Saleem Kidwai (7 August 1951 – 30 August 2021) was a medieval historian,

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

activist, and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

. Kidwai was a professor of history at

Ramjas College Ramjas College is one of the oldest constituent colleges of the University of Delhi, located in its North Campus in New Delhi, India. It was founded by the great educationist and philanthropist Rai Kedar Nath with the aim of providing affordab ...

University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

until 1993 and thereafter an independent scholar.

Early life and education

Saleem Kidwai was born 7 August 1951, in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

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 ...

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 ...

. His family and relatives owned extensive amounts of land in the area. He knew he was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

when he was in his late teens. When he was 17 years old, he moved to the city of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, in part because he knew that living in a small town would significantly constrain his ability to live openly as a

gay man Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included '' inverts'' and '' uranians''. Gay men conti ...

. He enrolled in and received his

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ( ...

and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

s in history from Delhi University, and he began teaching there in 1973. In 1976, he enrolled in a doctoral program at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Québec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In October 1977, Montréal police raided two

gay bars A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communities. Gay bars once ...

, Truxx and Le Mystique, in a military-style raid. They arrested 146 men in what was the largest mass arrest since the domestic terrorist kidnappings of the

October Crisis The October Crisis () was a chain of political events in Canada that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross f ...

in 1970. Kidwai was among those arrested, forced to submit to

venereal disease A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...

tests, and charged with

criminal activity In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Cane ...

. Deeply traumatized by the incident, he quit his

doctoral program A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''Licentiate (degree), licentia docendi' ...

and returned to teaching at Delhi University. (Although the

province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

amended its

Human Rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

Charter to include

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

as a protected class, the criminal charges against Kidwai were not dropped until 1982.)

Academic career

He was one of the first academics to speak publicly as a member of the LGBT community and published with

Ruth Vanita Ruth Vanita is an Indian academic, activist and author who specialises in British and Indian literary history with a focus on gender and sexuality studies. She also teaches and writes on Hindu philosophy. Early life and education Vanita earne ...

as co-editor of ''Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History'', a pioneering work documenting and exploring the indigenous roots of same-sex desire in South Asia. His other academic areas of interest included cultural history, the history of sexuality and the history of the courtesan singers (

tawaif A ''tawaif'' () was a highly successful courtesan singer‚ dancer‚ and poet who catered to the nobility of the Indian subcontinent, particularly during the Mughal era. Many tawaifs (" nautch girls" to the British) were forced to go into pro ...

s). Kidwai translated singer Malika Pukhraj's autobiography, "Song Sung True." His other translations include The Mirror of Wonders, a collection of short stories of Syed Rafiq Hussain, the first Urdu writer to write in the ‘

animal stories ''Animal Stories'' is a British pre-school animated television series on ITV (CITV). It also aired on Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney block in the United States from 1998 to 2001 and on Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay tele ...

’ genre. He was the only translator to have translated the novels of the well-known Urdu writer Quratulain Hyder who transcreated her own novels. Kidwai has translated two remaining novels of hers – 'Chandni Begum' and 'Safina-e-Gham-e-Dil' as "Ship of Sorrows". He was working on her last remaining untranslated novel 'Gardish-e-Rang-e-Chaman' as well as a well-known Urdu history of Lucknow by Mirza Jafar Hussain before his death.

Death

Saleem Kidwai suffered

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

on 30 August 2021, and died in a hospital in Lucknow.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidwai, Saleem 1951 births 2021 deaths People from Lucknow Academic staff of Delhi University 21st-century Indian Muslims Indian gay writers 20th-century Indian male writers Indian LGBTQ rights activists Gay Muslims 21st-century Indian historians 20th-century Indian historians Indian translators