Muhammad Yusuf Hashmi

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Khan Bahadur Muhammad Yusuf Syed-Al-Hashmi (1887–1960; Sialkot, Punjab) was an educator who advanced English during the British Raj. He advocated for the study of multiple languages, both Western and non-Western, with a particular emphasis on education and linguistic proficiency. His work expanded educational access for Europeans in British India and for Muslims in South Asia. Syed-Al-Hashmi also supported the Pakistan Movement through his writings and public statements.

Hashmi was born into a noble Muslim Syed family (Hashmi-Qureshi) in the Sialkot District, then part of British India. He received his early education at local schools and became proficient in English, Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani/Urdu. Trained in religion, law, and public administration, as was customary among the Muslim nobility, he came from a family historically engaged in public service. His relatives, prominent in Indian public life, lived across South Asia. These included Pir Syed Jammat Ali Shah (or Pir Syed Jamaat Ali Shah) of Ali Pur Syedan (also known as Alipur Sharif) in Sialkot District. The Hashmi-Qureshi families of central and southern Punjab trace their origins to the Middle East and regions across Central and South Asia.^{[citation needed]}

Hashmi earned an M.A. in English from Forman Christian College in Lahore, graduating with first-class honors and securing first position at the University of the Punjab. He completed his studies in English and Arabic in 1909. Offered teaching posts at Forman Christian College, the Punjab University, and Aligarh Muslim University, he chose to remain at his alma mater at the invitation of Dr. J. C. R. Ewing.^{[citation needed]}

After a brief tenure there, he joined the Indian Education Service and moved to Calcutta—then the seat of the British Government of India and a major educational and cultural hub. He taught English, Bengali, Hindi/Urdu, and Arabic at Madrasa 'Aliya, established by Warren Hastings in 1781, and lectured at the University of Calcutta. He also served as superintendent of Baker Hostel and mentored students who later became prominent political leaders, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman^[1], members of the Suhrawardy and Bogra families, and others, who later assumed leadership roles in South Asia.^{[citation needed]}

He became the first Indian appointed as principal of Madrasa Alia, one of the earliest modern institutions of higher education in British India. At the request of students, colleagues, and friends including A. K. Fazlul Huq—then Mayor of Calcutta, later Chief Minister of undivided Bengal, and the statesman who would move the Pakistan Resolution—he remained in Calcutta by joining the Bengal Senior Education Service. He served there until his retirement in 1943.

In recognition of his contributions to education, the British Government of India and the Crown awarded him the titles of Khan Sahib and Khan Bahadur.

After retiring in 1943, Hashmi returned to Sialkot and dedicated himself to the Pakistan Movement. He became an advisor to several contemporary academic and political figures and played a consultative role in the 1944 Sialkot Convention, which gave the All India Muslim League a decisive lead in undivided Punjab. Along with colleagues in Punjab, he founded the Jinnah Islamiyah College (later Government Jinnah Islamiyah College^[2]) in Sialkot in 1951. He was appointed the first principal of the college by the board of trustees^[3]. He accepted the appointment but declined the offered salary, saying his British pension was sufficient. He continued to serve the college through much of the 1950s.^{[citation needed]}

After completing his tenure as the first principal of Jinnah Islamiyah College (later Government Jinnah Islamiyah College^[2]) in Sialkot, Hashmi moved to Lahore, where he resided until his death in 1960.^[4]

Muhammad Yusuf Hashmi primarily wrote works on Islamic law, as well as textbooks and teaching materials for English, Arabic, and Persian studies at Madrasa 'Aliya and the University of Calcutta. A book translated by Khan Bahadur Muhammad Yusuf Syed-Al-Hashmi and Maulvi Wilayat Husain, The Fatwa-i-Qazi Khan, is one of the^[5] key Islamic law texts on marriage, dower, divorce, legitimacy, and guardianship of minors.^[6] These works were adopted in Bengal and in many modern institutions of higher education in British India, influencing educational policy discussions in several Islamic institutions.