Abdul Haq (Urdu scholar)
Urdu scholar and linguist (1870-1961)
Abdul Haq (20 April 1870 – 16 August 1961) was a Pakistani Urdu linguist and scholar. Often known as Baba-e-Urdu (Urdu: بابائے اردو, Father of Urdu), he is credited for the development and promotion of Urdu language in 20th century. He is known for demanding Urdu to be made the national language of Pakistan.
Early life
He was deeply influenced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's political and social views, and, following his wishes, learned English and scientific subjects. Like Syed Ahmad Khan, Abdul Haq saw Urdu as a major cultural and political influence on the lives and identity of the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent.
In the same year, he was appointed secretary of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference, which had been founded by Sir Syed in 1886 for the promotion of education and intellectualism in Muslim society. Sir Syed founded the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu in 1886 in Aligarh with Thomas Walker Arnold as its first president and Shibli Nomani as the first secretary. In 1912 Haq was appointed as the secretary of the Anjuman. Under him, the organization flourished and published a number of magazines, notably Urdu, launched in January 1921, Science, in 1928, and Hamari Zaban (ہماری زبان; lit "Our Language"), in 1939. During this period he also served as the Principal of Osmania College (Aurangabad) and retired from that position in 1930.
“Abdul Haq (Urdu scholar)” enters the record as urdu scholar and linguist (1870-1961). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Abdul, Urdu and scholar can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2993002. VIAF identifies the subject as 159664. The Library of Congress control number is n81080014. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1870, 1961, 1886 and 1912.
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