The loss of an institution

Karachi
At the time of his death, Prof Dr Shakeel Auj was the dean of Islamic Studies and the director of Seerat Chair at Karachi University, while also serving as a member of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology’s (FUUAST) Senate.
He had published more than 86 research papers of international distinction, besides authoring 15 books and more than 100 articles.
Prof Auj, who was unofficially excommunicated by the religious scholars’ fraternity, had also been awarded the honourary title of ‘Ijaza’ by Shaikh-ul-Hadith Mufti Anwar Ullah of Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies. The title is awarded to someone who has memorised and is an expert in Hadith and its interpretation.
He was the founder and editor of Higher Education Commission’s internationally-acclaimed research journal, Al-Tafseer, and a member of the editorial board of Malaysian research journal, Jihar.
Prof Auj was also a member of the HEC’s Committee on Development of Social Sciences and Humanities, while also serving on the board of trustees of the International Islamic University, Islamabad.
He was also on the editorial board of the Council of Islamic Ideology’s journal called ‘Ijtihad’ and served as a member of the advisory board of the journal, ‘Fikr-o-Nazar’, of the Islamic Research Centre, Islamabad.
Moreover, Prof Auj also led HEC’s sub-committee on Islamic Studies and Arabic. He was also the chairman of Tahqeeq-o-Tafseer Welfare Association.
He was a member of the advisory boards of Sindh University’s research journal ‘Peace’, Peshawar University’s journal ‘Peshawar Islamicus’ and Hazara University’s ‘Hazara Islamicus’.