Ahmed Ali, (born July 1, 1910, Delhi, India—died January 14,

1994, Karachi, Pakistan), Pakistani author whose novels and short

stories examine Islamic culture and tradition in Hindu-
dominated India. Proficient in both English and Urdu, he was also
an accomplished translator and literary critic.

Ali was educated at Aligarh Muslim University (1925–27) and at

Lucknow University (B.A., 1930; M.A., 1931). In addition to his
career as a writer, he was a professor, a diplomat, and a
businessman. In 1932 he helped publish Angarey (“Burning
Coals”), an anthology of short stories written in Urdu that was
immediately banned for its bitter critique of middle-class Muslim
values. Subsequently, he became a founder of the All-India
Progressive Writers Association (1936), which
promoted innovation in Urdu literature. His influential short fiction
—collected in such volumes as Sholay (1936; “The Flames”)
and Hamari gali (1942; “Our Lane”)—is characterized by its sense
of realism and social awareness and by its use of stream of
consciousness.

Ali earned international acclaim with the publication of his

first novel, Twilight in Delhi (1940), which was written in English.
It nostalgically chronicles the passing of the traditional
Muslim aristocracy in light of encroaching British colonialism in the
early 20th century. His second novel, Ocean of Night (1964),
examines the cultural rift in India that preceded the creation of
India and Pakistan in 1947. Like Ocean of Night, Of Rats and
Diplomats (1984) was written decades before its publication. It is a
satiric novel about a diplomat whose ratlike tail is the
physical manifestation of his moral dissolution. Ali’s other notable
works include Purple Gold Mountain (1960), a volume of verse,
and The Prison House (1985), a collection of short stories. Ali
published a contemporary bilingual (English and Urdu) translation
of the Qurʾān in 1988. In 1992 he released a revised edition of his
anthology of Urdu poetry in English translation, The Golden
Tradition (the original edition was published in 1973).