Maulvi Mawlawi (), is an Islamic religious title given to Muslim religious scholars, or ulama, preceding their names, similar to the titles Mawlānā, Mullah, or Sheikh. Mawlawi generally means a highly qualified Islamic scholar, usually one who has ...

Abdul Haq () (20 April 1870 – 16 August 1961) was a scholar and a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

of the

Urdu language 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 ...

, who some call ''Baba-e-Urdu'' (, ''Father of Urdu''). The main credit for the development and promotion of Urdu language in 20th century goes to him, because he devoted his entire life to Urdu, and also demanded for it to be made the national language of

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# ...

Early life

He was deeply influenced by

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu–Muslim unity, he ...

's political and social views, and, following his wishes, learned English and scientific subjects. Like Syed Ahmad Khan,Abdul Haq saw Urdu as a major cultural and political influence on the lives and identity of the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. In the same year, he was appointed secretary of the

All India Muhammadan Educational Conference The All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference was an organisation promoting modern, liberal education for the Muslim community in India. It was founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, also the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University. All India Mum ...

, which had been founded by Sir Syed in 1886 for the promotion of education and intellectualism in Muslim society. Sir Syed founded the

Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu (; ''Organisation for the Progress of Urdu'') was an organisation working for the promotion and dissemination of Urdu language, literature and culture in British India. After the partition of India, the separated orga ...

in 1886 in

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

with

Thomas Walker Arnold Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (19 April 1864 – 9 June 1930) was a British orientalist and historian of Islamic art. He taught at Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO College), later Aligarh Muslim University, and Government College Un ...

as its first president and

Shibli Nomani Shibli Nomani (4 June 1857 – 18 November 1914) was an Indian Islamic scholar, poet, philosopher, historian, educational thinker, author, orator, reformer and critic of orientalists during the British Raj. He is regarded as the father of Urdu ...

as the first secretary. In 1912 Haq was appointed as the secretary of the Anjuman. Under him, the organization flourished and published a number of magazines, notably ''Urdu'', launched in January 1921, ''Science'', in 1928, and ''Hamari zaban'':ہماری زبان, in 1939. During this period he also served as the Principal of Osmania College (Aurangabad) and retired from that position in 1930.

Educational and political activities

Haq was a scholarly critic who provided criticisms of modern Urdu works and encouraged his students to develop literary skills and appreciation of Urdu. Following his retirement from Osmania University in 1930, Haq worked to compile and edit a comprehensive and authoritative English-Urdu dictionary.

In Pakistan

In 1948, Haq migrated to Pakistan. In the wake of

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

and the accompanying riots in 1947, much of his property, especially valuable manuscripts, papers and books were lost. However, some of the material which he brought to Pakistan is kept in the

Urdu Dictionary Board The Urdu Dictionary Board () is an academic and literary institution of Pakistan, administered by National History and Literary Heritage Division of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Its objective is to edit and publish a comprehensive ...

library. The ordeals of partition and the

also adversely affected Abdul Haq's health. He re-organised the ''Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu'' 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 ...

, launching

journals A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

, establishing libraries and schools, publishing a large number of books and promoting education in the Urdu language and linguistic research in it. Abdul Haq's work especially helped preserve the distinct "Old Urdu" linguistic and literary traditions of

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 ...

, known as ''

Hyderabadi Urdu Hyderabadi Urdu () is a variety of Dakhini Urdu, spoken in areas of the former Hyderabad State, corresponding to the Indian state of Telangana, the Marathwada region of Maharashtra and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka. It is nati ...

''. He also used his organisation for political activism, promoting the adoption of Urdu as the ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

'' and sole official language of Pakistan.

Death

Despite illnesses and failing health, Haq continued to promote the active use of Urdu as a medium for all educational activities. He pushed for the creation of an Urdu College in Karachi, the adoption of Urdu as a medium of instruction for all subjects in educational institutions and worked to organise a national Urdu conference in 1959. Suffering from cancer, He died after a prolonged period of incapacitation on 16 August 1961 in

''Baba-e-Urdus publications

For his achievements in the development and promotion of Urdu literature, he is officially regarded as ''Baba-e-Urdu''. His best known works include the English-Urdu dictionary, ''Chand Ham Asar'':چند ہم عصر, ''Maktoobat'': مکتوبات, ''Muqaddimat''مقدمات, ''Tauqeedat'', ''Qawaid-e-Urdu'':قوائد اردو and ''Debacha Dastan Rani Ketki''. The

Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu (; ''Organisation for the Progress of Urdu'') was an organisation working for the promotion and dissemination of Urdu language, literature and culture in British India. After the partition of India, the separated orga ...

remains an important intellectual organisation in Pakistan. Held in high esteem amongst the intellectuals, educationalists and scholars in Pakistan, Haq is praised for his work in promoting Muslim heritage and Urdu as a unifying medium for Pakistani Muslims.M Ayub Khan (1961). Speeches and Statements. Pakistan Publications.

Commemorative postage stamp issued in 2004

In recognition of his services to

Urdu literature Urdu literature (, ) comprises the literary works, written in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal'' () and '' nazm'' (), it has expanded into other styles of writing, includin ...

Pakistan Post Pakistan Post () is a state enterprise which functions as Pakistan's primary and largest postal operator. 49,502 employees through a vehicle fleet of 5,000 operate traditional "to the door" service from more than 13,419 post offices across the ...

issued a

Commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...

in his honor on 16 August 2004 in its 'Men of Letters' series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haq, Maulvi Abdul 1870 births 1961 deaths People from Hapur Muhajir people Urdu-language writers Pakistani scholars Writers from Karachi Literary critics of Urdu Aligarh Muslim University alumni Pakistani lexicographers Scholars from Uttar Pradesh Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Writers from Hyderabad, India Poets from Karachi Federal Urdu University Writers from British India Scholars from Karachi Founders of Jamia Millia Islamia