Mahirul Qadri

  Mahirul Qadri was born in 1907 at village Kesar Kalan in Bulandshahr district in U.P. (India). His name was Manzoor Hussain. He affixed his poetic pen-name Mahir (with Qadri due to his spiritual links with the “Qadria” order). He received his early education from his celebrated father Mohammad Mashood Ali Zareef, a renowned poet of his days. After a thorough grounding in Persian, Arabic and Islamic education at home, he joined an English Medium School in Bulandshahr. He cleared his Metric in 1926 from Aligarh University.

At the age of 13, the Maulana began his poetic career. His first ghazal was published in Bulandshahr Gazette in 1924. Later Mahir-ul-Qadri went to Hyderabad, Deccan, where for 10 years he held key literary positions. He was associated with men like Maharaja Kishin Prasad Kaul and Nawab Muazzam Jah. At the time of Independence, Maulana Mahir-ul-Qadri migrated to Pakistan where he established himself as an outstanding poet, writer and journalist. He died in 1978.