Omar Khalidi
Encyclopedia
Dr. Omar Khalidi, BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 ALM
Alm
Alm may refer to:* An alpine pasture* Alm , Austria* The protagonist of Fire Emblem Gaiden* A stadium in Bielefeld, Germany, see "Bielefelder Alm"* An historical liquid measure, see aamALM may refer to:* Abundant Life Ministries...

 PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

, (1953 - 29 November 2010), Born in Hyderabad, India. He was an eminent Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 scholar, a staff member of the MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, USA and an author. He was educated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and the United States. He is referred to as Chronicler of Hyderabad and Champion of Minority Rights
Minority rights
The term Minority Rights embodies two separate concepts: first, normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities, and second, collective rights accorded to minority groups...

. and considered as a international relations builder. His visits to various countries, sponsored by the US State Department, were a part of this effort.

The main subjects of his books are minority rights
Minority rights
The term Minority Rights embodies two separate concepts: first, normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities, and second, collective rights accorded to minority groups...

, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...

, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

, Urdu education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, military history
Military history
Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships....

, library science
Library science
Library science is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the...

, cataloging
Cataloging
Cataloging is the process of listing or include something in a catalog. In library science is is the producing of bibliographical descriptions of books or other kinds of documents...

 ethnic groups and nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

. His incisive writings on minority rights inspired the Sachar Committee
Sachar Committee
The Rajinder Sachar Committee, appointed in 2005 by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was commissioned to prepare a report on the latest social, economic and educational condition of the Muslim community of India. The commettee was headed by the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court ...

 to seek a community wise census of the Indian armed forces
Indian Armed Forces
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. They consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force, supported by three paramilitary forces and various inter-service institutions such as the Strategic Forces Command.The President of India is...

. He had also authored several books and articles on Islam in America and mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

.

His two books, Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Police, and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots (2003) and Muslims in Indian Economy (2006), had focused on the institutional discrimination against Muslims in India, creating furor in Indian Parliament in 2006. L.K. Advani had verbally attacked him for allegedly tarnishing the secular credentials of the Indian army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...

 and personally held him responsible for the Sachar Committee
Sachar Committee
The Rajinder Sachar Committee, appointed in 2005 by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was commissioned to prepare a report on the latest social, economic and educational condition of the Muslim community of India. The commettee was headed by the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court ...

’s request for a community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 wide census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Early life and Education

Born 1953 in Hyderabad, India. His father Abu Nasr Muhammad Khalidi, was a specialist in the Islamic studies
Islamic studies
In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...

 and Urdu literature
Urdu literature
Urdu literature has a long and colorful history that is inextricably tied to the development of that very language, Urdu, in which it is written...

 at Osmania University
Osmania University
Osmania University , , since 1918, is a public university located in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established and named after the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan. It is one of the oldest modern universities in India. It is the first Indian University to have Urdu and...

. Omar Khalidi received his primary education at Madrassa-e-Aaaliyah High School in Hyderabad. He completed his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 at the Wichita State University
Wichita State University
Wichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....

 in 1980. In 1991 he received theALM
Alm
Alm may refer to:* An alpine pasture* Alm , Austria* The protagonist of Fire Emblem Gaiden* A stadium in Bielefeld, Germany, see "Bielefelder Alm"* An historical liquid measure, see aamALM may refer to:* Abundant Life Ministries...

 from the Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 from the University of Wales Lampeter, UK in (1994).

Career

In the 1980s he worked at the King Saud University
King Saud University
King Saud University is a public university located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdul Aziz as Riyadh University, as the first university in the kingdom not dedicated to religious subjects. The university was created to meet the shortage of skilled workers in...

 in Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...

, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

 and from there he moved back to USA and became the staff member of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

 in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. Later in 1983, he joined the Aga Khan
Aga Khan
Aga Khan is the hereditary title of the Imam of the largest branch of the Ismā'īlī followers of the Shī‘a faith. They affirm the Imamat of the descendants of Ismail ibn Jafar, eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, while the larger Twelver branch of Shi`ism follows Ismail's younger brother Musa...

 Program
Program
Program may refer to:* Computer program* Program , those executed by machines that are not computers* A synonym for patch, a synthesizer setting stored in memory.* The trade name for lufenuron, a veterinary flea control medication...

 for Islamic Architecture
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....

, MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 and worked there as a librarian until his death in a train accident in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, USA.

Scholar

His first scholarly work was The British Residents at the Court of the Nizams of Hyderabad published in 1981. Since then he wrote and edited more than 25 books. The most famous book he edited is Hyderabad: After the Fall published in 1990. The book documents the fall of the Princely state of Hyderabad
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...

 and its negative impact on the Muslim community. He researched up excerpts from the Pandit Sunderlal Commission Report which for the first time offered a glimpse into what really happened in 1948 as Hyderabad
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...

 was amalgamated into the Indian union
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Media contribution

Khalidi served as a regional Vice-President of American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin, and was an active participant in the various activities of all other Indian Muslim organizations in the USA and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. His articles were published regularly in the MetroWest Daily News
MetroWest Daily News
The MetroWest Daily News is a morning and afternoon daily newspaper in Framingham, Massachusetts, USA, serving the MetroWest region of suburban Boston...

 and he was an active columnist for various other journals and wrote for the Economic and Political Weekly
Economic and Political Weekly
The Economic and Political Weekly is a left-leaning Indian magazine published from Mumbai by the Sameeksha Trust, a charitable trust. The magazine was first published in 1949 as the Economic Weekly and since 1966 was re-christened the Economic and Political Weekly. It was edited by Krishna Raj...

, The Outlook
The Outlook
The Outlook is a weekly newspaper based in Rathfriland, County Down, Northern Ireland, serving the south of county Down. It is published by the Alpha Newspapers Group and was founded in 1940 and sells 3,244 copies a week....

, India Abroad
India Abroad
India Abroad is a weekly newspaper published from New York City, which focuses on Indian news meant for an Indian American, Indian diaspora and expatriate audience. The publication is known for its annual award ceremony for the "India Abroad Person of the Year."India Abroad was founded by Indian...

, Two Circles and for many other print and internet media.

Books

Below are the collection of some of his books.
ublished Year ook Name ublisher
1981 The British Residents at the Court of the Nizams of Hyderabad Hyderabad Historical Society.
1985 Hyderabad State Under the Nizams, 1724-1948: A Bibliography of Monographic and Periodical Literature Hyderabad Historical Society.
1987 Deccan Under the Sultans, 1296-1724: A Bibliography of Monographic and Periodical Literature Hyderabad Historical Society.
1988 African Diaspora in India: The Case of the Habashis of Deccan Hamdard National Foundation.
1988 Hyderabad After the Fall Hyderabad Historical Society.
1990 Indian Muslims in North America South Asia Press.
1991 Factors in Muslim Electability to Lok Sabha Harvard University Press.
1991 Memoirs of Cyril Jones: People, Society, and Railways in Hyderabad Manohar Publications.
1992 Shama-e-Faroozan: Chand Ilmi Aur Adabi Shakhsiyatoon Ke Halaat-e-Zindagi Aur Karname Azmi and Sons.
1994 Memoirs of Sidney Cotton South Asia Press.
1995 Islamic Literature in the Deccani Languages: Kannada, Marathi, & Telugu Hyderabad Historical Society.
1998 Suqut-e-Hyderabad: Chashm Deed Aur Muasir Tahreeron Par Mushtamil Manzar Aur Pesh Manzar (Edited with Dr. Muinuddin Aqil) All India Majlis Tameer-e-Millat.
1999 Romance of the Golconda Diamonds Mapin Publishing.
1999 Approaches to Mosque Design in North America MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

.
1999 The Architecture and Campus Planning of Osmania University MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

.
1999 American Architecture of Islamic Inspiration MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

.
2003 A Guide to Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu Manuscript Libraries in India Middle East Librarians Association.
2003 Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Police, and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots Three Essays Press.
2004 Between Muslim Nationalists and Nationalist Muslims: Maududi’s Thoughts on Indian Muslims Institute of Objective Studies.
2004 The British Residency in Hyderabad: An Outpost of the Raj (1779-1948) British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.
2006 An Indian Passage to Europe: The Travels of Fath Nawaz Jang Oxford University Press.
2006 Muslims in the Deccan: A Historical Survey Global Media Publications.
2006 Muslims in Indian Economy Three Essays Collective.
2006 Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India-2 Three Essays Collective.
2006 A Guide to Architecture in Hyderabad, Deccan, India Three Essays Collective.

Death

Omar Khalidi died on 29 November 2010, in a train accident at the Kendall Square
Kendall Square
Kendall Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the "square" itself at the intersection of Main Street, Broadway, Wadsworth Street, and Third Street...

, MBTA station
MBTA Commuter Rail
The MBTA Commuter Rail serves as the regional rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in the United States. It is operated under contract by the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company a joint partnership of Veolia Transportation, Bombardier Transportation and Alternate...

 in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

-Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, as per his family statement published in Arab News
Arab News
Arab News is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia, in the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam. The Editor-in-Chief is Khaled Al-Maeena. The publisher of Arab News is Saudi Research & Publishing Company , a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group .Arab News was...

 on 30 November 2010
: Omar Khalidi drove in his car to MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

 campus and was probably trying to catch a train to buy medicine at the next station. He was a diabetic, and it seems his sugar level had reached abnormal levels and he was hit by a train in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 His funeral prayers were held at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center
Islamic Society of Boston
The Islamic Society of Boston is a mosque and cultural center for Muslims in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The current Imam is Basyouny Nehela. ISB offers daily, weekly and annual programs for Muslims including Arabic and English classes on religious and secular topics as well as a religious school...

 in Roxbury
Roxbury
Roxbury may refer to:United States*Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts*Roxbury, Connecticut*Roxbury, Kansas*Roxbury, Maine*Roxbury, New Hampshire*Roxbury Township, New Jersey*Roxbury, New York...

.

He is left by wife Nigar Khalidi, and daughter Aliya.

See also

  • Hyderabadi Muslims
  • Golkonda
    Golkonda
    Golkonda or Golla konda a ruined city of south-central India and capital of ancient Kingdom of Golkonda , is situated 11 km west of Hyderabad.The most important builder of Golkonda was a Hindu Kakatiya King...

  • Hyderabad State
    Hyderabad State
    -After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...

  • India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

  • Muslim culture of Hyderabad
    Muslim culture of Hyderabad
    Hyderabadi Muslims are a community of Urdu-speaking Muslims from the area that used to be the princely state of Hyderabad, India. With its origins in the Muslim Bahmani Sultanate and then Deccan sultanates, the culture became defined in the latter half of the reign of the Nizam dynasty in Hyderabad...

  • History of Hyderabad
    History of Hyderabad
    Hyderabad is an historic city noted for its many monuments, temples, churches, masjids, and bazaars. A multitude of influences has shaped the character of the city in the last 400 years....

     for a history of the city of Hyderabad.
  • Hyderabad (India) for the city.

External Links

MIT News
Rediff News, Remembering Omar Khalidi, Interview
khabrein.info, Detail list of books
Dr Omar Khalidi's voice will be sorely missed, Rediff.com
The Rediff Interview of Dr. Omar Khalidi about his book Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India,..
Dr. Omar Khalidi article: Mawlāna Mawdūd? and the Future Political Order in British India
Dr. Omar Khalidi article: The Caliph's Daughter

See also

Hyderabadi Muslims
Muhammad Hamidullah
Muhammad Hamidullah
Muhammad Hamidullah or Muhammad Hameedullah, D. Phil., D. Litt., HI., was a Hyderabadi from Hyderabad State , Muhaddith, Faqih, scholar of Islam and International Law, and foremost a prolific academic author Muhammad Hamidullah or Muhammad Hameedullah, D. Phil., D. Litt., HI., (Urdu: محمد...

Hyderabad after the fall
American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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