Peter Hardy (historian)


Peter Hardy was a Lecturer, and later Reader, at the School of Oriental and African Studies from 1947 to 1983. A specialist in the history of Islam, the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal India, he had particular expertise in Indo-Persian historiography. Among his many publications, Historians of Medieval India is highly regarded. His book Muslims of British India is a key work on the colonial period, often re-printed. Hardy's essay "Abul Fazl's Portrait of the Perfect Padshah" was the first attempt to critically reappraise Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak and his political philosophy. His career has drawn the attention of Ian Brown in his history of SOAS.

Key Works

Historians of medieval India; studies in Indo-Muslim historical writing
Partners in freedom and true Muslims. The political thought of some Muslim scholars in British India 1912-1947
Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies monograph series, no. 5
The Muslims of British India Cambridge South Asian studies, 13
"Approaches to pre-modern Indo-Muslim historical writing: some reconsiderations in 1990-1991", pp. 49-71 in Peter Robb, K. N. Chaudhuri, and Avril Powell,eds.
Society and ideology: essays in South Asian history presented to professor K.A. Ballhatchet,, pp. 38-60 in Yohanan
Friedmann, ed., Islam in Asia
"Islam and Muslims in South Asia" pp. 36-61 in Raphael Israeli, ed., The Crescent in the East: Islam in Asia Major Republished
"Islam in South Asia", pp. 143-164 in Joseph M. Kitagawa, ed., The Religious Traditions of Asia
"Some general characteristics analysed", pp. 169-179 in Richard M. Eaton, ed. India's Islamic Traditions, 711-1750