Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir, born on 15 March 1874 in Ludhiana, and departed on 9 February 1950 in Lahore, was not merely a jurist in a black gown, but an architect of Muslim thought in modern India.

Sheikh Abdul Qadir belonged to a generation of Muslims who realized that political slavery was preceded by intellectual and educational slavery.

Sheikh Abdul Qadir was not just an editor; he was a discoverer of genius.

In the crowded graveyard of Miani Sahib in Lahore, where thousands of forgotten men lie beneath simple stones, rests a man whose life spanned two centuries and two worlds, a man who saw the twilight of an empire and the dawn of a new nation. Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir, born on 15 March 1874 in Ludhiana, and departed on 9 February 1950 in Lahore, was not merely a jurist in a black gown, but an architect of Muslim thought in modern India. To remember him today is not an act of nostalgia, but an act of recognizing the intellectual foundations upon which Pakistan was built.

Sheikh Abdul Qadir belonged to a generation of Muslims who realized that political slavery was preceded by intellectual and educational slavery. He received his early education at Forman Christian College, Lahore, at a time when English education was viewed with suspicion by many Muslims. He understood, far earlier than many of his contemporaries, that without mastering the language of the ruler and the tools of modern journalism, Muslims........

© Minute Mirror