Syed Faiyazuddin Ahmad obituary

My friend and neighbour Syed Faiyazuddin Ahmad, who has died aged 81, was a mediator and reconciler in Leicester, with its Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian communities, a role he recorded in his book Issues, Non-Issues (2007).

Faiyaz was a modest but important Muslim leader in the city for 30 years. He was born in Patna Sahib, Bihar state, the son of an inspector for the British East India Railways. Growing up in India, he worked as managing director of the national Bengali newspaper in East Pakistan, then on the Urdu newspaper Jasarat, and on Arab News in Saudi Arabia. He came to the Islamic Foundation in Leicester in 1983 to work on publications and administration.