ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni

His Eminence ʽAbdul Qadir Badayuni
عبدالقادر بن ملوک شاه بدائونی
Pronunciation	ʽAbd al-Qādir al-Badāyūni
Born	ʽAbdul Qadir 1540 Badayun, India
Died	1605 Agra, India
Nationality	Indian
Citizenship	Indian
Occupation	Grand Mufti of India
Era	Medieval India
Employer	Mughal Empire
Style	Grand Mufti
Title	Grand Mufti of India
Grand Mufti of India
In office 1574 – unknown
Preceded by	Office established
Official name	مفتي الهند، عبد القادر البدايوني
Personal
Religion	Islam
Home town	Agra
Known for	Historian, Islamic scholar, Linguist and Courtier
Muslim leader
Influenced by Usman Bengali
Literary works	Tarikh-i-Bada'uni also known as Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh
Grand Mufti styles
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	The Honourable
Religious style	Mufti Azam-e-Hind, and Mufti al-Diyar al-Hindiyyah and Shaykh al-Islām in Arabic
Alternative style	Hadrat, Sheikh and Sahib-ul-Ma'ali
Informal style	Mr. Grand Mufti

ʽAbdul Qadir Badayuni (1540–1615) was the first Grand Mufti of India. He was also a historian and translator and lived in the Mughal Empire.

He translated the Hindu works, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (Razmnama).

Life

He was the son of Muluk Shah. He lived in Basavar as a boy studying in Sambhal and Agra. He moved to Badaun, the town after which he was named, in 1562 before moving to Patiala to enter the service of prince Husayn Khan for the next nine years. His later years of study were led by Muslim mystics. The Mughal emperor, Akbar, appointed him to the religious office in the royal courts in 1574 where he spent much of his career.

Major works

Badayuni wrote Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (Selection of Chronicles) or Tarikh-i-Badayuni (Badayuni's History) which was completed in 1595 (1004 AH). This work in three volumes is a general history of the Muslims of India. The first volume contains an account of Babur and Humayun. The second volume exclusively deals with Akbar's reign up to 1595. This volume is an unusually frank and critical account of Akbar's administrative measures, in particular, his religious views and his conduct. This volume was kept concealed until Akbar's death and was published after Jahangir's accession. This book gives a contemporary perspective regarding the development of Akbar's views on religion and his religious policy. The third volume describes the lives and works of Muslim religious figures, scholars, physicians and poets.

The first printed edition of the text of this work was published by the College Press, Calcutta in 1865 and later this work was translated into English by G.S.A. Ranking (Vol.I), W.H. Lowe (Vol.II) and T.W. Haig (Vol.III) (published by the Asiatic Society, Calcutta between 1884 and 1925 as a part of their Bibliotheca Indiaca series).

In popular culture

Irrfan Khan played Badayuni in Doordarshan's historical drama Bharat Ek Khoj (1988-1989).

References

• "Bada'uni, 'Abd al-Qadir." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 16 November 2005 .
• Muntakhab al-Tavarikh (in Persian) Volume 2 .
• All three volumes of his Muntakhab al-Tavarikh (in English) are available and searchable here: http://persian.packhum.org/persian/
• Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh, Volume 1 (1898)

External links

• The Muntakhabu-'rūkh by ʽAbdu-'l-Qādir Ibn-i-Mulūk Shāh, (Al-Badāoni) Packard Humanities Institute
• Tārīkh-i Badāūnī, a translation from Volume V of The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, 1867

Religious titles
Preceded by ~	Grand Mufti of India 16th century – 17th century	Succeeded by ~