Mubarak Ali (; born 21 April 1941) is a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, activist and

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

. His main theme, in most of his books, has been that some history books written in Pakistan had been 'dictated' by the ruling class (the so-called 'Establishment in Pakistan') and, in his view, those history books represent 'perversion of facts'. A Marxist, Mubarak Ali maintains that history books should be written from the perspective of masses, not of rulers.

Early life and career

Mubarak Ali was born in Tonk, in the erstwhile princely state of Tonk,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(present-day

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

) on 21 April 1941. Mubarak Ali and his family migrated to Pakistan in 1952 and settled in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, Sindh. Mubarak Ali received a M.A. degree in history with first class first position from

Sindh University The University of Sindh (; ; informally known as Sindh University) is a public research university in Pakistan located in the city of Jamshoro in the Sindh province. It is one of the oldest universities in Pakistan and was certified by ISO in 2 ...

, Jamshoro in 1962. He was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of History at Sindh University Jamshoro in 1963. In 1972, he went to London, then Germany to pursue higher studies and in 1976, he attained a PhD degree (on the Mughal Period of India) at Ruhr University,

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

, Germany. He later became head of the History Department at the University of Sindh. He was the Director of the

Goethe Institute The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

until 1996. In 2005, he was the editor of the quarterly journal ''Taarikh'' (History) and has been widely interviewed by electronic and print media in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. In 1999, while speaking at a seminar in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

organised by the NGO Khoj, Mubarak Ali referred to fundamentalism's effects on historical scholarship in his country. He described how after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, ancient history was de-emphasized in Pakistan by some historians. The official government rule stated that anything outside of the syllabus "is not part of our history". He further stated that the official historiography in Pakistan is committed to the two-nation theory in the Indian subcontinent. In other words, Hindus and Muslims in pre-1947 era

essentially were 2 different and distinct nations and, therefore, the British needed to divide old India into 2 different countries, based on this fact, before they ended their colonial rule in British India. This was called the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

and it succeeded in its effort with the support of the majority of the Indian Muslims under the leadership of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

and an independent Pakistan was created in 1947. Although later, after the

independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation th ...

in 1947, many history book writers ignored the Pakistan public's need for the truth and keeping a balanced view of history when writing their history books. Instead, some historians went to the other extreme and started to confuse the Pakistani public about whether Pakistan's known history begins from the 5000 years old

Indus Valley civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...

or from the Arab Muslims (

Muhammad bin Qasim Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqafī (; –) was an Arabs, Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh (and Punjab, part of ancient Sindh), inaugurating the Umayyad campaigns in India. His m ...

(31 Dec 695 – 18 July 715)) and his attack on

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

in 712 A.D. or from the

Independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation th ...

in 1947. Speaking at the "National Seminar on Rani Kot", a historic location and fort in

, he called for the reading and writing of history from a different angle, in which invaders of old and ancient India should not always be acclaimed as "great". He said that archaeological sites do have their own significance, referring to the discovery of

Mohenjo-daro Mohenjo-daro (; , ; ) is an archaeological site in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan. Built 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one of the world's earliest major city, cities, contemp ...

which reflected a great civilization of the region. This discovery played a dominant role in the independence movement of the subcontinent, because until its discovery, people of this part of the world were not considered literate or civilised. He has written a number of books and articles on Ind-Pakistani history, and has been widely acclaimed as an anti-establishment and anti-government thinker and historian. He stated in an interview that "No authentic history has yet been written about Pakistan and its independence. There is a lot of confusion among the so-called pro-Establishment historians and educationists. Whatever has been written so far is distortion of history and entirely unbalanced." Mubarak Ali has called for the rewriting of the subcontinent's history and correction of what he called "historical aberrations", so that the hatred and misunderstanding prevailing between the people of India and Pakistan could come to an end. He said textbooks in the two countries had been systematically distorted and that the time has come to reverse the trend. Mubarak Ali has said that "any system based on oppression, coercion and authoritarianism sthe first problem in the way of writing history". Pakistan's history has been dictated, he said, by politics and the personal ideologies of autocratic rulers and military dictators. He also reiterated his call for "history to be analyzed and rewritten from the perspective of the masses instead of the viewpoint of rulers." In 2005, Mubarak Ali claimed that the police was harassing him and investigating him to "verify his learning", and that he was considering leaving Pakistan forever. Four police First Information Reports (FIRs) were lodged against him in Lahore. In 2007, Mubarak Ali published three books: ''Qadeem Hindustan'' ("Ancient India"), ''Ahd-e-Wusta Ka Hindustan'' ("India of the Middle Ages") and ''Bartanvi Hindustan'' ("British India"), published jointly by the NGO

ActionAid ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide. ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organi ...

and the Fiction House. These books were targeted towards younger readers. Speaking at the launch, Ali stated that some of the Pakistani curricula did not contain any citation about

Ashoka the Great Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

, whose reign witnessed peace and religious harmony. According to Ali, "it was the British who destroyed the harmony and sowed the seeds of hatred among Hindus and Muslims as the Mughals' policy of religious harmony continued to be applied during their ruling period (1526-1857) despite all sorts of hiccups".Unbiased record of history must for enlightenment: Dr Mubarak Ali’s books launched
Dawn (newspaper), Published 29 May 2007, Retrieved 7 August 2019 According to Mubarak Ali, the textbook reform in Pakistan began with the introduction of Pakistan Studies and Islamic studies by

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

in 1971, which became a compulsory subject in the national curriculum. In the 1980s, former military dictator

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also se ...

, as part of a general drive towards Islamization, started the process of historical revisionism and exploited this initiative. "The Pakistani establishment taught their children right from the beginning that this state was built on the basis of religion – that's why they do not have tolerance for other religions and want to wipe out all of them." Speaking at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan office in May 2009, Mubarak Ali said, "democracy in Pakistan had an imprint of martial laws and what we were witnessing today could at best be described as 'feudal democracy'. It is the third generation of feudals who are ruling Pakistan". Although

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal (MMA; Urdu: , ) is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, Religion in Pakistan, religious, and right-wing parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui (the founder of Tehreek e Islami) proposed such a ...

(MMA) lost the elections, Ali argued that religiosity had grown in Pakistan to such an extent that "every political party in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

is an MMA and it is the assembly that approved Nizam-e-Adl regulation." His 2009 comprehensive book in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, ''Taareekh Ki Daryafat'', is considered to be his most concise work. The first part of the book deals with heroism and society, historiography in the 20th century, how we should write history and his autobiography, while the second part covers a large number of topics. These interpretations highlight national controversies, for example about Mughal Muslims in India, the relationship between the Ottomans and the Mughals, religion and its political use, Islamic scholars and modernism, French revolution, Indus Civilization, imperialism and fundamentalism, history of coil and coffee, honor killings in Pakistan, forgetful men and the latest trends in

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

Reputation as a historian

In May 2007, at an event launching three books of Mubarak Ali in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan, Jaffer Ahmed, Director of the Pakistan Studies Centre of the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...

reportedly said about Mubarak Ali, "He diverted the focus of history from the kings to the people, culture, traditions, chores, customs, education and health facilities and made people realise how vast the scope of history can be." This event was organized by Pakistan Academy of Letters.

Works

According to a major newspaper of Pakistan, "Mubarak Ali writes of and for ordinary people and not for the kings." Mubarak Ali "tries to take truth out of all the evidence, available archives and archaeological facts." *''Taareekh ki Daryafat'', Dost Publications-wordmate, Islamabad, 2009Mubarak Ali renews debate on national identity, a 2009 book review on paktalibanisation.com website
Published 22 Oct 2009, Retrieved 7 August 2019 * ''Qadeem Hindustan'' (Ancient India), 2007 *''Ahd-i-Wusta ka Hindustan'' (India of the Middle Ages), 2007 *''Bartanvi Hindustan'' (British India), 2007 *''Mulhid Ka Overcoat'', Fiction House, Lahore, 3rd Ed. 2013 *''In the Shadow of History'', Nigarshat, Lahore *''History on Trial'', Fiction House, Lahore, 1999 *''Tareekh Aur Nisabi Kutub'', Fiction House, Lahore, 2013 *''Shaahi Mahal'' (Royal Palace), Fiction House, Lahore, 1992 *''Taarikh kee Roshnee'' (Light of History), Fiction House, Lahore, 4th Edition 2012 *''Aakhri Ehad Mugliah kaa Hindostaan'' (India in Last Mughal Rule), Fiction House, Lahore, 7th Edition 2012 *''Gumshudah Taareekh'' (Lost History) Fiction House, Lahore, 2012 *''Taareekh aur Daanishver'' (History and Intlectual), Fiction House, Lahore, 2012 *''Taareekh aur Siyaasat'' (History and Politics), Fiction House, Lahore, 5th Edition 2012 *''Taareekh aur Aaj Kee Duniyaa'' (History and Today's world, Fiction House, Lahore, 2012 *''Dar Dar Thokar Khaaey'', Autobiography, Fiction House, 18-Muzang, Lahore, 6th Edition 2012 *''Taareekh, Thug aur Daacu'' (History, Thug and Bandit), Fiction House, Lahore, 2013 *''Bartaanvi Raaj'' (British Era), Fiction House, Lahore, 3rd Edition 2012 *''Gulaami aur Nasel Parasti'' (Slavery and Racism), Fiction House, Lahore, 2013 *''Taarikh aur Falsfa-e-Taarikh'' (History and Philosophy of History, Fiction House, Lahore, 4th Edition 2005 *''Mughal Darbaaar'' (Mughal Court), Fiction House, Lahore, 2004 *''Achoot Logoun Kaa Adab'' (Literature of Untouchables) Co-written by Razi Abdi, Fiction House, Lahore, 1994 *''Bar-e Sagheer Mein Mulsmaan Muashrey kaa Almeya'', Fiction House, Lahore, 7th Edition 2012 *''Niji Zindgi Ki Tarrekh'' (History of Private Life), Fiction House, Lahore 2012 *''Traikh Shinaasi'', Fiction House, Lahore 2012 *''Tarikh Kay Badaltey Nazriaat'', Fiction House, Lahore 2012 *''Tarikh aur Mazhabi Tehreekein'', Fiction House, Lahore 2013 *''Akbar kaa Hindostan'', translated by Dr. Mubarak Ali 2012 *''Europe kaa Arooj'' (Rise of Europe), Fiction House, Lahore 2012 *''Jadeed Taarikh'' (Modern History), Fiction House, Lahore *''Taarikh aur Tehqeeq'' (History and Research), Fiction House, Lahore *''Pather kaa Zamaanah'' (Stone Age), Fiction House, Lahore *''Kaansi Kaa Zammanah'' (Bronze Age), Fiction House, Lahore *''Lohey Kaa Zamanah'' (Iron Age), Fiction House, Lahore *''Tarikh or Aurat'', Fiction House *''Pakistani Moashra'', Fiction House *''Badalti Hui Tarikh'', Fiction House *''Tarikh or Tehqeeq'', Fiction House *''Sindh ki Tarikh Kia Hey'', Fiction House *''Tarikh Shanasi'', Fiction House *''Ulma or Siasat'', Fiction House *''Quaid e Azam Kia Thay Kia Nahi Thay'', Fiction house *''Sindh Ki Awaz'', Fiction House *''Sindh Khamoshi Ki Awaz'', Fiction house *''Sindh ki Samaji or Saqafti Tareekh'', Fiction house *''Interviews or Tasuraat'', Fiction House *''Lutfullah ki aab-biti'', Fiction House *''Tarikh— 'Khana or Khaney Key Aadaab' '', Fiction House *''Pakistan mein Marshal Law Ki Tareekh'', Fiction House Ed.2014 *''Tahzeeb ki Kahani'', Fiction House *''Hindustaan ki Tareekh'', Fiction House *''Tareekh Ki Wapsi'', Fiction House Ed.2014 *''Nationalism kya Hey??'', Fiction House Ed.2014 *''Tareekh or Awam'', Fiction House Ed.2014 *''Tareekh ki gawahi'' Edition 2015 *''Tareekh Fehmi'', Edition 2015 *''Tareekh ki Talash'', Fiction House 2003 (All books are available at Fiction House, Urdu Bazar,

and

, Pakistan)

Awards and recognition

* Faiz Ahmed Faiz Award – 1989Mubarak Ali's profile and award info listed on oocities.org website
Retrieved 7 August 2019 *

Hassam-ud-Din Rashidi Hassam-ud-Din Rashidi (; September 20, 1911 – April 1, 1982) was a Sindhi historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, met ...

Gold Medal Award by Sindh Graduate Association – 2002 *

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (7 June 1914 – 1 June 1987) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist in Urdu, Hindi and English. He won four National Film Awards in India. Internationally, his films won the ( Golden Palm Gr ...

International Award by Pakistan Academy of Letters – 2018Renowned historian Dr Mubarak Ali awarded
Dawn (newspaper), Published 29 June 2018, Retrieved 7 August 2019

References

External links