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Dr. Kalim Siddiqui, the famous Muslim Thinker
Compiled by: Syed Muhammad Bokreta
Algiers, Algeria
The Late Dr. Kalim Siddiqui was born in the village of Dondi Lohara, British India, on September 15, 1931. He became increasing involved in politics as a teenager, when during a small demonstration close to his home town a bullet fired by a British soldier barely missed him, killing the youth behind him.
After the creation of the state of Pakistan, he briefly joined the Khilafat Movementin Karachi and became the editor of its newspaper, The Independent Leader.
* Along with other members of the movement, he moved to London in the early 1950s. In the mid 1960s he put himself through college and university, taking a degree in Economics, and then, in 1972, a Phdin International Relations from University College, London. He founded the Muslim Institute for Research and Planning in London in 1972 and campaigned through his writings for political Islam.
* He publicly declared his support for the Islamic Revolution in Iran in early 1979, and was later a defender of the Late Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdi,
* In 1989 he founded the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain Although activism was certainly a major part of his life, the core of his work was a unique analysis, understanding and exposition of Muslim history and the contemporary situation facing Muslims which he developed and presented in a series of major writings and speeches.
* He passed away in Pretoria , South Africa on April 18, 1996, after attending the International Conference on Creating a New Civilization of Islam, he was an outspoken force in the need for an integrated body of Muslims which could exercise communal interests (the regulation of Halal meat and the sighting of the Ramadhan Moon) and act as a lobbying body in the wider British community, like the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
* Works:
Functions of International Conflict - A Socio-economic Study of Pakistan, Karachi: The Royal Book Company, 1975
1. Conflict, Crisis and War in Pakistan, London: Macmillan and New York 1972
2. Issues in the Islamic Movement, Volumes I - III
3. In Pursuit of the Power of Islam, The Muslim Institute 1996 ISBN 0-905081-58-7
4. Stages of Islamic Revolution.
Paying a Tribute to this Great Man and Master (Sheikh) on the occasion of the16th anniversary of his passing away is a just modest contribution for a Scholar I had both the Honour and privilege to know him for the first time in 1984 during the Muslim Institute of London’s Seminars and since all his relevant publications through the highly inspired literature of “Crescent International” which I was and up to now a devout reader since 1980 were a source of thirst quenching panacea!!!
Dr Kalim Siddiqui ‘s legacy is still on the march with the ongoing valuable work that is carried by two “Veteran Brothers” of the early eighties Such as Brother Zafar Bangash (formerly Assistant Director of the Muslim Institute and editor of Crescent International), and the ever “outspoken” Imam Mohammed Al-Asi and some unknown Brothers that all have both respect and gratitude for the sake of Islam and the Ummah as a whole.
For that, the Great Mujahid and Renovator Dr. Kalim Siddiqui ,certainly belongs to the higher class of Allah’s Servants who have attained the Best of both Worlds: “We gave him his reward in this world, and in the world to come he shall be among the Righteous”. Holy-Quran 29-27.
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