Nadir Ali Khan


Early life

Khan was born on 16 June 1931 in Rataul, into a family of Islamic scholars. He was appointed as reader in Aligarh Muslim University, later becoming professor of Urdu Language and then honorary consultant of the department.
Khan journeyed to acquaint himself with the centres of Islamic importance in India, where he met Sheikh ul-Hadith Muhammad Zakariya al-Kandahlawi and the reformer Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Kandhalawi, from whom he learned dawah and reformation.
Soon after, he attended Lucknow University and earned a PhD.

Work

Khan is a prolific writer in Urdu. Perhaps his best-known work is A history in Urdu Journalism , which examines newspapers from nine different cities.
His works are part of the syllabi in various universities, and several have been translated into English. His wide-ranging study of Urdu journalistic literature is a contribution of abiding value to the appreciation of India ethos at a crucial moment in Indian history. His extensive study of contemporary Urdu literature, his rare insight into the process of social change and, above all, his unique faculty of analysis and interpretation are each reflected in his study which opens fresh vistas for the interpretation of socio-political history of modern India. Lately the French historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie has studied the culture of the small French village Montaillou on the basis of Jacques Fouiern's Register's. His work is rightly claimed as constituting a landmark in modern historiography. No such work has so far been undertaken in India. The newspapers from Mirzapur, Benaras, Meerut, Bareilly, Rampur, etc., brought to light by Khan, will hopefully one day attract scholars to undertake similar studies of the intellectual and social milieu of the Indian towns. He prepared grounds for the utilization of journalistic literature for the reconstruction of the cultural history of India during the 19th century.
Due to his sermons and simple and modest lifestyle, Dr Nadir Ali Khan commands respect from Muslims all over the world. He has a simple, eloquent and distinctive style of explaining the purpose of human life and its creation and often uses scientific examples to support his argument. He has delivered lectures to all types of communities in the society with the attendees being doctors, engineers, professors, businessmen, landlords, government officials, TV/film artists, ministers/politicians and sports celebrities. His untiring efforts brought real Islamic values in the lives of many Muslims.