Ahmed Ali was born in Delhi in 1908 into a cultured, traditional, urban Muslim family, which had lived in Delhi for generations. His parents both belonged to distinguished families of Arab descent. His mother was Ahmed Kaniz Asghar Begum. His father was Syed Shujauddin Ali, a civil servant in the British administration who was posted as Assistant Commissioner to various districts in the Punjab. There were constant visits to the family home in Delhi and when Ahmed Ali was four, he was sent to live there, until he had finished the Quran, because his grandmother wanted him to be taught by the same teacher as his father. At the time, the “old culture” still flourished and houses were segregated into the men and women's apartments. In a 1990 interview (Muneeza Shamsie, An interview with…

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Citation: Shamsie, Muneeza. "Ahmed Ali". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 May 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4984, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4984 Ahmed Ali 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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