Mushirul Hasan (15 August 1949 – 10 December 2018) was a historian of modern India. He wrote on the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, communalism, and on the history of Islam in South Asia.

Education

Hasan was the second son of historian Mohibbul Hasan and brother of journalist Najmul Hasan. Mushirul Hasan obtained his M. A. from the

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 1969. He then earned a Doctorate (PhD) from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1977.

Career

He was a professor in the Department of History and Culture,

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

, New Delhi. He also served as the Director of Academy of Third World Studies in Jamia Millia Islamia from July 2000 to January 2010. He was the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia from 1992 to 1996. Later, he served as the Vice-Chancellor of

(2004-2009) for which he has been described as an "institution builder". In May 2010, he was appointed the Director-General of the National Archives of India. He was elected as the President of the

Indian History Congress Indian History Congress is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 35,000 members. It was established in 1935. The name of any new applicant for membership needs to be proposed and seconded by existing Ordinary or ...

in 2002. He also held in the past academic positions at the Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute of Advanced Study), Berlin, ''Centre d'Études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud'' (Centre for Indian and South Asian Studies), Paris, Centre of South Asian Studies,

, UK,

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics, politic ...

, and the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

Awards

* The D. P. Singhal Scholarship,

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, Brisbane, 2003. * The

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

(SARC) Fellowship by the Institute of Islamic Studies,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, 2002–03. * D.Lit (Honoris Causa) by

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU), Allahabad, 2006. * Professor Sukumar Sen Memorial Gold Medal by

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

, Kolkata, 2006. *

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, 2007. * D.Lit (Honoris Causa) by

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

, Kolkata, 2008. * Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship by the

Indian Council of Social Science Research The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) is the national body overseeing research in the social sciences in India. It was established in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delh ...

, 2009–2011. *

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...

, 2010. * Conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund on the occasion of the 124th birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister on 14 November 2014.

Books

His books include: * A Nationalist Conscience: M. A. Ansari, the Congress and the Raj, (Delhi: Manohar, 1987) * Nationalism and Communal Politics in India, 1885–1930 (Delhi: Manohar, 1991). Paperback edition published in 1994. Reprinted in 2000. * The Legacy of a Divided Nation: India's Muslims Since Independence (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1997) * John Company to the Republic: A Story of Modern India (2001) * Islam in the Subcontinent: Muslims in a Plural Society (2002) * From Pluralism to Separatism: Qasbas in Colonial India (

, 2003) * Making Sense of History: Society, Culture and Politics (Manohar, 2003) * A Moral Reckoning: Muslim Intellectuals in Nineteenth-Century Delhi (

, 2005) * The Nehrus: Personal Histories (2006) * Partners in Freedom: Jamia Millia Islamia, (Niyogi Books: Delhi, 2006), (with Rakhshanda Jalil) * Wit and Humour in Colonial North India (Niyogi Books: Delhi, 2007) * Moderate or Militant? Images Of India's Muslims (

, 2008) * Between Modernity and Nationalism: Halide Edip's Encounter with Gandhi's India (

, 2010) * Faith and Freedom:

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

in History (Niyogi Books: Delhi, 2013) *

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, Pluralism, Nationhood: Legacy of Maulana Azad (Niyogi Books: Delhi, 2014)

Death and legacy

Hasan died on 10 December 2018 and was buried at Jamia Millia Islamia graveyard. An endowment named after him was established by Jamia Millia Islamia with the donation from his wife Zoya Hasan. The endowment was slated to offer a post-doctoral fellowship and two post-graduate merit-cum-means scholarships annually. An annual ''Mushirul Hasan Memorial Seminar'' on contemporary history, society and politics in India is also organized at the university.

References

External links

Profile – Vice Chancellor Jamia Millia Islamia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasan, Mushirul 20th-century Indian historians 1949 births 2018 deaths Aligarh Muslim University alumni Historians of South Asia Indian Shia Muslims Indian institute directors Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows Officiers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques People from Barabanki district Scholars from Uttar Pradesh Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academic staff of Jamia Millia Islamia