Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi


Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi , SP, HI, was a Pakistani historian, scholar, writer, and a professor of political history, first at the University of the Punjab and then at the Karachi University. Apart from his work as an academic historian he was also a well-known playwright.
An early :Category:Pakistan Movement activists|activist of the historic Pakistan Movement, Qureshi served in the ministries of education and frontier regions as the secretary; in addition, he was elected a member of the parliament of Pakistan. But, due to his association with academia, he resigned from his government appointments and joined the academic faculty at the Columbia University as a professor of South Asian history. But soon, he returned to Pakistan and founded the National Language Authority in the 1970s and helped set up the History Department at the University of the Punjab. Later, Qureshi joined the faculty of history at the University of Karachi where he remained there the remainder of his life. Qureshi is also credited for editing a four-volume series on history of Pakistan.

Biography

Early life and education

Qureshi was born on 20 November 1903 in a noble family of Patiyali, District Kasganj, a town in Uttar Pradesh, British India. He did matriculation in 1916, and joined Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Aligarh. At this time, he took active part in Khilafat movement. He did graduation and M.A. in History from St. Stephen's College, Delhi with distinction. In 1927, he got M.A. in Persian. He served as Lecturer in History at St. Stephen's College from 1928 to 1944. Between 1937–40, he studied at Cambridge University for a PhD degree. The topic of his thesis was Administration of Sultanate of Delhi. During this period, he also briefly joined the Pakistan Movement founded by Choudhary Rahmat Ali.
After returning from England, he joined Delhi University where he was appointed Professor of History, and subsequently, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He also served as Acting Vice Chancellor of the Delhi University. In 1947, during the Partition riots, when the Muslim students of the St Stephen's College had to be evacuated to the Purana Qila, Dr Qureshi's library was completely burnt down by the mobs.

Career in Pakistan

After seeing suffering from riots, he migrated to Pakistan in 1948. There, he continued his academic and political career, and served as a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In 1949, he was appointed Professor of History at the University of the Punjab, Lahore. He also joined the Government of Pakistan as Minister of Refugee Rehabilitation, and later as Minister of Education. Later on, he joined the Columbia University, New York where he wrote his famous book, the Muslim Community of the South Asia, as a story of the trials and tribulations of the Muslims in the South Asia. On his return, he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the University of Karachi and remained its Vice-Chancellor for many years. His opponents criticise I. H. Qureshi, also known as the father of Pakistani historiography, for promoting right-wing agenda-- a prominent scholar on ethnic-nationalities in Pakistan, Feroz Ahmed, writes: "One of the favourite right-wing 'scholars' of the ruling alliance, I. H. Qureshi, went to the extent of stating that Bengalis were a different race than the West Pakistanis."

Memberships

He was:
His books on the history of Muslim community in the South Asia as well as other publications on the Pakistan Movement, Administration of the Mughul Empire, role of religious scholars in politics, brought him into the category of the distinguished historians of South Asia. After retirement he associated with writing and research.

English titles of History Work