Mirza Abul Fazl
Mirza Abul Fazl ( bn, মির্জা আবুল ফজল; 1865 - 1956), was a native of East Bengal, now independent Bangladesh, later moved to Allahabad, India.
Life
Mirza was the great grandson of Haji Ali Shirazi. His genealogical tre ...
, who aroused his interest in and reverence for the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
. He was a scholar of wide erudition and clear vision, and was gifted with special insight into the Qur'an. He devoted more than thirty years in translating the Qur'an into poetic English to recapture its beauty and rhythm. He was aware of the significance of the chronological order of the Qur'anic revelation and arranged it according to chronological order. His translation came out in 1974 with the title, ''The Message of the Qur'an: Presented in Perspective''.
Ali was an educator and an active advocate of calendar reform for about ten years. He was a leading Muslim authority on calendar matters. He initiated in Hyderabad a movement to synchronize the dates of the
Fasli
Adherents of Zoroastrianism use three distinct versions of traditional calendars for liturgical purposes, all derived from medieval Iranian calendars and ultimately based on the Babylonian calendar as used in the Achaemenid empire.
''Qadimi'' ...
months with the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
, and finally succeeded, in 1946, in persuading the
Nizam
The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...
to authorize the proposed reform. His success in this far-reaching revision emboldened him, as a liberal Muslem, to analyze the problem of introducing effectively The
World Calendar
The World Calendar is a proposed reform of the Gregorian calendar created by Elisabeth Achelis of Brooklyn, New York in 1930.
Features
The World Calendar is a 12-month, perennial calendar with equal quarters.
Each quarter begins on a Sunday a ...
in the realm of the Crescent. He returned to America in 1953 under a fellowship from the
Fulbright
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
and
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
.
Hashim Amir-Ali died in 1987 at
Banjara Hills
Banjara Hills is an urban commercial centre and one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. This is an upmarket locality close to Jubilee Hills. This area was a hilly forest and was least inhabited in the past. Only ...
, Hyderabad, survived by one daughter and two sons. His sons Hyder Amir-Ali and Asad Amir-Ali and daughter Naveed Jehan Reza are now residing in the U.S.A.
Publications
* ''Rural Research in Tagore's Sriniketon'' (1934)
* ''The Student's Quran : An Introduction''. (1961)
* ''The Environs of Tagore - Then and Now''. (1961)
* ''Facts and Fancies - A book of essays''. (1947)
* ''The Meos of Mewat; old neighbours of New Delhi''. (1970)
* ''The Message of the Qur'an : Presented in Perspective''. (1974)
* ''Upstream Downstream : Reconstruction of Islamic Chronology'' (1978)