Eminent Muslim leader, scholar, diplomat and former MP Syed Shahabuddin breathed his last at a Noida hospital early on Saturday. He was 82.

Shahabuddin was suffering from respiratory problems for several years. He is survived by five daughters.

Hailing from Gaya district of Bihar and born in 1935, Shahabuddin was a brilliant student. He was the first Muslim student to top the Bihar School Matriculation Board examination. He did his graduation and masters in science from Patna Science College. He stood second in the civil services exam conducted by Union Public Service Commission for the 1957 batch and opted for the Indian Foreign Service.

An intelligence report that he had led a student movement against police firing came in the way of his posting in the IFS cadre. Shahabuddin had organised the stir in the wake of the killing of one Dinanath Pandey in police firing on the Patna University campus.

But he met then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who personally intervened to ensure his posting. "I regard his (Shahabuddin's) activity as the expression of youthful exuberance," Nehru wrote.

Shahabuddin got his first posting in the Indian embassy in Venezuela. Later, he was shifted to Algeria where he was shot at but survived. Shahabuddin also served in Saudi Arabia and the United States in different capacities.

Shahabuddin later quit to join active politics, serving as an MP - both in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha - for three terms from 1979 to 1996. He represented Bihar's Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat.

He was a doting father to his daughters, among them AAP leader Parveen Amanullah who is married to retired IAS officer Afzal Amanullah. "He was very upset when Parveen left MBBS at the Bhagalpur Medical College in the 1970s. He wanted her to become a doctor," Afzal said, adding, "When Parveen joined B.Sc, he wanted her to continue with her higher education." Parveen, however, quit studies to became a social-political activist. She was a minister in the Nitish-led NDA government.

Shahabuddin was the leader of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, which opposed the desecration of Babri mosque on December 6, 1992. He had a long meeting with the Kanchipuram Shankaracharya on the latter's invitation before the demolition.

Shahabuddin had his own views on Muslim jurisprudence and was actively involved in the Shah Bano case. He edited and published a monthly journal, Muslim India, launched in 1983. It eventually shut down as Shahabuddin struggled with health issues and lack of resources.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad have condoled his death.