Passing away of our beloved Dr. Zafar Ishaq Ansari

From: Junaid Ahmad
Date: Sunday, April 24, 2016 at 6:42 PM
To: Sociology and Global Studies <tugrulkeskin(at)maltepe.edu.tr
Subject: Fwd: Passing away of our beloved Dr. Zafar Ishaq Ansari

Dear friends:

This is to inform everyone that our beloved doyen of Islamic Studies in Pakistan, Dr. Zafar Ishaq Ansari, passed away this morning of April 24th. He will be remembered by many as the scholar, mentor, and simply warmest human being to whom anyone having anything to do with Islamic Studies and the study of the Muslim world would certainly pay a visit when coming to Pakistan. His office was a necessary stop for friends and scholars such as Ebrahim Moosa, Tamara Sonn, John Esposito, M. Qasim Zaman, Mercia Hermansen, Tariq Ramadan, the late Shahab Ahmed, Farid Esack, and numerous scholars from every generation, including younger scholars. His guidance and generosity of spirit and love motivated so many, both academics and non-academics, throughout the world.

I write these words as perhaps his dearest friend and brother, my father - Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad - passed away just a few weeks ago. They both gave each other life in the country, in the city of Islamabad, and in the university. My dear Uncle Ansari's last visit to the university was just to speak at the memorial for my father. After that, he stopped going. I'm pretty sure the two were missing each other very much, and are close to each other once again. Here is an email that my father sent to me a few years ago when my mother and I were in the US during Ramadan, and he was alone in Islamabad:
"Ansari sahib will spend ramadan in karachi and that makes me sad."

Dr. Zafar Ishaq Ansari and my father both had chronic kidney disease, and were on dialysis treatment. They would make sure their timings matched, sat next to each other, and shared their sandwiches, coffee, and books. One of the last ones they were reading together was Shahab Ahmed's, "What is Islam." The last book that my father co-edited with dear colleague and brother Dr. Husnul Amin, "A Documentary History of Islamic Education in Pakistan," was dedicated to Dr. Ansari.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.
According to Muslims, "Verily, we belong to God, and to God shall we return."

Thanks to many of you have been in contact and incredibly supportive, and my apologies for not being able to respond in a timely fashion as I deal not just with my loss, but losses now.

With warm regards
Junaid

--
Junaid S. Ahmad
Director, Center for Global Dialogue
Faculty of Advanced Studies, UMT
Lahore, Pakistan