Acknowledgement from the President of PHS

The President of the Pakistan Historical Society, Mrs. Sadia Rashid has graciously acknowledged the gift of his personal library by Shaikh Khurshid Hasan to the Bait al- Hikmah Library. This collection of books will further enrich the invaluable holdings of the Bait al-Hikmah Library.

Shaikh Khurshid Hasan (b, 4 April 1929) has an M.A. in History and a Diploma in Archaeology from the University of Rome. He joined the Federal Department of Archaeology in 1952 and retired in 1988 as Director-General. Apart from being a long standing Executive Member of the Pakistan Historical Society, he is a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, London. The Collection, recently arrived is undergoing the process of being catalogued. If we glance at the types of books written by Shaikh Khurshid Hasan, we can form an impression of the types of books he has collected

1. The Chaukandi Tombs, Karachi, Royal Book Company, 1996
2. The Islamic Architectural Heritage of Pakistan: Funerary Memorial Architecture, Islamabad, National Institute of Historical & Cultural Research (NIHCR), 2001
3. Historical Forts in Pakistan, Islamabad, NIHCR, 2005
4. Pakistan: Its Ancient Hindu Temples and Shrines, Islamabad, NIHCR, 2008
5. Religious Architecture of Gandhara : Buddhist Stupas and Monasteries, Islamabad, NIHCR, 2013
6. Muslim Architecture in Pakistan : Aspects of Public Welfare, Karachi, Oxford University Press, 2015
7. Evolution & Development of Mosque Architecture in Sindh, Islamabad, NIHCR, 2017
8. Muslim Architecture of Pakistan: Aspects of Figural Representation, Islamabad, NIHCR, 2019.

The last named title was reviewed in the Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, Vol. LXVIII: 2, April to June 2020. These titles are testament to the high caliber as well as the range of Shaikh Khurshid Hasan’s contribution, especially in the disciplines of History and Archaeology and the books he has gifted to Bait alHikmah Library shall take his contribution to many generations of scholars.