Hasan: So your modern, secular studies paused and an informal course of religious study with Javed Ahmed Ghamidi began?
Dr. Shehzad: When I went to Anis Mufti, I had one year of engineering left and a strong urge to study religion as much as possible. We started Arabic somewhat informally—some religious discussions, some lectures from Javed Ghamidi. I felt: why waste a year—better to spend even this last year in religious learning. I still remember the teacher, with firmness and affection, said: “Son, you’ve invested four years; one remains. It is neither appropriate nor wise to walk away without the degree.”
Hasan: What program were you in?
Dr. Shehzad: Electrical Engineering at the University of Engineering & Technology.
Hasan: So, you’re an electrical engineer?
Dr. Shehzad: You could say that, but after taking the degree I never practiced. When this work began, I thought the degree would be a hindrance and that I’d lose a year—because going to UET, taking exams, all that takes time. But the mentor emphasized—quite emphatically—that I should complete it, because when you do religious work, it is better for your own public profile to have an academic background; otherwise, you’ll be just “intermediate pass.” That was sound advice. Had he not insisted, I might well have dropped out. Another benefit was that my family’s regard for my mentor rose greatly. I had already announced at home that I wanted to turn to religion. I remember: just as growing a beard had once thrown the household into mourning, this decision caused an uproar too. The background was that my father, who was keen on higher education and perhaps wanted to send me abroad, passed away that same year. So, the family—my five maternal uncles, my mother, my aunt, felt I had been detracted. There was strong opposition. But when Ghamidi sahib insisted I complete engineering, and I told my family I was doing it because of him, his standing and respect in the family grew— which helped a lot.
Hasan: Right. So, you built a connection with respected Javed Ahmed Ghamidi and began an informal course of study there. Since his wife and your wife are sisters, when and how did that family tie come about?
Dr. Shehzad: Perhaps at our third or fourth meeting, Javed Ahmed Ghamidi said: “Look, if you’ve decided to pursue religious knowledge and set aside your engineering background, the most important thing is that your spouse should support your work. If you marry ‘in the ordinary way,’ your aims may diverge and you won’t be able to do your work. For this calling, a peaceful home is essential.” Then he introduced me to the woman who became my wife. When Javed Ahmed Ghamidi married, my wife was much younger than her elder sister (Mrs. Ghamidi)—a kid sister. She would come to Javed Ahmed Ghamidi and, as it happened, her own journey was similar to mine: she too wished to study religion. She was three years my senior and studied with him. When Al- Mawrid was founded in 1983 she took its classes and stood first for three years in a row. So, he himself said: “Let me introduce you to a student of mine. You consider it.” My first meeting with the mentor was in July 1988; by September 1988 I was inclined in that direction—so within a month or two both milestones were achieved. It was, of course, a major decision and again met family opposition. After a year or two of that, my nikah took place in June 1990, with the rukhsati delayed another year. The nikah ceremony was held on the roof of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi’s home at 51-E; he himself solemnized it. His voice choked with emotion as he recited—it was an overwhelming moment I still recall vividly.
Hasan: Tell us about the livelihood side. The expectation was: finish UET, get a job, support the family—your father had passed on. Were you well-off, or was the family counting on your income? Give us the gist of the financial journey.
Dr. Shehzad: My late father left a pension and a house we rented out, so there was no need for me to support the household. I depended on the home; the home did not depend on me. I remember my first honorarium from the mentor was Rs. 1,200 or 1,500 per month. The occasion was the launch of the English magazine Renaissance. The honorarium came under that head—really pocket money, a stipend for personal expenses, not something to spend on the household.
Then in 1991 an institute was established (there’s a whole backstory). There were four or five of us; all were hired as employees, because each of us had, in a sense, bid farewell to our respective disciplines and entered a new phase. From there our financial association began and has continued to this day—with Al-Mawrid in Pakistan, and then expansion thereafter.
Hasan: New projects arrived—so livelihood was tied to these efforts and projects?
Dr. Shehzad: Exactly. In these 35 years I’ve never held any job in engineering or outside it. Early on I did receive a very good offer from LUMS. My colleague Asif Iftikhar also taught there. The VC then wished to develop Islamic or Quranic studies and wanted me to teach. I said I could do something part-time, but not full-time alongside responsibilities at Al-Mawrid. That was when I had taken on full-time duties at the institute—roles shifted between administration, scholarship, critical thinking, and outreach, but the affiliation remained with the institution.
Hasan: Let’s move forward. Once you met Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, responsibilities came, and the journey of understanding his thought began—a process that typically takes eight to ten years. Did you read foundational works lesson-by-lesson? Did he assign readings—“study these four things”—with you returning with questions? Or was it like a classroom with a teacher and a set curriculum?
Dr. Shehzad: I met Javed Ahmed Ghamidi in 1988. Before that I had read quite a bit on my own: Maulana Maududi, and Urdu and English language literature. I took two Arabic courses: Al-Lisan al-Arabi at the International Islamic University (though it focused on speaking, it covered grammar and basic Arabic), and another in Lahore’s Badshahi Mosque. I saw an ad that Egyptian scholars would run an eight-month course, with three or four classes a week. I was still at university—this was 1986–87, before meeting Javed Ahmed Ghamidi— so I took that eight-month course, traveling daily to the mosque.
Hasan: What was that course?
Dr. Shehzad: It had no special name—just “Arabic language.” The teacher didn’t know Urdu and we didn’t know Arabic. He was from Egypt, named Abdullah. The well-known Ahl-e-Hadith scholar Abd al-Rahman Kilani had arranged the course by contacting Egypt. In the side-cells of the main mosque we were given a room. We would go daily between Maghrib-Isha or Asr-Maghrib, about an hour to an hour and a half, perhaps four days a week. Since he didn’t speak Urdu and we didn’t know Arabic, both sides had to exert themselves—he never spoke Urdu; we spoke Arabic! He taught us the first two parts of Al-Tariqah al-Jadidah. All this was my Arabic background before meeting Javed Ahmed Ghamidi.
When I met him, he said Arabic was essential and assigned two senior students—Rafiʿ Mufti and Talib Muhsin— to teach me. First Talib Muhsin, then Rafi Mufti, taught me Maulana Farahi’s Asbaq al-Nahw lesson-by-lesson. My senior colleagues Moiz Amjad and Asif Iftikhar also joined; we studied together. We added all six parts of Al- Nahw al-Wazih. So, we came in with truly preliminary Arabic, and they took us to an intermediate level.
After that we read some things with Javed Ahmed Ghamidi: parts of Al-Zamakhshari’s al-Mufassal, parts of Al- Kashshaf, parts of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. Then he moved us to assignment-based work—read and write.
From the outset my main interest was the Quran. Of course, hadith, fiqh, history, sirah were all there, but Quranic studies drew me most. So, he directed me to works like Al-Itqan, Al-Burhan, and standard Ulum al-Quran texts. The books I read most attentively on the Quran’s introduction were six by Maulana Farahi—three on the Quran’s inner and three on its outer dimensions, as he put it—which Rafi Mufti taught me: Asalib al-Quran, Nizam al- Quran, Dalail al-Nizam, al-Takmil fi Usul al-Tawil, etc. I also read with him Fayz al-Hasan Saharanpuri’s commentary on the Sabah Muallaqat, Riyaz al-Fayz. I had long loved poetry, so I read all seven Muallaqat.
Even earlier I had a taste for Urdu and English literature—especially poetry: Milton, Shakespeare, William Blake, Wordsworth, and other classical and modern poets—so a love for Arabic poetry came naturally. I wanted to write out the poems as I read them—the very act helps memorization. I memorized, for instance, the Muallaqat of Imru al-Qays and of Labid—the latter I liked very much.
Then Javed Ahmed Ghamidi said: read Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah. I think while I was reading it, Amin Ahsan Islahi announced that he would begin lessons in Quran and hadith. When I met Javed Ahmed Ghamidi in 1988– 89 there had been a lull in Maulana Islahi’s lessons; just as I began with Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, his sessions restarted—one day a week for the Quran, one for hadith, plus a third meeting we called the Fajr sitting. We’d pray Fajr and spend an hour with Maulana—not a formal lesson, just conversation.
Hasan: Was Javed Ahmed Ghamidi there too?
Dr. Shehzad: Yes—he, Dr. Khalid Zahir, Dr. Munir, and others at different times. For two or three years it was a regular morning circle in which the Maulana shared his week’s reflections—with some wit and anecdotes too.
Hasan: Some of those were recorded.
Dr. Shehzad: They were recorded—and are on the internet. I recall that Maulana Islahi said Arabic was essential for us, so he began teaching Sahih al-Bukhari formally and asked all students to enroll. He wrote the names on a slip of paper. Since Javed Ahmed Ghamidi was also learning Bukhari from him, he wrote “student” by his own name; I did the same, and others too. Later we joked that Javed Ahmed Ghamidi was our class-fellow! We continued with Bukhari and covered Kitab al-Buyu, Bad al-Wahy, and Al-Anbiya—a little less than a third of the book.
Hasan: There are many lectures from that.
Dr. Shehzad: Yes. Earlier Maulana Islahi had taught the Muwatta, but that was before my time.
Hasan: He taught it in Khalid Masud’s time, and it’s been edited.
Dr. Shehzad: Right. So, I had the good fortune to study directly with both Javed Ahmed Ghamidi and Maulana Islahi.
[To be continued….]