Siraj-ul-Absar (English) - Khalifatullah Mehdi (AHS)

6
A Short Biography
of
Hazrat Mashaiq Syed Ziaullah Yadullahi Saheb RH
S/o Hazrat Mashaiq Syed Alam Yadullahi Saheb RH
(November 26, 1926 – December 26, 2010)
By
Syed Mohammed Suhael
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Hazrat Mashaiq Syed Ziaullah Yadullahi Saheb was born in Channapatna, near Bangalore, in
1926. He was the second son of Hazrat Mashaiq Moulvi Syed Alam Yadullahi Saheb and
Bibi Asgarunnisa Saheba. His grandfather was Hazrat Syed Ibrahim Saheb Yadullahi whose
silsala reaches Miyan Syed Zainulabideen Saheb who was the son of Miyan Syed Yadullah
alias Badey Sha Miyan Saheb, with whom the Yadullahi family line started. Miyan Syed
Yadullah Saheb is the eighth generation descendant of Hazrat Imam Mahdi Mau’ood Alaihis
Salam and the 33 rd generation descendant of Hazrat Ali RZ . His elder brother was the Late
Syed Najiullah Yadullahi, and sisters were Late Mrs.Akbarunnisa and Mrs. Rashida Bano
Safiullah, who survives him.
After his schooling in Channapatna, he moved to Hyderabad in 1944 and joined Nizam
College for his B.A. It was during this period that he first tried his hand at translation by
translating George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Political What’s What’ into Urdu. The translation was
printed in the college magazine, Nizam-e-Adab. He completed his B.A. from Osmania
University in 1948 and joined Mazdoor newspaper as Assistant Editor. In 1949 he returned to
Bangalore and joined Al-Kalam newspaper. He soon joined Pasban and after working for it
for a few years, he joined the National Sample Survey Organisation, Government of India in
1953. After rendering government service till 1960, he resigned and returned to his career as
journalist and reported for newspapers like Pasban and Salar. In 1980 he joined the Pakistan
Desk of Public Opinion Trends and it was here that he honed his translation skills by
translating Urdu articles into English for four long years. In 1984 he visited Pakistan to meet
his brother and brother-in-law late Hazrat Syed Allahbux. This visit proved to be a landmark
visit.
This was the time when General Zia-ul-Haq had imposed martial law in Pakistan. There was
no political activity of any name and many political leaders had gone underground. The
journalistic instincts of Hazrat Ziaullah Saheb took over his personal visit and he started
contacting and meeting political leaders. He interviewed many prominent leaders during this
visit. On returning to India, he published the interviews in the book “Pakistan - An End
without a Beginning’. The book proved to be a huge success. It became mandatory reading
for Pakistan watchers and diplomats alike. The US embassy ordered 200 copies of the book.
Such was the success of the book that it went out of stock quickly and had to be reprinted
within a few months.
The book won him accolades and also opened the door to his next job. In 1987, he joined the
Pakistan Desk of UNI and contributed to newspapers like Hindustan Times, Patriot, etc. In
1992 he retired from UNI and returned to Bangalore.
The year 1992 presented another moment of glory in his journalistic career. The Karnataka
Urdu Academy approached him to write a book on Urdu journalism. He accepted the