Liberal Islamic professor gunned down in Karachi

Relatives and colleagues carry the coffin of professor Mohamed Shakil Auj in Karachi.

AFP/Karachi

A professor of Islam known for his liberal religious views was shot dead in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi yesterday, officials said, two years after he was labelled an “apostate” in a text message campaign.

Mohamed Shakil Auj, the 54-year-old dean of Islamic Studies at the prestigious University of Karachi was gunned down in his car while on his way to an Iranian cultural centre where he was invited as a guest of honour.

His car was being driven down a ramp from a flyover, when “bullets were fired, one hit the professor in the head and he died”, senior police officer Pir Mohamed Shah told AFP. Another bullet struck a junior colleague of Auj in the arm, wounding her.

Auj, a recipient of a presidential medal of distinction, was known for his unorthodox views and was fighting a legal case against the originator of a widely-circulated text message that called him an apostate. Colleagues alleged his predecessor was to blame.

At the time he opened the case, he told police: “It has endangered my life and on the basis of the propaganda I could be murdered.”

The professor had issued controversial fatwas (religious decrees) - pronouncing for example that a Muslim woman could marry a non-Muslim man, and that women need not remove lipstick or nail polish before saying their prayers.

Such views can cause serious offence to some conservative Muslims in Pakistan, which has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for more than ten years.

“We would tell him to be cautious as he was very aggressive in promoting his liberal views regarding the religion,” said Professor Tauseef Ahmed Khan, an old friend, and chairman of the Mass Communications department of the Federal Urdu University.

Police spokesman Atiq Shaikh said: “Police investigating the case are considering various aspects, including personal enmity and other possible motives.”

University students meanwhile held a protest inside the campus, demanding the arrest of Auj’s killers. They held placards that read: “The murders of teachers is a murder of the whole society,” and “Security should be provided to the teachers.”

The university will remain closed for three days of mourning.

Karachi, a sprawling metropolis of over 18mn people, is beset by political, ethnic and sectarian violence.