پوچھتے ہیں وہ کہ غالبؔ کون ہے
کوئی بتلاؤ کہ ہم بتلائیں کیا

Born in Hyderabad Deccan and raised in Jeddah Hejaz (KSA), I pursued my schooling at the International Indian School and Delhi Public School in Jeddah, along with Madrasah Dar-ul-Ilm (affiliated with Jamia Nizamia, Hyderabad Deccan). I began my college journey at Muffakham Jah College of Engineering & Technology (Osmania University), Hyderabad, eventually earning a Bachelor of Commerce from Glocal University, and am currently preparing for my masters.

In 2017, I started teaching Urdu Language and Literature – particularly prosody and poetics, along with the history of literature. Encouraged by friends and family, these sessions grew into workshops and talks – and eventually led to the co-founding of Anjuman e Fannān (which I later merged with my foundation – The Kabikaj Foundation).

The Kabikaj Foundation is dedicated to preserving, studying and working on both the physical materiality and intellectual content of rare books and manuscripts that hold literary, cultural, historical, academic, religious and traditional significance.

Over the years, I’ve been actively involved in conducting and curating a wide array of workshops, lectures, talks and literary gatherings – centred mainly on literature, but also touching on other subjects. These have taken place in academic settings like EFLU and Symbiosis Law School, as well as at cultural and heritage venues such as the Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad Literary Festival and Qutb Shahi Tombs.

I’m currently developing Dakhni-pedia – a digital repository of Dakhni literature and scholarship – inspired by the works of my grandfather, Hazrat Riasat Ali Taaj (d. 1999), and scholars like Prof. Frances Pritchett.

I’m also a founding member of the Ashrafiya Islamic Foundation, and work closely with its project Dar-al-Isnad (Dar al-Hadith wal Isnad al-Hindiyyah) on research, translation, writing, documentation and publishing initiatives related to Islamic sciences – focused especially on isnad studies, ʿaqīdah, fiqh and tasawwuf.

In 2020, I joined The Deccan Archive as a research and editorial collaborator – contributing to efforts around preserving Deccani heritage. One of the most fulfilling aspects of that work has been teaching poetry at Hyderabad’s historic sites.

My interests remain rooted in the literary and intellectual traditions of Urdu, Persian and Dakhni, along with the historical trajectories of the Indian and Islamicate worlds — not from a place of authority or expertise, but simply as a humble student — with an amateur curiosity in cosmology and philosophy.

فقیر ابو الحسنات ابو محمد
میر ریاست علی قادری
الاشعری الحنفی الاشرفی
الدکنی ثم الحجازی
المتخلص اسرار