Prof. Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari, former Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and an Islamic scholar of international repute, breathed his last at his residence in Aligarh on October 3, following a brief cardiac attack. He was 81.
Born on September 1, 1931 at Tamkohi in district Deoria of Uttar Pradesh, Prof. Ansari did Alimiyat from Darsgah Islami, Rampur in 1953, B.A. (Arabic) in 1957, M.A. in Philosophy in 1959 and Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1962 from Aligarh Muslim University, and M.T.S in Comparative Religion and Theology from Harvard University, U.S.A in 1972.
Prof. Ansari rendered his services as Professor and Head of the Department of Arabic, Persian and Islamic Studies, Vishwa Bharti University, Shantiniketan, West Bengal from 1965 to 1978, then at Department of Islamic Studies, Sudan University from 1978 to 1981, at Dhahran University from 1982 to 1985 and at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 1985 to 1995.
Prof. Ansari joined the Jamaat at the very early stage of his academic career. He was elected member of Jamaat’s Central Council of Representatives and Central Advisory Council for many terms and served the organisation as its Ameer from 2003 to 2007. During his leadership the Jamaat took some new initiatives; countrywide human rights campaign, which yielded some very good results, is one of them. He also took keen interest in consolidating the Jamaat’s women’s wing at the national level.
He had been Director of Islami Academy since 2005. Islami Academy was in fact his brain child, which he had established on the pattern of Darsgah Islami, Rampur, popularly known as Thanvi Darsgah.
Prof. Ansari has more than a dozen books in Urdu and English to his credit. His books include Tasawwuf and Shari’ah and Learning the Language of the Qur’ān. He also participated in and presided over many national and international conferences, seminars and symposia and had been on board of many international journals. He was also Chairman of Board of Islamic Publications, under which Radiance Viewsweekly is published.
Dr. Ansari was very much respected in academic circles. He had been Chancellor of Jamia Islamia, Shantapuram, Kerala since its very inception.
Prof. Ansari left behind him his widow, four daughters, one son, grandchildren and a large number of those associated with the Islamic Movement.
His funeral prayer was led by Ameer Jamaat Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari in Aligarh at 9.30 a.m. on October 4 before he was laid to rest. Ameer Jamaat along with Sec. General Nusrat Ali and other central functionaries of the Jamaat was there in Aligarh to attend the funeral ceremony. As we rush to the press, the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has organised a condolence meeting at its headquarters in the Capital after Maghrib prayer on September 6. [Report of the condolence meeting will be published in the next issue, inshaAllah.]
Condolence messages are pouring in. In a press statement, Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor Milli Gazette and President All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, took the demise of Dr. Ansari as a great loss to the Muslim Ummah. He said Dr. Ansari was held in high esteem in academic circle as well as in the Islamic Movement. “This harmonious fusion is rare in our community,” he said.
“Dr. Abdul Haq Ansari not only led the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in a critical time but also had been an important member of Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat so much so that in 2004 most of the members (of Mushawarat) were for him to be the next President of Mushawarat but he refused to be the President of Mushawarat,” he added.
In a statement, PM Salih, Secretary General, Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), condoling the demise of Dr. Ansari, expressed, “His passing away is a loss of intellectual treasure and guidance to the Islamic Movement as well as Indian society. Dr. Abdul Haq Ansari had been a mentor to the research scholars of Islamic Philosophy in the country. He had not been only the Chief Patron of SIO but a guide and advisor to the organisation.
“Dr. Ansari made a vital contribution to the ideological development of the Islamic Movement in India. He was not just an intellectual but a great leader too. He was very much concerned about academic and moral uplift of students and youths”, he added.
“May Almighty God rest the departed soul in eternal peace and also give strength to the bereaved family, friends and us to bear this irreparable, tragic and untimely loss with fortitude”, he prayed.