I am fourth of nine children of my parents, with three elder and three younger sisters and two younger brothers. Born in a Kashmiri family living in the Punjab province of Pakistan, I would like to identify myself as an ethnic Kashmiri. Ethnic Kashmiris are those who belong to native tribes of the valley of Kashmir. The recognised surnames for ethnic Muslim Kashmiris living in Pakistan are: Mir, Rathar, Shaikh, Mian, Khawaja, Dar, Butt, Lone, and some other less known like Bhatti. In India, ethnic Hindu Kashmiris are also known as Kashmiri Pundits. Some famous ethnic Muslim Kashmiris are Sir Muhammad Iqbal (also known as Allama Iqbal in Pakistan where he has been designated as the National Poet) and Mian Nawaz Sharif (an ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan). Famous Indian ethnic Kashmiris include Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru (first Prime Minister of India after the partition in 1947) and controversial writer Salman Rushdie.

As a Kashmiri boy, it was natural for me to take Allama Iqbal as my hero. I think it is quite like Bengalis taking Rabindranath Tagore as their hero. My elder sister, Jamila, and I learnt by heart a lot of Allama Iqbal's poetry, which is about self-esteem, Islamic renaissance, and Islamic civilisation and politics. I particularly liked Iqbal's non-conformism, which is evident in his poetry. I used to hum the following couplets almost everywhere:

Gala to ghont diya ahle madrasa ne tera

Kahan se aaye sada la ilaha illa Allah

My influences

I have been influenced by a number of people. Most of these influences were unintended but desired when seen in retrospect. Nothing in these pages is to show disrespect to anyone or belittle them; rather it is an honest reflection of what I thought of different people, places and phenomena at different times in my life. I tend to have a distinct sense of humour (an influence of my birthplace!) which on many occasions may sound sarcastic, derogatory and insulting but I must warn in the beginning that it only owes to my writing style and not deliberate disrespect.

My father

My birthplace

My friends

My teachers

A special influence

On my mother

Some of those great contemporary scholars (Islamic economists and Sharia scholars) I have directly benefited from:

 Dr Hussain Hamid Hassan

 Dr Muhammad Umer Chapra

 Professor Khurshid Ahmed

 Dr Muhammad Anas Zarka

 Professor Abdul Rahman Yusri

more to follow...