UKIM Mourns Passing Away of Ex-President

Inna lillahi WA inna ilaihi rajioon

UKIM mourns passing away of ex-president

Mohammad Saleem Kayani (1934-2016)

Mohammad Saleem Kayani was born in Nowshera, KPK, in 1934. The son of a police superintendent, he completed his high school education at King Edward College, Peshawar. There he joined the Jami ‘at-e-Talaba. He graduated from Government College, Rawalpindi, and, in 1956, moved to Lahore where he taught in a school run by the Jama‘at in Achrah. He completed a Masters degree in Urdu (1961) and English (1963) from the University of Punjab. It was during this period that he began attending Mawlana Amin Ahsan Islahis Dars-e-Quran. He also started studying the Arabic language and Hadith under him, this from 1963 to 1969.

Saleem Kayani was charged with setting up the first youth Quranic study circles in Lahore as part of the Jama‘ats welfare programme. At the same time, he also took up journalistic work and joined the newspaper Tasnim, under the veteran writer and poet Na‘im Siddiqui.

When he arrived in London during the 1970s he took up a teaching position with the Muslim Educational Trust. He also joined the UK Islamic Mission and was elected to the Shura. He served as secretary general from 1972-1974 and was the president from 1974-76. 

He devoted most of his time to literary pursuits. With Khurram Murad, he wrote many childrens stories for the Islamic Foundation. During 1983-84, he was one of the scholars called upon by the Quran Centre in Madina (King Fahd Holy Quran Printing Complex) and Dar al-Ifta to provide additional comments on a revision of Abdullah Yusuf Alis classic translation of the Quran. Between 1988 and1995 he was a director of the American Trust Publications, Indianapolis. He participated in the translation, together with an editorial team, of the publication in English of Sayyid Sabiqs Fiqh al-Sunnah. His translation work in English on the Quran includes The Meaning of the Glorious Quran Parts 1 and 2 published by the North American Islamic Trust; this is a rendering of Pickthalls work in a more up to date idiom.

He also started an ambitious programme of translating the outstanding tafsir of his illustrious teacher Mawlana Amin Ahsan Islahis Tadabbur-e-Quran, which is in eight volumes, into English. Volume One, containing surahs al Fatihah and al-Baqarah, was published under the title Pondering over the Quran, in 2006, by the Islamic Book Trust, Kuala Lumpur. The second volume covering Surah Al ‘Imran was published in 2010. However, due to ill-health he has had to abandon this very important project.

Saleem Kayani was a dedicated scholar of a very high calibre and devoted his entire life to the promotion and teaching of the Quran.  He used to run a Quran study circle for many years in London, but due to ill-health he was unable to continue. He resided with his family in North London

We pray Allah forgives his shortcomings and grants him high status in Jannah. Ameen