Zafar ul Islam Khan is an Indian author and journalist based in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Former chairman of Delhi Minority Commission, he is currently the editor and publisher of ''

The Milli Gazette ''The Milli Gazette'' is an Indian English language digital news publication (formerly a fortnightly compact newspaper) based in Delhi. Founded in January 2000, the publication describes itself as the Indian Muslims' Leading News Source. I ...

'' fortnightly focusing on issues concerning the Muslim community. He is also the founder and chairman of Charity Alliance, an organisation involved in relief and welfare work in India.

Birth and Education

Khan was born in Badhariya

Azamgarh Azamgarh is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Azamgarh division, which consists of Ballia, Mau and Azamgarh districts. Azamgarh is situated on the bank of Tamsa River (Tons). It is located east of the ...

, India, in March 1948. He is the son of

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Wahiduddin Khan (1 January 1925 – 21 April 2021), known with the honorific "Maulana", was an Indian Islamic scholar and peace activist and author known for having written a commentary on the Quran and having translated it into contemporary E ...

, a Muslim thinker who ran the Al Risala/Islamic Center in New Delhi. His primary education was at Madrasa-tul-Islah, a

madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning ...

in Azamgarh, and Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow. Later he studied at

Al-Azhar Al-Azhar Mosque (), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that ...

and

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

during 1966–73. He obtained his PhD in Islamic Studies from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in 1987.

Career

In the 1970s he worked with the Libyan Foreign Ministry as translator-editor. In the 1980s he was with the London-based

The Muslim Institute The Muslim Institute, a registered charity, is a Fellowship society of thinkers, academics, artists, creatives and professionals. It aims to promote and support the growth of thought, knowledge, research, creativity and open debate within the Mu ...

, running their MuslimMedia newsservice and other publications. The Muslim Institute went on to form the

Muslim Parliament The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain was a Muslim organisation founded in 1992 in London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a popula ...

, an informal body of leading British Muslims. He is author and translator of over 50 books in Arabic, English and Urdu including "Hijrah in Islam" (Delhi, 1996) and

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Documents (New Delhi 1998). He has contributed eight articles to the Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden) on Indo-Muslim themes. He is a regular commentator on Islamic and South Asian issues on radio and TV channels, including

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

and

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Arabic and his writings appear in Arabic newspapers and magazines. In 2000, Khan started Milli Gazette, an English Language fortnightly

compact newspaper A compact newspaper is a broadsheet-quality newspaper printed in a tabloid format, especially one in the United Kingdom. The term as used for this size came into use after ''The Independent'' began producing a smaller format edition in 2003 fo ...

. In December 2007, he was elected for a two-year term (2008–2009) as President of the

All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM or MMM) is a federation of various Muslim organisations in India. Majlis-e-Mushawarat was formally launched at a two-day (August 8–9) meeting in 1964 at the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ul ...

, the umbrella body of Muslim organisations in India. He has also been elected as the President of AIMMM for 2012 and re-elected for a further two-year term (2014-2015). In an interview to rediff.com he claimed there is "no tangible proof of Muslims' involvement in terrorism" in India. In July 2017, he was appointed as Chairman for a three-year term of Delhi Minorities Commission, a quasi-judicial body to take care of the welfare and interests of the designated minorities in the Indian capital region. As chairman, Khan formed a fact-finding committee to report and suggest recommendations to

Delhi Government The Government of Delhi, officially the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD; ISO: ) is the governing body of India's National Capital Territory of Delhi, whose urban area is the seat of the Government of India. It also g ...

about the

2020 Delhi riots The 2020 Delhi riots, or North East Delhi riots, were multiple waves of bloodshed, property destruction, and rioting in North East Delhi, beginning on 23 February 2020 and brought about chiefly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims. Of the 53 peop ...

. In October 2023, he published ''The Glorious Quran'', an English translation of

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, the holy book of Muslims.

Sedition Case

On 28 April 2020, Khan made a

Facebook post Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

arguing that Muslims in India were facing "hate campaigns, lynching and riots" by what he called were "Hindutva bigots". Khan also thanked

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

for its support for

Indian Muslims Islam is India's second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, or approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in a 2011 census. India also has the third-largest number of Muslims in the world. ...

. Facing backlash, he later apologized for the post, calling it ill-timed. However, based on a complaint, the

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Delhi Police falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. In 2024, the sanctioned strength of Delhi Police w ...

charged Khan with

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

under Section 124A of the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...

. A public statement in solidarity with Khan was signed by various notable figures including

Swami Agnivesh Swami Agnivesh (born Vepa Shyam Rao; 21 September 193911 September 2020), was an Indian social activist and the founder of Arya Sabha, a political party based on the principles of Arya Samaj.

, Gopal Menon,

Kavita Krishnan Kavita Krishnan is a women's rights activist who has publicised the problem of violence against women following the 2012 Delhi gang rape of Nirbhaya. Krishnan was also a politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) L ...

and Annie Namala. Two petitions filed in the Delhi High Court against him have been disposed on their first day of hearing, 5 May 2020 and 11 May 2020 respectively.https://www.indialegallive.com/constitutional-law-news/courts-news/lg-has-issued-show-cause-notice-to-zafarul-islam-khan-delhi-govt-tells-hc-99086

References

External links

Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, A Profile
*
No room for terrorism in Islam By Zafarul-Islam Khan

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Zafar Journalists from Uttar Pradesh Indian newspaper editors Indian Muslims People from Azamgarh Cairo University alumni Al-Azhar University alumni Alumni of the University of Manchester 1948 births Living people Urdu–Arabic translators Indian male journalists