Moulvi Abdul Haq, known as the Father of Urdu (Baba e Urdu), was born 140 years ago on Nov. 16, 1872 in Hapur, Ghaziabad District, India. He was an acclaimed Urdu educator, writer, critic, linguist, lexicographer, editor, compiler, translator, etymologist, biographer and grammarian. His entire life was devoted to making Urdu the foremost language across the subcontinent. At an early age, he acquired expertise in Urdu, Deccani, Persian, English, and Arabic. In 1894, he obtained his bachelor's degree from Aligarh Muslim University. During his formative years, his contemporaries included progressive scholars like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Moulana Shibli Nomani, Sir Ross Masood, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Professor T. W. Arnold. In his early career, Moulvi Abdul Haq served as a translator and based on his esoteric capabilities he was later appointed Inspector of Schools (Aurangabad, Deccan). Simultaneously, he also served as secretary of All India Muslim Educational Conference, where he managed the promotion of Urdu across the entire British India. “Baba-e-Urdu” was a moving spirit behind the establishment of famous Osmania University, Hyderabad Deccan, where he was instrumental in curriculum design and development of teaching methods in Urdu for all subjects and faculties. Under his able supervision, textbooks and reference material were compiled and taught in Urdu. Later on, he served as chairman of the University's Department of Urdu. Osmania University rose to new heights under his leadership and became second after Aligarh Muslim University. It was Moulvi Abdul Haq who worked hard to enrich Deccani Urdu literature and make it familiar to the masses. He was the first in unearthing various old rare manuscripts from the archives that remained unattended for centuries. He introduced Deccani literature to modern Urdu readers and historians and strengthened the roots of the Urdu language. Having realized the demise of Persian language, Moulvi Abdul Haq made it his mission to place Urdu language head-to-head with English and Arabic. He ensured that Urdu books and materials were developed in basic fields of knowledge, including medical sciences, arts and crafts, geology, astronomy, mathematics, economics, and social sciences. In his tenure, he edited rare manuscripts such as Meraajul Ashqeen (1924), Zikr-e-Mir (1928), Bagh-o-Bahar (1931), Sab Ras (1932), Nikat-o-Shoara (1935), Nusrati (1938) and Qutub Mushtari (1939). After his retirement from Osmania University in 1930, he compiled and edited a comprehensive and authoritative English-Urdu dictionary. Under his astute care, the “Anjuman e Taraqqi e Urdu” (Society for Development of Urdu) emerged as a powerful service organization across the subcontinent. In the 1930s, Mahatma Gandhi and his comrades started a campaign to change the Urdu script. Thanks to the Anjuman and proactive role of Moulvi Abdul Haq, the attempt was successfully thwarted. Until the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he fought the Indian National Congress for the cause of Urdu and Pakistan. In early 1948, Moulvi Abdul Haq migrated to Pakistan. During the partition riots, thousands of valuable manuscripts, memoranda, books and articles that he possessed were inadvertently lost. Anti-Islam sections of the British Government had seriously damaged the Anjuman by withdrawing all support in 1945. Moulvi Sahib reached Pakistan poor in health, meager in resources but planted the Anjuman anew, on fresh ground. Under the aegis of the organization, countless books and several important journals were brought out and reproduced in Urdu. Between 1948 and 1961, “Baba-e-Urdu” patronized and inaugurated various “Urdu Public Libraries” and lived long enough to see his dreams come to reality, including the introduction of Urdu medium institutions of higher learning and establishment of an arts and science college with an Urdu curriculum. He continually stressed the need for a multi-dimensional multi-region Urdu University for which he even called an All Pakistan National Conference in 1959. Moulvi Abdul Haq, a lifelong proponent for Urdu, was the moving force behind making Urdu the National Language of Pakistan. After a prolonged illness, Moulvi Abdul Haq passed away on August 16 1961. As a researcher, scholar, critic and lexicographer, Moulvi Abdul Haq is a great name in history. It is, however, as the foremost campaigner of Urdu and its greatest servant that “Baba-e-Urdu” will be remembered for ever. The Government of Pakistan, in recognition of his tireless efforts, issued a postage stamp in his honor in 2004. — (Rohail A. Khan — commemorating Baba-e-Urdu's 140th birthday)
