Identity: Researcher, Linguist, Lexicographer, and Bibliophile
Professor Abdul Rashid was born on 21 April 1956 in Delhi, India. He received his secondary education at Anglo Arabic School, Delhi, and later earned a Bachelor's degree from Zakir Husain College (formerly Delhi College). He obtained an M.A. in Linguistics, an M.A. in Urdu, and an M.Phil. from the University of Delhi, followed by a Ph.D. in Urdu from the Department of Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
From 1985 to 1992, he served as a temporary lecturer at the Urdu Teaching and Research Centre, Lucknow, under the Central Institute of Indian Languages. He subsequently remained associated with Jamia Millia Islamia for many years and, after a distinguished career in teaching and research from 1996 to 2021, retired as Professor in the Department of Urdu.
His principal areas of interest include Urdu lexicography, the Urdu script, nineteenth-century Urdu narratives, and the discovery, documentation, and editing of rare books. His contributions to Urdu lexicography and bibliography are widely recognized. His research articles have appeared in leading literary journals and newspapers in both India and Pakistan.
Professor Abdul Rashid is a co-editor of Farhang-e-Aryan, a multilingual dictionary project covering Persian, Hindi, English, and Urdu, published under the auspices of the Iran Culture House, New Delhi. Several volumes of this important work have already been published.
His major publications and editorial works include Persian Words in Hindi, Farhang-e-Kalam-e-Mir (Chiragh-e-Hidayat Ki Raushni mein), Catalogue of Books Published by Munshi Nawal Kishore Press, Catalogue of Siddiq Book Depot Publications, Qissa Sipahizadah, Qissa Chhabili Bhatiyari, Qissa Guru Chela, Naqlein aur Hikayatein, Baqiyat-e-Ghulam Abbas, Aina-e-Hairat Aur Doosri Tahrirein, Farhang-e-Tilism-e-Hoshruba (Volume I), and Pehla Qadam (Learn Urdu through Hindi).
An important contribution in the fields of bibliography and linguistics is A Selected Bibliography of Urdu Language and Linguistics, which he co-edited with Professor A. R. Fatihi.
In recognition of his scholarly and literary contributions, he received the Award for Research and Criticism from the Urdu Academy, Delhi, in 2012. In 2024, the Ghalib Institute, New Delhi, honored him with the Ghalib Award for his overall contribution to the promotion of Urdu language and literature.
