Prof. Khurshid Ahmad

Renowned statesman, thinker, political activist, economist, author, editor, and researcher Professor Khurshid Ahmad (born March 23, 1932, in Delhi) passed away peacefully on April 13, 2025, in Leicester, United Kingdom, surrounded by his family.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji‘oon.

Professor Khurshid Ahmad was among the most distinguished Pakistani intellectuals recognized globally as a thought leader and an eloquent advocate for Pakistan and the Muslim Ummah. His scholarship, sincerity, intellectual depth, and deep patriotism earned him respect even from those who differed with him ideologically or politically.

His political consciousness emerged during his school years in Delhi, where he became active in the Bachcha Muslim League and actively participated in the Pakistan Movement. Following the Partition, his family migrated to Karachi, where his intellectual engagement led him to Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT). He was elected as the Central President of IJT from November 1953 to September 1955, during which his leadership transformed the organization into one of Pakistan’s most dynamic and influential student movements.

As Nazim-e-A‘la of IJT, he played a key role in the democratic struggle against President Ayub Khan’s martial law and was imprisoned for his activism. His intellectual and political leadership significantly contributed to countering leftist student organizations, leading to their decline in major universities and colleges during the 1960s and 1970s, and eventually from Pakistan’s political landscape.

Professor Khurshid Ahmad later rose through the ranks of Jama‘at-e-Islami, becoming one of the closest associates of its founder, Maulana Syed Abul A‘la Maududi, particularly within the top intellectual leadership of the Islamic movement. He began his academic career as a teacher of economics at the University of Karachi and authored numerous influential works on Islamic ideology and economics. He also inspired and brought together a wide network of international scholars to advance a global intellectual movement for the Islamization of contemporary knowledge, especially in public policy.

He served as a member of the Senate of Pakistan for more than two decades (1985–2012), with a brief interruption, and held the office of Federal Minister for Planning and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan in 1978. In 1979, he founded the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad, Pakistan’s first non-governmental think tank, and served as its chairman until 2021.

Professor Khurshid Ahmad was also a founding trustee of the International Islamic University, Islamabad; founding chairman of the Islamic Foundation, Leicester (UK); and President of the Markfield Institute of Higher Education, the first academic center for Islamic economics and finance in the Western world. He also served as the founder chairman of the University of Management and Technology, Lahore, and as a patron and pioneering board member of numerous institutions across the Muslim world.

He authored and edited over 130 books in Urdu and English, many of which were translated into several languages, including Arabic, French, Turkish, Bengali, Japanese, German, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, Korean, Persian, and others. Doctoral dissertations on his intellectual contributions have been completed at leading universities in Malaysia, Turkey, and Germany.

In recognition of his scholarly achievements, he received honorary PhDs from the University of Malaya (1982), Loughborough University, UK (2003), and the International Islamic University Malaysia (2006). For his pioneering contributions to Islamic economics, he was awarded the Islamic Development Bank’s highest honor in 1989 and the King Faisal International Award in 1990. In 2010, the Government of Pakistan conferred upon him the country’s highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, in recognition of his lifelong services.

Professor Khurshid Ahmad also played a vital role in strengthening Pakistan’s parliamentary institutions. He was instrumental in establishing the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services and the Research Department of the Senate. He is remembered by fellow parliamentarians as one of the most active senators, noted for his exceptional legislative oversight, extensive use of research, and evidence-based contributions across a wide range of national issues.

Pakistan has lost one of its most respected statesmen and intellectuals. Beyond national boundaries, his passing is an irreparable loss for the Muslim Ummah, to whose intellectual, political, and moral uplift Professor Khurshid Ahmad devoted his entire life with unwavering commitment.