Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed Shakeb (M.Z.A. Shakeb) (21 October 1933 – 20 January 2021) was a historian of the Deccan, art connoisseur, Sufi Intellectual, and Urdu and Persian literary critic.[1]
Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed Shakeb | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 21 October 1933 |
| Died | 20 January 2021 (aged 87) London, England |
| Awards | Nawab Faizullah Khan Award |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Osmania University, Aligarh Muslim University, Deccan College |
Early life and education
editBorn on 21 October 1933, Shakeb grew up in Hyderabad and Aurangabad. He received a BA in Political Science from the Osmania University, and an MA from Aligarh Muslim University in 1956. He completed his doctorate in Relations of Golkonda with Iran from Deccan College in 1976.[2]
Career
editTogether with Vasanth Kumar Bawa, Shakeb set up the first-ever Hyderabad Urban Development Authority which is now referred to as Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.[3] In 1962, he was appointed an archivist at the State Archives of Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad.[3] Whilst here he created the Mughal Record Room. His publications include Mughal Archives Vol I: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Documents Pertaining to the Reign of Shah Jahan, in 1977 which remains critical reading for those seeking to learn how to read administrative documents in Indo-Persian.[4] He went on to write many publications for The British Library, State Archives Andhra Pradesh, and other repositories, universities, and auction houses.[2]
From 1980 to 1987, Shakeb taught Indian history and the history of Indo-Islamic art and culture in the Department of Indology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.[5][6] He, later on, worked as a consultant for Christie's in their department of Islamic and Indian Art as their leading expert on Persian and Arabic manuscripts for 30 years.[5][3][6]
He also continued to work on Indo-Persian manuscripts and Mughal documents and catalogued such manuscripts in the British Library, such as the Batala Collection of Mughal Documents 1527-1757 in 1990.[4][2] Throughout this time he supervised many doctoral researchers in the fields of Mughal history, Deccan studies and Urdu and Persian literature.[7][2]
Shakeb was also the Director of Urdu teachers training at Middlesex University up until 1998.[4]
He also played a key role in setting up the Haroon Khan Sherwani Center for Deccan Studies at Maulana Azad National Urdu University and had been a member of the center's first advisory board. He was considered a pioneer, having helped lay the foundations of Deccan Studies.[8][9]
Shakeb was an authority on various poets from the Indian subcontinent and Persia, writing books and organising and speaking at conferences on Bedil, Amir Khusrau, Iqbal, Ghalib, and Rumi.[2]
Death
editShakeb died in London on 20 January 2021, aged 87.[10] He is survived by his wife, Farhat Ahmed, two daughters, a son, and nine grandchildren.[2][11][9]
Awards and Recognitions
edit- Nawab Faizullah Khan Award 2016-17 for History from Rampur Raza Library[12]
- Member of the Advisory Committee for the H.K. Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies, at Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad from 2012 to 2015[13]
- Fellow at the Royal Asiatic Society in 1983[14]
Selected publications
edit- Relations of Golkonda with Iran c.1518-1687: Diplomacy, Ideas, and Commerce Ideas[7] (New Delhi: Primus Books, 2017)
- Mughal Archives: A Descriptive Catalogue of the documents about the reign of Shah Jahan (1628-1658), Vol 1. Durbar papers and a miscellany of singular documents[15] (Andhra Pradesh: State Archives, 1977)
- A Descriptive catalog of the Batala collection of Mughal documents, 1527-1757 AD. (United Kingdom: British Library, 1990)[16]
- A descriptive catalogue of Persian letters from Arcot and Baroda[17] (United Kingdom: India Office Library and Records, British Library, 1982).
- Ghalib and Zuka, (New Delhi; Ghalib Academy, 1974)[18]
- Ghalib on Hyderabad[19] (Hyderabad, Adami Trust, 1969)
References
edit- ^ "Sufi intellectual Zia Shakeb will be missed in India and abroad". 26 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "Mohammed Shakeb: Preserver of Mughal Archival Documents and Reconstructor of Libraries". The Wire.
- ^ a b c "Zia Shakeb is no more; he was a renowned litterateur, historian and authority on art - NewsDeal". Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- ^ a b c "Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed Shakeb (M.Z.A. Shakeb) (1933-2021) | SOAS University of London". www.soas.ac.uk. 23 February 2021.
- ^ a b "'Deccani roots truly secular' | Hyderabad News - Times of India". The Times of India. 20 January 2012.
- ^ a b "Progressive seeker on Sufi path". The Hindu. 24 March 2007 – via www.thehindu.com.
- ^ a b Dayal, Subah. "Introduction" to Relations of Golkonda with Iran, 1518 - 1687 by M.Z.A. Shakeb – via www.academia.edu.
- ^ "ماہر اقبالیات و دکنیات ڈاکٹر ضیا الدین احمد شکیب کا لندن میں انتقال". 20 January 2021.
- ^ a b Ahmed, Mahamid (7 March 2021). "Ziauddin Shakeb obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ "Zia Shakeb is no more; he was a renowned litterateur, historian and authority on art". Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "Zia Shakeb is no more; he was a renowned litterateur, historian and authority on art". 20 January 2021.
- ^ "Annual report" (PDF). www.indiaculture.nic.in. 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
- ^ "centre for deccan studies - Maulana Azad National Urdu University". yumpu.com.
- ^ "List of Fellows". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 117 (2): 1–38. 30 April 1985. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00139024. S2CID 119491063 – via Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Mughal archives: a descriptive catalogue of the documents pertaining to the reign of Shah Jahan, 1628-1658. State Archives, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. 9 February 1977 – via Hathi Trust.
- ^ A descriptive catalogue of the Batala collection of Mughal documents, 1527-1757 AD. British Library. 10 February 1990 – via University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Catalog.
- ^ "Notes: A descriptive catalogue of Persian letters from Arcot and Baroda". library.soas.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Ghalib Aur Zuka by Ziyauddin Ahmad Shakeb". Rekhta.
- ^ "Ghalib Aur Hyderabad". 9 February 1969 – via Internet Archive.