CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Syed Waheed Ashraf

Indian Sufi scholar and poet

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ7660455
Source-derived summary

Syed Waheed Ashraf (born 4 February 1933) is an Indian Sufi scholar and poet in Persian and Urdu.

Education and career

Ashraf received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. (1965) degrees from Aligarh Muslim University. The title of his doctoral dissertation was A Critical Edition of Lataif-e-Ashrafi. After serving at a number of Indian universities (Punjabi University at Patiala, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda at Vadodara and the University of Madras), Ashraf retired as head of the department of Arabic, Persian and Urdu at the University of Madras at Chennai in 1993. Fluent in seven languages (Middle Persian, New Persian, Arabic, English, Hindustani [Hindi-Urdu] and Gujarati), he writes in Urdu, Persian and English, has written, edited or compiled over 35 books. Ashraf has focused on upholding and propagating the principles and practices of Sufism.

Works

Books

Sufism and Islamic studies

Urdu

Hayat-e-Makhdoom Syed Ashraf Jahangir Semnani First Edition (1975) Second Edition (2017) ISBN 978-93-85295-54-6, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002HAYATE MAKHDOOM SYED ASHRAF JAHANGIR SEMNANI (2nd Ed.), 2017, OL 26384309M

Tasawwuf (Part I) (1988), Reprint (2016) ISBN 978-93-85295-28-7, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Tasawwuf (Part II) (2020), ISBN 978-93-85295-13-3, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Tafsīr-e-Ashrafi (Iradat), Part I

Tafsīr-e-Ashrafi (Bayat), Part II

Qāal-Alashraf

Qāal-Ussufia

Me'rāj Sharīf (2003)

Roza (1996)

Mumin (2003)

Hajje Tamattu (2010)-

Chand Duyain Aur Mukhtasar Aurad-e-Ashrafia (Urdu and Arabic, 2007)

Persian

Jawahir-us-Sulūk (translated and illustrated)

Latāif-e-Ashrafi and Maktubāt-e-Ashrafi As Sources of History of Medieval India (sponsored by the Indian Council of Historical Research)

Muqaddema-e-Latāif-e-Ashrafi. Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 1976.مقدمۀ لطايف اشرفي

Latāif-e-Ashrafi, part I (edited and annotated, 2010)

Latāif-e-Ashrafi, part II (edited and annotated, 2010)

Latāif-e-Ashrafi, part III (edited and annotated, 2010)

English

The Exoteric and Esoteric Aspects of Islamic Prayers (2005)

Poetry

Urdu

Ruba'i (1987)

Tajalliyāt First Ed.(1996), Second Ed.(2018) ISBN 978-93-85295-76-8, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Lamhaat First Ed.(1998), Second Ed.(2023) ISBN 978-93-85295-76-8, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Munājāt First Ed.(2002), Second Ed.(2022) ISBN 978-93-85295-36-2, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Āyāt First Ed.(1996), Second Ed.(2020) ISBN 93-85295-12-8, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Saughāt (2005)

Chainama (2016)

Barakaat First Ed.(2021), ISBN 978-93-84434-62-5, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Persian

Parwaaz-e-Tafakkur (2015)

Ruba'i: Part I (2010)

Ruba'i: Part II

Daryā Bi Qatrah (2009)

Criticism

Urdu

Fida (Pupil of Ghalib; Co-Author Malik Ram; First Edition 1983, Second Edition 2015)

Afsar Maudoodi

Mutalae Afsar Maudoodi (2012)

Muqaddema-e-Rubai First Ed.(2001), Reprint (2019) ISBN 978-93-85295-00-4 {{isbn}}: Check isbn value: checksum (help), Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 202002

Urdu Zaban Mein Na'at-Gō'ī Ka Fan

Rūh-e-Mahmood

Tauzeehāt

Persian

Tafheemāt

Qasāid-e-Zauqi Vellori (translated, illustrated and edited)

Letters

Irtibāt-o-Inekaas (Urdu and English)

Articles

English

"The Political and Economic Thoughts of Hadrat Saiyed Ashraf Jahangir", Indo-Iranica, The Quarterly Organ of the Iran Society, Volume 56, March, June, September and December 2003, Numbers 1 to 4. Iran Society, 12 Dr. M. Ishaque Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 700016.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Syed Waheed Ashraf” is indian Sufi scholar and poet. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Syed, Waheed and Ashraf, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1933, 1965, 1993, 1975—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Syed, Waheed and Ashraf is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “indian Sufi scholar and poet” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7660455. The first chronological checks are 1933, 1965, 1993 and 1975.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Syed Waheed Ashraf”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Syed Waheed Ashraf primary sources, Syed Waheed Ashraf archive and Syed research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Syed Waheed Ashraf”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Syed Waheed Ashraf” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.