk of life.
Through the 1970s he was a valued speaker at Islamic society events such as during Freshers week. At the FOSIS’s seventh annual conference in 1970, he urged students – in whatever field they were – to bring originality and purpose “in the best traditions of Muslims”. His seminal two-part essay, ‘Some Aspects of Character Building’, published in The Muslim the same year, reflected on the themes of tazkiya.
Of course, Islam assigns great importance to the collective spirit but ultimately, the process of character building is a highly personal one. There is no machine, psychological, sociological or ideological, which could mould one automatically into a cast of good character. It is only through personal effort – the individual’s own realisation, own determination and own exertion that can produce this character. Perhaps one can get a clue to this from the fact that in the Qur’an, God makes each individual accountable individually to Him for his entire life: accountability on the Day of Judgement will be individual[. . .]
The first important instrument [of tazkiya] is dhikr[. . .] How to make dhikr has been taught to us by God and His Prophetﷺ. We have no necessity for innovating different forms. We have been taught very simple, very clear-cut ways and they are the most effective, and that closes the door of bi’dah (innovation). One thing I should add is that dhikr not only gives one a psychological climate for action, it also gives one that inspiration which is needed for action. And dhikr endows one or gives one a place of honour which is unparalleled, because God says, “Fadhkuruniwa-dhkurkum, As you remember Me, so I shall remember you.” Could one imagine any height for man that could be higher, that one remembers God, and God also remembers one in return?
Khurshid Sahib was able to call on Maulana Maududi’s well-wishers and supporters to raise funds that would allow the establishment of the Islamic Foundation in Leicester. It was first based in residential premises on London Road near the city centre, but on a wing and a prayer, a former training campus was purchased in the Markfield suburb. It was a far-sighted move that raised the facilities and infrastructure available to Muslim organisations by an order of magnitude. It was accompanied by investments to ensure sustainability. Perhaps Khurshid Sahib, like Keynes, was that rare economist who could apply theory to realising pounds, shillings and pence.
He had by his side an able team: Dr Manazir Ahsan,a freshly minted PhD from SOAS, where he had worked on Abbaside culture under the supervision of Bernard Lewis; Dr Abdur Rashid Siddiqui, librarian at the University of Leicester; the young and versatile Mashuq Ally (now Dr.), joining from the Jim Slater’s investment company; Sadiq Khokhar, responsible for all administrative matters. Various pioneering ventures now had a home, such as the audio-visual centre under Anwar Cara.
From this base, Khurshid Sahib’s pioneered fresh thinking in the field of Islamic economics. Perhaps of all his intellectual contributions, this will be his legacy. He is the Muslim scholar-activist who brought Islamic economics into the mainstream.
It began with his role in convening the first international Islamic Economics conference in Makkah in 1976, with support of Dr Abdullah Omar Naseef, then President of the King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah. It brought together all the leading lights in the field, including eminent scholar like Shaikh Qaradawi, Mahmud Abu Saud, Umar Chapra, MonzerKahf and Nejatullah Siddiqi. It was Khurshid Sahib’s foresight that he also arranged for the participation of the young economist (later Professor) Muhammad Iqbal Asaria, who would be inspired to carry the work forward at the technical level into the twenty-first century.
In his contributions to this conference, what Khurshid Sahib had to say remains worthy of study and inspiration today.
The models of economy and society developed during the last two hundred years or so are steeped in traditions of western secularism. The last three decades have witnessed the emergence of over forty independent Muslim states yet the politico-economic systems obtaining in these countries continue to be based on western models. This is the contradiction which resurgent Islam has tried to challenge[. . .] For the Muslim world it is an attempt to try to reconstruct society and the economy by drawing primarily upon its own rich but neglected religio-cultural sources.
The ultimate objective of this exercise is to establish a just social order in which the material and the spiritual aspects are wielded together, with the result that “progress” and “prayer” do not represent two watertight compartments but two sides of the same coin, with prayer acting as a stepping stone to human progress and leading to the glorification of the Creator.
Khurshid Sahib’s literary output in the 1980s included Studies in Islamic Economics, Towards Monetary and Fiscal System in Islam, Islam:Its Meaning and Message, Islamic Perspectives, Studies in Honour of Syed Abul ‘Ala Maududi. His welcoming and warm presence made the Islamic Foundation a vibrant hub for the whole Muslim world.
Khurshid Sahib, as a member of Jamaat-e-Islami’sshura, abided by the collective decision to join the cabinet under General Ziaul Haq in 1978. He held the post of Federal Minister, Planning, Development and Statistics, and Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. He resigned over disagreements oneconomic policy with Pakistan’s ‘deep state’ secular-minded bureaucrats. Reflecting later on his tenure, Khurshid Sahib noted the occasion when he was presented with the file of an Ahmadiyya member of staff. The decision was required whether the person could be sent for a training course overseas. Khurshid Sahib approved the request, because the person’s civil service record warranted selection, and fairness and justice should prevail. He was an institution builder wherever he went – establishing the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad in 1979.Khurshid Sahib was later a member of Pakistan’s Senate as the Jamaat’s nominee, from 1985-1997 and 2006-2012.
Image with caption: Professor Khurshid Ahmad receiving King Faisal Award in 1990
Alhamdulillah, he saw the Islamic Foundation blossom in the twenty-first century. The Markfield Institute of Higher Education opened its doors in 2000, and Kube Publishing that launched its imprint in 2007, is now UK’s leading publisher of Islamic titles. The Islamic Foundation library holds a collection of 40,000 books, including rare collections of Muslim journals. He was happiest at the graduation ceremonies of the Markfield Institute because it was a vision come true. Under the mentoring provided by Khurshid Sahib and Dr Manazir Ahsan, younger colleagues now have their work cut out in maintaining and extending an honourable legacy. He was recipient of the King Faisal Award in 1990. The Government of Pakistan conferred him the Nishan-e Imtiaz in 2010.
Khurshid Sahib, though in poor health since 2015, continued as a prolific writer. He had been an editor of the Tarjumul Qur’an, the monthly Urdu-language journal since 1997. Among his last contributions in this journal was published in May 2023. Its title was Muslim dunya kayleeyailmiwafikri challenge – A challenge in knowledge and thought facing the Muslim world.
A general feeling in thinking Muslim circles today is that we are passing through a most intense period of anxiety in our history. In the second half of the 20th century, after release from the constraints of Western colonialism, Muslim countries embraced independence but then found themselves confronted with a flood of problems to enable their reconstruction. Alongside this, Western intellectual thought, economic life, defence, culture had reached a zenith. Doubt and uncertainty settled in young minds. To address this, a powerful and well-thought-out intellectual response is needed, which can both critique modern ideologies and offer Islamic alternatives[. . .]The task before us is immense, but it is also filled with promise. Let us awaken to this challenge with determination, for it is both our test and our opportunity [. . .]
- The contemporary problems of the Muslim world need to be examined in terms of modern Islamic economics, Islamic legal and jurisprudential systems, in keeping with international [academic] standards.
- The educational system needs to be set in order and aligned to strategic objectives.
- The fortress of the Islamic order is the family, which is currently a target of the educational system, in literature, the media. The [family] institution needs to be re-enforced and presented as a role model, drawing in research and scholarly findings.
- The treatment of Muslims in majority non-Muslim countries and their religious and cultural needs to be the subject of thoughtful study.
- Non-Muslim powers are trying to create internal divisions among Muslims and to stop cooperation among Muslim states by spreading propaganda, ideological confusion, and a sense of inferiority.
- The youth are the most valuable asset of the Muslim Ummah and it is this that is a cause of anxiety for hostile civilisation. For this reason, there is need for a conscious effort to make appropriate arrangements in welfare, education and mental upliftment. For those capable, there is need for bursaries for further development of good character and research skills. Youth need encouragement (and remember that young Muslim women are a special target of the hostile forces).
- The establishment of discussion and study circles to reflect on Islamic ideas and issues; there is need to promote a positive outlook and exert effort to create conditions supportive of Islam.
These are the tasks that should be considered in the intellectual and educational circles[. . .]. We must revive the tradition of Ijtihad (independent reasoning) in every field – law, economics, politics, sociology, and beyond – so that Muslims can meet the challenges of the modern world with confidence and creativity.
Khurshid Sahib always graciously received a stream of visitors at his family home in Leicester. Whether it be luminaries or learners, he had time and a wise word for all. At a personal level, he was a sincere friend, very close to Khurram Murad and Zafar Ishaq Ansari, both of whom predeceased him. He bore the passing away of his wife in 2015 with patience.
In a reference to Maulana Maududi, he once wrote that “whenever a history of the modern period describes the struggle between truth and falsehood, then there will necessarily be an account of that era’s epoch-making personalities. In such an account, Maulana Maududi’s efforts have a central and key position.” To this tribute can be added the name of his most ardent and capable follower.
His janaza took place on 14 April 2025, at the Saffron Hill Cemetery, Leicester.
Leicester will not be the same without him. Inna lillahiwainnailayhirajiun.
[This Tribute first appeared in Salaam, UK on 14 April 2025]