Eminent Islamic scholar Moulana Aqil dead

Hyderabad, March 12 : Eminent Islamic scholar Moulana Hameeduddin Aqil Hussami, who was also a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, died here Friday after a brief illness. He was 82.

Moulana Aqil, who was suffering from a lung problem for some months, was shifted to his house from a hospital Thursday night after his condition turned critical. He breathed his last around 4.15 a.m., family sources said. He is survived by a son and a daughter.

Thousands of people offered his 'namaz-e-janaza' (funeral prayer) at the historic Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad after Friday prayers. The burial took place at Hussamia Chaman, his ancestral graveyard in the Old City.

The death shocked the Muslim community across the state, especially in the Muslim-majority Old City of Hyderabad.

Earlier, hundreds of his followers gathered at his house in Panjesha locality to pay their last respects.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, his cabinet colleagues D. Nagender and Mukesh Goud, former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president and MP Asaduddin Owaisi, and leaders of various political and religious groups reached his residence.

"In his death the state has lost a prominent religious scholar. He was not only known in our state and the country but was also popular abroad," said Rosaiah.

A key leader of Muslims in India, Moulana Aqil was the founder head of the Jamia Islamia Darul Uloom, a well-known seat of Islamic learning in the city.

He also headed the United Muslim Forum, an apex body of Muslim political and religious organisations. It was formed in 2002 to fight against the harassment of innocent Muslim youth by the police.

He was also chairman of Deeni Madaris Federation, which he formed a decade ago to fight attempts to malign madrassas.