A Living Faith: My Quest for Peace, Harmony and Social Change - An Autobiography of Asghar Ali Engineer

by Asghar Ali Engineer

This book documents the life of Right Livelihood awardee Asghar Ali Engineer, a well-known reformist and activist, counted among the 500 topmost Islamic scholars of the world today. Beginning from his childhood, this autobiography chronicles his tireless efforts for communal harmony and national integration since his student days and provides readers with important insights into various communal riots through his investigations in post-Independent India. In his autobiography, Dr Engineer especially narrates his struggle against the orthodox Bohra priesthood and his role as a leader of the reform movement. In a way, his story is also a record of contemporary Indian, social, political and communal history and politics, particularly the social and religious history of the Bohra community.

Written in a lucid style, this is an extensive account of Dr Engineer’s commitment to building an inclusive society and his interpretation of Islam from a modernist point of view, in his own words. From the Americas to Australia, from Britain to Bolivia, from Indonesia to Iran this book gives a detailed account of his many travels and participation in various international conferences on inter-religious dialogue.

Through the reminiscences of a life that has been lived for truth, towards truth, A Living Faith is a journey from violence to peace, from prejudice to acceptance, from politics of power and religion to the power of humanity one that will be treasured by every reader.

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Asghar Ali Engineer was an Indian reformist-writer and activist. Internationally known for his work on liberation theology in Islam, he lead the Progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement. The focus of his work was on (and action against) communalism and communal and ethnic violence in India and South Asia. He was an advocate of a culture of peace, non-violence and communal harmony, and lectured all over world.
Engineer also served as head of the Institute of Islamic Studies and the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, both of which he founded in 1980 and 1993 respectively. He also made contributions to The God Contention, a website comparing and contrasting various worldviews. Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer’s autobiography A Living Faith: My Quest for Peace, Harmony and Social Change was released in New Delhi on 20 July 2011 by Vice President of India Shri Hamid Ansari.

Reviews

[Saba Aftab]

It's an essential reading for all people, particularly Pakistani Muslims, as for we live in such a sham and controversial period. It has helped me understand the true meaning of one's faith and be compassionate towards 'other' people. We live in a world where one's life is motivated by greed. However you will see, as always have been, this greed has been denounced by the scepticism (the extreme form of reason). Which we always have readily accepted. Therefore, we should not be cynical towards the corrupt system of the world, but instead should stand up in our every possible capacity for the creation of a new world where there will be justice, compassion, and human dignity. In the end, I would like to repeat the author's words, "Religious doctrines are never practised in their pristine form. Politicians misuse religion and corrupt its teachings and practices most cynically to reap political benefit."

[Mohammad Magout]

The book is useful to gain an insight into the rigid organizational and social structure of the Dawoodi Bohra community of India. The author describes in details how much his open opposition to the religious leadership of his community has cost him dear socially, professionally and politically. The book shows that religious dissidence in India--even within small, seemingly harmless, religious minorities--is extremely difficult. The book also contains some auto-biographical details, which shed some light on life in newly independent India.

The book, however, exhausts itself by the middle. The second half is mostly repetitive or generic descriptions of conferences, seminars, and other public events around the world, in which the author participated. It doesn't tell anything interesting or new, so I gave up completing the book midway through its second half.