Molvi Abdul Haq, also known as Baba-e-Urdu (Father of Urdu) was a writer, scholar and a linguist from British India and later moved to Pakistan after partition of India in 1947 and spent rest of his life there. A graduate of the famous Aligarh Muslim University, he was deeply influenced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's political and social views and like Khan he saw Urdu as a major cultural and political influence on the life and identity of the Muslims of India. Thus he founded the Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu in 1903 in Aligarh for the promotion of Urdu. During British Raj he was employed in Indian Civil Service and worked as a chief translator at the Home Department in Delhi before being appointed as the provincial inspector of schools at AurangabadMolvi Abdul Haq, also known as Baba-e-Urdu (Father of Urdu) was a writer, scholar and a linguist from British India and later moved to Pakistan after partition of India in 1947 and spent rest of his life there. A graduate of the famous Aligarh Muslim University, he was deeply influenced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's political and social views and like Khan he saw Urdu as a major cultural and political influence on the life and identity of the Muslims of India. Thus he founded the Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu in 1903 in Aligarh for the promotion of Urdu. During British Raj he was employed in Indian Civil Service and worked as a chief translator at the Home Department in Delhi before being appointed as the provincial inspector of schools at Aurangabad in the Central Provinces. In the same year he was appointed secretary of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference, which had been founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1886 for the promotion of education in Muslim society. Following the establishment of the Osmania University by the Nizam Osman Ali Khan of the Hyderabad State in 1917 he moved to Hyderabad State to teach and help build the university. In 1948 he migrated to Pakistan. In the wake of migration and the accompanying riots in 1947, much of his property, especially valuable manuscripts, papers and books were lost. Some of the material which he brought to Pakistan is kept in the Urdu Dictionary Board library. In Pakistan he re-organised the Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu in Karachi, launching journals, establishing libraries and schools, publishing a large number of books and promoting education in the Urdu language and linguistic research in it. His work especially helped preserve the distinct "Old Urdu" linguistic and literary traditions of Hyderabad, known as Hyderabadi Urdu. He also used his organisation for political activism, promoting the adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca and sole official language of Pakistan. Suffering from cancer he died on 16 August 1961 in Karachi and was buried there....more
Sign in with Facebook
