KARACHI, April 23 Renowned religious scholar Allama Aqeel Turabi died in a private hospital here on Thursday evening. He was 75.

He leaves behind two sons and three daughters.

Allama Turabi had had an attack of paralysis a couple of years ago and he had been in coma for a few months.

His funeral prayers will be held at the Martin Road Imambargah after Juma prayers and he will be buried in the Wadi-i-Hussain graveyard.

Born in Hyderabad Deccan in 1934, Allama Turabi was the second son of legendary scholar and poet Allama Rasheed Turabi.

After doing his intermediate from Karachi, he went to the Iranian city of Qom, where he studied under the guidance of top scholars of the time, including Ayatollah Mohsin Hakeem. The last phase of his religious studies took him to Iraq, where his teachers included Ayatollah Khomeini. Irans current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was his classmate.

Allama Turabi earned a master's in studies of comparative religions from London. After returning to Karachi in 1971, he began addressing Muharram gatherings at Khaliqdina Hall. He addressed Sham-i-Ghareeban majlis at Hussainia Sajjadia Imambargah which was relayed by Radio Pakistan.

The governments of Z.A. Bhutto and Ziaul Haque gave him prominent positions on religious bodies. He also served as a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology. For a couple of years he was vice-president of Tehrik-i-Istiqlal.

The late Allama was such a popular speaker that he used to be invited to address majalis in the US, the UK, Australia, South Africa and East Africa.

His elder brother Hadi Turabi lives in London and sister Dr Batool Turabi in the US. His other brothers are poet Naseer Turabi, Zakir Salman Turabi and Taha Turabi.