JNU Sociologist Imtiaz Ahmad Passes Away

Ahmad’s book, Caste and Social Stratification Among Muslims in India, is celebrated as pioneering work in the field. 

New Delhi: Imtiaz Ahmad, renowned scholar who taught political sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, has died. He was 83.

Ahmad’s book, Caste and Social Stratification Among Muslims in India, is celebrated as pioneering work in the field.

Ahmad got his BA and MA degrees from the Lucknow University in 1958 and 1960 respectively. He started as a senior research analyst at the Institute of Economic Growth at the Delhi University in 1964 and two years later, became a lecturer in sociology in the same university.
After three years as visiting professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri in the US, Ahmad joined JNU as associate professor in political sociology in 1972. He became a professor in the department in 1983 and taught there for three decades.

Among his numerous publications are those which throw light on Muslim empowerment, minority rights, the role of education among Muslims, how Islamic ideologies mesh with social realities, how Muslim women are studied in India and communalism.

Ahmad also wrote critically on the Gujarat riots of 2002 in particular and communal politics in general. His work has been lauded as having shed light on the composite culture of India.