# Asghar Ali Engineer

Asghar Ali Engineer (10 March 1939 – 14 May 2013) was an Indian reformist writer and social activist. Internationally known for his work on liberation theology in Islam, he led the Progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement. The focus of his work was on communalism and communal and ethnic violence in India and South Asia. He was a votary of peace and non-violence and lectured all over world on communal harmony.

## Quotes

* The Muslims, in my opinion, should show magnanimity and [make] a noble gesture of gifting away the mosque.
** Asghar Ali Engineer. Communalism and Communal Violence in India (Ajanta Publ., Delhi 1989), p.320. Quoted from Elst, Koenraad (1991). Ayodhya and after: Issues before Hindu society.
** About the Masjid-i Janmasthan in Ayodhya.
* Women had internalized their subjugation of men as the latter were the breadwinners. Since then women have become quite conscious of their new status.
** Engineer, Asghar Ali. The rights of Women in Islam. 2nd ed. Elgin, IL: New Dawn Press Group, 2004, 190.
* I was told by Marrialle that there is lot of tension between Muslims and Christians... Like any other country Muslims are considered as violent and jihad is the main problem. These students also raised the question on Jihad... I told them that in Qur'an and in Arabic language jihad does not mean war. The word jihad and its derivatives occur 41 times in Qur'an but not even once for war. For war Qur'an uses the word qital and clearly says that fight only those in the way of Allah who fight against you and do not comment excesses as Allah does not love those who are aggressors. This clearly shows that Qur'an only permits war of defence, not war of aggression Thus in western countries too education system has become a powerful tool to spread misinformation and prejudices.
** Asghar Ali Engineer MY AUSTRIA VISIT AND PROJECT OF HOPE. Asghar Ali Engineer (Secular Perspective December 1-15, 2011)
* Ms. Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie, and people of their ilk are thoroughly westernized and have cut themselves adrift from their own roots. They talk like aliens and needlessly provoke their fellow religionists. Non-conformism has great creative and progressive potential provided it is based on some respectable value premises.
** "Reform and Social Context," by Asghar Ali Engineer. Spotlight (Chicago) of 15 July 1994 quoted in C. M. Naim, Ambiguities of Heritage (Karachi, 1999).
* These days Taslima Nasreen is the darling of the press. All this because she attacks religion in general and Islam in particular. Her reactions against Islam seem to be extreme. Either she has no patience or no understanding of the issues involved. A Genuine reformer does not draw pleasure from attacking certain contextual practices but seeks to reform them with profound knowledge and wisdom. This requires a great deal of patience with people. There are humanists, rationalists, and atheists, who blame everything on religion. They, like religious bigots, display complete impatience and want others to condemn religion and God. For them, the very idea of God is superstitious and anything ascribed to Him or His commands must be outright ridiculed. Taslima Nasreen belongs to this genre.
** "Reform and Social Context," by Asghar Ali Engineer. Spotlight (Chicago) of 15 July 1994

## About Ali Engineer

* These riot vultures do a lot of damage to India, among other reasons because they are so eagerly believed abroad.... Since approximately the Stone Age, Engineer has been travelling to riot spots in India (butchering of minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh somehow doesn’t interest him as much) with prefabricated riot reports invariably showing the same ingredients: Hindu pre-planning, Muslim victimhood, anti-Muslim complicity of the police and some local politicians. With the “facts” of the matter fixed beforehand, the main purpose of his visits is to note down some local names in order to give his reports more credibility. ... Undeniably, Asghar Ali Engineer remains a formidable master of disinformation. This makes him an excellent representative of Indian secularism and of the anti-temple campaign in particular.
** Elst, Koenraad. Ayodhya, the Finale (2003)
* A hard-boiled Islamist whom Hansen and others naively mistake for an enlightened Muslim.
** Elst, Koenraad. in: Book review of The Saffron Wave. also in : Elst, Koenraad. The Problem with Secularism (2007) Chapter 3
* Interestingly enough an academic conflict is going on between those who do not wish to tamper with facts (Mohammad Habib, S.S.A. Rizvi) and those who are determined to give a benign face to Islam (I.H. Qureshi, Mohammad Mujeeb, Ashgahar Ali Engineer).
** Lal, K. S. (2002). Return to roots: Emancipation of Indian Muslims. New Delhi: Radha.(9)