Celebrated Islamic reformist Asghar Ali Engineer passed away at Mumbai today.
Engineer, 73, died early this morning at his home in suburban Santa Cruz, family sources said.
He is survived by a son and a daughter.
Born in 1940, he did BSc in civil engineering from Vikram University. From 1980, he edited a journal ‘The Islamic Perspective’ and during the 1980s he published a string of books on Islam and communal violence in India, the latter based on his field investigations in post-independence India.
In 1987, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the USA International Student Assembly and the USA Indian Student Assembly.
In 1990, he received the Dalmia Award for communal harmony and was the recipient of three honorary doctorate degrees.
The destruction of the Babri Mosque in 1992 provided the impetus for the foundation by Engineer in 1993 of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), of which he was the Chairman and which was the organizational focus of his work since then.
He published 52 books, many papers and articles, including those for scholarly journals. He edited the ‘Indian Journal of Secularism’, and a monthly paper, Islam and Modern Age. He also published Secular Perspective every fortnight.