Identity: Renowned researcher, historian, scholar of Abul Kalam studies, and an authoritative historian of the political and historical movements of the Indian subcontinent

Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri (real name: Tasadduq Husain Khan) was born on 30 January 1940 in Shahjahanpur. He received his early education at Madrasa Saeedia Shahjahanpur and Jamia Qasimia Madrasa Shahi, Moradabad. In 1950, he migrated to Pakistan with his family. There, he earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Karachi and later completed his PhD from the University of Sindh. His doctoral thesis focused on the research and editing of Tazkira-e-Khandan-e-Waliullahi by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri spent a major part of his academic career at Government National College, Karachi, where he served as a professor of Urdu until his retirement in 2002. He was regarded as an authoritative scholar on the political, religious, and historical movements of the Indian subcontinent. One of the most significant aspects of his scholarly work was “Abul Kalamiyat” — the study of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. His research on Maulana Azad was considered exceptionally important, and he was regarded as Pakistan’s foremost scholar on Abul Kalam Azad after Agha Shorish Kashmiri and Ghulam Rasul Mehr.

He began writing in 1957, and his first article was published after the death of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Over the years, he authored and edited more than fifty books on Azad’s personality, thought, politics, and contemporaries. His notable works include Abul Kalam Azad: A Political Study, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: Internment in Ranchi and Its Legacy, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Khwaja Hasan Nizami, and Abul Kalam Azad and His Contemporaries. He also wrote explanatory annotations for the Urdu translation of India Wins Freedom.

In total, Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri authored and edited more than 150 books. One of his greatest scholarly achievements was the compilation and editing of the political diary of Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, published in eight volumes and approximately seven thousand pages under the title Husain Ahmad Madani Ki Siyasi Diary: Akhbar o Afkar Ki Roshni Mein. His other important works include Tehreek-e-Pakistan: Afkar o Masail, Maulana Muhammad Ali and His Journalism, Ashfaqullah Khan Shaheed: Hayat o Afkar, and Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi Ke Inquilabi Mansube.

His articles regularly appeared in literary and scholarly journals such as Ma’arif, Burhan, Madina, and Chattan. He was also associated with the Abul Kalam Research Institute in Karachi and remained actively engaged in scholarly and research activities throughout his life.

Death: Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri passed away on 2 February 2021 in Karachi.