Jaffar Al Askari
Birth:1887
Death:1936
An Iraqi statesman, born in Baghdad and educated at Istanbul.
He joined Turkish army in 1909, but joined rebel Arab movements in 1916 against the Turk. He served as Faisal's chief of Staff and was appointed Governor of Aleppo in 1918-20 and defence Minister in the first ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah
Birth:1926
Death:2006
Emir of Kuwait who led the country in riches and ruin.
The soft-spoken emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the 13th ruler in a family dynasty dating back to 1756, ruled the oil-rich Kuwait, for 28 years through the tumult of the Iran-Iraq war and the invasion of ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jabir Ibn Hayyan
Birth:c721
Death:803
Generally known as the father of chemistry.
Jabir was a Court Physician in Caliph Harun al-Rashid. He established himself as one of the leading scientist while he practiced medicine and alchemy in Kufa around 776.
Jabir is famous for writing more than 100 monumental treatises, of which 22 ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jafar Al Barmaki
Birth:767
Death:803
Wazir.
Jaffar succeeded his father as Wazir to Khalifa Harun al Rashid, his grand father having been wazir to Saffah who was the first Caliph to have a wazir.
Jaffar was married to Harun al Rahsid's sister and had great powers, but due to its ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jafar Ali Khan
Birth:1691
Death:1765
Nawab.
Jafar is commonly known as Mir Jafar whom the British made the Nawab of India's Bihar, Bengal and Orissa, after the death of Nawab Sirajuddaula in 1757 and whom he had betrayed.
Jafar was, however, replaced by his son-in-law, Mir Qasim Ali Khan in 1760.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jafar Khan
Birth:
Death:1726
Titled as Murshid Quli Khan, was appointed governor of Bengal by emperor Alamgir in 1704.
He founded the City of Murshidabad after his title, died in the reign of Muhammad Shah and was succeeded by his son-in-law Sirajuddaula.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jafar Sharif Emami
Birth:1912
Death:1998
An Iranian politician.
Jafar was among the first generation of Iranians to study abroad and imbibe the Western values, which were deemed to form modernisation and industrial development in Iran. He committed to the view that Iran should be in alliance with the West.
Jafar ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jaffar Long
Birth:
Death:1857
The Malayan businessman who developed and established the tin mining industry in Perak, Malay.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jaffar Hazrat
Birth:
Death:629
Brother of Hazrat Ali. When the Muslims first migrated to Habsha (Abbysinia), he was elected their leader and was the commander of the Muslim army at the battle of Mota.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jahan Ara Begum
Birth:1614
Death:1680
The daughter of emperor Shahjahan, by Mumtaz Mahal.
Celebrated in history as the heroic, the witty, the generous, the elegant, the accomplished and the beautiful princes. She was cured of her burns by an English doctor who asked from the emperor, in reward of his ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jahandar Shah Muhammad Muizzuddin
Birth:1663
Death:1713
The eldest son of king Bahadur Shah and grandson of Emperor Aurangzeb.
After the death of his father in 1712, he succeeded him the same year a battle took place with his brother Azim-Us-Shan, in which the later was killed. He was totally ignorant of the ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jahangir Khan
Birth:1963
Death:
Pakistani Squash player.
At the age of 17, he won both the British Championship and the World Open Championships in 1981. In 1990 he won the British Open Championship for the 9th time.
Jahangir Khan was born in Karachi.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jahangir
Birth:1569
Death:1627
The son of Akbar the Great.
He was named Salim, on account of his coming into this world, as blessed by the prayer of Shaikh Salim Christie. He came to the throne of Delhi in 1605, after the death of his father.
In 1612 Jahangir permitted the ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jahiz Umar Bin Bahr Bin Mahboob
Birth:c776
Death:864
Author.
Jahiz was the author of many books. His Albayan, according to Ibn Khaldun, was one of the four most important books on art and literature in Arabic. Kitab ul Haiyam is a mine of information about Arab proverbs, traditions, superstition and the like. He ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jahm Ibn Safwan
Birth:
Death:746
An extremist Murj'iah (those who postpone).
They held the view that no one who once accepted Islam, could be declared a Kafir. Revolt against a Muslim ruler, therefore, could not be justified. This was the opposite view of the Kharjia. The Ummayds who saw them ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jamal Al Din Al Afghani
Birth:1839
Death:1897
An itinerant activist railing against the feebleness and injustices of Oriental despotisms and the immorality of Western imperialism, and trying to forge a Pan-Islamic movement.
Al-Afghani was one of the greatest thinker's revivalist's leaders of the modern Muslim world and the founder of Pan-Islamism. "He ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jansher Khan
Birth:1969
Death:
Pakistani Squash player.
Jansher won the World Open title in 1987. He lost the title to his fellow countryman Jahangir Khan in 1988, but won it again in 1989 and 1990.
Jansher Khan was born in Peshawar.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jarir
Birth:
Death:729
The court poet of Al Hajjaj and a great satirist. Al Farzdaq and Jarir often attacked each other in their satires.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jarir Ibn Atiyah Ibn Al Khatafa
Birth:c650
Death:c729
One of the greatest Arab classical poets of pre-Islamic traditions.
Jarir had a rivalry with al Farazdaq, another great poet, which lasted for forty years. The results were collected in Naqqaid. He had another poetical battle with al Akhtal.
Jarir was a favourite of the ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Javed Miandad
Birth:1957
Death:
Highest score in Cricket Test history with 8,465 runs.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jawad Salim
Birth:1920
Death:1961
Doyen of the modern art movement in Iraq.
Jawad studied in Rome, Paris, and at London's Slade School of Art. His masterpiece Monument of Revolution stretched across Baghdad's Liberation Square and celebrated the Iraqi revolution of 1958. It was a 50 by 8-meter frieze and has been ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jaweni Abul Ma'ali Abdul Malik Imam-ul-harmain
Birth:
Death:1085
Metaphysician.
Jaweni was a very celebrated doctor and a metaphysician who was the teacher of Imam Ghazzali.
Jaweni was awarded the title of Imam-ul-Hermain by Malik Shah Saljeuki, for being the Imam of both Makkah and Madinah.
Jaweni authored several works, amongst which were Aqidat ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jigar Murdabadi
Birth:1890
Death:1960
The poet of love, mysticism and politics
A true patriot and a nationalist, Jigar Muradabadi was also the poet of love, mysticism and politics. He depicted the atrocities of the British raj on the Indian people in his verses. He inspired India's independence movement tirelessly.
...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jodha Bai
Birth:1542
Death:1622
The daughter of Raja Udai Singh of Jodhpur, was married to Emperor Akbar in 1585 and became the mother of Emperor Jahangir who was born in 1593.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Johan Abdullah Bagley
Birth:1930
Death:2001
Malaysia's popular journalist, born John Noel Bagley, in Birmingham, England, settled down as Malaysian, died in Kuala Lumpur.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
John Philby
Birth:1885
Death:1960
An English explorer.
John joined the Indian Civil Service in 1907 after his education in Cambridge, but retired in 1925 after quarrelling with British policy in Arabia.
John became an advisor of King Saud in 1926, and became a Muslim in 1930 and lived in Saudi Arabia till his ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Josh Malihabadi
Birth:1898
Death:1982
An Urdu Poet.
Josh dominated the Urdu literary scene from the 1930s to 1980s subsumed under the Progressive Writers' Movement. He was the only Urdu poet to have a literary journal - Saqi - lampooning and satirising him, and the only eminent poet to be ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Joveyni Ata Malik Ala Uddin
Birth:1226
Death:1283
Historian.
Joveyni was an Iranian historian who flourished during the Mongol domination of Iran during 1220-1336. He was in the service of Halaku, the grandson of Chenghis Khan. After the fall of Baghdad in 1258, he was appointed governor of Iraq Khuzistan.
Joveyni's Tarikh-I-Jehangusha, the most ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jumabek Ibraimovich Ibraimov
Birth:1944
Death:1999
Politician.
Jumabek held a number of senior posts including mayor of the capital Bishkek (1993-1995). He was advisor on economic to the president (1996) and representative to People's Assembly.
In his last position as Prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, he introduced various measures to combat corruption and ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jamal Abd Al Nasser
Birth:1918
Death:1970
Arab leader who inspired passion.
Few Arab leaders have inspired as much passion as Jamal Abd al-Nasser. He nationalised the Suez Canal and used the proceeds to build the High Dam, ending the cycles of flood and drought that had blighted rural life for centuries. ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jaafar Nimeiri
Birth:1930
Death:2009
Sudan's military ruler who remained president from 1969 to 1985.
Nimeiri a graduate from the US Army Command College, Kansas in 1966, overthrew the government of Ismail al Azhari in 1969 and became the prime minister and chairman of the revolutionary council. He along with others emulated the secularist ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jalal Al Din Rumi
Birth:1207
Death:1273
A great Sufi mystic poet.
Rumi had been an eminent professor of religion and a highly attained mystic who inspired poetry and loved humanity.
The memorable event, which had the greatest influence on him, was his meeting with the mystic Shams Tabrez, a friend and ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin / Syed Basheeruddin
john nelson
Birth:16. century
Death:
He is the first English who converted to Islam in records.
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Compiled by:Arzu Yilmaz
Joan Elia
Birth:1931
Death:2002
Urdu poet
Joan Elia was a versatile poet in the classical mould and had command over Urdu, Arabic, Persian, English and Hebrew. Joan who received his preliminary education from his father, Allama Shafiq Hasan Elia, a learned man of his time, began composing poetry at ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jamaluddin Hasan Ibn Yusuf Al Hilli
Birth:1250
Death:1325
Theologian.
Jamaluddin studied with Nasiruddin Tusi, a noted philosopher of his age and authored Al Bab al Hadi Ashar, Sharh Tajrid al Itiqat, the standard reference books for Asna Ashris (The twelvers).
Jamaluddin immigrated to Iran in 1305 and converted Oljeytu the eighth Khan of Iran ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jawahar
Birth:10th century
Death:
The Fatimid general who conquered Egypt in 969 and founded the mosque al Azhar in 972 and the city of al Qahirah which became the capital in 973.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
John Cooper
Birth:1947
Death:1998
A creative scholar, translator and intellectual.
John was E. G. Browne Lecturer in Persian Studies at Cambridge. He pioneered work in the study of Shi'i usul al-fiqh using modern semiotics. He taught English in Casablanca, Morocco. There he perfected his French, picked up some Berber ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Junaid
Birth:14th century
Death:
An Iraqi painter of miniatures.
Junaid's paintings influenced the Persian style of painting. He was a disciple of Shamsuddin and worked for Sultan Ahmad of the Jalayirld dynasty of Baghdad from 1382 to 1410. He had illustrated Khwaja Kirmamis' Khamsa in 1396.
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Ghulam Mohiuddin
Jarallah Omar Al Kuhali
Birth:1942
Death:2002
Yemeni socialist leader who spent his life in pursuit of his country's unity.
Jarallah a former guerrilla leader was one of Yemen's leading advocates for liberal democracy. He joined the pan-Arab nationalist movement in 1960 and confronted many oppositions. The overthrow of the monarchy in northern ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Johnny Walker
Birth:1924
Death:2003
Comedy star of Bollywood film.
Badruddin Jamaluddin Qazi, widely known as Johnny Walker, with his highly mobile face, pencil-thin moustache, squeaky voice and uncanny sense of timing acted in nearly 300 films, tickling audiences with brilliant performances that remain unequalled today in Bollywood.
Johnny Walker first ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jameel Mazhari
Birth:1904
Death:1980
Urdu poet, altruism at its best.
Jameel Mazhari was a versatile Urdu poet absorbed in the themes of Allah, Man and the Universe - dejected as a lover, fiery as a revolutionary, ecstatic as a devotee and indomitable as a worshipper.
'Mathnavi Ab-o-Sarab' (The Masnavi ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jafar Panahi
Birth:1961
Death:
Iranian film director
In his newest movie 'Offside' (2006) Panahi continues his cinematic assault against Iran's social ills by highlighting the absurdity of a rule that doesn't allow women to go to attend football matches.
In his 1995 feature debut 'The White Balloon', a little girl out ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
John Yehya En Nasr Parkinson
Birth:1874
Death:1918
Scottish poet and author
John's hankering after knowledge led him to fields of thought. He collected more than four hundred works by great writers on various scientific and philosophical subjects.
His studies of the different systems of philosophy led him to study Islam and its ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / John Thompson
Jasim Al Sagar
Birth:1918
Death:2006
An Arab nationalist and campaigner of political freedom and human rights
One of Kuwait's most respected politician, al-Sagar was an Arab nationalist who devoted his life to advancing political freedom and human rights that sometime clashed with the ruling al-Sabah dynasty.
He focussed on Kuwait's ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
Birth:1951
Death:
Pakistani scholar.
One of Pakistan's well-known intellectuals Javed Ahmed Ghamidi is a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and exegesis and is the founder of al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences.
Ghamidi has been the founder or editor of several Islamic journals and has lectured widely on Islamic ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
John Butt
Birth:1950
Death:
Holy broadcaster
Started single-handedly a groundbreaking radio programme called 'Across the Border' John Butt broadcasts over a network of independent stations to listeners in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A public schoolboy and professional broadcaster, a convert to Islam and respected cleric, John Butt has brought his ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jaleh Mohajer Esfahani
Birth:1921
Death:2007
Iranian poet of hope
One of the most prolific and active voices in Iranian literature Jaleh Mohajer-Esfahani won respect for her heartfelt but controlled verses on exile, happiness and hope. Her verses are covered by love and the joy of life in the centre stage ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jennifer Musa
Birth:1917
Death:2008
She dedicated her life to a tribe in Baluchistan
Known as 'Mummy Jennifer' who married the scion of a noble Pathan family that played a key role in bringing the oil-rich province of Baluchistan into Pakistan after its creation in 1947.
She founded an ice factory, ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jaffar Zaheer
Birth:1923
Death:2008
Air Marshal of Indian Air Force
Throughout in his career, steeliness and principled stand was the hallmark of Jaffar Zaheer Air Marshal of Indian Air Force.
While he headed India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Zaheer refused to withdraw the case against Indira Gandhi's unruly ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jaweed Al Ghussein
Birth:1930
Death:2008
Palestinian philanthropist and educationist
In 1964, having moved his family to Britain, al-Ghussein set up, with an American consortium, an engineering and construction company, Cordoba, in Abu Dhabi. The company became a major player in establishing the infrastructure of the UAE - from the water pipeline ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jabir Herbert Muhammad
Birth:1929
Death:2008
He managed the American athlete who 'literally changed the world of sports forever.'
The man who became Muhammad Ali's boxing manager after Ali's conversion to Islam was Jabir Herbert Muhammad.
The morning after winning the crown by knocking out Sonny Liston in 1964, then known ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Javad Nurbakhsh
Birth:1926
Death:2008
Iranian Sufi and a noted psychiatrist.
A Sufi who was also a noted psychiatrist, author and medical clinic director, Javad Nurbakhsh, established many khanaqahs in many parts of Iran and across the wide world.
As the head of psychiatry department at Tehran University, Javad also ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jamal Al Din Al Qasimi
Birth:1866
Death:1914
A leading modernist
A leading modernist Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, wrote more than 2000 works on Islamic law, theology, exegesis or Arab history.
He aimed at eliminating the rivalries between schools of thought and diversity in Islamic sensibilities and proving the Islamic teachings being rational.
Based at ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan / Arslan Akhtar
Jamalul Kiram III
Birth:1938
Death:2013
Self-proclaimed Sultan
A descendant of the of the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram led a quixotic military effort to regain part of the island of Borneo for his family.
In February 2013, Jamalul Kiram directed a younger brother to lead several hundred fighters in an armed ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Joko Widodo
Birth:1961
Death:
Indonesia's president who styles himself a man of the people.
Universally known as Jokowi, Joko Widodo former governor of Indonesia's capital Jakarta became the seventh president, in 2014, of the world's third-largest democracy - a nation of far flung archipelago of 250 million people, 13,466 islands, three time ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan
Jamil Ahmad
Birth:1932
Death:2014
Pakistani novelist
Having served as a civil servant in Pakistan's lawless tribal regions Jamil Ahmad's adventure inspired him to write a novel Wandering Falcon that became a literary sensation. The novel, published in 2011, follow a wandering orphan as he travels 'the tangle of crumbling, weather-beaten ...
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Compiled by:M. Nauman Khan