Editing Asghar Ali Engineer (section)

==Biography==
[[image:Asghar Ali Engineer 1.jpg|left|thumb|Asghar Ali Engineer]]
Asghar Ali Sheikh Kurban (sometimes rendered as Asghar Ali SK) was born 10 March 1939 in [[Salumbar]], [[Rajasthan]], the son of a [[Dawoodi Bohras|Bohra]] priest, Shaikh Qurban Hussain. He was trained in [[Qur'an]]ic [[tafsir]] (commentary), [[tawil]] (hidden meaning of Qur'an), [[fiqh]] (jurisprudence) and [[hadith]] (Prophet's sayings), and learned the [[Arabic language]].<ref name=yo>[https://books.google.com/books?id=d3Q7uZ8WpmMC&pg=PA12 Asghar Ali Engineer: the man] ''Muslims in India Since 1947: Islamic Perspectives on Inter-faith Relations'', by [[Yoginder Sikand]]. Routledge, 2004. {{ISBN|0-415-31486-0}}. ''Page 12–13''.</ref> He graduated with a degree in civil engineering from [[Vikram University]] in [[Ujjain]], Madhya Pradesh,<ref name=ri/> and served for 20&nbsp;years as an engineer in the [[Bombay Municipal Corporation]]. In 1965, he began publishing newspaper articles under the name of "Asghar Ali Engineer." A reviewer explains that

:"He felt that the name Asghar Ali SK, did not sound good. His friend Zoeb Ansari suggested that he could take his professional name. It is common in India especially among Parsis (Zoroastrians) and Bohra Muslims to have a family name based on one’s occupation (Bandukwala or one who deals in guns, Mithaiwala or one who deals in sweets, Vakil or lawyer, Contractor,) or on the village name (Sidpurwala, Partapurwala). Going by this trend, Asghar Ali SK chose his professional name and not his village name which would have been Mandsaurwala. He penned his article in the ''Times of India'' under the name Asghar Ali Engineer –the name stayed."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tmie.hypotheses.org/996|title=Review: Ashgar Ali Engineer's Autobiography|date=2011 |doi=10.58079/urij |last1=Roland Lardinois }}</ref>

In 1972, Engineer took voluntary retirement in order to devote himself to the Bohra reform movement in the wake of a revolt in [[Udaipur]]. He was unanimously elected as General Secretary of The Central Board of [[Dawoodi Bohra]] Community in its first conference in Udaipur in 1977. In 2004 due to criticism of the Dawoodi Bohra religious establishment he was expelled. In 1980, he set up the Institute of Islamic Studies in [[Mumbai]] to create a platform for progressive Muslims in India and elsewhere. Subsequently, through the 1980s, he wrote extensively on Hindu-Muslim relations, and growing [[Religious violence in India|communal violence in India]]. Asghar Ali Engineer has been instrumental in publicising the [[Progressive Dawoodi Bohra]] movement through his writings and speeches. In 1993, he founded 'Center for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS)' to promote communal harmony.<ref name=yo/> He did not support the ban on [[Salman Rushdie]]'s "Satanic Verses" though he felt that the novel "is an attack" on religion.<ref>An interview of A.A Engineer where he says clearly that he is not in favor of the ban. Its a YT link with <domain>/watch?v=06V1Du-fZ8o starting at 06:09</ref><ref>A.A. Engineer, interviewed by Sharmila Joshi, Times of India, 16. April 1995.</ref><!--Please provide the whole quotation from the given source, basic search doesn't show anything regarding his support, or provide another source-->{{verify source|date=April 2015}}

He authored more than 50 books<ref>[http://www.csss-isla.com/booklist/asghar_list.php Books written and edited by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213163757/http://csss-isla.com/booklist/asghar_list.php |date=13 February 2009 }} CSSS- Centre for Study of Society and Secularism.</ref> and many articles in various national and international journals. He was the founding chairman of the Asian Muslim Action Network, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, and head of the Center for Study of Society and Secularism in [[Mumbai]], where he closely worked with scholar and scientist Professor Dr [[Ram Puniyani]]. Engineer was also a supporter of the supporter of the [[Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly]], an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://en.unpacampaign.org/supporters/overview/?mapcountry=allhea&mapgroup=hea|title=Supporters|website=Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly|access-date=26 September 2017|language=en-US}}</ref>