Mohamed Keshavjee

Mohamed Manjee Keshavjee is an international cross-cultural specialist on mediation, with a focus on Islamic Law[1] and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).[2][3]

Mohamed M. Keshavjee
Born (1945-06-15) June 15, 1945
Pretoria, South Africa
NationalityCanadian
Alma materHonourable Society of Gray’s Inn London: LLB Queen's University Canada. Barrister at Law
PhD School of Oriental and African Studies, London University Faculty of Law.
Years active1965–present
Known forAlternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Contemporary Muslim Thought. Author, Historian
Spouse
Amina Jindani
​
(m. 1977)​
RelativesShaf Keshavjee, Ameer M Keshavjee, Ali Velshi

Early life

Keshavjee was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1945, to Indian parents, father Nazarali Manjee Keshavjee, and mother Koolsam Kanji Kana.[4] Due to increasing political unrest and segregation in South Africa [5] his family felt pressured to leave Pretoria for Kenya in 1962, searching for a better life. At first, conditions were better in Kenya, but that eventually changed with Idi Amin[6] and, after returning to Kenya from England where he had obtained his law degree in 1969, Keshavjee found himself restricted from employment, even without pay.[7] In 1972 his family then relocated to Canada. In his book, "Into That Heaven of Freedom"[7] (with a foreword by Ahmed Kathrada, the second longest-serving political prisoner in the world after Nelson Mandela,[8] Keshavjee describes the history of Indian migration to Africa in the 19th century and their struggles under Apartheid, using his own family's story as a backdrop, highlighting the early racial struggle of Mohandas Gandhi years before he gained the honorific of Mahatma[9]

Achievements

In 2016, Dr Keshavjee was awarded the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Peace Award by the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, for his work on mediation, peace and human rights education. Keshavjee was the first Canadian and also the first Asian from Africa to be awarded this prize.[10] At his acceptance of this prize, Keshavjee gave the speech, "Cosmopolitan Ethics: How we treat each other in today’s globalized world".[11] He lectures on mediation [12] methods needed in the face of major upheavals due to rapid globalization, accelerated technological growth, and massive climate change.[13][14][15] His book, Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution, deals with how Muslims engage with sharia customary practices and the laws of the United Kingdom.[16] He has spoken on ADR at conferences in Europe, North America and Asia, and has trained family mediators in the EU countries and imams and pastors in mosque and church conflicts in the UK and the US, respectively.[13][17]

Dr Keshavjee has practised law in Kenya, Canada and the United Kingdom.[18] He has spent three decades working with the secretariat of the Aga Khan in France on programs aimed at improving the quality of life of people in some of the poorest areas of the world through the Ismaili Imamat and the Aga Khan Development Network.[10]

He has written books and articles on the Indian diaspora in Africa. In London, he helped to process the immigration files of East African Asians and has interviewed refugees from Uganda and other countries.[19] In 2021, he was invited by the Pan African Bar Association of South Africa (PABASA) to train members of the judiciary in mediation with a team of some 20 trainers from six countries.[20] Albie Sachs, the founding member of the Constitutional Court of South Africa opened the conference with a keynote presentation. In 2022, he led an international team to South Africa and was received by Ela Gandhi at the Phoenix settlement where Mahatma Gandhi started his first printing press 1890s.

In 2021, Dr. Keshavjee was appointed on the BUA 50 Steering Committee [21] where he played an educational role in shaping the programme. This included a major programme with the National Archives of the U.K. He contributed an article on the Ugandan expulsion of 1972 to Awaaz publication of Kenya, which did a 50-year retrospect, conceptualised and moderated a programme for the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board [22] capturing the Ismaili experience of the expulsion and resettlement, and presented a lecture in Durban South Africa highlighting the expulsion. This lecture was attended by both Ela Gandhi and Navanethem Pillay, former UN Commissioner for Human Rights.[23]

In 2022, he spoke as a keynote with Albie Sachs as cameo at the ADRBC on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on what Canada could do to make effective reparations to the indigenous people due to the residential schools' episode [24]

On November 15, 2022, he spoke on the Ugandan Expulsion of 1972 at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.[25]

Education and training

1969 Honourable Society of Gray's Inn London: Barrister at Law; 1970 Admitted as Advocate of the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi; 1976 LLB from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada; 1977 Admitted as Barrister and Solicitor and Member of The Law Society of Upper Canada at Osgoode Hall, Toronto; 2000 LLM (honours) and 2009 PhD School of Oriental and African Studies, London University Faculty of Law: Thesis "Alternative Dispute Resolution in a Diasporic Muslim Community in the United Kingdom".[26] Attended certification courses at The Hague Academy of Public International Law, Harvard Program in Mediation (under Frank Sander), Berghof Foundation in Berlin, and Child Focus in Belgium where he lectured to EU Hague Mediation Trainees.

Awards and honors

The Gandhi-King Award[27][28][29][30]

Published works
  • "Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution: Mechanisms for Legal Redress in the Muslim Community", published June 30, 2013, London, UK: IB Tauris & Co. ISBN 9780857722386[31][32][33]
  • "Into that Heaven of Freedom: The impact of apartheid on an Indian family's diasporic history", Mohamed M Keshavjee, 2015, by Mawenzi House Publishers, Ltd., Toronto, ON, Canada. ISBN 978-1-927494-27-1[34][35]
  • "Understanding Sharia: Islamic Law in a Globalised World", by Raficq S Abdulla and Mohamed M Keshavjee, published October 31, 2018, ISBN 9781788313193[36][37][38]
  • "Diasporic Distractions: New faces in new places", Kuala Lumpur, Silverfish Books, 2017, 212 p., ISBN 9789833221790[39][40]
  • "The Ugandan Expulsion at 50 and Beyond: A Time for Reflection", AWAAZ Voices, Vol 19, Issue 2, 2022.

Contributed chapters to:

Book Reviews:

  • "A Lawyer’s Odyssey: Apartheid, Mandela and Beyond", by Henry Brown (Otterley Press, Pietermaritzburg 2020), review By Mohamed M Keshavjee.
  • "A Life of Ups and Downs: Population expulsions, state expropriation of private property, the mass movement of ethnic, tribal or religious groups, dispossession, enforced…" reviewer: Mohamed M Keshavjee, December 5, 2022, in AWAAZ.

Personal life

In 1977, Keshavjee married Dr (now Professor) Amina Jindani [41][42] in Toronto, Canada.[7] Dr Jindani's life's work has been conducting clinical trials aimed at decreasing the length of time required to treat tuberculosis.[43][44][45] [46]

References
  1. "Perkins Center for Evangelism and Missional Church Studies to sponsor lecture by Islamic law expert Mohamed Keshavjee", SMU (Southern Methodist University) World Changers, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., March 12, 2014
  2. "Interview with Dr Mohamed Keshavjee on Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution", The Institute of Ismaili Studies, October 4, 2013
  3. Albie Sachs in conversation with Mohamed Keshavjee, October 24, 2021. Dr Keshavjee works with PABASA (Pan African Bar Association of South Africa), a Black and Women's Empowerment lawyers group in South Africa
  4. "Understanding Sharia Islamic law in a globalised world", by M. Keshavjee, book review by Zubeida Jaffer, Mail & Guardian, Africa's Best Read, June 15, 2019
  5. Rough Cut - "Uganda: The Return. Asians back in Africa" by Omar Sachedina, May 10, 2007. https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/05/uganda_the_retu.html
  6. President Idi Amin Dada of Uganda: A Bibliography, M. O. Afolabi First Published June 1, 1978
  7. "Into that Heaven of Freedom: The impact of Apartheid on an Indian family's diasporic history", Mohamed M Keshavjee, 2015, by Mawenzi House Publishers, Ltd., Toronto, ON, Canada. ISBN 978-1-927494-27-1
  8. Ahmed Kathrada
  9. "Gandhi Before India", by Ramachandra Guha, Oct. 2013 ISBN 9780670083879
  10. "Meet the Indo-Canadian who will be honoured with top US peace award", Press Trust of India, March 27, 2016
  11. Dr Mohamed Keshavjee receiving The Gandhi King Ikeda Peace Award 2016. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-08.
  12. https://pabasa.co.za/albie-sachs-registration/ Monday, Sept. 20, 2021
  13. "Mediating in the Face of Major Upheavals", Alternative Dispute Resolution Symposium, Edmonton, Alberta, May 15 & 16, 2018
  14. "Interview with Dr Mohamed Keshavjee on Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution | the Institute of Ismaili Studies".
  15. "Video: Understanding Sharia: Islamic Law in a Globalised World". 25 November 2018.
  16. Book review in European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance, by Werner Menski, Sept. 4, 2015, Vol. 2, Issue 3, p. 263-264, 2015
  17. "Mahatma Gandhi: The Precocious Universalist". YouTube. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
  18. "Dr. Mohamed Keshavjee | l'Institut des Etudes Ismaili".
  19. AWAAZ Voices, Volume 19, Issue 2, 2022
  20. Justice Albie Sachs in Conversation with Dr Mohamed Keshavjee, "Disconcerting Moments in a Judge's Life!" Oct. 7, 2021,
  21. "Steering Group | bua50".
  22. "ITREB".
  23. "Ela Gandhi receives international mediation team in Durban, South Africa, to discuss post-conflict rehabilitation", by Ismailimail, November 3, 2022
  24. "2022 Speakers".
  25. The Ugandan Asian Expulsion: Lessons for Asian Minorities in Africa
  26. On British Islam: Religion, Law, and Everyday Practice in Shariʿa Councils" Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics Book 62, by John R. Bowen, Princeton University Press, March 15, 2016, ISBN 9780691158549, index
  27. "Dr Mohamed Keshavjee, lawyer, author, and recipient of the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Peace Award spoke in Edmonton and Calgary Jamatkhanas about globalization and cosmopolitan ethics", The Ismaili, Anar Jamal and Salimah Khoja, September 22, 2017, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  28. IIS Governor Receives Prestigious Gandhi King Ikeda Award for Peace, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., The Institute of Ismaili Studies, Aga Khaninfo-icon Centre, 10 Handyside St, King's Cross, London, UK, April 20, 2016.
  29. "Indo-Canadian to be honoured with top US peace award", Press Trust of India, Johannesburg, March 22, 2016.
  30. "Dr Mohamed Keshavjee will be honoured at the Morehouse College "A Day of Peace" Awards, Khabar Inc., Duluth, GA, Your Passport to the Indian-American Community, May 4, 2016
  31. reviewed by the Honourable Marion Boyd. https://www.queensu.ca/lawjournal/sites/webpublish.queensu.ca.qljwww/files/files/issues/pastissues/Volume39-2/12-Boyd.pdf
  32. Sajoo, Amyn B. "Mohamed M Keshavjee: Islam, the Shari'a and Alternative Dispute Resolution: Mechanisms for legal redress in the Muslim community." International Journal, vol. 69, no. 2, 2014, p. 264+. Academic OneFile, Accessed 18 July 2019
  33. Ecclesiastical Law Journal, Volume 16, Issue 2 May 2014, pp. 238-240, Mark Hill, Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 2014
  34. Dubai, 20 November 2016 — A book launch was held for Into that Heaven of Freedom, written by Dr Mohamed Keshavjee, a renowned South African-born scholar and winner of the prestigious Gandhi King Ikeda Award for Peace. The event was held at the Ismaili Centre, Dubai in collaboration with the Consulate General of India in Dubai. His Excellency Manabile Shogole, South African Consul General in Dubai, also attended the event. Ismaili Centre, Dubai, Nov. 9, 2016
  35. "Mohamed Keshavjee | the Institute for South Asia Studies".
  36. "Mohamed M Keshavjee", Mail & Guardian, Africa's Best Read, Arts and Culture, by Zubeida Jaffer, July 18, 2019
  37. "A lucid defence of the evolution of Islam’s religious jurisprudence", "Understanding Sharia: Islamic Law in a Globalised World", by Raficq S Abdulla and Mohamed M Keshavjee, Financial Times, England, Review by David Gardner MARCH 18, 2019
  38. "Understanding Sharia: Islamic law in a Globalised World | the Institute of Ismaili Studies". Archived from the original on 2021-06-22. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  39. "Recent Books from Malaysia Dec PDF Free Download".
  40. Mohamed Keshavjee: The ‘diasporic distractions’ of a short-story teller – Book Review by leading Malaysian Literary Journal, by Ismaili Mail, October 2, 2017.
  41. "Professor Amina Jindani". 27 October 2023.
  42. "Anything but orthodox: Dr Amina Jindani's contribution to global health". 15 October 2019.
  43. "Dr. Amina Jindani: Ibn Sina Award for Medicine conferred on a world-renowned specialist for life-long commitment to the eradication of tuberculosis", Top UK Award for Lifelong Champion of Tuberculosis Eradication By Raficq Abdulla, MA (Oxon.), MB, April 23, 2018,
  44. "Once-weekly treatment effective as a daily treatment in TB continuation phase", Infectious Disease News, April 2013 Jindani, A. Presented at the 2013 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections; March 3–6, 2013; Atlanta
  45. "Professor Amina Jindani: Global Award for Champion of Tuberculosis Eradication @UnionConference @AKUGlobal @SKMCH @StGeorgesUni @wwtb_uk: By Russell Harris- Writer / Curator, London, U.K., Ismailimail, Nov. 14, 2019.
  46. "Higher dose and shorter TB treatment proven safe for patients". 27 October 2023.


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