Great linguist and scholar, Maulvi Abdul Haq, who nation regards as Baba-e-Urdu's death anniversary, was observed on Tuesday. For his achievements in the development and promotion of Urdu literature, he is officially regarded as Baba-e-Urdu.
His most famous works include the English-Urdu dictionary, Chand Ham Asar, Maktoobat, Muqadimat, Tauqeedat, Qawaid- e-Urdu and DebachaDastan RaniKetki. In recognition of his services to Urdu literature, Pakistan Post issued a Commemorative stamp on 16 August, 2004.
Maulvi Abdul Haq was born on November 16, 1872 in Hapur town in Ghaziabad District in India. He developed an affinity for the Urdu, Deccani, Persian and Arabic. He did B.A. from Aligarh Muslim University in 1894. After graduation, Abdul Haq went to Hyderabad Deccan and associated himself to learning, teaching, translating and upgrading Urdu.
Abdul Haq was deeply influenced by Sir Syed's political and social views, and learnt English and scientific subjects. Like Khan, Abdul Haq saw Urdu as a major cultural and political influence on the life and identity of the Muslims of India.
He founded the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu in 1903 in Aligarh. Abdul Haq joined the Indian Civil Service under the British Raj and worked as a chief translator at the Home Department in Delhi, before being appointed as the provincial inspector of schools at Aurangabad in the Central Provinces.
In the same year, he was appointed secretary of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference, which had been founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1886 for the promotion of education and intellectualism in Muslim society. He became Principal of Osmania College (Aurangabad) and retired in 1930. Suffering from cancer, Haq died after a prolonged period of incapacitation on August 16, 1961 in Karachi. Haq is praised for his work in promoting Muslim heritage and Urdu as a unifying medium for Pakistani Muslims.
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