Urdu Studies Vol. 5, Issue 1,
August 2025
ENGLISH SECTION
Ahmad Aqeel Sarwar is serving as Assistant Professor of English in the Higher Education Department of Government of the Punjab, Pakistan. He holds an MA in Global Literature and Culture from the University of York, United Kingdom. His research interests include postcolonial literature, with a particular focus on resistance narratives and their cultural contexts.
Email: ahmad.aqeel@alumni.york.ac.uk
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4336-4935
Almee Raza is Assistant Professor, Department of English in Avadh Girls’s Degree College, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Previously, she has taught in Isabella Thoburn College and Lucknow Christian Degree College. Her area of interest is gender studies, women’s literature, literature from SAARC countries, Indian writing in English. Theatre and music specially appeals to her. She has published papers in various journals and writes poetry and short fiction.
Email: almeeraza508@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5731-1190
Anam Siddiqui holds two Master’s degrees—in Comparative Indian Literature and English Literature—and an MPhil in Comparative Indian Literature from the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi. Her MPhil dissertation, “Mushaira Culture of the Amroha City: A Study of a Poetic Symposium in Contemporary Times,” was completed under the supervision of Prof. (Dr.) Amitava Chakraborty, Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Her research is an ethnographic study of the poetic community of Amroha, focusing on the transformation of Mushaira culture through fieldwork and analysis of class, taste, and cultural positioning, framed through Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital. Her interests include Urdu poetry, ethnographic research, and gender studies.
Email: anamzaki95@gmail.com
ORCID:https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5390-225X
Arifur Rahaman Mollah received his master’s degree from the Department of Islamic Theology, Aliah University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is an Assistant Teacher at Majaherul Uloom Islamia Senior Madrasah, Howrah, WB. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. at the same university. His areas of interest include comparative religion and religious history, especially Islam. He has also attended many national and international seminars in his areas of interest. Mr. Mollah is a passionate researcher who is actively engaged in pursuing research through various national and international seminars.
Email: arifurmollah14@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9066-7358
Arshad Masood Hashmi is Professor of Urdu at Jai Prakash University, Chapra, India, and the only Indian member of the Global Laozegetics Research Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. He has translated the Tao Te Ching into Urdu as Fazāil-e Tark-e ‘Amal, and authored award-winning works on lexicography, literary creation, and criticism. His research interests include translation studies, aesthetic criticism, and classical and comparative literature.
Email: hashmiam68@gmail.com
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3776-0746
Banibrata Mahanta is Professor of English at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. His recent publications include English Studies in India: Contemporary and Evolving Paradigms (Springer 2019, coedited with Rajesh Babu Sharma) and the forthcoming Evolving Perspectives in English Studies: Views from the Northeast and Beyond (with Anindya Syam Choudhury). His monograph Disability Studies: An Introduction (2017), along with the edited volume Narrative Universes of Disability: Global Perspectives (Springer 2025, with Someshwar Sati and Shilpa Das), offers significant critical insight into the field of disability studies. Beyond his academic work, Mahanta also conducts sensitization workshops across India on disability-based marginalization, engaging with issues within and outside academia. He translates from Bangla, Hindi, and Urdu into English. His acclaimed English translation of Kusum Khemani’s Lavanyadevi (Orient Blackswan, 2024) was awarded the prestigious PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant by PEN America in 2021.
Email: bmahanta@bhu.ac.in
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9731-2809
Fathima M is Assistant Professor of English at Jyoti Nivas College, Bangalore. She received her PhD in English from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was also a Fulbright scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. She has contributed articles and reviews to various national and international publications.
Email: fathima.angel@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0759-6165
Fatima Siddiqui has a doctorate in English from the University of Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, titled Dastangoi and Contemporary Renderings: Studying Performance as Text. Her areas of research include Theatrical Storytelling, Cultural Studies, Feminism, and Post-colonial studies. She has taught English to graduate students at Lucknow Christian Degree College, and believes in adopting an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Currently she is teaching High school English, and when at leisure, she can be found online, trying to analyse behavioural patterns in the virtual world or simply admiring countryside picnic pictures.
Email: fattysid@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3189-8070
Dr. Girija Suri is an Assistant Professor of English at Amity School of Liberal Arts, Amity University, Haryana. She has pursued Bachelor’s in English Honors from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, and Master’s in English Honors from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. Owing to her passionate interest in Indian Literature in English and in Translation, and Popular Culture, she went on to complete her doctorate thesis on Saadat Hasan Manto’s radio dramas, from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has published several research essays on Partition literature, Punjabi Diaspora, Indian Literature and popular culture in various journals of repute. In addition, she has presented papers at various international and UGC-sponsored conferences and seminars such as MMLA and IACLALS held at reputed institutions viz. Loyola University (Chicago), BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, Avadh Degree Girls College (Lucknow), Dibrugarh University, Assam, Amity University (Gurgaon), Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar), Jawaharlal Nehru University, GGN Khalsa College (Ludhiana) and Zakir Husain College (Delhi University). She is also the recipient of the Posco Asia Fellowship for Academic Excellence (2010). Her latest edited anthology of critical essays titled Representations of Contemporary India in Digital Popular Culture (Authorspress, 2023) has been well-received by academicians and critics of media, literature and culture studies. Owing to her diverse interests and expertise, she has been invited as a resource person to DAV University, Jalandhar, Lovely Professional University, and Amity International School.
Email: girijasuri131989@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8777-2091
Dr. Haris Qadeer is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. He was a visiting fellow at Co-Futures, University of Oslo (2024), a Charles Wallace India Trust fellow at King’s College, London, UK (2022), and a UGC-DAAD visiting faculty at the Department of English, Potsdam University, Germany (2019). He has co-translated Premchand’s Karbala (Sahitya Akademi 2023). His research articles have appeared in prestigious, journals of international repute. He has co-edited Sultana’s Sisters: Genre, Genre, and Genealogy in South Asian Muslim Women’s Fiction (Routledge 2021) and edited The Silence that Speaks: Short Stories by Indian Muslim Women (OUP, 2022) and Medical Maladies: Stories on Disease and Cure from Indian Languages (Niyogi 2022).
Email: hqadeer@english.du.ac.in
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9203-7561
Dr. Imdad Husain is Assistant Professor of the Department of Islamic Theology at Aliah University, Kolkata, since September 5, 2017. He earned his Ph.D. (2015) and M.A. in Theology (2009) from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. His credentials include Alim (2002) from WBBME and Fazil from Darul Uloom Deoband (2006). Specializing in comparative studies of prophets and nations in the Quran and Bible, he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses, guiding four Ph.D. scholars. With over four years of teaching experience, including part-time lecturing at AMU (2011–2014), Dr. Husain has completed professional development programs (2021, 2022) under UGC-HRDC, MANUU and presented papers at numerous conferences.
Email: imdad2265@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1744-7404
Dr. Khalid Alvi is an Urdu writer, poet, critic and academician. He has authored 12 books and edited the English journal Furtherance and the Urdu monthly Shahkaar. His work has been translated in German, Persian and Uzbek. He has delivered lectures at universities like Peshawar University and the Oriental Institute, Tashkent. His noteworthy books include Ghazal Key Jadid Rujhanat, Angarey, Angarey Ka Tareekhi Pas Manzar, Qayam Chandpuri, Mathnaviat-e Qayam, Abdur Rahman Bijnori, Baazyaft, Ghazalnamah Arshia, Iqan-o Idrak in Urdu; Angarey and Manto Saheb (with Prof. Vibha Chauhan) in English, along with about 200 articles. He has received the Best Critic Award (Urdu Academy, Delhi), the Majaz Award (Canada), the Faiz Award (Canada), the Krishna Chandra Award (Berlin), the Sahir Award (Delhi), and the Sir Sayed Award (Delhi).
Email: drkhalidalvi@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0592-6333
Prof. Marcia Hermansen, Professor and Former Director, Islamic World Studies in the Theology Department, Loyola University, Chicago, United States of America, became the Lady Fatima Chair in Women and Divinity at Habib University, Karachi in 2025. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Arabic and Islamic Studies. Her graduate training included study of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu though language training in the respective countries. She specializes in Sufism, Islamic thought, Muslims in America, Shah Waliullah, Islam and Muslims in South Asia, and women and gender in Islam. Among her many publications are Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians (Peter Lang, 2013); Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe (Springer 2016) and Religious Diversity at School: Educating for New Pluralistic Contexts, (Springer 2021).
Email: mherman@luc.edu
Md. Samiul Azim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Gazole Mahavidyalaya, Malda, West Bengal, India. He has research interests in Postcolonial writings, Indian English writings, and gender studies. He has contributed to many National and International Journals and Books.
Email: azimpremji40@gmail.com & samiul@gmg.ac.in
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1923-083X
Md. Akidul Hoque is an Assistant Professor in Political Science at Gazole Mahavidyalaya, Malda, West Bengal, India. With over a decade of teaching experience, his research interest encompasses gender studies, social justice, and identity politics, showcasing a diverse and interdisciplinary approach. He has contributed to books and journals, offering critical insights into his areas of expertise.
Email: akidul@gmg.ac.in
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3066-1057
Mohd. Siddique Khan is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of English and Modern European Languages, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, awaiting award of his doctoral degree. His research explores the occurrence, reception and evolution of metaphors and metaphoric language in Urdu and English poetry by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Agha Shahid Ali. His research interests include Urdu Humanities and Poetics, Indian Muslim History, and South Asian Literature. He has presented papers at the 52nd Annual Conference on South Asia at the Centre for South Asia, University of Wisconsin, US, (2024) and the South Asian Literary Association (SALA) conference (2025). His research publications have appeared in reputedacademic journals. He is Assistant Professor, department of Liberal Arts and Management, at Dehradun Institute of Technology, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
Email: khansiddiq02@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6775-7572
Naila Anjum is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Bharati College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. She holds a Ph.D. degree from JNU. Her areas of interest are Postcolonial literatures, Partition Studies, Gender Studies and ELT. She has presented papers in national and international seminars and translated short stories from Urdu to English for Katha(2004). Her book reviews have been published in The Book Review (August 2002), The Critical Practice (vol ix, no.1, Jan 2002), The Annual of Urdu Studies (vol 17, 2002) and The Sunday Guardian (July 26th, 2014). Her papers have been published in Indian Literature (May/ June 2016) and the Journal of Literature and Aesthetics (Jan-June 2023) amongst others.
Email: naila.anjum@bharati.du.ac.in
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4326-2040
Noor Fatma completed her postgraduation in Urdu from Jai Prakash University, Chapra, Bihar, in 2009. She was awarded a Ph.D. from the same university in 2022 for her research under the supervision of Prof. Arshad Masood Hashmi on Islamī Tānīsiyat ka Mu’asir Kalāmiya: Asbāb-o-‘Awāmil, focusing on the theoretical aspects of the feminist interpretations of Islamic texts. Her doctoral thesis laid the groundwork for her first book, Islamī Tānīsiyat ke Mobāḥis, published in 2024.
Email: noorsoban@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/009-00033-8525-4391
Rahma Ali holds an undergraduate degree in Social Science from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan. She pursued a concentration in history and her research interests include 20th century Urdu literature, North Indian performance cultures, and gender construction in Indian society. She recently completed her undergraduate thesis, which was a sociological survey of the nautanki, a folk theatre tradition of North India. Her work examined the experiences of the women in this performance space. She considered women’s participation as both performers and audience members against the social backdrop of the nautanki. Rahma is dedicated to furthering her research on North Indian performance traditions and their broader social dynamics at the master’s level.
Email: r.ali.22724@khi.iba.edu.pk
Dr. Saiba Khatoon is Assistant Professor (Urdu) at Sunderwati Mahila College, Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur. Dr. Saiba Khatoon has done her M.A. and Ph.D from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. She qualified the UGC-NET with Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). Her research interests include Urdu fiction, and contemporary criticism. Dr. Khatoon has presented papers at seminars and conferences and published extensively in reputed journals. She is dedicated to promoting Urdu language and literature through research, teaching, and academic engagements.
Email: saiba.urdu@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6401-5569
Dr. Shah Alam is Associate Professor in the School of Mass Communication, IMS Unison University, Dehradun. He is an accomplished academic with over 10 years of teaching and research experience. He holds a Ph.D. from Aligarh Muslim University and has served at prestigious institutions including Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. His areas of interest include media pedagogy, communication research, and media and gender issues. Dr. Alam has contributed extensively through research papers, conference presentations, and academic development programs. He has also held several administrative roles, demonstrating commitment to academic leadership and institutional growth in higher education and media studies.
Email: shahalamamu@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1528-5072
Tabinda Sadiq is a research scholar at the Department of English and Modern European Languages, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. Her research is related to Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. Her Master’s Dissertation was titled, “Raising the Banner of Revolt: Life and Works of Rashid Jahan”. She has also served as Fulbright FLTA Scholar at Wake Forest University, USA from 2020-2021.
Email: tabsadiq26@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9421-6315
Tarika Prabhakar has been working in Satyawati (E) college, University of Delhi, New Delhi, as an Assistant Professor in the English department since 2015. She was the Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant at UC Davis in 2012-13. She has been an active contributor to journals like Sahitya Akademi’s ‘Indian Literature’ and has been invited to speak at several platforms like Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Jain (Deemed to be) University, Carmel College of Arts, Science and Commerce (Goa), among others. Her English translation of the award-winning Kashmiri essays, titled Meditations, was published by Sahitya Akademi in 2021. Her second book of translation, published in January 2025 by Naamak Publications, is a collection of short stories originally written in Urdu by the renowned Urdu writer Mirza Hamid Baig.
Email: route2utopia@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4307-4432
Vatsal Rohilla is a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is currently working on Anglo-American memoirs of acquired disability. His research interests include disability studies, life writing, and the Urdu ghazal and its poetics. His paper “The Return of/to Otherness: A Reading of James Baldwin’s “An Encounter on the Seine”, “A Question of Identity”, and “Equal in Paris”” was published in Sophia Luminous. Four of his ghazals have been published on rekhta.org.
Email: vatsalrohilla21@gmail.com
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1338-6577
URDU SECTION
Prof. Akhlaque Ahmad Ahan is an academic, researcher of Indo-Persian Studies and bilingual poet of Persian and Urdu, fairly known in the Indian sub-continent, Central Asia and Persianate world. His areas of interest and specialization comprises Persian sources of history and culture in the Indo-Persian and Silk Road region, Sufism, Indian Inter-faith and Knowledge Tradition, Amir Khusraw, Dara Shukoh, Khayyam, Rumi, Bedil, Modern Persian Literature, Lexicography, Translation and Urdu-Hindi Literature. He is currently Professor & Chairperson at the Center of Persian and Central Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi since 2001. Also taught as Visiting Professor in Oriental Institute of Uzbekistan, Tashkent in 2019 and in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi (1997-2001). He pursued education in Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Tarbiat Modarris University, Tehran (Source: https://www.jnu.ac.in/Faculty/aahmad/cv.pdf).
Email: aahmad@mail.jnu.ac.in, akhlaq.ahan@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8529-2855
Prof. Mehr Afshan Farooqi is an esteemed scholar, critic, translator, and columnist, currently serving as Associate Professor of Urdu and South Asian Literature at the University of Virginia. Born and raised in Allahabad, India, she distinguished herself academically early on—graduating from Allahabad University with multiple gold medals and later earning her Ph.D. there.Her research centers on literary modernity, bilingual creativity, and the intersections of religion, language, and culture in Urdu literary traditions. A particular focus of her scholarship is the work of the pivotal critic and writer Muhammad Hasan Askari. Her first major monograph, Urdu Literary Culture: Vernacular Modernity in the Writing of Muhammad Hasan Askari (2012), later republished in India as The Postcolonial Mind (2013), earned critical acclaim. In 2008, she edited The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature, a comprehensive two-volume collection that remains a touchstone in Urdu studies. Her more recent scholarly endeavor is Ghalib: A Wilderness at My Doorstep (Penguin Allen Lane, 2021), a critical biography and textual exploration of Mirza Ghalib’s poetry, including his unpublished or “rejected” verses. An accomplished translator, Farooqi has brought Urdu poetry and fiction—especially the ghazal tradition—into English through both her translations and original critical commentary. She is also a regular columnist for Dawn, where she discusses historical and contemporary Urdu literary culture.
At the University of Virginia, she continues to nurture diverse interests, teaching and researching bilingual literature across Urdu, Hindi, and English, with a keen interest in translation, modernism, and literary history. Beyond academia, she is known personally as a passionate gardener, animal lover, and poetry enthusiast—particularly devoted to the ghazals of Ghalib and Mir.
Email: maf5y@virginia.edu
Prof. Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed Shakeb (21 October 1933 – 20 January 2021) was a distinguished Indian historian, art connoisseur, Sufi intellectual and Urdu–Persian literary critic. Born in Hyderabad and raised in Aurangabad, he earned a BA in Political Science from Osmania University and an MA from Aligarh Muslim University before completing his PhD on Golkonda–Iran relations at Deccan College in 1976. As archivist at the State Archives of Andhra Pradesh, he established the Mughal Record Room and later served on the faculty of SOAS, University of London (1980–87). Shakeb also consulted for Christie’s on Islamic and Indian manuscripts, directed Urdu teacher training at Middlesex University, and played a seminal role in founding Deccan Studies in India. Some of the details can be accessed here in an obituary written by his grandson Mahamid Ahmed.
Naimullah Malik was a Pakistani Journalist and translator.
Prof. Nasir Abbas Nayyar is a leading Urdu writer, critic and essayist. After completing his MA in Urdu from Government College University, Faisalabad (1990) and a PhD from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, he pursued post-doctoral research at Heidelberg University on colonial‐period Urdu curricula. He serves as Professor at the Institute of Urdu Language & Literature, University of the Punjab, Lahore, and was Director General of the Urdu Science Board (2017–2020). Since 2020, he has been the honorary editor of Bunyad: A Journal of Urdu Studies at LUMS. Dr Nayyar’s scholarship spans structuralism, postmodernism and postcolonial studies in Urdu literature; his landmark books include Mabad Nau Abadiat (OUP, 2013) and Urdu Adab ki Tashkeel e Jadid, which won the Best Urdu Book Prize at KLF 2017 and the Baba-e-Urdu Maulvi Abdul Haq Award 2016. He regularly contributes columns and essays to leading publications such as Dawn and The News.
Prof. Sarwarul Huda is a distinguished scholar of Urdu language and literature, currently teaching at the Department of Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. An accomplished author and editor, he has made significant contributions to Urdu criticism, literary history, and text editing. Among his notable authored works are Gumshuda Ma‘ni Ki Talash: Mohammad Hasan Askari ka Tanqidi Mutala‘a, Imdad Imam Asar, and Raftgan ka Suragh. His editorial ventures—such as Diwan-e-Ashraf Ali Khan Fughān, Diwan-e-Imdad Imam Asar, Kulliyat-e-Waheed Akhtar, and Shahryar—are widely appreciated for their scholarly rigor and textual authenticity. Prof. Huda’s research and critical writings have earned him a prominent place among contemporary Urdu literary critics and editors.
Prof. Shamim Hanafi (1939-2021) was one of the most respected literary critics, playwrights, and poets of India. A former academic at the Department of Urdu at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, he has also been the editor of its prestigious magazine, Jamia. He has authored a number of respectable books in literary criticism. Some of these that need mention include Jadidiyat ki Falsafiyana Asaas; Nayi Sheri Riwayat; Tareekh, Tehzeeb aur Takhleequi Tajurba; Urdu Culture aur Taqseem ki Riwayat; Khayal ki Musaafat; and Qari Say Mukalma. He has also written four plays, translated four books, and brought out four books for children which he admits of enjoying immensely. Hanfi’s poetry collection Aakhiri Pehar ki Dastak was published by Rekhta, one of its first ventures in publishing, in 2015. A not-so-known fact about Hanafi is that he maintains a keen interest in painting, pottery and the performing arts.
(source: https://www.rekhta.org/authors/shamim-hanafi/profile).
Prof. Syed Sirajuddin (1924–2006) was a distinguished scholar, teacher, and literary critic, best known for his profound contributions to Iqbal studies. He served as Principal of the Postgraduate Evening College, Hyderabad, and later as Professor of English at Osmania University, Hyderabad. He was President of the Iqbal Academy, Hyderabad which published remarkable issues of Iqbal Review. A multilingual scholar, Prof. Sirajuddin was well-versed not only in English, Urdu, Persian, and Arabic but also had working knowledge of Italian, French, and German. He held the position of President of the Iqbal Academy, Hyderabad, and played a key role in promoting the thought and philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal. His deep engagement with classical Islamic literature and modern literary criticism allowed him to bridge Eastern and Western intellectual traditions. As editor of the prestigious journal Islamic Culture, he contributed to scholarly discourse on Islamic thought and civilization. Prof. Syed Sirajuddin’s legacy endures in the fields of Iqbal studies and comparative literature.
Prof. Tahseen Firaqi is a distinguished Pakistani scholar and critic specializing in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic literatures. He serves as Professor and Head of the Urdu Department at Oriental College, Punjab University, Lahore, and directs the Majalis-e-Taraqi-Adab forum for literary advancement. An exceptionally prolific writer, Firaqi has authored and edited numerous critical studies and translations. His book Nikaat was presented with the prestigious Baba-e-Urdu Moulvi Abdul Haq Award by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in July 2020, recognizing his outstanding contributions to Urdu scholarship and literary criticism.
