Shakeelur Rehman

Shakeel-ur-Rahman (1931-2016) was an Indian Urdu-language writer and scholar of India. His father Khan Bahadur Muhammad Jan was a Government lawyer in British India.^[1]^[2]

Life and career

He studied at Patna University, where he gained a B.A. with First Class Honors, an M.A. with First Class Honors (awarded the Patna University Gold Medal) and a D.Litt.

He remained attached to the University of Kashmir as Professor and Head of the Department of Urdu. He also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bihar, Mithila University and of the University of Kashmir and Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Shakeel-ur-Rahman had written books on Aesthetics and was known as Babe-Jamaliat and fifty plays for the stage, TV and radio.

He had received the "Ghalib Award", the "Urdu Academy Award", the "National Award" from India and the "Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi Award" from Pakistan and many more awards for his outstanding contribution to Urdu Literature. He wrote memoir titled 'Aashram'

His near relative Tanwir Phool is a Pakistani author and poet writing in Urdu and English. He has written an article in the quarterly Khayaal (Karachi) about Shakeel-ur-Rahman.^[3] Shakeelur Rahman died on 9 May 2016 at Gurgaon in Haryana near New Delhi.