Irfan Habib | |
---|---|
Born | |
Alma mater | |
Spouse | Sayera Habib |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Abbas Tyabji (maternal grandfather) Tyabji family |
Awards | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | History |
Doctoral advisor | C.C. Davies |
Irfan Habib (born 10 August 1931) is an Indian historian of ancient and medieval India, following the methodology of Marxist historiography in his contributions to economic history. He is known for his strong stance against Hindutva and Islamic fundamentalism. He has authored a number of books, notably the Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556–1707, an Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps with Detailed Notes, and an Atlas of Ancient Indian History (with Faiz Habib). As the general editor, he is also the driving force behind the A People's History of India series, volumes of which continue to be released.
Habib was born into an Indian Muslim family. He was the son of Mohammad Habib and Sohaila Habib (née Tyabji). [2] His paternal grandfather was Mohammad Naseem, a wealthy barrister and member of the Congress party, and his maternal grandfather was Abbas Tyabji, sometime the Chief Justice of the High Court of Baroda princely state, and noted follower of Mahatma Gandhi. [3]
Habib's wife Sayera Habib (née Siddiqui) was Professor of Economics at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). [4] The couple have three sons and a daughter.
After returning from Oxford, Habib joined AMU as a member of the faculty; he was Professor of History at Aligarh from 1969 to 1991 and is presently a Professor Emeritus. He delivered the Radhakrishnan Lecture at Oxford in 1991. Habib is an Elected Corresponding Fellow of the British Royal Historical Society since 1997. [3]
Habib has worked on the historical geography of Ancient India, the history of Indian technology, medieval administrative and economic history, colonialism and its impact on Indian historiography. [3]
Amiya Kumar Bagchi describes Habib as "one of the two most prominent Marxist historians of India today and at the same time, one of the greatest living Marxist historians of India between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries." [5]
He was Coordinator/Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Studies, AMU from 1975 to 1977 and from 1984 to 1994. He was Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research during 1986–90. [6] He was the general secretary, Sectional President, and then the General President of the Indian History Congress (1981). [3]
Habib uses Marxist historiography in his work. [7] [8]
Habib has also written books about Vedas and Vedic age, and he considers the Vedas to be a good historical source, which describes transmission in a priestly culture, that valued faithfulness. He further lays out the reasons that the texts were orally transmitted for hundreds of years, then they were finally written down. [9]
Habib has a sustained commitment to secularism. He led the historians at the Indian History Congress of 1998 who moved a resolution against the "saffronisation" of history. [10] He has said that the BJP government at the Centre which was in power from 1998 to 2004, especially the MHRD Minister himself, were responsible for inventing facts and dates to suit their interpretation of Indian history. [11] To counter Irfan Habib, Murli Manohar Joshi released a book which rebuts the history of what the former minister calls "Habib & Co". [12] [3]
Habib condemned a decision led by the BJP which removed chapters on Muslim rule, including the Mughals, from some school textbooks, along with references to Muslims' contributions to the country's freedom struggle. He argues that these revisions aim to deny Muslims their place in India's history and are part of an Islamophobic agenda. [13]
Bipan Chandra was an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he specialized on the Indian independence movement and is considered a leading scholar on Mahatma Gandhi. He authored several books, including The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism.
Romila Thapar is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Thapar is a Professor of Ancient History, Emerita, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.
Kishori Saran Lal (1920–2002), better known as K. S. Lal, was an Indian historian. He is the author of several works, mainly on the medieval history of India.
Ram Sharan Sharma was an Indian historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was visiting faculty at University of Toronto (1965–1966). He also was a senior fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was a University Grants Commission National Fellow (1958–81) and the president of Indian History Congress in 1975. It was during his tenure as the dean of Delhi University's History Department that major expansion of the department took place in the 1970s. The creation of most of the positions in the department were the results of his efforts. He was the founding Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and a historian of international repute.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an apex resource organisation set up by the Government of India to assist and advise the central and state governments on academic matters related to school education. The model textbooks published by the council for adoption by school systems across India have generated controversies over the years. They have been accused of using Orwellian tactics to reflect the political views of the party in power in the Government of India. Recently it's been under scrutiny for saffronisation.
Prabhat Patnaik is an Indian Marxian economist and political commentator. He taught at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, from 1974 until his retirement in 2010. He was the vice-chairman of Kerala State Planning Board from June 2006 to May 2011.
Biblia Impex India is a New Delhi–based book distribution company that specializes in books on Indology, Hinduism and Buddhism founded by the influential Indian historian Sita Ram Goel in 1963. It is currently managed by Goel's son Pradeep Kumar Goel.
Barun De was an Indian historian. He served as the first professor of social and economic history of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, founder-director of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata and as the honorary state editor for the West Bengal District Gazetteers. He was chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission.
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College is the constituent medical college of Aligarh Muslim University, located in Aligarh, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Muzaffar Alam is the George V. Bobrinskoy Professor in South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.
Mohammad Habib (1895–1971) was an Indian historian, who worked at the Aligarh Muslim University. He was involved in the Indian Independence movement, and was an associate of both Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Zafarul Islam Islahi is Professor and Chairman of Department of Islamic Studies at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh India and a member of Management Committee of Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy, Azamgarh India. He is also Secretary of Idarah Ulumul Quran, Aligarh India and a Historian, Islamic, Quarnic scholar.
Satish Chandra was an Indian historian whose main area of specialisation was medieval Indian history.
Jamal Khwaja was an Indian philosopher.
Aligarh Muslim University is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875. Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, following the Aligarh Muslim University Act.
M. Athar Ali was an Indian historian of medieval Indian history. Throughout his career, he was known for his strong stance against Hindu and Islamic extremism. He was a professor at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Medieval History at his alma mater, Aligarh Muslim University.
Dhruv Raina is a philosopher and historian of science from India. He is best known for his work on the domestication of science in colonial India, transnational intellectual networks of science and historiographies of science. He was Professor of History of Science Education at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies (ZHCES), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (2003-2023). Before joining JNU, he was a scientist at the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi from 1991 to 2002. He was the first Heinrich Zimmer Chair for Indian Philosophy and Intellectual History, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany (2010–11). His basic training is in physics, and he completed his doctoral studies with Aant Elzinga in the philosophy of science from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden on the Jesuit enlightenment historiography of Indian astronomy and mathematics.
Science and technology studies (STS) in India is a fast growing field of academic inquiry in India since the 1980s. STS has developed in the country from the science movements of the 1970s and 1980s as well as the scholarly criticism of science and technology policies of the Indian state. Now the field is established with at least five generations of scholars and several departments and institutes specialising in science, technology and innovation policy studies.
The Tyabji family, also known as Tyabji-Hydari,Tyabji-Fyzee, and Tyabji-Futehally family, consists of Mullah Tyab Ali and his descendants. The Tyabji family has gained prestige for its involvement in India's independence movement with individuals being prominent politicians, diplomats, academics, scientists, activists, and athletes. Other members gained prominence for their roles in India's Navy and Air Force and contribution to Indian film and fine art. Individuals within the Tyabji family belong to the Indian royal families of the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Nawab of Bengal, Raja of Wanaparthy, and the Nawab of Janjira.
Mohammad Mohibul Haque, or Muhibul Haque, is a scholar and professor of international politics, Indian polity, minority rights and human rights at the Department of Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University. He was awarded President of India Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal for Excellence during his studies. He speaks English, Hindi, and Urdu languages. Haque is also a writer and author of articles, research papers, chapters in the edited books on socio-political issues. He has also authored a book. He has done research on the topic of The Rights of Minorities in India: The Role of the National Commission for Minorities.