->Tayi Arajakate at 07:16, 11 January 2022

2022-01-11T07:16:43Z

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{{Short description|Indian Historian}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[S. Irfan Habib]]}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2015}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Irfan Habib
| image =Irfan Habib.jpg
| caption =Irfan Habib – at his residence in [[Aligarh]]
| birth_date ={{birth date and age|df=y|1931|08|10}}
| birth_place =[[Vadodara]], [[Baroda state|Baroda princely state]], [[British India]]<br>(now [[Gujarat]], [[India]])
| citizenship =Indian
| fields =History
| alma_mater ={{Plainlist|
*[[Aligarh Muslim University]]
*[[Oxford University]]
}}
| doctoral_advisor =C.C. Davies
| notable_students =
| awards ={{Plainlist|
[[Watumull Prize]] (1982)<ref name="historians.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.historians.org/awards-and-grants/past-recipients/discontinued-awards|title=Discontinued Awards - AHA|website=www.historians.org}}</ref>
[[Padma Bhushan]] (2005)
}}
}}
'''Irfan Habib''' (born 1931) is an Indian historian of ancient and medieval India, following the methodology of [[Marxist historiography]]. He identifies as a Marxist and is well known for his strong stance against [[Communalism (South Asia)|Hindutva and Muslim communalists]].<ref>[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?234450 Historian: Prof Irfan Habib] ''outlookindia.com''. Magazine | 23 April 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2013</ref> He has authored a number of books, notably the ''Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556–1707''.

==Early and personal life==
[[File:Irfan habib.jpg|thumb|right|140px|Irfan Habib – 2007]]
Habib was born in an Indian Muslim family, the son of [[Prof. Mohammad Habib|Mohammad Habib]], a [[Marxism|Marxist]] historian and ideologue belonging to the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]], by his wife Sohaila Habib (née Tyabji). His paternal grandfather was Mohammad Naseem, a wealthy barrister and member of the [[Indian National Congress|Congress party]], and his maternal grandfather was [[Abbas Tyabji]], sometime Chief Justice of the High Court of [[Baroda state|Baroda princely state]], and noted follower of Mahatma Gandhi.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejrBraqBaLQC&q=%22Irfan+Habib%22&pg=PA202|title=The Making of History: Essays Presented to Irfan Habib|last=Habib|first=Irfan|date=2002|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=9781843310389|pages=1|language=en}}</ref>

Habib's wife Sayera Habib (née Siddiqui) was Professor of Economics at [[Aligarh Muslim University]] (AMU).<ref name="agrarianmughal">The Agrarian System of Mughal India, Oxford University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-19-565595-8}}, Preface xv</ref> The couple have three sons and a daughter.

==Academic==
After returning from Oxford, Habib joined AMU as a member of the faculty; he was Professor of History at Aligarh from 1969–91 and is presently a [[Emeritus|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.<ref name=":0" />

Habib has worked on the [[historical geography]] of [[History of India|Ancient India]], the [[Science and technology in ancient India|history of Indian technology]], medieval administrative and [[economic history]], [[colonialism]] and its impact on Indian [[historiography]].<ref name=":0" />

[[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."<ref>[[Amiya Kumar Bagchi]]. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/socialscientist/pager.html?issue=272-74&objectid=HN681.S597_272-74_091.gif Writing Indian History in the Marxist Mode in a Post-Soviet World], Review of ''Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perception'', Social Scientist, 1996.</ref>

==Positions==
He was Coordinator/Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Studies, AMU from 1975–77 and 1984–94. He was Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research during 1986–90.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ichr.ac.in/Chairman_list.html|title=Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi, India|website=ichr.ac.in}}</ref> He was the general secretary, Sectional President, and then the General President of the Indian History Congress (1981).<ref name=":0" />

==Philosophical and political views==

Habib identifies as a Marxist and uses Marxist historiography in his work.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1721/17210700.htm | title = A tribute to Irfan Habib | first = Ashok | last = Mitra| publisher = Frontline | date = 14–27 October 2000 | access-date = 9 April 2007}}</ref>

Habib has also written books about [[Vedas]] and [[Vedic period|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.<ref>The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future, p.271, Martha Nussabaum, Harvard University Press</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19981230/36451394p.html|title=Singh, Bajinder Pal, 1998, Historians likely to resist'saffronisation', The Indian Express}}</ref> He has said that the [[BJP]] government at the Centre which was in power from 1998–2004, especially the [[MHRD]] Minister himself, were responsible for inventing facts and dates to suit their interpretation of Indian history.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120716105205/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-01-01/india/27119564_1_habib-sanskrit-historian "Government trying to invent history, says Habib"]</ref> To counter Irfan Habib, [[Murli Manohar Joshi]] released a book which rebuts the history of what the former minister calls '‘Habib & Co'’.<ref>NCERT brings out book to counter 'Habib & Co', 2003, The Indian Express [http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/30952/]</ref><ref name=":0" />
Irfan Habib was accused by [[K. K. Muhammed]] of peddling false knowledge regarding Ram Temple of Ayodhya completely disregarding archaeological evidence of prior important structure of worship and devotional value for Hindus.<ref>Njannenna Bharatheeyan by K K Muhammed</ref>

==Honours==
*Among the first six [[Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship]]s, 1968.<ref>{{cite web| title = Official list of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows (1969-present)|work = [[Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund]] | url = http://www.jnmf.in/flist.html }}</ref>
*[[Watumull Prize]] of [[American Historical Association]], 1982. (Jointly with [[Tapan Raychaudhuri]]).<ref name="historians.org"/>
*[[Padma Bhushan]], 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/archive/|title=Archive News|website=The Hindu}}</ref>
*Ibn Sina Memorial Lecture, 2009 ([[Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences]]).{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}
*[[Honorary doctorate]] ([[Doctor of Letters|D.Litt]]) by [[University of Calicut]], 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |title=University of Calicut Former Honorary Degree Recipients |url=http://www.universityofcalicut.info/news/formerdegreerecepients.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107134605/http://www.universityofcalicut.info/news/formerdegreerecepients.pdf |archive-date=2013-11-07 |access-date=2020-07-12}}</ref>
*Yash Bharti, 2016<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amarujala.com/uttar-pradesh/aligarh/pro-will-be-honored-with-yash-bharti-irfan-habib|title=प्रो. इरफान हबीब होंगे यश भारती से सम्मानित- Amarujala}}</ref><ref>http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions//cm-presented-yash-bharati-awards.html</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Eminent-achievers-to-get-Yash-Bharti-Award-today/articleshow/51486494.cms|title=Eminent achievers to get Yash Bharti Award today - Times of India|website=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref>

==Selected publications==
;Books Authored
*''The Agrarian System of Mughal India 1556–1707''. First published in 1963 by Asia Publishing House. Second, extensively revised, edition published in 1999 by [[Oxford University Press]].
*''An Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps With Detailed Notes'', Bibliography, and Index. [[Oxford University Press]], 1982
*''Essays in Indian History – Towards a Marxist Perception''. [[Tulika Books]], 1995.
*''The Economic History of Medieval India: A Survey''. [[Tulika Books]], 2001.
*''Medieval India: The Study of a Civilization''. [[National Book Trust]], 2008.
*''People's History of India – Part 1: Prehistory''. Aligarh Historians Society and [[Tulika Books]], 2001.
*''People's History of India Part 2 : The Indus Civilization''. Aligarh Historians Society and [[Tulika Books]], 2002.
*''A People's History of India Vol. 3 : The Vedic Age''. (Co-author Vijay Kumar Thakur) Aligarh Historians Society and [[Tulika Books]], 2003.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 4/5 : Mauryan India''. (Co-author Vivekanand Jha) Aligarh Historians Society and [[Tulika Books]], 2004.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 6 : Post-Mauryan India, 200 BC - AD 300''. [[Tulika Books]], 2013.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 14 : Economic History of India, AD 1206-1526, The Period of the Delhi Sultanate and the Vijayanagara Empire''. [[Tulika Books]], 2017.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 20 : Technology in Medieval India, c. 650-1750''. Aligarh Historians Society and [[Tulika Books]], 2016.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 25 : Indian Economy Under Early British Rule, 1757-1857''. [[Tulika Books]], 2014.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 28 : Indian Economy, 1858–1914''. Aligarh Historians Society and [[Tulika Books]], 2006.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 30 : The National Movement: Origins and Early Phase to 1918''. [[Tulika Books]], 2018.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 31 : The National Movement, Part 2: The Struggle for Freedom, 1919-1947''. [[Tulika Books]], 2020.
*''A People's History of India – Vol 36 : Man and Environment''. [[Tulika Books]], 2015.
*''The National Movement: Studies in Ideology & History''. [[Tulika Books]], 2011.
*''An Atlas of Ancient Indian History''. (with Faiz Habib) [[Oxford University Press]], 2012.

;Books Edited:
*''The Cambridge Economic History of India'' – Volume I: 1200–1750 (co-editor [[Tapan Raychaudhuri]])
*''UNESCO History of Civilizations of Central Asia'', Vol 5 : Development in contrast: from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. (Co-editors Chahryar Adle and K M Baikapov)
*''UNESCO History of Humanity'', Vol 4: From the seventh to the sixteenth century. (With various co-editors).
*''UNESCO History of Humanity'', Vol 5: From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. (With various co-editors).
*''The Growth of Civilizations in India And Iran''
*''Sikh History from Persian Sources: Translations of Major Texts''. (with J.S. Grewal) Indian History Congress and [[Tulika Books]], 2011.
*''Akbar and His India''
*''India – Studies in the History of an Idea''.
*''State & Diplomacy under Tipu Sultan''
*''Confronting Colonialism''
*''Medieval India'' – 1
*''A World to Win'' – Essays on the Communist Manifesto (co-editors Aijaz Ahmed and [[Prakash Karat]])

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.cpim.org/marxist/201004-maixist-indian%20history-Habib.pdf Note Towards a Marxist Perception of Indian History], ''The Marxist'', Oct-Dec 2010.
* [http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/NCERT_Delhi_Historians__Group.pdf "Delhi Historians Group's Publication "''Communalization of Education: The History Textbooks Controversy''", A report in 2002, New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University, India]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050825022246/http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/AuthorSelect.asp?Author=Irfan%2BHabib Selected publications of Irfan Habib]
*[http://www.littlemag.com/faith/irfanhabib.html The Nation That Is India] – an article by Irfan Habib, ''the little magazine'', 2003.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060622184824/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1721/17210700.htm Review of ''The Making of History: Essays Presented to Irfan Habib'']
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jan/05inter.htm 2001 Interview of Irfan Habib on Rediff]
*[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?234450 Historian: Prof Irfan Habib] ''outlookindia.com''. Magazine | 23 April 2007.

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}{{Tyabji family}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Habib, Irfan}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:Aligarh Muslim University alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Aligarh Muslim University faculty]]
[[Category:Emeritus Professors in India]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Historical Society]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:Indian atheists]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Analysts of Ayodhya dispute]]
[[Category:Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]

Irfan Habib - Revision history

->Tayi Arajakate at 07:16, 11 January 2022