Prof Haroon Khan Sherwani was an Indian historian, scholar, and author. Maulana Azad National Urdu University had created Centre for Deccan Studies in his honor.
Education
Haroon Khan Sherwani was educated in Aligarh Muslim University, London, Cambridge, Oxford, Grenoble and Geneva. At the age of 15, he went to London to pursue higher education. There he went on to receive degrees from both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. He was called to the bar two years later. He also spent extensive time studying French at the University of Grenoble in France and the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He became head of the Department of History and Political Science at Osmania University and was later appointed Principal of Nizam College, Hyderabad and then of Anglo-Arabic College, Delhi. Professor Sherwani was a scholar of Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, English, French, and Persian, and made significant contributions to the study of Deccan history.
Awards and distinctions
Padma Bhushan given by the Government of India to recognize his contributions in the field of literature and education in 1969
President, Fifteenth Indian Political Science Conference, Alighar, 1952
Member, Indian Delegation to the Commonwealth Relations Conference, Lahore, 1953
President, Indian History Congress. Jubilee Session, Poona, 1963
President, Central and South Asian Section, International Conference of Asian History, Hong Kong also known as capital of china, 1964
Member, Committee appointed by Indian Parliament to translate the Constitution of India into Urdu
Prominent books
Muslim Political Thought and Administration by Haroon Khan Sherwani
Publisher: Munhshiram Manoharlal; 1st Indian edition ; 215 pages This book is a comprehensive study of the political theories of Muslim thinkers. His survey of Muslim political thought begins with the Ideal State as depicted in the Quran. He provides an insight into the working of the political minds of some of the most eminent Muslim thinkers of each era. Alongside the author provides a running commentary about the workings of the political institutions under which they lived in order to find out whether there was any connecting link between their political ideas and the atmosphere in which they flourished.
The Bahmanis of Deccan by Haroon Khan Sherwani
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India 1985; 364 pages Bahmani history covers a very important part of the history of medieval India and corresponds to the period of a unified Deccan. Pre-Bahmani medieval Deccan extended to just half century when the land was governed rather precariously by the Sultans of Delhi, while the two countries between the fall of the Bahmanis and the establishment of the Asaf jahi rule was a period of complete disunion. Perhaps the first attempt at a comprehensive history of a part of the Bahmani rule was made by Professor Sherwani in his book, Mahmud Gawan, the great Bahmani Wazir which was published in 1941. The book was exceedingly well received. The age of Mahmud Gawan forms only a small though a glorious part of the history of Bahmani Deccan which is now being presented to the learned public.
Urdu Translation of Adolf Holm's 'History of Ancient Greece' Member, Committee for the Urdu Translation of the Constitution of India English Translation of Joseph Toussaint Reinaud's French book entitled 'Invasions des sarrazinz en France, et de France en savoie en piedmont et en suisse' published in 1836
