Professor Khurshid Ahmed was a Man with the Mission

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai

Chairman

World Forum for Peace & Justice

April 15, 2025

It is He (Allah) who hath power over all things. And now he belongs to the ages. That characterization celebrates the death of Professor Khurshid Ahmed who enlightened and guided tens of thousands of Muslim youths in almost all continents of the world.

Professor Khurshid Ahmed was born on March 23, 1932, in Delhi. Soon after the partition, his family moved to Pakistan and settled in Lahore. He breathed his last on Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Leicester, United Kingdom at the age of 93. In his passing, the Muslim Ummah lost an iconic personality, an intellectual par excellence, a brilliant strategist, deep thinker, prolific writer, and world-renowned Muslim economist.

Professor Khurshid Ahmed was a fascinating personality, a man with the vision, a person with farsightedness and judiciousness. He has written and edited more than sixty books on Islam, Islamic Economics, education, law and world affairs which have been translated into twelve different languages. He was certainly one of the most recognizable Pakistani experts on the subject of Kashmir.

Besides being the Federal Minister of Policy and Planning of Pakistan, and Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, he was also the Chairman, Islamic Foundation, Leicester, UK and Chairman, Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad. He also served on many advisory Boards in different parts of the world including being Advisor to King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (1976-1983); Member, Supreme Advisory Council, International Centre for Research in Islamic Economics, King Abdul Aziz University, (1979 -1983; Member, Foundation Council, Royal Academy for Islamic Civilisation, Amman, Jordan, (1987-1998);

Member, International Review Committee, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, (1988-1989),;Member, Board of Trustees Islamic Center, Zaria, Nigeria (1976 to 2025); Co-Chairman, Christian-Muslim Dialogue Chembasey, Switzerland, (1976), Member, Committee of Jurists Invited by the Prime Minister of Sudan to evaluate Islamic Laws of Sudan (Dec. 1986 – Feb. 1987), and Rector of the Markfield Institute of Higher Education, Leicester UK.

Professor Khurshid was awarded the first prize for his contribution to Islamic economics by Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah in 1989. He was also the recipient of the Riyadh-based prestigious King Faisal International Award for his services to Islam in 1990. He also received the American Finance House (La Riba) Award on Islamic Banking in Los Angeles in 1998. The University of Malaysia conferred an honorary doctorate on him in 1984, Loughborough University UK in 2003 and the International Islamic University Malaysia in 2006.

I remember meeting Professor Khurshid Ahmed along with Professor Alif-Ud-Din Turabi of Azad Kashmir, first time in 1976 when he was attending First International Conference on Islamic Economics in Makkah. The conference was organized by King Abdul Aziz University Jeddah/Makkah. After having learned that I was from Indian occupied Kashmir, Professor Khurshid  became deeply interested in knowing the situation there. His message to me then as he always stood firm with that was to hold on to the cause, despite the oppression of the occupying forces. Believe in Allah and never be disheartened.

He was the part of the Pakistani Parliamentary Kashmiri Committee delegation to the United Nations in New York between October 28 to November 8, 1994. The delegation was headed by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan. While I was visiting them at UN Plaza Hotel (Now known as Millennium Hotel New York), Professor Khurshid wanted me to connect with Syed Ali Geelani in Srinagar on phone so that Nawabzada Sahib can seek some guidance from him. Fortunately, I was able to get through and it was Professor Khurshid who talked to Geelani Sahib first and handed over the phone to Nawabzada Sahib. Whin in a minute or two, I saw Nawabzada Sahib bursting into tears, telling Geelani Sahib: ‘Geelani Sahib, I have lived my life to the fullest, now I hope to see Kashmir free from Indian occupation.” Later Professor Khurshid told me that the reason Nawabzada Sahib became emotional because Geelani Sahib asked him does Pakistan have a tangible strategy on Kashmir?

I invited Professor John Esposito, Founding Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University to give a lecture at Temple University, Philadelphia in 1984 on the topic: Islam and Modern Challenges. My challenge to the Muslim students of Temple University is, Professor Esposito said, to produce three more intellectuals within next ten years’ like Dr. Hassan Turabi, Professor Khurshid Ahmed and Anwar Ibrahim. When I met Professor Esposito ten years later in 1995 at the ISNA Convention which was held at Columbus, Ohio, he still remembered that challenge and told me that challenge still stands. That was the impression Professor Khurshid has left on the minds of western scholars.

Professor Khurshid Ahmed arranged a delegation of Muslim leadership to meet with representatives of various think-tanks, Members of Congress, news personalities in Washington, DC in mid 1990’s. The delegation was headed by Professor Necmettin Erbakan (Turkey) and it included members like Dr. Abdullah Gul (Turkey), Dr. Kamil Sharif (Jordan), Ustaaz Haji Hadi Awang (Malaysia), Professor Khurshid Ahmed, Pakistan and Liaqat Balloch Pakistan. We were able to arrange many important meetings with editorial boards, think tanks and members of Congress.

While giving a briefing to more than a dozen members of American Congressmen at Rayburn Office Building in Washington, Congressman Dan Burton asked the delegation: What do you want us to know about Kashmir and how do you want us to help Kashmir? Professor Khurshid interjected and articulated the policy of Pakistan without any ifs or buts. His response was simple but powerful. The aspirations of the Kashmiri people must be ascertained under the umbrella of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

When Senator Jesse Helms, one of the senior most Senators of the United States Senate asked Professor Khurshid Ahmed how to find a solution of the Kashmir dispute? Professor Khurshid Sahib had the clarity of vision about the future of Kashmir. He added that the United Nations must appoint a special envoy on Kashmir who will bring both India and Pakistan to the negotiating table. Senator Helms could feel that Professor Khurshid was informed, poised, and engaging.

Very lately, Professor Khurshid Ahmed suggested few guidelines to be included in the official policy of Pakistan towards Kashmir. He wrote in “The Nation’ on February 5, 2025, that ‘If Pakistan does not act decisively, time will slip away. Kashmir is at risk of becoming another Spain—where centuries of Islamic civilization were gradually erased. To achieve this, India is working aggressively to expand its communication infrastructure in Occupied Kashmir while systematically altering the demographic balance.’

He made an ardent proposal to the government of Pakistan to remember that Kashmiri brothers are in critical situation. Government of Pakistan must initiate meaningful diplomatic efforts; adopt a careful strategy on media and social media; take serious steps in the field of law and research; and no proposal except the plebiscite according to the resolutions of the UN should be adopted.

Professor Khurshid alerted that the Kashmir issue demands clarity, consistency, and commitment. Both Pakistan and Azad Kashmir must take proactive steps to revive and strengthen the freedom movement. The youth, in particular, should remain vigilant against deception and false promises. Only through unity, strategy, and unwavering dedication can the Kashmiri people achieve true justice and self-determination.

Let me conclude by saying that words inevitably cheapen the impeccability of the character and accomplishments of Professor Khurshid Ahmed. His legacy lives as much in the heart as in the head. let me also say that in the annals of history, nations and peoples are often blessed with intelligentsia, academics and scholars who play singular roles providing intellectual leadership that transcends inspiration and casts a lasting impact on these societies. Professor Khurshid Ahmed belongs completely in that group.

We miss him a lot. May Allah (SWT) elevate his status as the guided person, comfort him in his grave, make his grave part of Jannat ul Firdous and give Sabr to the family! Ameen!

Dr. Fai is also the Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum.

He can be reached at: WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435 or. gnfai2003@yahoo.com

www.kashmirawareness.org