Ahmed Ali (Urdu: احمد علی; 1 July 1910 – 14 January 1994) was a Pakistani novelist, poet, critic, translator, diplomat and scholar. A pioneer of the modern Urdu short story, his works include the short story collections: Angarey (Embers), 1932; Hamari Gali (Our Lane), 1940; Qaid Khana (The Prison-house), 1942; and Maut Se Pehle (Before Death), 1945. His other writings include Twilight in Delhi (1940), his first novel in the English language.[1]
Ahmed Ali was born in Delhi, British India, on 1 July 1910. He was educated at Aligarh Muslim University and Lucknow University; in the latter "having achieved the highest marks in English in the history of the university."[2] From 1932 to 1946, he taught at the leading Indian universities including Allahabad University and his alma mater in Lucknow. He also joined the Bengal Senior Educational Service as professor and head of the English Department at Presidency College, Calcutta (1944–47) and was the BBC's Representative and Director in India during World War II, from 1942 to 1945.[3] Following that, he was the British Council Visiting Professor to Nanjing University, as appointed by the British government of India. In 1948, when he tried to return home after the Partition, K. P. S. Menon (then India's ambassador to China) would not allow it because Ali had not indicated his preferences as a government employee; that is, whether to remain in India or transfer to Pakistan. As a result, he was forced to go to Pakistan.[4]
In 1948, he moved to Karachi.[5] Later, he was appointed Director of Foreign Publicity for the Pakistani Government. At the behest of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, he joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1950. According to custom, tiles were drawn to determine the country of assignment. Ali's tile was blank, so he chose China and became Pakistan's first envoy to the new People's Republic. He established formal diplomatic relations that same year. He also helped to establish an embassy in Morocco.[citation needed]
Ali started his literary career at a young age and became a co-founder of the All-India Progressive Writers' Movement along with the writer Sajjad Zaheer who had become well known by the publication of Angaaray (Embers) in 1932. It was a collection of short stories in the Urdu language and was a bitter critique of middle-class Muslim values in British India.[1][6] In addition to Ali, it included stories by three of his friends; Mahmud al-Zafar, Sajjad Zaheer and Rashid Jahan. This book was later banned by the British Government of India in March 1933.[4] Shortly afterward, Ali and Zafar announced the formation of a "League of Progressive Authors", which was later to expand and become the All-India Progressive Writers' Association.[7] Ali presented his paper "Art Ka Taraqqi-Pasand Nazariya" (A Progressive View of Art) in its inaugural conference in 1936.
Ali achieved international fame with his first novel written in English Twilight in Delhi, which was published by the Hogarth Press in London in 1940.[8] This novel, as its title implies, describes the decline of the Muslim aristocracy with the advance of British colonialism in the early 20th century.[1]
Al-Quran, A Contemporary Translation (Princeton University Press, Oxford University Press & Akrash Publishing) is his most notable contribution in the field of translation. According to the book's description it is "approved by eminent Islamic scholars", and "it has come to be recognized as one of the best existing translations of the holy Quran."[citation needed] Other languages he translated from, apart from Arabic and Urdu, included Indonesian and Chinese.[9]
^Twilight in Delhi, The Hogarth Press, 1940; Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1966; OUP, Karachi, 1984; Sterling Paperbacks, Delhi, 1973; New Directions, New York, 1994; Rupa Publications, Delhi, 2007; Urdu translation, Akrash Press, Karachi, 1963, Jamia Millia, Delhi, 1969; (French) French translation, Editions Gallimard, Paris, 1989; Spanish translation, Ediciones Martinez Roca, 1991.
^Alamgir Hashmi, "Ahmed Ali and the Transition to a Postcolonial Mode in the Pakistani Novel in English" in Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. 33/34, No. 1/2 (1998/1999), p. 256
