Ahmed Ali was a Pakistani novelist, poet, critic, translator, diplomat and scholar. A pioneer of the modem Urdu short story, his works include the short story collections: Angaare, 1932; Hamari Gali, 1940; Qaid Khana, 1942; and Maut Se Pehle, 1945. His other writings include Twilight in Delhi, his first novel in the English language.
Biography
Born in Delhi, British India, Ahmed Ali was educated at Aligarh Muslim University and Lucknow University; in the latter "having achieved the highest marks in English in the history of the university." From 1932 to 1946, he taught at the leading Indian universities including Allahabad University and his alma mater in Lucknow. He also joined the Bengal Senior Educational Service as professor and head of the English Department at Presidency College, Calcutta and was the BBC's Representative and Director in India during World War II, from 1942 to 1945. Following that, he was the British Council Visiting Professor to Nanjing University, as appointed by the British government of India. In 1948, when he tried to return home after the Partition, K. P. S. Menon would not allow it because Ali had not indicated his preferences as a government employee; that is, remain in India or transfer to Pakistan. As a result, he was forced to go to Pakistan. In 1948, he moved to Karachi. Later, he was appointed Director of Foreign Publicity for the Pakistani Government. At the behest of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, he joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1950. According to custom, tiles were drawn to determine the country of assignment. Ali's tile was blank, so he chose China and became Pakistan's first envoy to the new People's Republic. He established formal diplomatic relations that same year. He also helped to establish an embassy in Morocco.
Literary career
Ahmed Ali started his literary career at a young age and became a co-founder of the All-India Progressive Writers' Movement along with the writer Sajjad Zaheer who had become well-known by the publication of Angaaray in 1932. It was a collection of short stories in the Urdu language and was a bitter critique of middle-class Muslim values in British India. In addition to Ali, it included stories by three of his friends; Mahmud al-Zafar, Sajjad Zaheer and Rashid Jahan. This book was later banned by the British Government of India in March 1933. Shortly afterward, Ali and Zafar announced the formation of a "League of Progressive Authors", which was later to expand and become the All-India Progressive Writers' Association. Ali presented his paper "Art Ka Taraqqi-Pasand Nazariya" in its inaugural conference in 1936. Ali achieved international fame with his first novel written in English Twilight in Delhi, which was published by the Hogarth Press in London in 1940. This novel, as its title implies, describes the decline of the Muslim aristocracy with the advance of the British colonialism in the early 20th century. Al-Quran, A Contemporary Translation is his most notable contribution in the field of translation. Approved by eminent Islamic scholars, it has come to be recognized as one of the best existing translations of the holy Quran." Other languages he translated from, apart from Arabic and Urdu, included Indonesian and Chinese.
