The legacy of Khurshid Ahmad…

Renowned Islamic economist, politician, and thinker Prof. Dr. Khurshid Ahmad (93) passed away in Leicester, United Kingdom. Several of his works were translated into Turkish, and his life story reads like a panorama of the dramatic transformations the Indian Subcontinent experienced over the last century.

Born in 1932 in Delhi, Khurshid Ahmad came from a distinguished family tracing its lineage to Abu Bakr, the first caliph of Islam. His father, Nazir Ahmad, was a businessman deeply involved in both politics and scholarship: an active member of both the Khilafat Movement and the All-India Muslim League, and a supporter of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind. His mother, Sarwar Jahan Begum, was the granddaughter of Sahibzada Yaqub Bey, the Ottoman Empire’s diplomatic envoy to Delhi.

Growing up in British-controlled Delhi gave Ahmad access to a rich and diverse education. Alongside classical Islamic studies in Arabic and Urdu, he became fluent in English. When British colonial rule carved the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in 1947, the Ahmad family moved to Lahore in early 1948. At just 16 years old, this marked the beginning of a new and formative chapter in his life.

One of the most significant turning points in Lahore was his growing closeness to Abul A'la Maududi, a family acquaintance and towering intellectual figure. Invited to Lahore in 1938 by poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, Maududi had stayed on after Iqbal’s death that same year, dedicating himself to Islamic and political work. When the Ahmad family later relocated to Lahore, they became part of the emerging core of Jamaat-e-Islami, the political and religious movement Maududi founded in 1941. Around this time, Khurshid Ahmad also began reading the works of the journalist and convert to Islam, Muhammad Asad. He would later cite five individuals as his greatest sources of inspiration: his father, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Muhammad Iqbal, Maududi, and Muhammad Asad.

Ahmad published his first article in English in 1949—an analysis of Pakistan’s budget—and thus began a prolific intellectual journey that would yield more than 70 major works over his lifetime. He completed his master's degree at the University of Karachi, where he also led the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, before moving to the UK to pursue a PhD in Islamic economics at the University of Leicester. By that time, he had already entered political life, eventually becoming vice president of Jamaat-e-Islami.

While continuing his academic career in Leicester, he founded The Islamic Foundation in 1978. His ties to Pakistan remained strong: that same year, at the invitation of General Zia-ul-Haq, he joined national economic planning efforts and played a significant role in efforts to Islamize the country’s economic system. He later served as a senator from 1985 to 1997 and again from 2003 to 2012.

Khurshid Ahmad was not only a prolific scholar and policy advisor but also a bridge-builder. He formed close relationships with influential figures across the Islamic world. From Turkey, a country he was already connected to through his maternal lineage, he maintained contact with Necmettin Erbakan. Tunisian thinker and politician Rached Ghannouchi was greatly influenced by Ahmad during his years in exile in the UK. Sudanese intellectual Hassan al-Turabi was another key connection from the African continent.

As we pray for Khurshid Ahmad’s mercy, we can’t help but reflect on a broader question:

Will we be able to raise figures of such depth, range, and productivity to fill the void left by men like him?

In an age where many shrink into narrow personal spheres and wear it as a badge of honor, perhaps the vision we’re called to—as Muslims and as a global community—is one of expansiveness, integration, and enduring impact.