Anirudh Gyan Shikha (1 June 1928 – 25 November 2006; known as Anwar Shaikh) was a British India-born British writer, who spent much of his adult life in Pakistan and United Kingdom, dying in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

.''The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West'' by

Daniel Pipes Daniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American historian, writer, and commentator. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, and publisher of its ''Middle East Quarterly'' journal. His writing focuses on American foreign policy and the ...

, Pg. 283

Biography

Born Hajji Muhammad Shaikh, he was born into a family descended from

Kashmiri Pandit The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region ...

converts to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

in the city of Gujrat located in the north of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. He was born on the day of the Haj, or pilgrimage, in 1928, which prompted his parents to attach 'Hajji' to his first name, but he was also born with

aposthia Aposthia is a rare congenital condition in humans, in which the foreskin of the penis is missing. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, E. S. Talbot claimed that aposthia among Jews was evidence for the now-discredited Lamarckian theory of e ...

(in which boys are born without

foreskin In male human anatomy, the foreskin, also known as the prepuce, is the double-layered fold of skin, mucosal and muscular tissue at the distal end of the human penis that covers the glans and the urinary meatus. The foreskin is attached to the g ...

), which was seen as an even greater omen for a bright future; thus his name then became Muhammad Anwar Shaikh, with Anwar meaning radiant in the Arabic language. In his youth, Shaikh was an ardent believer of the

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

branch of Islam his family devoutly practised, especially his mother, who could recite a large part of the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

from memory. During the violent days of the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, Shikha became involved with Muslim nationalist groups and fervently participated in violent attacks they encouraged against non-Muslims. One day, he clubbed and stabbed a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

father, as well as his young son, to death in broad daylight. On another occasion, he bludgeoned another Sikh man he encountered on a Darabi road with a long knife. Memories of these crimes were said to have haunted him ever since. When Shaikh reached the age of 25, he began understanding Islam and rejected

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

teachings, later wrote several theological books as an ardent

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

of the Islamic faith. Thereafter, he emigrated to the United Kingdom, married a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

woman, and became a successful businessman dealing in property development. At around this time, Shikha also converted to the

Hindu religion Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global pop ...

practised by his ancestors, after reading the

Rig Veda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...

, which inspired him due to its humanism. He subsequently adopted the name Anirudh Gyan Shikha. The importance of Shaikh's work was recognized by

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

, who devoted a chapter of his book ''The Clash of Fundamentalisms'' to his views and the reaction they provoked. Shaikh was living in

, when a

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

was issued against him from his homeland

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 1995, where at least fourteen fundamentalist clerics issued

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

s against him for renouncing and criticising Islam. He died in Cardiff on 25 November 2006. Ali wrote that Shaikh had gained notoriety among

British Muslims Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the 2011 Census giving the total population as 2,786,635, or 4.4% of the total UK population,Desi DESI may refer to * Desorption electrospray ionization * Drug Efficacy Study Implementation * Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument See also * Desi (disambiguation) Desi or Deshi is a self-referential term used by South Asian people. Desi may al ...

origin, have been pleading with noted Muslim scholars to write a rebuttal of Shaikh's ideas. Tariq Ali, Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002).

Works

*Islam: The Arab Imperialism, Cardiff, Principality, 1998. *The Vedic Civilization *Islam: The Arab National Movement *Islam: Sex and Violence *Islam and Human Rights *This is Jehad! *Eternity *Faith and Deception *Taxation and Liberty *Islam and Terrorism *Sexual Conflict

References

External links

Islam Watch – Books by Anwar Shaikh
*
Arab Imperialism, by Anwar Shaikh

Review of this book by Daniel Pipes

Review by

Koenraad Elst Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a Flemish right wing Hindutva author, known primarily for his support of the Out of India theory and the Hindutva movement. Schola ...

Islam and the People of the Book
– article by Anwar Shaikh {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaikh, Anwar 1928 births 2006 deaths Writers of Pakistani descent British writers Welsh people of Kashmiri descent Pakistani emigrants to Wales Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent Welsh Hindus Converts to Hinduism from Islam Pakistani former Muslims British former Muslims Former Muslim critics of Islam Writers from Cardiff Welsh people of Punjabi descent British writers of Pakistani descent

Biography

Works

See also

Further reading

References

External links