Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed Shakeb

Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed Shakeb (M.Z.A. Shakeb) (21 October 1933 – 20 January 2021) was a historian of the Deccan, art connoisseur, Sufi Intellectual, and Urdu and Persian literary critic.

Early life and education Born on 21 October 1933, Shakeb grew up in Hyderabad and Aurangabad. He received a BA in Political Science from the Osmania University, and an MA from Aligarh Muslim University in 1956. He completed his doctorate in Relations of Golkonda with Iran from Deccan College in 1976.

Career Together with Vasanth Kumar Bawa, Shakeb set up the first-ever Hyderabad Urban Development Authority which is now referred to as Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. In 1962, he was appointed an archivist at the State Archives of Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad. He went on to write many publications for The British Library, State Archives Andhra Pradesh, and other repositories, universities, and auction houses. He, later on, worked as a consultant for Christie's in their department of Islamic and Indian Art as their leading expert on Persian and Arabic manuscripts for 30 years.

Shakeb was an authority on various poets from the Indian subcontinent and Persia, writing books and organising and speaking at conferences on Bedil, Amir Khusrau, Iqbal, Ghalib, and Rumi. He is survived by his wife, Farhat Ahmed, two daughters, a son, and nine grandchildren. Member of the Advisory Committee for the H.K. Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies, at Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad from 2012 to 2015 Fellow at the Royal Asiatic Society in 1983

Selected publications Relations of Golkonda with Iran c.1518-1687: Diplomacy, Ideas, and Commerce Ideas (Andhra Pradesh: State Archives, 1977) A Descriptive catalog of the Batala collection of Mughal documents, 1527-1757 AD. (United Kingdom: British Library, 1990) A descriptive catalogue of Persian letters from Arcot and Baroda (United Kingdom: India Office Library and Records, British Library, 1982). Ghalib and Zuka, (New Delhi; Ghalib Academy, 1974) Ghalib on Hyderabad (Hyderabad, Adami Trust, 1969)