Qudrat Ullah Shahab (or Qudratullah Shahab, ur, ; 26 February 191724 July 1986) was an eminent
Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu" '' Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
.
Shahab holds the distinction of having served as the
Principal Secretary The Principal Secretary is a senior government official in various Commonwealth countries.
* Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan
* Principal Secretary to the President of Pakistan
* Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Ind ...
to three heads of state; Governor General Ghulam Muhammad, President
Iskander Mirza
Sahibzada Iskander Ali Mirza ( bn, ইস্কান্দার আলী মির্জা; ur, ; 13 November 1899 – 13 November 1969), , was a Pakistani Bengali general officer and civil servant who was the first President of Pakista ...
, and President Ayub Khan. He went on to serve as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the
Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
in 1962 and later as
Information Secretary of Pakistan
The Information Secretary of Pakistan is the Federal Secretary for the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage. The position holder is a BPS-22 grade officer, usually belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service. The Inf ...
and
Education Secretary of Pakistan
The Education Secretary of Pakistan is the Federal Secretary for Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. The position is occupied by a BPS-22 grade officer, usually belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service.
The Secreta ...
.
Early life
Shahab was born in Gilgit on 26 February 1917. His father,
Abdullah Sahib
Abdullah Sahib was the Governor of Gilgit Agency during Dogra rule and was one of the earliest graduates of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College. He was the father of Pakistani writer Qudrat Ullah Shahab.
Early life
He was born in an Arain family o ...
, belonged to the
Arain
Arain (also known as Raeen) are a large Punjabi agricultural tribe with strong political identity and organisation, found mainly in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh with a small population in parts of Indian Punjab, Uttar Pradesh ...
tribe of Chimkor Sahib village, district Ambala, and was a student at
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College ( ur, Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind, italics=yes) was founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, initially as a primary school, with the intention of taking it to a college level institution, known as Muhammed ...
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, h ...
. Abdullah Sahib later migrated from
Aligarh
Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the cap ...
and settled down in Gilgit. Shahab first rose to prominence when, at sixteen, an essay he penned was selected for the first prize in an international competition organized by the
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...
, London, and, in 1941, for being the first Muslim from Jammu and Kashmir qualifying for the
Indian Civil Service
The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947.
Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...
. He later moved to
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
, Pakistan, after the separation of the sub-continent and took charge as Under-Secretary (Import and Export), Ministry of Trade, of the newly-formed independent state. He also served as the first Secretary General (later the position was renamed as Chief Secretary) of Govt. Of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Qudrat Ullah was deputy commissioner of
Jhang
Jhang (Punjabi, ur, ), ) is the capital city of Jhang District, in the central portion of the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, it is the 18th largest city of Pakistan by population.
The historic ...
. He was behind many government schemes launched for the benefit of writers and intellectuals.Profile of Qudrat Ullah Shahab Rekhta.org website, Retrieved 27 October 2022
Literary works
Shahab himself published in English and
Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu" '' Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
in January 1959.
Shahab's essay "Maaji" poetically outlines the simplicity of his mother and the relationship that his parents shared, detailing migration, governorship, family dynamics, and death in a short chapter.
He is best known for his autobiography '' Shahab Nama''.
Spiritualism
The real disclosure came in the final chapter of ''Shahab Nama'' that alluded to an out-of-world personality whom he used to call ''Ninety'' as his spiritual guide. After ''Shahab Nama'' published, which was actually after Shahab's death,
Mufti
A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...
wrote his autobiography, ''
Alakh Nagri
Mumtaz Husain, better known as Mumtaz Mufti ( ur, ; September 11, 1905 – October 27, 1995), was a writer from Pakistan.Mumtaz Mufti
Mumtaz Husain, better known as Mumtaz Mufti ( ur, ; September 11, 1905 – October 27, 1995), was a writer from Pakistan.Alakh Nagri
Mumtaz Husain, better known as Mumtaz Mufti ( ur, ; September 11, 1905 – October 27, 1995), was a writer from Pakistan.Bano Qudsia
Bano Qudsia ( ur, ; 28 November 19284 February 2017), also known as Bano Aapa, was a Pakistani novelist, playwright and spiritualist. She wrote literature in Urdu, producing novels, dramas plays and short stories. Qudsia is best recognized ...
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
and is buried in H-8 Graveyard, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Honorary stamp
On 23 March 2013, Pakistan Post issued a stamp with denomination of Rs. 15 under the "Men of Letters" series in the honour of Qudratullah Shahab.Qudrat Ullah Shahab (Men of Letters Series) postage stamps Pakistan Post website, Published 23 March 2013, Retrieved 27 October 2022
Books
*'' Shahab Nama'' – autobiography (1986)Books by Qudrat Ullah Shahab GoodReads.com website, Retrieved 27 October 2022
*''Ya khuda'',یا خُدا – novel
*''Mān̲ jī'', ماں جی – short stories
*''Surk̲h̲ fītāh'', سُرخ فِیتہ – short stories
*''Nafsāne'', نفسانے – short stories
*''Shahāb nagar'', شہاب نگر – literary miscellany
*''Pathans'' – an essay about
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...