Markaz Alumni Award

2024 Markaz Alumni Award Recipient 

Marghoub Quraishi

Marghoob Quraishi was born in Jaipur, India, on July 15, 1931, to Nazir A. Quraishi and Khadija B. Khan. He relocated to Pakistan during Partition in 1947. Marghoob earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Karachi, Pakistan, in 1955. In 1958, he obtained a certificate in Business Finance from McGill University in Montreal, followed by his enrollment at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1958, where he earned his MBA. As a student at Stanford, Marghoob played a pivotal role in co-founding the Islamic Society of Stanford University (ISSU) which established the first regularly held Ju’mah on campus.  He went on to co-found the Muslim Student Association which eventually split to become the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), he also founded the United Muslims of America.

Marghoob worked at several local and national companies before he founded his own business consulting firm in 1966, Associated Management Systems. Marghoob established the Strategic Research Foundation, a think tank for the Muslim community, where he regularly contributed to their esteemed quarterly journal, “Geopolitics Review.” He also published a Zakat Guide Book to help the Muslim community in America. In the early 1990s, following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent U.S. response, Marghoob organized a notable conference gathering Muslim intellectuals, activists, and scholars to engage in meaningful discourse on the state of Islam. 

It is difficult, if not impossible, to discuss Marghoob’s public service without mentioning his life partner, Iffat Renae Quraishi, who was not only his wife but also a co-founder in many of their initiatives. Marghoob and Iffat, affectionately called “Mr. and Mrs. Q,” established a non-profit called the Islamic Education Institute through which they created the Muslim Youth Camp of California in 1961, the Stanford Islamic School in 1968 (the first independent Islamic Sunday school for children unaffiliated with a mosque), and the Muslim Student Network (MSN) in 1994 (now the Muslim Public Service Network, MPSN). He also founded Talibah House, a residence for female Muslim students at UC Berkeley which provided community support and a live-in host family from 1985-1995.

Marghoob was recognized as a leader among Muslims in the Bay Area and nationally. His longtime friend, Dr. Aslam Abdullah, honored him with the title of “a silent soldier, a real hero, a rare gem whose qualities are seldom found in the U.S., the land of glamor and razzmatazz.” He was passionate about empowering and educating young American Muslims to be proud of their faith and be powerful changemakers.Marghoob Quraishi passed away in January 2005, followed by his wife, Iffat Renae Quraishi, in 2018. He is survived by his four children: Asifa, Haleema, Amira, and Kaleem. We honor Marghoob Quraishi as a pioneer among Stanford alumni whose dedicated service profoundly shaped the Muslim community in Stanford, California, and beyond.