Waheed Qureshi

Education Born as Abdul Waheed on 14 February 1925 in Mianwali in British India (now in Pakistan), Qureshi got his early education in Lahore. He obtained an honours degree in Persian in 1944, a master's degree in Persian in 1946 and a master's degree in History in 1950 from Government College, Lahore.

He entered the literary circles with a bang in late 1940s when he wrote Shibli ki hayat-i-muashaqa, a research work that unearthed the love-life of Shibli Nomani, a renowned Muslim scholar, and tried to portray him as a human in the light of Freudian theories. He psychoanalysed Shibli's personality as reflected in his Persian ghazals and his letters addressed to Atiya Fayzee.

In addition to his two doctoral dissertations, his works that earned him name and respect of his peers were his critical studies, research papers and annotated and edited versions of some classical Urdu and Persian works. Another contribution of his is towards understanding the ideological basis of Pakistan, Pakistan movement and poetry of Iqbal. He remained editor of several literary and research journals, including Saheefa, Iqbal Review and Iqbal for many years. The institutions that benefited from his acumen include Maghribi Pakistan Urdu Academy, Bazm-i-Iqbal and Iqbal Academy Pakistan. He held the charge of Director Iqbal Academy Pakistan from July 1982 to April 1983 in first term and from September 1993 to June 1997 in second term.

He authored around 30 books. His extensive and in-depth study of Oriental literature, familiarity with German and French, and engagement with the social sciences enabled him to develop a distinctive literary approach—one that skillfully blended critical analysis with scholarly research.

Dr. Waheed Qureshi was a researcher, critic, poet, teacher, administrator and known as a witty person. One manifestation of his wit was his satirical literary column in Daily Jang, which he wrote with the pseudonym Mir Jumla Lahori.

Death Dr. Waheed Qureshi died on 17 October 2009 in Lahore, Pakistan. some of his notable publications include: Ideological foundations of Pakistan Oriental studies: the Indian, Persian, and other essays Urdū kā bihtarīn inshāʼī adab : Rajab ʻAlī Beg se daur-i ḥāz̤ir tak, a selection of best Urdu essays, 18th century to date Dīvān-i Jahān̲dār, edition of the collected poetry of a classical Urdu poet, Javān Bak̲h̲t Jahān̲dār Armag̲h̲ān-i Īrān; Maqālāt-i muntak̲h̲abah-yi majallah-yi ṣaḥīfah, on Persian literature Mut̤ālaʻah-yi Ḥālī Asāsiyāt-i Iqbāl, scholarly study of the works of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, 1877–1938 Nazr-i Ghālib, Qāʼid-i Aʻẓam aur taḥrīk-i Pākistān, on the role played by Mahomed Ali Jinnah, 1876–1948, in the Pakistan movement