Peter Hardy (1922–2014) was a Lecturer, and later Reader, at the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

from 1947 to 1983. A specialist in the history of Islam, the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

and

Mughal India The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

, he had particular expertise in Indo-Persian historiography. Among his many publications, ''Historians of Medieval India'' is highly regarded. His book ''Muslims of British India'' is a key work on the colonial period, often re-printed. Hardy's essay "Abul Fazl's Portrait of the Perfect Padshah" was the first attempt to critically reappraise

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak (14 January 1551 – 22 August 1602), also known as Abul Fazl, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami, was an Indian writer, historian, and politician who served as the grand vizier of the Mughal Empire from his appointment ...

and his political philosophy. His career has drawn the attention of Ian Brown in his history of

SOAS The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

.Brown, Ian. 2016. ''School of Oriental and African Studies - Imperial Training and the Expansion of Learning''. Cambridge: University Press.

Key works

''Historians of medieval India; studies in Indo-Muslim historical writing'' (London: Luzac, 1960) ''Partners in freedom and true Muslims. The political thought of some Muslim scholars in British India 1912-1947'' (Lund: Studentlitteratur, 1971) Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies monograph series, no. 5 eprinted Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980 ''The Muslims of British India'' (London: Cambridge University Press, 1972) Cambridge South Asian studies, 13 "Approaches to pre-modern Indo-Muslim historical writing: some reconsiderations in 1990-1991", pp. 49–71 in Peter Robb, K. N. Chaudhuri, and Avril Powell, eds. ''Society and ideology: essays in South Asian history presented to professor K.A. Ballhatchet,'' (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993. "Didactic Historical Writing in Indian Islam: Ziya al-Din Barani's Treatment of the Reign of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq (1324-1351"), pp. 38–60 in Yohanan Friedmann, ed., ''Islam in Asia'' (Boulder: Westview Press, 1984) "Islam and Muslims in South Asia" pp. 36–61 in Raphael Israeli, ed., ''The Crescent in the East: Islam in Asia Major'' (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1982) Republished (London: Curzon, Riverdale, Md.: Riverdale Company, 1989) "Islam in South Asia", pp. 143–164 in Joseph M. Kitagawa, ed., ''The Religious Traditions of Asia'' (New York: Macmillan, 1989) "Some general characteristics analysed", pp. 169–179 in Richard M. Eaton, ed. ''India's Islamic Traditions, 711-1750'' (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Peter 1922 births 2013 deaths 20th-century English educators Place of birth missing Academics of SOAS University of London