Ilyas Burney

Who was Ilyas Burney?

Professor Muhammad Ilyas Burney MA LLB was the first head of Department of Economics at Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. Prof. Mohammad Elias Burney published about 40 books in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and English. He is also credit to have written the first books of Economics in Urdu by Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal. Iqbal complimented Burney on his book in a letter written to him on March 8, 1917 in these words: “Received Kitabul Maeeshat—your book is a great favour to Urdu language. I have no hesitation in saying that this is the first book on economics in Urdu language, and complete in all respects”. His other books in economics included Ilm ul Maaeshat, Muqaddima e Maashiyat and Indian Economics. Prof. Mohammad Elias Burney is particularly known for his monumental work on the Ahmadiyya sect. His book in Urdu “Qadiani Muzhab”, is considered a comprehensive study on the subject. It was also translated into Arabic as “Adiyanatul al Qadianiah” by Maulana Abdul Quddoos Nadvi. Among his other quoted books are Mishkat-us-Salawat which is a collection of poetry in praise of Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was also appointed by Muhammed Ali Jinnah to the Planning Committee of Pakistan. However after the partition of India he decided to remain in India.