Khalid Ishaq


Khalid Muhammad Ishaq was a Pakistani jurist and scholar of law, Islamic studies, and literature. He was a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Education

Ishaq graduated with a degree in Arabic from D. J. Science College in 1945. He later earned an MA degree from Bombay University and later completed an LLB at the SC Shahani Law College.

Life and career

Ishaq was born on 16 August 1926 in Shikarpur, Sindh, to Mohammed Ishaq and Begum Talat Farrukh Ahmed Ishaq. His maternal grandfather was, Maulvi Ziauddin Ahmed, served as a Deputy Inspector General of the Bombay Sind Presidency.
Ishaq started legal practice in 1948. In 1958, at age 32, he was appointed Additional Advocate General of West Pakistan. In 1963, he was promoted to Advocate General. In 1964, Ishaq stepped down and established his own practice. He practiced civil law in the High Court of Sindh and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He became president of the High Court Bar Association in 1965. Ishaq died in Karachi, Pakistan in 2004.

Scholarship

Ishaq focused on Persian and Arabic studies. In 1965, he became project director of the Islamic Research Institute. He was a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology Pakistan from 1969 to 1972, and again from 1977 to 1980. Ishaq taught at Sindh University from 1976 to 1977 as a Professor of Seerut-un-Nabi.
He maintained a personal collection of commentaries on the Quran. His private library, until 1999, contained approximately 175,000 volumes, making it one of the largest collections in Pakistan. Many institutions requested that he donate his collection, but he initially refused. The books were later donated to Lahore University of Management Sciences in 2005. LUMS has dedicated the first floor of its library as the "Khalid Ishaq Wing" in recognition of this donation.

Students and associates

Several of Ishaq's associates were later elevated to the superior judiciary, including Justice Abdul Qadir Sheikh, Justice Amir Raza, Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, Justice Majida Rizvi, Justice Nizam Ahmed, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro, Justice Mujeebullah Siddiqui, Justice Amir Hani Muslim, and Justice Mushtaq Memon.
Many students cite Khalid Ishaq as their mentor, including Abdul Hafeez Lakho, Muneer Malik, Shehenshah Hussain, Ahsan Zaheer Rizvi, Khalid Ibrahim, Abdul G. Soomro, Abid Zuberi, Faisal Kamal Alam, Arshad Hussain Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Jenjer, Muhammad Ehsan, Sohail Jabbar Malik, and his son Sohaib Khalid Ishaq. Khalida Ghous completed her Ph.D. thesis under his supervision.
An important feature of his life was the weekly Sunday meeting at his home, which ran for almost 40 years until shortly before his death. These meetings served as an intellectual forum for discussion of current issues. Regular participants included journalists Salahuddin, Major Ibn ul-Hasan, Nusrat Mirza, educators Abd ul-Qadeer Saleem, Molana Amir Usmani, Molana Tasin, businessmen Riaz Shafi, Saeed Ahmad of Anchor Shipping. Iqbal Shah DSP , a Sind police officer, also attended these meetings.

Books and booklets

  • Constitutional Limitations: An Essay on Limits on Exercise of Political Power, Pakistan Publishing House, 1972, 85 p.
  • Islamic Principles of Economic Management, Economist Research Unit, 1982, 57 p.
  • Islamization of Laws: The Pakistan Experience, 1986.
  • The Problem: Building Interest-Free Economy, 1988, 69 p.