LAHORE: Veteran journalist and scholar Syed Ghulam Sarwar Shah, lovingly called ‘Shahjee’ by his family and friends, passed away here on Tuesday after a protracted illness. He was 96.

A large number of people from different walks of life attended his funeral prayers in Samanabad. He was laid to rest at the Punjab University graveyard.

Born in the village of Madina in Gujrat (Pakistan) district, he did his BA from the Zamindar College, Gujrat, in 1943 and MA in philosophy from the Government College Lahore in 1945. He joined Zamindar College as a lecturer in philosophy and left it on the expiry of the contract.

After some time, he moved to Lahore where he joined The Civil and Military Gazette as a sub-editor. He switched to The Pakistan Times when the Gazette management changed. He served The Pakistan Times for 33 years in various positions, including senior sub-editor, edition in-charge, chief sub-editor, news editor, and finally magazine editor, the position he held for eight years.

Mr Shah was still on the staff of The PT when the Nawa-e-Waqt Publications hired his services for their forthcoming English daily, The Nation, which came in the market three months later. He served The Nation for about eight years and a half, after which he retired. He was then past 72 years.

After retirement, he studied history (Muslim, European and American) and various religions – Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism - and finally devoted himself to the study of the Quran. His first publication on the Quran appeared in the form of an 80-page book in November 2010. His seminal and more comprehensive work was published as a book titled ‘A Fresh Look at the Quran: Unmasking the Truth’, by Amazon and University of the Punjab Press in 2013.

Shahjee is survived by his wife, seven children and 17 grandchildren.

Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zakria Zakar expressed his grief over the demise of Mr Shah, who was father of PU College of Information Technology Principal Prof Dr Syed Mansoor Sarwar.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2018