Dr. Mubarak Ali: An Erudite Historian

Despite losing his eyesight, Dr. Mubarak Ali continues to contribute numerous articles each month to various newspapers and websites.

By Muhammad Habib Sanai

The eminent historian and scholar Dr. Mubarak Ali was born on April 21, 1941 in Tonk, which was then a princely state under British India. Regarding his date and year of birth, he himself once wrote:

“When was I born? That’s a difficult question. Whenever I asked my mother, she would say it was the month of Ramazan, and it rained heavily that day. So, it was up to me to choose a birthdate. When I filled out the admission form for school, I wrote April 21, 1941. Whether I was actually born on that date or not doesn’t really matter. Now, it’s my official birthdate—and I count my age from it.”

In 1952, his family migrated to Pakistan and settled in Hyderabad, Sindh. In 1989, he left Hyderabad and moved to Lahore, where he still lives today.

Education

According to him, his father took no interest in the education of him or his siblings. While still in Tonk, he was enrolled by a cousin in Darul Uloom Khalilia for Nazira (recitation) of the Quran. His teacher, Bunany Khan, was a harsh and stern man.

After migrating to Pakistan, he was unable to gain admission to any school for a few years due to the lack of proper certificates. Eventually, after persistent intercession by someone, he was admitted to the fifth grade at Khalid Memorial School.

By the time he reached sixth or seventh grade, he realized that if he continued at this pace, he would be overage by the time he completed his Matric, as Matric at the time required 11 years of schooling. On someone’s advice, he left school and enrolled in the Oriental College to take the Adeeb examination, which would allow him to obtain a Matric qualification by passing only the English subject afterward.

He joined the Oriental College, run by Makhdoom Ameer Ahmed. In 1956, he passed the Adeeb exam, and in 1957, he secured his Matric certificate after passing the English paper. He then got admission to City College, where he studied for four years and earned a B.A. degree.

Afterward, he enrolled in the History Department at Sindh University, where he completed his M.A. in History in 1963. Throughout his academic career, he actively participated in extracurricular activities and represented his college in debates and competitions. He was also deeply involved in student union activities.

Career

He began his teaching career in 1963 as a junior lecturer in the History Department at the University of Sindh. By the time he left the university in 1989, he was serving as a professor and head of the Department of General History.

After joining the History Department, he tried to secure a scholarship for higher studies abroad but was unsuccessful. As a result, he decided to pursue further education overseas at his own expense. He gained admission to Queen Mary College, University of London.

The British Council had agreed to cover his travel expenses, on the condition that his application be forwarded through his university. However, the university authorities refused to send it. Despite this setback, he managed to leave for London in October 1970 to pursue his dream of earning a Ph.D.

He spent about a year and a half there, but continuing his studies became increasingly difficult due to the introduction of tuition fees for foreign students. When someone informed him about free education opportunities in Germany, he decided to go there instead. In February 1972, he moved to Bochum, Germany.

In 1976, he was awarded a Ph.D. by Ruhr University, Bochum, for his research on the topic “The Mughal Court and Its Rituals.”

In September 1976, he rejoined Sindh University. However, within weeks, he was suspended on the grounds of allegedly misbehaving with the Vice Chancellor. Following the intervention of Pir Aftab Shah, then a minister in the Sindh government, he was reinstated.

In his memoirs, he writes that until his premature retirement from service, he was never assigned any further responsibilities. Even students were barred from choosing him as a supervisor for their Ph.D. research.

After leaving Sindh University, he worked as the Director of the Goethe Institute’s Lahore Centre. However, after a few years, he once again found himself without a job. For some years, he taught History as a visiting faculty member at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA). Despite these challenges, his spirit remained unwavering, and he steadfastly held onto his principles. Presently his main source of income is royalties of books.

Scholarship

To date, Dr. Mubarak Ali has written and edited over a hundred books in both Urdu and English. His first book, Tareekh Kia Hai (What is History), was published in 1982. Interestingly, it was also translated into Sindhi by the renowned scholar Dr. Ghulam Lakho and published under the title Tareekh Jo Sabaq in 1984.

His second book, Tareekh aur Shaoor (History and Intellect) (1983), along with several of his early works, was published in his handwriting.

History of Sindh

While Dr. Mubarak Ali is best known for popularizing the study of history and for challenging the narratives upheld by establishment historians, his contributions to the history and historiography of Sindh are equally significant and noteworthy.

His first book on Sindh’s history was titled Sindh Ki Tareekh Kaise Likhni Chahiye (How to Write the History of Sindh), published in 1983. The book was later translated into Sindhi by the renowned writer Aijaz Ahmed Qureshi. Later on this translation along with some other articles was republished as Sindh jo Awaz in 2001.

As part of his History of Sindh series, Dr. Mubarak Ali authored two significant works: Arab Daur-e-Hukumat (1984) and Mughal Daur-e-Hukumat. His essay Naumal: Kya Naumal Ghadar Tha? (Was Naumal a Traitor?) sparked outrage among Sindhi nationalists due to its critical perspective.

These concise works, along with other essays on the history and historiography of Sindh, were later compiled into several anthologies, including Sindh: Khamoshi Ki Awaaz (1992), Sindh Ki Pehchan (1989), and Sindh Ki Tareekh Kya Hai? (2021).

Interestingly, another book with the title Sindh Ki Pehchan was published in 2019, featuring his keynote speech at the Sindh Literature Festival, an interview, and a collection of select articles.

In addition to his work in Urdu, Dr. Mubarak Ali has written numerous essays in English on the history and historiography of Sindh, many of which have been included in various anthologies.

One such book, In the Shadow of History (1993), features a fourth section titled History of Sindh, which contains 18 of his articles on the subject. Another compilation, Essays on the History of Sindh (2005), brings together nine of his essays and research papers.

He has also compiled and edited following prominent books about history of Sindh:

(1) The English factory of Sindh (1983): It is based on extracts gleaned from 13 volumes of the book “English Factories in India” compiled by anonymous compiler. Dr. Mubarak enlightens us that “William Foster collected the factory records from 1618 to 1669 and published the same in 13 volumes from Oxford (1909-27). The present volume is highly valuable for the scholars and the students of the history of Sind.”

(2) McMurdo’sAccount of Sindh (1985): Dr. Mubarak Ali notes that “McMurdo’s Account of Sind is turning point in the historiography of Sind. While writing the history of Sind, he did not deal with the rulers, their courts, political intrigues, and civil wars, but concentrated his research on the detail and description of the country, its climate, products, animals, and the peoples. The history of the masses which was generally ignored by the court historians, is brought into lime light by McMurdo.”

(3) DELHOSTE’S OBSERVATION ON SIND (1987): To explore the possibility of opening the Indus River for trade, a British mission was dispatched to Sindh to negotiate with the Talpur rulers. One of the members of this mission was Lieutenant Edward Delhoste, a surveyor and draftsman attached to the 16th Regiment of the Bombay Native Infantry. According to Dr. Mubarak Ali “Lt. Edwarde Delhoste started his journey from Mandavi and minutely surveyed all the villages and towns on his route and recorded, all information about cultivation, roads, population (men, women, and children), catties, number of ploughs in villages, soil, crops, revenue, buildings (temples, mosques, and tombs), water supply, forests, mines, products of the country. He gave his comments on the social, political, and economic condition of Sind during the 19th century. After completing his journey and surveying the country, he noted down his observations about Sind separately and submitted it to the Bombay government. His report on Sind covers various aspects of the country and society such as climate, people, amusements, language, religion, revenue, government, rulers, army, vegetables and products, animals, fisheries, roads, forts, and carts. Delhoste shrewdly observed the contradiction in the Sindhi society.”

(4) Imperialism at Work, Crow’s Report and Dispatches on Sind (1987): Nathan Crow, a civil servant of the Bombay Government during the British period, first arrived in Sindh in 1799 as part of the first commercial-cum-political mission. He returned in 1800 for a second mission and remained in Sindh for 17 months. Dr. Mubarak Ali observes “His Account, though written for the Bombay Government, contains rich material on the history and culture of the 19th century of Sindh. After a brief history of Sind, he recorded his observations on the soil, climate, fruits, vegetables, animals, inhabitants, population, language, dress and the strength of the army and position of the fortification.”

(5) A Social and Cultural history of Sindh (1987): About this book Dr. Mubarak Ali informs us that “In this volume an attempt is made to construct a social and cultural history of Sindh based on the accounts of European travelers who visited Sind from the 17th 10 19th centuries… The book, thus, presents the social and cultural life of Sind up to the British conquest. The extracts from the accounts and observations of the travelers are selected chronologically with care to avoid repetition.”

(6) Sindh Observed (1993): It contains 19 research articles and essays that were originally published in the Journal of the Sindh Historical Society, which remained active from the mid-1920s until 1947. Dr. Mubarak Ali thinks that “in order to understand the history of Sindh, the articles written by eminent historian and Scholars are selected from the journal of Sind Historical Society. These articles were written by prominent historians and scholars, who, after painstaking research brought to light the ancient as well as modern history of Sindh. As the journal ceased to publish; and its complete record is not available in any library, it is decided to publish collection of best of articles and make them available to scholars and general readers.”

(7) Sindh Analyzed (1994): This book is a combined volume of two earlier works: McMurdo’s Account of Sindh (1985) and Delhoste’s Observations on Sindh (1987), both discussed above.

Quaterly Tareekh

He launched the quarterly Tareekh and edited more than sixty issues of the journal.

Awards

He has received the following awards and recognition:

             Faiz Ahmed Faiz Award- 1989

             Hassam-ud-Din Rashidi Gold Medal Award by Sindh Graduate Association- 2002

             Communal Award giving by Dalai Lama- 2009

             Life time Achievement Award giving by Sobho Gayanchandani 1 May 2014

             Khwaja Ahmad Abbas International Award by Pakistan Academy of Letters – 2018

Conclusion

This public intellectual, erudite historian, and scholar, despite losing his eyesight, continues to contribute numerous articles each month to various newspapers and websites.

Read: M. H. Panhwar – An iconic scholar of Sindh studies

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Muhammad Habib Sanai is based in Hala town of Sindh. He is a freelance writer and contributes his research-based articles to various newspapers and other publications.