Mohamed Manjee Keshavjee is an international cross-cultural specialist on mediation, with a focus on Islamic Law"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 and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)."Interview with Dr Mohamed Keshavjee on Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution", The Institute of Ismaili Studies, October 4, 2013Albie 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
Early life Keshavjee was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1945, to Indian parents, father Nazarali Manjee Keshavjee, and mother Koolsam Kanji Kana."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 Due to increasing political unrest and segregation in South Africa 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 AminPresident Idi Amin Dada of Uganda: A Bibliography, M. O. Afolabi First Published June 1, 1978 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."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. In 1972 his family then relocated to Canada. In his book, "Into That Heaven of Freedom" (with a foreword by Ahmed Kathrada, the second longest-serving political prisoner in the world after Nelson Mandela,Ahmed Kathrada) 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."Gandhi Before India", by Ramachandra Guha, Oct. 2013
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. At his acceptance of this prize, Keshavjee gave the speech, "Cosmopolitan Ethics: How we treat each other in today’s globalized world". He lectures on mediation methods needed in the face of major upheavals due to rapid globalization, accelerated technological growth, and massive climate change."Mediating in the Face of Major Upheavals", Alternative Dispute Resolution Symposium, Edmonton, Alberta, May 15 & 16, 2018 His book, Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution, deals with how Muslims engage with sharia customary practices and the laws of the United Kingdom.Book review in European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance, by Werner Menski, Sept. 4, 2015, Vol. 2, Issue 3, p. 263-264, 2015 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.
Dr Keshavjee has practised law in Kenya, Canada and the United Kingdom. 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."Meet the Indo-Canadian who will be honoured with top US peace award", Press Trust of India, March 27, 2016
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.AWAAZ Voices, Volume 19, Issue 2, 2022 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.Justice Albie Sachs in Conversation with Dr Mohamed Keshavjee, "Disconcerting Moments in a Judge's Life!" Oct. 7, 2021, 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 in the 1890s.
In 2021, Dr. Keshavjee was appointed on the BUA 50 Steering Committee 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 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."Ela Gandhi receives international mediation team in Durban, South Africa, to discuss post-conflict rehabilitation", by Ismailimail, November 3, 2022
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.
On November 15, 2022, he spoke on the Ugandan Expulsion of 1972 at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.The Ugandan Asian Expulsion: Lessons for Asian Minorities in Africa
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".On British Islam: Religion, Law, and Everyday Practice in Sharia Councils" Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics Book 62, by John R. Bowen, Princeton University Press, March 15, 2016, , index Attended certification courses at The Hague Academy of Public International Law, Harvard Program in Mediation, Berghof Foundation in Berlin, and Child Focus in Belgium.
Awards and honors The Gandhi-King Award."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, CanadaIIS 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."Indo-Canadian to be honoured with top US peace award", Press Trust of India, Johannesburg, March 22, 2016."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
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. reviewed by the Honourable Marion Boyd. https://www.queensu.ca/lawjournal/sites/webpublish.queensu.ca.qljwww/files/files/issues/pastissues/Volume39-2/12-Boyd.pdfSajoo, 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 2019Ecclesiastical Law Journal, Volume 16, Issue 2 May 2014, pp. 238-240, Mark Hill, Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 2014 "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. 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 "Understanding Sharia: Islamic Law in a Globalised World", by Raficq S Abdulla and Mohamed M Keshavjee, published October 31, 2018, "Mohamed M Keshavjee", Mail & Guardian, Africa's Best Read, Arts and Culture, by Zubeida Jaffer, July 18, 2019"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 "Diasporic Distractions: New faces in new places", Kuala Lumpur, Silverfish Books, 2017, 212 p., Mohamed Keshavjee: The ‘diasporic distractions’ of a short-story teller – Book Review by leading Malaysian Literary Journal, by Ismaili Mail, October 2, 2017. "The Ugandan Expulsion at 50 and Beyond: A Time for Reflection", AWAAZ Voices, Vol 19, Issue 2, 2022. "Contemporary Trends in Sharia: Critical Debates in Historical Contexts", co-authored by Hadi Enayat and Mohamed Keshavjee Bloomsbury Academic, Oct. 29 2026 "Contemporary Trends in Sharia: Critical Debates in Historical Contexts", co-authored by Hadi Enayat and Mohamed Keshavjee, reviewed in Awaaz by Tahir H. Wasti
Contributed chapters to:
"Dispute resolution", In A. Sajoo (Ed.), "A companion to Muslim ethics", London/New York: IB Tauris, Keshavjee, M. (2002) "Cross-border family mediation. In C. Paul & S. Kieswetter (Eds.), International parental child abduction, custody and access cases", Frankfurt: Wolfgang Metzner Verlag, Keshavjee, M. (2013) "Reflective learning from the training programmes of the Ismaili Muslim conciliation and arbitration boards globally", UK College of Mediators Journal (December), 23–8. Keshavjee, M., & Whatling, T. (2005). Available at http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp? "The State of Social Progress of Islamic Society; Social, Economic, Political, and Ideological Challenges", H. Tiliouine, R. J. Estes (Ed.). Springer. (2016). Available at https://link-springer-com.bris.idm.oclc.org/book/10.1007/978-3-319-24774-8. Co-authored "The Sharia; History, Ethics and Law", In A. Sajoo (Ed.), London: IB Tauris, Keshavjee, M and Abdulla, R (2018). Available at: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sharia-9781786724045/ "Comparative Dispute Resolution. In M. Moscati, M. Palmer, M. Roberts (Ed). London: Edward Elgar. (2020). Available at: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/comparative-dispute-resolution-9781786433022.html
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