Deputy Nazir Ahmad: Life and Novels

Nazir Ahmad was born in 1830 in a village of Bijnor district and came to Delhi as a boy to study in the mosque schools. He then studied at Delhi College, where he learned Arabic and came into contact with Western learning. He survived the upheaval of 1857 in Delhi.

After the uprising he rose through government service and became a deputy collector, which gave him the title "Deputy" by which he is still known. He helped translate the Indian Penal Code into Urdu. Later he served the state of Hyderabad, and he retired to Delhi, where he devoted himself to writing, lecturing and a celebrated Urdu translation of the Qur'an. He died in Delhi in 1912.

Mirat-ul-Arus (The Bride's Mirror, 1869): the contrasting lives of two sisters, the sensible Asghari and the spoilt Akbari.

Banat-un-Nash (1872): a sequel about education for girls.

Taubat-un-Nasuh (1874): a father's religious awakening and his rebellious son. See our guide or read it here.

Fasana-e-Mubtala (1885): on the evils of polygamy.

Ibn-ul-Waqt (1888): a satire on imitation of English ways. See our guide or read it here.

Ayyama (1891): on the remarriage of widows.

Nazir Ahmad set his stories in ordinary Muslim households of Delhi, in the speech of their women and children, at a time when Urdu fiction meant fairy-tale romance. His purpose was moral reform, but his gift for dialogue and character made his books live. He belongs to the age of Sir Syed and Hali, the great reformers after 1857.