Mohammad Ishaq Khan


Mohammad Ishaq Khan was a historian of Kashmir. He was Dean Academics, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Head, Department of History at Kashmir University. After his superannuation in 2005, he became the Director of the newly founded Centre for Kashmir Studies and later held the Shaikhul Alam Chair at Kashmir University until August 2008.

Biography

Ishaq Khan was the son of a prominent businessman, Ghulam Ahmad Khan, who was one of the local pioneers of hotel industry in Kashmir. Being a staunch supporter of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Ahmad Khan was jailed for his underground political activities and died on 4 April 1956 after his release. In his Weekly Khalid, Khwaja Sadruddin Mujahid, editor, and jailmate of Ghulam Ahmad Khan along with Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, alleged that the illness and subsequent death of his friend was caused by slow poisoning in the Central Jail of Srinagar works at The Tribune.

Education and work

Ishaq Khan completed his PHD under the supervision of Mohibbul Hasan in 1975. He was the first PHD of Kashmir University in the Faculty of Social Sciences. He was Professor of History at Kashmir University from 1988 to 2005 after serving the same university as Lecturer and Reader.
He was nominated as Member of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Government of India, and presided over the Punjab History Congress in 2001. He was elected to Senior Leverhulme Fellowship by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in 1992, and was also offered a fellowship by St Cross College, Oxford.

Philosophical and political views

Ishaq Khan identifies himself as a researcher and a traveller in the Sufi Path who has always preferred to live in relative seclusion. His most widely read book Kashmir's Transition to Islam: The Role of Muslim Rishis has been described as a “pioneering” “authoritative”, and “seminal” work on the social dimension of Islam in Kashmir and “an important critique of the concept of ‘syncretism’.” Probably he is the first Indian historian who has also written extensively against using Islam as an ideology. He regards Islam as essentially faith rather than politico-religious ideology. His critical views on the so-called Islamic ideology, though written much before some well known contemporary American critics of ideology like Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir, have not yet received the scholarly attention due to them. Although rooted in Sufism, Ishaq Khan at times has been extremely bold in his criticism of using jihad for political purposes. He was also critical of General S.K. Sinha, former governor of J&K, for his “saffronisation” agenda in Kashmir. He was removed as the first and founding Director of the Centre for Kashmir Studies, Kashmir University, for the views he expressed at the inaugural session of the newly founded UGC centre. Shortly, this centre was high jacked by the Indian Chapter of South Asia Foundation and renamed Institute of Kashmir Studies, thanks to Gen. Sinha's vested interest, as Chancellor of Kashmir University, in promoting “saffronisation” of Kashmir history. Such development on the campus turned Ishaq Khan into a rebel mystic poet. His Kashmir: Humanity Stifled, though an unknown poetical work, has much to say about the wrongs of contemporary Kashmir in terse verse. The noted Indian Professor of English and former Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University, G.K. Das, describes Ishaq Khan as a “poet philosopher” in the prestigious journal: Indian Literature.
Ishaq Khan supports Gen. Mushraff's views on Kashmir. Although love for independent Kashmir is reflected in his poetical compositions, Ishaq seems to favour the realistic solution of the Kashmir problem within the framework of the Indian constitution.

International recognition

His books and research articles have received critical recognition in prestigious academic journals of international repute in India and abroad including The Indian Historical Review; The American Historical Review; Studies in History; Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies; Pacific Affairs; Journal of Asian Studies; South Asia Research; The New York Review of Books; Indian Literature, The Indian Archives; Itihas; and scores of newsmagazines: Indian Book Chronicle; Bulletin Henry Martyn Institute; The Times of India; The Indian Express; The Hindu; Frontline; The Indian Foreign Review; The Hindustan Times; etc.
Historians, social scientists and littérateurs who have highlighted the contribution of Ishaq Khan to historical research in various publications are: Professors Mohibbul Hasan, T.N. Madan, Richard Maxwell Eaton, Harbans Mukhia, Mushirul Hasan, Christian W Troll, Barbara Metcalf, Gail Minaul, S. Gopal, K. Majumdar, Annemerie Schimmel, Ayesha Jalal, Sugata Bose, Mirdu Rai, Chitrilekha Zutshi, Frank Colonon, S. Gopal, B.K. Majumdar, H.K. Naqvi, Gregory C. Kozlowski Stephen Frederic Dale, Sugata Bose, Ayesha Jalal, Andrew Rippin, Trimothy G.Reagan, Juan Eduardo, Johan Elverskog, Anna Libera Dallapiccola, Stephaine Zingel, Knut A. Jacobsen, Carla Bellarny, Jamal Malik, Anna Aknsoy, Ali Sutaan Asami, Bhagwan Josh, P. Sahadevan.
The world-famous sociologist Professor T.N. Madan observes: “Khan chose to tread this straight but often difficult path of Islamic piety and the pursuit of knowledge many years ago, and has done so with steadfast step and distinction...I have high regard for Professor Mohammad Ishaq Khan and I greatly value his scholarly contributions.” Foreword to Crisis of a Kashmiri Muslim: Spiritual and Historical

The well-known writer Pankaj Mishra writes :“Dr. Khan...has done pioneering work on Islam’s acculturation in the Hindu-Buddhist environment of Kashmir. He is a small, round-faced man, gentle in demeanor; he speaks slowly, as if unaccustomed to talking much of his work, but in clear qualified sentences that indicate a quietly active mind. During... the years of the insurgency...he has done his best work: a book on the spiritual dimensions of Islam that stressed the contemplative aspects of the faith over the ideological ones....Dr. Khan’s allegiance was to the Sufi tradition of Kashmir....His suspicion of Islam as ideology had only grown after the violence and suffering caused by the insurgency... Dr. Khan committed to the intellectual life...” The New York Review of Books''

Death

After suffering a heart attack, Professor Khan was admitted to the SK Institute of Medical Sciences Intensive Care Unit, where he died on 5 April 2013. He was 67.

Selected books

  1. History of Srinagar, 1846–1947: A Study in Socio-Cultural Change
  2. Perspectives on Kashmir: Historical Dimensions
  3. Kashmir's Transition to Islam: The Role of Muslim Rishis
  4. Experiencing Islam
  5. Crisis of a Kashmiri Muslim: Spiritual and Intellectual with a Foreword by Prof. T.N. Madan
  6. Biographical Dictionary of Sufism in South Asia
  7. Kashmir: Humanity Stifled
  8. Sufis of Kashmir
  9. The Merited Invocation: English translation of Awrad-i Fathiyya of Mir Sayyid ‘Ali Hamadani with notes and annotations

    Research articles

Mohammad Ishaq Khan has authored following research articles: