Natasha Shahid explores Dr Shahab Ahmed's works and the tragedy on his demise at
fridaytimes.com
It’s not every day that a Pakistani national is inducted by the prestigious Harvard University to teach its meritorious students, but one man managed to garner this faith by not one but two Ivy League schools: the Singapore-born Pakistani Dr Shahab Ahmed, who served at both Harvard and Princeton. Born in Singapore on December 11, 1966 to Pakistani parents, Ahmed was raised in Malaysia and sent to Surrey, UK, to pursue his O and A Level studies at a British boarding school. -
So despite being raised in every country other than Pakistan, cricket – the love of every Pakistani’s life – managed to make it through to Shahab Ahmed’s life.
After A Level, Ahmed went back to Malaysia and attained a degree in Law from International Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur, followed by a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degrees in Arabic Studies from American University, Cairo. Between the two, Shahab Ahmed came to work as a journalist in Pakistan, where he claimed to have played football with a six-and-a-half-feet tall Arab, whom his teammates called “the Shaykh” – possibly Osama bin Laden.
From Cairo, Shahab Ahmed went to Princeton where he attained a doctorate in Islamic Studies. After the PhD, Dr Ahmed went to Harvard for Post-doctorate studies, and continued to teach there until recently. Being a man of diverse interests, he taught Islamic Studies as well as Law at Harvard University. He also took a year-long leave from Harvard to teach at Islamabad’s International Islamic University during the academic year 2007-08, and planned to return to teach in Pakistan. But fate saw to it that many of his plans remained unfulfilled, and his career could never achieve the bloom that it looked to be destined for.
In June this year Dr Shahab Ahmed was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. Despite plans for getting him a bone marrow transplant with his sister – London-based gynaecologist Dr Shahla Ahmed – the willing donor. She flew into Cambridge, Massachusetts, from London to donate bone marrow to her brother, but his deteriorating condition made the transplant impossible.
While still ill, Shahab married his fiancée Nora Lessersohn, a History and Middle Eastern Studies’ PhD candidate at Harvard University, on August 1. Doctors’ efforts and family’s support proved to be insufficient and Dr Shahab Ahmed left the world on September 17, 2015. He leaves behind a wife and a range of cutting edge Islamic studies research works – his gift to the world of academia.
well he was one of those lucky unlucky guys traveled all over the world and lost his life to rare blood disorder .. parents doctors ..sister doctor.. girl friend/wife Ph. D from US of A and he himself was educated in Princeton and Harvard Universities.. I am surehe must have worked with dr. patricia crone ... ...read the rest at link..
Topic: Shahab Ahmed, RIP