Hafiz Mehmood Khan Shirani
Hafiz Mehmood Shirani (5 October 1880 – 15 February 1946) was an Indian researcher and poet during the British era.[1][2][3]
He was the father of famous Urdu poet Akhtar Sheerani (1905 – 1948).[3]
Life and career
Mehmood Khan Shirani was born on 5 October 1880 in Tonk, Rajasthan, British India.[2][3] He memorized the Quran at a young age and then first learned the basics of Persian language.[3] Then he finished his basic early school education in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in 1898.[3] After that, he went to Lahore to do his Munshi Alam degree in 1899 followed by a Munshi Faazal degree in 1901.[3]
His son, Muhammad Dawood Khan, later to become a notable Urdu poet by the professional name Akhtar Sheerani (1905-1948) was born on 4 May 1905 in his native town Tonk, Rajasthan.[3]
Mehmood Shirani started teaching Urdu at Islamia College, Lahore in 1921.[2][4][3]
In 1928, he started teaching at Oriental College, Lahore. He retired from his teaching profession in 1940. He was a researcher and his "Punjab Mein Urdu" theory and later published book made him famous.[2][1]
Death
Hafiz Mehmood Khan Shirani died on 15 February 1946 in his native town of Tonk, Rajasthan, British India.[2][3]
Works
Books
Articles
- Eusuf va Zulekha-e Firdausi[3]
- Firdausi ka mazhab[3]
- Hijv Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi
- Farsi Shayeri aur unki qadamat irtebate Aruz
- Mirza Ghalib ka kalam (Urdu-Farsi)
- Mathnavi-e Arwatul Wasqi of Shahabi
- Hindustan mai Mughlon se qabl farsi Adab
- Khazain-ul Futuh az Amir Khosrau
- Number of papers on Daqiqi and Qabusnama
Origin of Urdu
Hafiz Mehmood Shirani is credited with the theory that Urdu was born in Punjab. He claimed that since Mahmud of Ghazni had conquered Lahore and Muslims stayed there for some 200 years before invading Delhi in 1193, Urdu must have taken shape during that period and, in a way, the Punjabi language gave birth to Urdu. The theory goes that the Muslims brought Urdu language from Punjab to Delhi with them.[2][1]
Two centuries later, Sherani claimed that Muslim conquerors brought the language to Delhi with them.[2][1] He listed some similarities between Urdu and Punjabi.[1][5]
Shirani was not the first to reach this conclusion, preceded by linguists such as Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, T. Graham Bailey and Mohiuddin Qadri Zore. However Shirani was the first to deeply research the theory.[2][1]
Teacher
An article named ''Urdu Tahqeeq Ka Muallam e Awwal''[3] written by Muhammad Usman Butt, critically analyzed the contributions of Shirani in the field of Urdu linguistics and research.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Mian Noor Hassan. "Punjab Mein Urdu by Hafiz Mehmood Khan Shirani - a literary criticism (in Urdu language)". Internet Archive website.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rauf Parekh (8 February 2010). "Was Urdu born in Punjab?". Dawn newspaper. Archived from the original on 21 October 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Butt, Muhammad Usman (27 April 2021). "Urdu Tahqeeq Ka Muallam e Awwal (First Teacher of Research on Urdu language - Hafiz Mehmood Khan Shirani) (original article in Urdu language)". Urdupoint.com website. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
- ^ By Mohan Lal (1992). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot via Google Books. Sahitya Akademi. p. 4020. ISBN 9788126012213.
- ^ Dildār ʻAlī Farmān Fatiḥpūrī, Dild−ar ʻAl−i Farm−an Fatiḥp−ur−i (1987). Pakistan movement and Hindi-Urdu conflict. Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1987 - Foreign Language Study - 406 pages. p. 24.