Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah (6 August 1890 – 23 November 1949)Syed Jalaluddin Haider, Pg 3, Online at
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan
Retrieved 10 April 2018 was a

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community. A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...

of the

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

movement in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

before 1947. He was also the first prominent librarian to opt for

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# ...

at the time of independence in 1947.

Early life

He was born on 6 August 1890 in

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 ...

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 ...

(now Pakistan) to Maulvi Mohammd Ziaullah and Alam Jan of

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

. He received his basic education in Lahore and graduated from

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is a private nonprofit Liberal arts college, liberal arts Universities in Pakistan, university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Church ...

, Lahore in 1913.

Marriage and family

In 1908, he married Hameeda Begum in Lahore and fathered 14 children. His sons included Khalifa Mohd Iftikharullah TQA, Khalifa Mohd Naseemullah, Khalifa Mohd Hameedullah, Khalifa Mohd Ihsanullah, Khalifa Mohd Zafarullah (Commander Pak Navy), Khalifa Mohd Aminullah. His sons-in-law included AVM Saeedullah Khan and Pakistani

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

, Enver Murad; his daughters-in-law included

Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah (, ; 25 December 1918 – 10 September 2000) was a Pakistani writer and journalist. Begum Hamidullah was a pioneer of Pakistani literature and journalism in English, and also of feminism in Pakistan. She was Pakistan' ...

and his great granddaughters include the

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Uzma Aslam Khan Uzma Aslam Khan is a Pakistani writer. Her five novels include ''Trespassing'' (2003), ''The Geometry of God'' (2008), ''Thinner Than Skin'' (2012) and ''The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali'' (2019). Personal life Khan was born in Lahore and ...

Training

He studied under the American librarian Asa Don Dickinson in 1915 at the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (UoP) is a public university, public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1882, its international influence has made it one of the most prestigious universities in South As ...

.Libraries and Librarianship in India on GoogleBooks website
Retrieved 10 April 2018

Career

In 1916, he became the first qualified librarian of the Government College in Lahore.First Librarian at Government College University, Lahore in 1916 (Read about Mohammad Asadullah on website under Libraries)
Retrieved 10 April 2018 He then became the librarian of MAO College (now

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

) in 1919. In 1921, he joined the Imperial Secretariat Library in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

and

, a post he held for 8 years. In 1930, he was appointed the librarian of the Imperial Library (now

National Library of India The National Library of India is a library located in the Belvedere Estate, Alipore, Kolkata, India. It is India's largest library by volume and public record. The National Library is under Ministry of Culture (India), Ministry of Culture, Gove ...

) in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, a post which he held for about 17 years from 1930 – 1947. While there, he started the library training programme.

Pakistan

In 1947, 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 ...

, he was made officer on special duty in the Ministry of Education.

Indian Library Association

In 1933, he was one of the founding members of

Indian Library Association The Indian Library Association (ILA) was established on September 13, 1933 Registered under the societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860), on the occasion of the First All India Library Conference held at Calcutta (now Kolkata). The headquarters ...

and was its first secretary from 1933 to 1947. He had served as the librarian and a director from 1930 – 1947 of the ''Imperial Library of India'' in

.K. M. Asadullah listed as Director and Librarian of the Imperial Library of India (1930 – 1947)
National Library of India website (Historical Background), Retrieved 10 April 2018

Honours

He was honoured with the title of

Khan Bahadur Khan Bahadur – a compound of ''Khan'' "Leader" and ''Bahadur'' "Brave" – was an honorary title in British India conferred on Indian subjects who were adherents of Islam or Zoroastrianism. The equivalent title for Hindus, Buddhists and India ...

in 1935.

Death

He died on 23 November 1949 due to a stroke at

, Pakistan. He was buried in his family section of the Ferozpur Road graveyard, Lahore.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asadullah, Khalifa Mohammad Pakistani librarians Indian librarians People from Lahore People from Shimla 1890 births 1949 deaths Academic staff of the Government College University, Lahore Forman Christian College alumni People from Punjab Province (British India)