Dr. Irfan Ahmad Khan: An Eminent Scholar of the Quran

Thousands of students around the world are lamenting the loss of a teacher and one of the most gentle souls that God placed among us. He was 87, and until his last conscious moment, he was inviting people to the Quran. His last trip for this purpose was in California and Georgia, just ten days before he had three massive heart attacks in his hometown, Chicago. He visited California and Georgia as if he had gone there to say goodbye to those who were his disciples and students.

I had the honor of listening to him and learning immensely from him. Wherever I was with him, he was always sharing his vision and dreams and his efforts to encourage people to connect with the word of God. He was a man of peace and justice. He lived in this world, yet every minute he was conscious of the world he had to move on to. Whenever he came to stay with me he would every day call his daughters and wife and inform them of the itinerary. He would share the details with them. On March 14, 2018, he visited the office of IslamiCity in Culver City, California. He spent the whole day there and accepted the request of the largest Islamic portal in America to serialize his work and make it available to the world.

In one of his previous visits to IslamiCity, he started his address to some of the young people present, "In our cultures, we have arranged marriages, which is fine and works most of the time, but a true love marriage is better." After he gets the attention of those who want to hear what this old, traditional scholar has to say about love marriages, he continues, "This is the same relationship we should have with the Quran, a love relationship and not an arranged relationship."

He indeed was a sign from among the signs of Allah. He reminded people of how a believer's actual life should be. He offered his life as an example of dedication and sacrifice to the ideals he was promoting. His primary focus and life were the Quran. Everything he did revolved around the Quran.

He authored several books on the Quran, including Reflections on the Quran: Exercises in Understanding the Quran and Insight into the Quran. He was in the process of writing another book on the methodology for understanding the Quran, which others who benefited from his teachings will have to finish.

His central thesis was simple. The Quran comprises 114 discourses, each surah (chapter) focusing on a few dominant themes, and each ayah (verse) highlighting an important issue. All ayahs are interconnected, and all surahs are interlinked. The ayahs and surahs offer guidance to humanity as a whole, creating a peaceful environment for exploring the universe and helping humanity reach a higher degree of consciousness. It was a methodology that a few great scholars of the Quran, such as Maulana Hameeduddin Farahi and Abdullah Mubarakpuri, had also focused on.

His scholarship did not prevent him from activism. Until he breathed his last, he was actively involved in interfaith dialogue. In fact, during his visit to California, he attended the dialogue between Christians and Muslims on the theme of the Prophet Moses.

He was the president of the Association for Quranic Understanding. He was the founder of the revived Parliament of the World's Religions. Not only that, but he was the initiator of several interfaith dialogues worldwide. More important than all this, he was the mentor and teacher of hundreds of thousands of young people in India and the USA. He did not run after fame. He did not seek a position. Furthermore, he served the cause of peace and justice quietly and left a legacy that would continue to benefit people all over the world.

Dr. Irfan Ahmed Khan was born in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He graduated in Islamic Sciences and Classical Arabic from Raipur and received his MA in Philosophy from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), where he taught Western Philosophy and Theology (1958 - 1973). In 1974, he moved to the USA, where he obtained a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and taught Western and Islamic Philosophy at various institutions.

He raised an honorable family of five daughters and two sons and, at the same time, started a movement to remind people that the Quran must be given its due place in Muslim thought. His view that the Quran should be understood directly was often challenged by traditional scholars, yet he remained firm in his conviction, which he supported with the Quran. He is one of the few scholars of his time who earned a PhD from a prestigious university.

Dr. Irfan was active in the Jamaat-e-Islami movement in India. He organized several youth conferences while in India and provided them with training in interfaith work and the study of the Quran. His life deserves close study, and his work should be consulted by all who are seeking to understand divine guidance. His book Reflections on the Quran: Understanding Surahs Al-Fatiha & Al-Baqarah is a monumental work on the Quran.

Indeed, to God we all belong because from him, we all come. But some leave behind imprints that remind people of the meaning of life and the struggles one goes through. May God inspire all his students and family to continue the work of understanding and connecting with the word of God.