Omar Khalidi

Omar Khalidi Biography

Omar Khalidi was an eminent Muslim scholar and writer from Hyderabad. He was a longtime MIT research librarian who was committed to the cause of social justice for minority Muslims in India. His education was completed in India, US and UK and was a scholar of Islamic architecture, history and culture. He was a great reference librarian, particularly belonging to his subjects. He was one of the respected personalities of MIT community known for his kindness and patience. Travel, politics, religion and culture were his favourite subjects. He has authored many books and articles on Muslim minor communities. Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India: Armed Forces, Police and Paramilitary During Communal Riots and Muslims in Indian Economy are his noted works.

Khalidi was born in 1953 in Hyderabad to Abu Nasr Muhammad Khalidi, a specialist in Islamic studies and Urdu literature at Osmania University. During 1980’s he worked in Gulf countries and then joined as a staff member, MIT in Boston. Omar took Master of Liberal Arts degree from Harvard University and PhD from the University of Wales Lampeter, UK in the early 1990’s. ‘The British Residents at the Court of the Nizams of Hyderabad’ (1981) was his first published book. Since then he published and edited more than 25 books.  He edited ‘Hyderabad: After the Fall’, a noted work on the fall of princely state of Hyderabad.

He stayed at Wayland, Mass and was also active in the Islamic Center of Boston. Globally among Indian Muslim communities, he is known as an activist who worked for the social justice of this minor community. He regularly published articles and columns in dailies and magazines till his death in 2010.

Published: N/A

Updated: April 15, 2014