Kalim Siddiqui (writer)

Kalim Siddiqui, Ph.D. (15 September 1931 - 18 April 1996) was a Pakistani British writer and Islamic activist. He gained notability for his controversial support of the fatwa issued by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, which called for the assassination of British author Sir Salman Rushdie amidst the Satanic Verses controversy.[1][2][3]

Early life

Siddiqui was born in the village of Dondi Lohara, CP, British India on 15 September 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.[4] After the creation of the state of Pakistan he briefly joined the Khilafat Movement in 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 PhD in 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.[5]

Supporting Iran

He publicly declared his support for the Islamic Revolution in Iran of 1979, and was later a defender of Ayatullah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie.[1][2][3]

The Muslim Parliament

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 died in Pretoria, South Africa on 18 April 1996, after attending the International Conference on Creating a New Civilization of Islam.[5] 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 Ramadan moon) and act as a lobbying body in the wider British community, like the Board of Deputies of British Jews.[6]

Works
  1. Islamic development plan, Karachi: Umma Publishing House, 1970
  2. Conflict, Crisis and War in Pakistan, London: Macmillan and New York, 1972
  3. Towards a new destiny, London: Distributed by Newsmedia Book Service, 1974
  4. The functions of international conflict : a socio-economic study of Pakistan, Karachi: The Royal Book Company, 1975
  5. The state of the Muslim world today, London: Open Press in association with the Muslim Institute, 1980
  6. Beyond the Muslim nation-states, London: Open Press Limited : Muslim Institute, 1980
  7. The Islamic revolution : achievements, obstacles & goals, Open Press in association with the Muslim Institute, 1980
  8. Political thought and behaviour of Muslims under colonialism, London: Muslim Institute, 1986
  9. Issues in the Islamic Movement, London: Open Press, 1987
  10. The implications of the Rushdie affair for Muslims in Britain, London : Muslim Institute, 1989
  11. Muslims and the 'new world order', London : Muslim Institute, 1991
  12. In pursuit of the power of Islam : major writings of Kalim Siddiqui (edited by Zafar Bangash), London: Open Press, 1996
  13. Stages of Islamic revolution, London: Open Press, 1996

References
  1. Nielsen, Jorgen S. (19 April 1996). "OBITUARY : Kalim Siddiqui". The Independent. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Siddiqui's notoriety rests on his prompt support for the Iranian death sentence on Salman Rushdie.
  2. "Kalim Siddiqui, 62; Led British Muslims". The New York Times. 20 April 1996. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Kalim Siddiqui, a prominent British Muslim who backed Iran's call for the assassination of the writer Salman Rushdie...
  3. "Muslim leader Siddiqui dies". The Independent. 18 April 1996. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. The leader of Britain's Muslim Parliament, who led a vociferous campaign against author Salman Rushdie, died yesterday of a heart attack...
  4. "Obituary: Kalim Siddiqui". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  5. Zafar Bangash, Introduction to In Pursuit of the Power of Islam, 1996
  6. Siddiqui, Kalim (1990). "Generating 'power' without politics" (PDF). pp. 13–14. Let us have more millionaires than the Jews. The Jews have a population of less than half a million; we already have two million Muslims here. Inside ten years we can pack a greater punch than the Jews.

Bibliography
  • A life in the Islamic movement : Kalim Siddiqui 1931-1996. Slough, Middlesex: Crescent International. OCLC 1200034176.
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