Khurshid Rizvi

Khurshid Rizvi
Born	(1940-12-08) December 8, 1940 Amroha, Muradabad, British India
Occupation	Pakistani scholar of languages, Urdu poet
Language	Urdu
Nationality	Pakistani
Notable works	Arabi Adab Qabl az Islam, Shakh-e-Tanha, Sarabon ke Sadaf, Rayegan, Imkan, Yakja, Deryaab, Nisbatain, Taleef, Atraaf, Baazdeed

Khurshid Rizvi (Urdu: ڈاکٹرخورشید رضوی) is a Pakistani scholar of languages and an Urdu poet.

Early life

Rizvi was born in Amroha, British India to a Sunni Saddat family on 8 December 1940. In 1948, he immigrated with his family to Montgomery (now Sahiwal) in Punjab, Pakistan. He studied at Islamia High School and Government High School and graduated from Government College, Montgomery in 1959. He moved to the Oriental College, Lahore for higher studies and earned his MA in Arabic in 1961. In 1981, he obtained his Ph.D. in Arabic from the same university.

Publications

Rizvi has authored and edited books, including seven poetry collections to date. He has also done substantial translation work that includes his translation of the Federal Shariat Court Judgement on Bank Interest (Riba) for the Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Rizvi's most celebrated research work so far has been his book entitled Pre-Islamic Arabic Literature (عربی ادب قبل از اسلام Arabi Adab Qabl az Islam). This is the first detailed critical review of pre-Islamic literature in the Urdu language.

His publications include works of poetry, essay-writing and translation:

1. Shakh-e-Tanha ( شاخ تنہا)
2. Sarabon ke Sadaf ( سرابوں کے صدف)
3. Rayegan (رایگاں)
4. Imkan (امکان)
5. Yakja ( یکجا)
6. Deryaab (دیریاب ).
7. Nisbatain ( نسبتیں).
8. Taleef (تالیف.)
9. Atraaf اطراف
10. Baazdeed (بازدید)
11. Tareekh-e-uloom mein Tehzeeb-e-Islaami ka Muqam (Urdu translation from Arabic) تاریخ علوم میں تہذیب اسلامی کامقام
12. Hukm al-Mahkamat-al-Shar'iyyah (translation from English into Arabic of the judgment of the Federal Shari'at Court of Pakistan on bank interest) "حكم المحكمة الشرعية الاتحادية الباكستانية بشأن الفائدة (الرب)" .
13. Qala'id al-Juman (critical editing of a 13th-century Arabic manuscript) "قلائد الجمان في فرائد شعراء هذا الزمان" 13.
14. Arabi Adab Qabl az Islam- Part I (a detailed history of pre-Islamic Arabic literature) عربی ادب قبل از اسلام - حصہ اول

Career

Rizvi started teaching at the age of 19 as a lecturer in Arabic at Government College in Bahawalpur. Afterwards, he moved to Government College in Sargodha and continued up to 1984 when he became the principal of Government Ambala Muslim College Sargodha. In 1985 he proceeded on deputation to the Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad where he served as Chief Bureau of Translation for six years. In 1991 he became Head of the Department of Arabic at Government College Lahore (now a university), opting for an early retirement in 1995 to focus on his research pursuits.

In 2015, he was given the Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award, for promoting Urdu Literature worldwide, by Majlis Frogh-e-Urdu Adab, an organization from Qatar.