Khurshid Ahmad (scholar)

Khurshid Ahmad
Native name خورشید احمد
Born (1932-03-23) 23 March 1932
Delhi, British India
(Present day New Delhi in India)
Nationality  Pakistan
Institution Karachi University
University of Leicester
Institute of Policy Studies
Planning Commission
Field Economics (Islamics)
School or
tradition
Islamic economic jurisprudence
Alma mater Government College University
University of Leicester
International Islamic University
Influences Capitalism
Perspectives on capitalism
Conservatism
Contributions Islamic economics and conservatism
Awards King Faisal International Prize for Science

Khurshīd Ahmad (Urdu: خورشید احمد; b. 23 March 1932) PhD, DSc, NI, is a Pakistani economist, philosopher, and an Islamic activist who helped to develop Islamic economic jurisprudence as an academic discipline.[1]

A senior conservative figure, he has been long-standing party worker of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), the far-right political party, where he successfully ran for Senate in the general elections held in 2002 on a platform of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). He served in the Senate until 2012.[2] He played his role as a policy adviser in Zia administration when he chaired the Planning Commission, focusing on the role of Islamising the country's national economy in the 1980s.

Biography

Family, education, and early life

Ahmad was born into an Urdu-speaking family in Delhi, British India, on 23 March 1932. He entered in the Anglo-Arabic College in Delhi. After the partition of India in 1947, the family moved to Pakistan and were settled in Lahore, Punjab, after which, he enrolled at the Government College University to study business and economic in 1949. In 1949, Ahmad published his first English article in the Muslim Economist.[3]

He secured his graduation in BA in first-class honours in Economics 1952. He began reading the philosophical work of Abul A'la Maududi and was a worker of his party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).[3] In 1952, he took the Bar exam and entered in law program of the GCU with strong emphasis on Islamic law and jurisprudence.[4] At his university, he remained student worker for the JeI while offering tutoring in Islamic studies.[3] As an aftermath of violent riots in Lahore, Ahmad left the GCU to avoid the massive arrest and detainment of the JeI workers by the Punjab Police Department, and moved to Karachi permanently.[3] Ahmad enrolled in the Karachi University and graduated with MSc with Hons in Economics after successfully defending his thesis that contained the fundamental work of Adam Smith on Invisible hand and the Capitalism in 1958.[4]

In 1962, Ahmad graduated with an MA with Hons in Islamic studies from the University of Karachi and won a scholarship to pursue a doctoral degree in the United Kingdom in 1965. Ahmad enrolled at the University of Leicester and joined the Faculty of Economics for his doctoral studies. He successfully defended his doctoral thesis for his PhD in Economics in 1967–68.[4] His doctoral thesis was on Islamic economic jurisprudence. In 1970, his services to promote literacy was recognized by Leicester University, which honored him with an honorary doctorate in Education.[4] In 1970, he moved to England and joined the department of philosophy to teach Contemporary philosophy at the Leicester University.[4]

Awards and recognition

  • In recognition of his scholarly contributions, Ahmad was awarded the highest civil award, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz on 23 March 2011.[5]

See also

References

  1. Abdul Ghafoor Ahmed#Political career
  2. Hathaway, Robert M.; Lee, Wilson; Husain, Ishrat (2004). Islamization and the Pakistani economy. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. p. 141, GoogleBooks. Retrieved 18 Jan 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Musaji, Imran. "Profile of Khurshid Ahmad". The American Muslim website. Retrieved 18 Jan 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Senate of Pakistan. "Educational background of Professor Khurshid Ahmad". Pakistan Government. Pakistan Senate. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  5. http://nation.com.pk/national/24-Mar-2011/NishaneImtiaz--for-PCCR-members, Nishan-i-Imtiaz Award for Khurshid Ahmad in 2011 by the President of Pakistan, The Nation newspaper, Published 24 March 2011, Retrieved 18 Jan 2017
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