Eqbal Ahmad | |
|---|---|
 Ahmad photographed by David L. Marton. Photo courtesy of Julie Diamond and the South Asian Digital Archive (SAADA). | |
| Born | Eqbal Ahmad January 1, 1933 |
| Died | May 11, 1999 (aged 66) Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan |
| Spouse | Julie Diamond |
| Children | 1 |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Forman Christian College Occidental College Princeton University |
| Influences | Karl Marx, Allama Iqbal, Jinnah, and Edward Said |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Middle Eastern studies Eastern Philosophy |
| Sub-discipline | Postcolonialism postmodernism |
| Institutions | Cornell University University of Chicago Hampshire College |
| Notable works | Political Science Anti-war movement |
| Influenced | Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Richard Falk, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Alexander Cockburn, and Arundhati Roy |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Pakistan |
| Service |  Pakistan Army |
| Years of service | First Kashmir War |
| Rank | Second Lieutenant |
Eqbal Ahmad (1933 – 11 May 1999) was a Pakistani political scientist, writer and academic known for his anti-war activism, his support for resistance movements globally and academic contributions to the study of the Near East.[1] Born in Bihar, British India, Ahmad migrated to Pakistan as a child and went on to study economics at the Forman Christian College. After graduating, he worked briefly as an army officer and was wounded in the First Kashmir War in 1948.[2] He participated in the Algerian Revolution,[3] then studied the Vietnam War and U.S. imperialism, becoming an early opponent of the war upon his return to the U.S. in the mid-1960s.[4]
While highly regarded in radical circles of South Asia and left-wing circles more generally, Ahmad was a controversial figure. According to Pervez Hoodbhoy, warrants of arrest and death sentences were put on him during successive martial law governments in Pakistan. Although he was indicted in 1971 on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger (who was then President Nixon's National Security Advisor), the case was eventually dismissed. Kabir Babar called Ahmad "one of the most outstanding thinkers ever to originate from the Subcontinent. His analyses of the major political events and trends of the 20th century were noted for their astuteness and predictive power." Edward Said listed Ahmad as one of the two most important influences on his intellectual development,[5] praising the latter's writings on South Asia especially as informative.
- ^ Said, By Edward W. (13 May 1999). "Eqbal Ahmad: He brought wisdom and integrity to the cause of oppressed peoples". The Guardian (newspaper). ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ^ Paracha, Nadeem F. (3 May 2015). "Smokers' Corner: Eqbal Ahmed: the astute alarmist". Dawn. Pakistan. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ^ McBride, Keally (2007). Memmi, Albert; Bonnono, Robert; Bengelsdorf, Carolee; Cerullo, Margaret; Ahmad, Eqbal; Chandrani, Yogesh (eds.). "Postcolonial Politics, Pathologies, and Power". Political Theory. 35 (4): 517–521. doi:10.1177/0090591707302203. ISSN 0090-5917. JSTOR 20452575. S2CID 145533035.
- ^ HOVSEPIAN, NUBAR; Schaar, Stuart (2016). "Review of Eqbal Ahmad: Critical Outsider in a Turbulent Age, SchaarStuart". Journal of Palestine Studies. 46 (1 (181)): 77–79. doi:10.1525/jps.2016.46.1.77. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 26378652.
- ^ Schaar, Stuart (1 October 2007). "Teaching Global Justice". Journal of Palestine Studies. 37 (1): 117. doi:10.1525/jps.2007.37.1.116. ISSN 0377-919X.