Dr Shabbir Akhtar’s sudden and unexpected death on July 25 came as a shock to his family and friends. His death at the relatively young age of 63 has been truly a monumental loss for all concerned at the height of his powers: British Muslims have lost a relentless ambassador, and the literary community has lost a man of exceptional prowess. For me, the loss is compounded by the loss of a truly dear friend and intellectual inspiration.
Together, over the years, we enjoyed many intellectual excursions. He always brought wit and humour, even in the dimmest of circumstances.
Dr Shabbir Akhtar, from a hardworking family in Bradford, inspired many through his literary work, bringing to the fore the full force of his intellectual might.
Dr Atif Imtiaz, a close friend of Dr Shabbir Akhtar, relates, “He was one of the brightest of his generation of British Muslims.”
Mohammed Ajeeb CBE, the former Lord Mayor of Bradford, commented, “Bradford and British Muslims have lost a great ambassador.”
Nadim Qureshi, also a close friend who knew Shabbir from their time at Belle Vue Boys School, said, “While Bradford may mourn the loss of one of its brightest lights, I have lost a dear friend who shared with me his more human side away from academia.”
Yaqub Nizami, the author of ‘Pakistan to England’ said, “I had the privilege of being Dr Shabbir’s work colleague. His intellect and sharp wit set him apart and above others in the team.”
Liaqat Hussain Naushahi of Jamiyiate Tabligh ul Islam and the former Secretary General and President of Bradford Council for Mosques observes, “Dr Shabbir was a person of faith who served it with passion through his writings, leaving a legacy that we can be proud of.”
Akhtar was born in 1960 in rural Pakistan, arriving in the UK at age eight with his parents and siblings to settle in Bradford. He attended Belle Vue Boys Comprehensive School before going on to study philosophy at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, in 1980.
He graduated with a first and was a student of the Catholic philosopher Elisabeth Anscombe, one of the literary inheritors of Wittgenstein. After studying philosophy (BA and MA degrees) at Cambridge, he went to the University of Calgary, Alberta, in Canada, for his PhD in philosophy of religion, his thesis being “Religion in the Age of Reason: Faith and the Apostasy of Humanism.”
After his studies, Akhtar returned to Bradford and joined our team at Bradford Racial Equality Council as the Racial Equality Officer (Education). He also worked briefly as a community librarian at the Pakistani Community Centre as part of the team, which included Yaqub Nizami.
It was here that he was introduced to the work of the Bradford Council for Mosques, where I had responsibility for the organisation’s media relations. He came to prominence in the infamous “Rushdie Affair “, becoming the intellectual voice of the Muslim community, which culminated in him writing Be Careful Muhammed: The Rushdie Affair at my instigation. This landmark book was updated and reprinted in 2018 with a tweaked title: Be Careful with Muhammad! Salman Rushdie and the Battle for Free Speech.
Throughout the Satanic Verses affair, he was the most prominent voice of the British Muslim community, seen and heard frequently on television and radio, debating eloquently with the likes of Ian McEwan, Melvyn Bragg, and Michael Ignatieff on issues raised by the whole ugly episode.
Dr Akhtar went on to write and publish a phenomenal range of books, articles, and reviews covering a wide spectrum of subjects. However, his principal focus remained on Islam in the modern world and the interface between Islam and Christianity in modern secular society. He was an accomplished scholar of comparative religion, fluent in Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew. He spent the last years of his life in Oxford, where he taught at the university.
Along with his other intellectual pursuits, Dr Akhtar was a brilliant poet. However, despite several published works, he did not see this as his principal calling. He often said, “Poetry is something that comes naturally to me but which I have to keep under wraps for the fear of it taking over all the other things that I need to do.”
A glance at his published work underlines his status as an intellectual giant. Some of his most outstanding published works include The Final Imperative: An Islamic Theology of Liberation; A Faith for All Seasons: Islam and the Challenge of the Modern World; Islam as a Political Religion: The Future of an Imperial Faith; The Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam; Love in the Wrong Season: Collected Poems; Muslim Poetic Imagination; The Light in the Enlightenment: Christianity and the Secular Heritage and Reason; Radical Crisis of Faith, among others. He also wrote extensively in journals.
Dr Akhtar’s work was translated into French, Indonesian, Bosnian, and Malaysian. But perhaps the true measure of a man is best judged by those closest to him. In a message to the friends of Dr Akhtar, his wife Foziea wrote, “Shabbir was such a wonderful, loving, caring, supportive father, husband, scholar, poet, and friend who touched everyone’s heart and often put a smile on our faces with his witty sense of humour; he will truly be missed.”
This, for me, sums up the man, his personality, intellect, and endeavour. May Allah SWT bless his soul.
(Photo courtesy of Foziea Chaudhry)
Ishtiaq Ahmed, Bradford
