Academician, Islamic activist and a leading light of Pakistan's Jamaat Islami. Prof Khurshid Ahmad is unique in following the demanding vocations of politics and academic work and the holistic discipline of Islamic da'wah. A former federal minister of planning and development and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, he is serving a third term as a member of the country's Senate. Prof Khurshid Ahmad leads the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan, and the Islamic Foundation in Leicester, England, both founded by him. The Institute is a think tank on public policy and the Foundation is a research organisation that has produced a number of works on Islam and Islamic affairs. Prof Ahmad is also Rector of the newly established Markfield Institute of Higher Education, an educational arm of the Islamic Foundation, which promotes Islamic studies in modern pluralistic Britain. Prof Khurshid Ahmad was awarded The Islamic development Bank's very first Prize in Islamic Economics (1988) and The King Faisal International Prize for service to Islam (1990). The University of Loughborough conferred on him an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature (D. Litt.) in 2003. Khurshid Ahmad was born in Delhi.