KARACHI: A well attended meeting of writers and thinkers to condole the death of eminent scholar Dr Mohammad Hameedullah was held at Bahadur Yar Jung Academy on Wednesday, with Dr Manzooruddin Ahmad in the chair.

Dr Hameedullah expired on Dec 17, 2002 in the state of Florida.Those who recalled the services of the internationally known late Hameedullah included Prof Dr Affan Saljoq, former parliamentarian Shah Torabul Haq Qadri, Misbahuddin Shakeel and President Bahadur Yar Jung Academy Mir Hamid Ali.

Dr Mohammad Hameedullah was born in Hyderabad (Daccen) in 1908, was educated at Jamia Usmania, a prestigious institution of learning in the subcontinent, passed MA in both theology and Law together in 1930 and submitted his paper on Islamic law to Bonn University, which earned him a doctorate degree.

He taught Islamic learning and International law at the French University for twenty years. He had done another doctorate in France on International law. Having command over at least nine languages, Arabic, English, Italian and French included, and around two hundred books to his credit, the erudite Khan lived modestly with the barest possible expenses on his person.

He lived only on pension amount which he received for his long association with the French University and never touched even a penny of the royalty of his books and the awards which he received for his meritorious services. All such sums were donated to Islamic institutions.

Mir Hameed Ali narrated many instances of his humble and honest living. Prof Affan Saljoq, who lived in France for some time under Dr Hameedullah’s care, spoke a lot about the person of his mentor, about his political role and his efforts to promote Islamic learning.

He said Dr Hameedullah was a guide to the students of post-doctorate studies and it mostly was due to his efforts that today there were 1500 mosques in France and three million Muslims living in peace. His contribution were the papers translated world over sending the message of Islamic justice and love for all humans.

Dr Hameedullah, he said, all his life kept fighting through his papers and speeches the false propaganda of biased Western authors against Islam. Misbahuddin Shakeel remembered his khutbaat-i-Bahawalpur.

Dr Manzooruddin Ahmad, in his speech, suggested that Dr Hameedullah’s unpublished articles should be collected and published in Pakistan, and his selected writings should be included in the university syllabus.

Dr Ahmad was pleased to know that a Dr Hameedullah chair was instituted in the Punjab University. He wished Karachi University had taken the initiative. Prof Khawja Qutbuddin Ahmad thanked the guests.—Hasan Abidi