Asghar Ali Engineer

Asghar Ali Engineer is a Muslim scholar and engineer. Internationally he is known for his work on liberation theology in Islam, the leader of the Progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement, and his work on (and action against) communalism and communal and ethnic violence in India and South East Asia. He is an advocate of a culture of peace and non-violence.

Asghar Ali Engineer was born 10 March 1939 in Salumbar, Rajasthan, India as the son of a Bohra priest. He was given training in Qur'anic tafsir (commentary), tawil (hidden meaning of Qur'an), fiqh (jurisprudence) and hadith (Prophet's sayings), and learnt the Arabic language. He graduated in civil engineering in Indore, Madhya Pradesh), and served for 20 years as an engineer in the Bombay Municipal Corporation before he took voluntary retirement to devote himself to the Bohra reform movement. He began to play a leading role in the reform movement in 1972 when a revolt took place in Udaipur. He was unanimously elected as General Secretary of The Central Board of Dawoodi Bohra Community in its first conference in Udaipur in 1977. In 2004 due to criticism of the Dawoodi Bohra religious establishment he was expelled. Asghar Ali Engineer has been instrumental in publicizing the Progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement through his writings and speeches.

He has authored more than 40 books and many articles in various national and international journals, and is founding chairman of the Asian Muslim Action Network, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, and head of the Center for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai. He has been awarded several awards, among which the Communal Harmony Award in 1997 and the Right Livelihood Award in 2004 (with Swami Agnivesh) for his 'strong commitment to promote values of co-existence and tolerance'.

Controversy

Asghar Ali Engineer has been accused of stoking parochial feelings and anti-Hindu sentiment among Muslims. Those who oppose him contend that his views are separatist and pro-Muslim rather than secular.

Some works

* The Origin and Development of Islam
* Islam and Its Relevance to Our Age
* The Islamic State
* Rights of Women in Islam
* Sufism and Communal Harmony
* Islam in South and South East Asia

External links

* [http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ertavakol/engineer/ Asghar Ali Engineer's Articles]
* [http://www.rightlivelihood.org/recip.htm Right Livelihood Award Recipient]