Saturday, March 25, 2023

2023: Hubaysh - Huq

 


Hubaysh
Hubaysh ( Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan al-Dimashqi) (al-A‘sam).  Ninth century ranslator of Greek medicinal writings.  With the exception of the Hippocratic oath and the herb-book of Dioscurides, he translated 35 of Galen’s works from Arabic into Syriac, and three from Syriac into Arabic.  He also wrote additions to a work of his uncle Hunayn ibn Ishaq, which won extremely wide diffusion.
Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan al-Dimashqi see Hubaysh
al-A‘sam see Hubaysh


Hud
Hud.  Name of the earliest of the five “Arab” prophets mentioned in the Qur’an, the others being Salih, Ibrahim, Shu‘ayb, and the Prophet himself. Hud is the name of a prophet of Islam, the prophet The eleventh sura of the Qur'an, Hud, is named after him, though the narrative of Hud comprises only a small portion of the sura, 11:50–60. Some Muslims believe that Hud lived for about 150 years and received revelations and prophethood sometime around 2400 B.C.T.

The Qur'an states that Hud was sent as a warning to the people of 'Ad. The recently discovered city of Ubar, mentioned in the Qur'an as Iram, is believed to have been the capital of 'Ad, which might connect it to the biblical character Aram, son of Shem. Ad was the name given to Hud's tribe because Ad was the name of Aram's granson

Although there is no mention of the amount of time elapsed after Noah in the Qur'an, according to Islamic secular tradition of history (but not from the Qur'an or Hadith), Hud was born eight generations after Nuh. In that time, his people had completely forgotten about The Flood that had struck generations past and had begun worshipping idols made of stone. Despite Hud's warnings and admonitions the people persisted in their idolatry (shirk). To punish them, Allah sent a drought. Even after the drought, the people would not relent, so they were destroyed in a large storm from which only Hud and a few believers emerged.

Some Muslims believe that Hud lived for about 150 years and received revelations and prophethood sometime around 2400 B.C.T. The Qur'an and Muhammad say nothing about the exact amount of years of Hud's lifespan or when exactly he was sent (it specified only that it was after Noah). Thus, on the secular level, this debate is subject to academic discussion.

Several sites are revered as his tomb, the most noted of which is located in the deserted Yemen village of the Wadi Hadhramaut.


Hudids
Hudids (Banu Hud).  Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled the taifa kingdom of Saragossa (Zaragoza) in Spain from 1039 until 1146 during the period of the Muluk al-Tawa’if.  The Hudids were of the Banu Hud and were an Hispano-Arabic dynasty.  Its leader, Sulaiman ibn Muhammad (r. 1039-1046) took over Zaragoza from the Banu Tujib.  His successors, Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (r. 1046-1081) and Ahmad II al-Mustain (r. 1085-1110), were keen patrons of the arts, initiating an active building program (Aljaferia), and led Spanish resistance to the Almoravids.  When the latter conquered Zaragoza in 1110, Abd al-Malik (r. 1110-1136) was able to escape to Rueda, where the last of the Hudids held out until 1146.  The last ruler, Abu Ja’far Ahmad III al-Mustansir bi-‘llah, was killed in a battle with the Christians.

The Banu Hud were an Arab dynasty that ruled the taifa of Zaragoza from 1039-1110. In 1039, under the leadership of Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami (Sulaiman ibn Muhammad), the Bani Hud seized control of Zaragoza from a rival clan, the Banu Tujibi. His heirs, particularly Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (1046-1081), Yusuf al-Mutamin (1081-1085), and Al-Mustain II, Ahmad ibn Yusuf (1085-1110), were patrons of culture and the arts.  The Aljafería, the royal residence erected by Ahmad I, is practically the only palace from that period to have survived almost in its entirety.

Despite their independence, the Banu Hud were forced to recognize the superiority of the Kingdom of Castile and pay parias to it as early as 1055. In 1086, they led the smaller kingdoms in their resistance to the Almoravids, who did not succeed in conquering Zaragoza until May 1110. The conquest represented the end of the dynasty. The last of the Banu Hud, Imad al-Dawl abd al-malik al Hud, the last king of Zaragoza, forced to abandon his capital, allied himself with the Christian Aragonese under Alfonso el Batallador, who in 1118 reconquered the city for the Christians and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon.

Banu Hud see Hudids

Hui
Hui.  The Hui (pronounced “whey”) are the most widely distributed and the second largest of all ethnic minorities in China.  They are Muslims, or atheists of Muslim parentage, who speak Chinese as their native language and who trace their descent to Arabs and Persians who began settling in China during the seventh century of the Christian calendar.  Among China’s ten Muslim minorities, the Hui are the most numerous, having the longest history in China, and are the most acculturated to the Han Chinese majority.  They are the only Muslims in China who speak Chinese as a mother tongue and live dispersed through all provinces of the country.

In Chinese, Hui are known as Huihui, Huihui minzu (“Huihui people” or “Huihui nationality”) and Huizu (a contraction of Huihui minzu).  Traditionally they have also called themselves Huijiaoren (“Hui-religion -- Islam – people”), Mumin (from the Arabic mu’min) and Jiaomen (a term meaning something like “people of the Teachings”).  In the 1980s and 1990s, the Chinese government promoted the use of “Muslim” (“Muslim”) to denote Hui (and others) who actively believe in Islam as distinct from Hui in general, a portion of whom no longer practice the religion.  In other countries, Hui are called by such names as Panthay and Dungan.  In English, the Hui have often been referred to simply as Chinese Muslims, a term that has caused much confusion because it also rightly includes the nine other Muslim ethnic groups in China.  

Islam was introduced to China during the flourishing Tang dynasty (618-906).  Arab and Persian merchants and mariners sailed to and settled in Canton and other southeastern Chinese port cities, bringing the religion just after it was founded.  Muslim soldiers, brought across Central Asia to help China’s emperor quell a rebellion in 757, introduced Islam to the interior.  Many of these Arabs, Persians, and Central Asians, nearly all men, married local Han Chinese women and remained in China, speaking Persian and Arabic as their lingua francas.  They lived in special districts (called “barbarian settlements”), where they were held responsible for maintaining law and order according to the customs of their homelands.  The Muslims increased in numbers as the children of mixed Muslim and Han marriages were raised as Muslims and as foreign Muslims continued to settle in China for several more centuries.  Another major Muslim influx came with the Mongols, who conquered China in the thirteenth century and imported thousands of Central and West Asian artisans, scholars and administrators to help them rule China.  Muslims directed the financial administration of the empire and were appointed to other high positions in the central and provincial governments.

While the Muslims remained a distinctly foreign minority during their first seven centuries in China, during the next five centuries they had relatively little contact with the rest of the Muslim world.  When the Han Chinese overthrew the Mongols in 1368, they sought to wipe out the much resented foreign influence and thus prohibited the use of foreign languages, foreign names and foreign clothing and restricted foreign travel.  European capture of the Asian sea trade from the Arabs also contributed to halting Muslim migration to China.  It was during this period (the Ming dynasty, 1368-1644) that the Muslims in China became sinicized, acculturating to Han Chinese ways through the adoption of Han surnames, clothing and food habits and through speaking Chinese as their everyday language.  The continued in-marriage of Han women, as well as the adoption of Han children and occasional conversion of Han adults, further contributed to the increase in the number of Muslims and, at the same time, to their becoming increasingly similar, physically as well as culturally, to the Han.  Muslims ceased being referred to as Arabs, barbarians and foreigners and came to be known instead by a new name, Huihui.

The next phase of Muslim history in China was one of violent ethnic conflict between the Han and the Hui.  From the sixteenth to early twentieth century, Muslims of northwest China (Hui, Salars and others) and Hui in Yunnan in southwest China rose against both local Han and the government in a series of rebellions said to have claimed as many as ten million lives.  Exacerbating the ethnic conflict were intense factional cleavages within the Muslim communities themselves, notably that between the so-called New Teaching adherents inspired by Naqshbandi fundamentalism and ideas of reform and Old Teaching adherents who clung to established practices of Chinese Islam. 

With the founding of the Republic of China in 1912, the Hui were formerly recognized as one of China’s “five great peoples” (usually translated as  “races” in English), part of the new Western inspired government’s attempt to win over the independent minded minorities who dominated more than half of China’s territory.  Many Hui, following trends among the Han, became actively engaged in reform movements.  During the civil war between the Chinese Communists and Nationalists, both sides actively sought to win Hui loyalties.  After the Communist victory and establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, several thousand Hui fled with the Nationalists to Taiwan, while the majority remained on the mainland.  There the Communist leaders developed a Soviet-inspired minority policy that formally identified major ethnic groups as “minority nationalities” (shaoshu minzu) and promised them rights of autonomy and self-government in exchange for their support.  The Communist Party has now recognized 55 ethnic groups as minority nationalities and established 107 so-called autonomous governments at three levels -- 5 at the provincial level, 30 at a middle (prefecture) level and 72 at the county level.  Twelve of these bear the name “Hui.”

The Communist government extended special considerations to Islam, all the while taking measures to ensure that all Islamic activity was consistent with official policies and under the control of the Muslim leaders loyal to the government.  The Chinese Islamic Association, founded in Beijing in 1953 and reporting to the Religious Affairs Bureau of the State Council, was central in this regard.   Mosques were exempt from property and housing taxes, and government funds were provided for renovation of several famous old mosques.  Government funds are also provided for the official pilgrimage delegation sent each year to Mecca with goodwill stops in other Muslim countries.

The greatest resentment expressed by Hui today is over incidents during the Cultural Revolution, when Red Guards in many parts of China forced Muslims to eat pork and cremate their dead, defiled their mosques and humiliated ahongs (for example, by forcing them to tend pigs or parade down the street wearing a pig part).  Yet Muslims survived the Cultural Revolution better than other religious groups, and at almost all times some mosques remained open where at least foreign Muslims were permitted to observe Friday prayer and the major festivals.

Hui spokesmen were quite positive about the more liberal religious policies that were adopted after 1979.  Many Muslim leaders resumed leadership roles, and a few even traveled abroad to participate in international conferences.  In 1980, the Chinese Islamic Association convened a national conference, its first in 17 years, and several regional and provincial Islamic associations began to meet annually.  Government supported training of new ahongs also began. 

Taiwan twice provided a new home for Chinese emigrating from the mainland.  Both times Hui were among them.  The first migration, during the mid-seventeenth century, was from the southeast coastal province of Fujian.  With few exceptions, Hui descended from this migration have now been assimilated by their Han neighbors.  The second migration occurred when Chinese loyal to the Nationalists fled the Communists in 1949.  Muslims among them are usually said to have numbered 20,000.  Nearly all are Hui and nearly all are city dwellers.

Hui people commonly believe that their surnames originated as "Sinified" forms of their foreign Muslim ancestors some time during the Yuan or Ming eras. These are some common surnames used by the Hui ethnic group:

    * Ma for Muhammad
    * Mu for Muhammad
    * Han for Muhammad
    * Ha for Hasan
    * Hu for Hussein
    * Sai for Said
    * Sha for Shah
    * Zheng for Shams
    * Koay for Kamaruddin
    * Chuah for Osman

A legend in Ningxia states that four Hui surnames common in the region - Na, Su, La, and Ding - originate with the descendants of one Nasruddin, a son of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who "divided" the ancestor's name (Nasulading, in Chinese) among themselves.
Huihui see Hui.
Huihui minzu see Hui.
“Huihui people” see Hui.
“Huihui nationality” see Hui.
Huizu  see

Hui.
Huijiaoren  see Hui.


Hujjatiyah
Hujjatiyah (Hojjatieh) (Hojjatieh Society).  Conservative religio-political school of thought within Shiism, the Hujjatiyah was founded in the early 1950s.  The Hujjati founder, Shaykh Mahmud Halabi, was rarely seen in public, and devotees of this school constituted the most conservative, ultra-traditionalist clergy and laypersons.  Originally founded as the Hujjatiyah Society in Mashhad, Iran, the group was known for having organized several anti-Baha’i campaigns.

Hujjatiyah derives from the word hujjah, meaning both proof and the presentation of proof.  In Shiism, the term has had three meanings or applications.  It has been used to refer to a person through whom the “inaccessible God becomes accessible” or to “a particular function within the process of revelation”.  The term has also been used to refer to “any figure in a religious hierarchy through whom an inaccessible higher figure became accessible to those below.”  In this connection, Shi‘a doctrine holds that the Imams are the proofs of Allah.

During the reign of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941-1979), the shah frequently gave the clergy permission to mount missionary campaigns against the Baha’is, who were perceived by the religious hierarchy as heretics.  Shaykh Halabi emerged as a figure whose fiery anti-Baha’i sermons sent throngs of clergymen to various cities to lecture on the dangers of Baha’ism.  Characteristics of their missionary behavior included spreading the works of, or news about, those Baha’is who had repented their presumed sins.

These activities led to intimidation of Baha’is in the cities of Shiraz, Isfahan, Yazd, and Kashan.  Moreover, Hujjatiyah supporters pressured the government to cut off work permits, licenses, documentations of property ownership, and so forth to the Baha’is.  There is no evidence that Shaykh Halabi met Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989) during these campaigns or that the grand ayatollahs in Qom supported Halabi’s actions.  Whatever the situation, Halabi created a nationwide organization with a single objective: to seek out and eradicate all remnants of the Baha’i creed.

After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Hujjatiyah were accused by various fundamentalist clerics as oppositionists to the concept of vilayat-i faqih (rule of the jurisconsult), a constitutional power given to Khomeini.  It was claimed that the Hujjatiyah took a passive stand on the return of the Hidden Imam (Mahdi) and hence were opposed to those who want to actively promote the necessary conditions for his return.  In this fashion, Khomeini’s revolutionary stand, as well as demands for unquestioned loyalty to the faqih, was portrayed as anathema to Hujjati ideology.  Furthermore, the label of Hujjatiyah in the post-revolutionary factional struggle was given to those who argued that the clergy must be less directly involved in the governing appraratus and who emphasized an islamization of all aspects of life.  Also, those bazaari merchants who were keen to protect their trade from government taxes or other encroachments were easily labeled, Hujjati.

In the summer of 1983, the Islamic regime mounted a public campaign against Hujjatiyah sympathizers.  Khomeini alluded to the existence of iqtishash (commotion), “internal rift,” and “the dangerous elements” that undermine the Islamic Revolution.  He specifically alluded to the Hujjatiyah group when he said that some groups wanted “to force the return of the Hidden Imam,” meaning, to oppose the faqih.

After Khomeini’s remarks, the two major dailies, Kayhan and Ittila‘at, launched a series of attacks on the Hujjatiyah.  Kayhan published extracts from a Hujjati pamphlet in which the authors stated that they understood Khomeini’s remarks to be directed at them and, having failed to gain an appointment with him, they consulted with Shaykh Halabi.  The pamphlet stated that because of the “current atmosphere,” the Hujjatiyah could no longer continue its activities.  They announced a suspension of the society.  However, in conclusion, they directed an implicit criticism at Khomeini by stating, “Allah and the Hidden Imam would appreciate what the movement [Hujjatiyah] had done for the Islamic cause.”  This gave the impression that Khomeini lacked this appreciation and therefore was out of line with God and the Hidden Imam.

After the summer of 1983, the regime practically ignored the existence of the Hujjatiyah.  No one knew the whereabouts of Halabi or the extent of support for his group in Iran.  On August 29, 1983, the chief revolutionary prosecutor, Husayn Musavi Tabrizi, was asked about his views on the Hujjatiyah Society and whether they were still continuing their activities.  He replied, “They have said they have renounced their activities, they should get permission from the Ministry of Interior.”  Musavi Tabrizi ignored the fact that the charter of the Hujjatiyah Society states specifically that it will not dissolve itself or end its activities until the appearance of the Hidden Imam.


Hojjatieh see Hujjatiyah
Hojjatieh Society see Hujjatiyah


Hujr ibn ‘Adi al-Kindi
Hujr ibn ‘Adi al-Kindi.  Shi‘a agitator in early Islam.  He was put to death by the Umayyad Caliph al-Mu‘awiya I.


Hulegu
Hulegu (Hulagu) (Hulagu Khan) (c.1217 - February 8, 1265).  Founder of the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty of Iran.  During his rule, from 1256 to 1265, Hulegu established the boundaries and basic policies of Ilkhanid rule.  His successors ruled Iran for approximately one hundred years. Hulegu was Genghis Khan’s grandson and the brother of Mongke Khan, who in 1251 sent Hulegu to extend and consolidate Mongol rule in the Middle East.  Hulegu conquered Iran, Mesopotamia, and Syria, the last of which, however, he soon lost.  In the course of his campaigns, Hulegu suppressed the Isma’ili sect (known as the Assassins) and from 1256 to 1257 destroyed their strongholds.  In 1258, Hulegu sacked Baghdad and killed the Abbasid caliph.  Hulegu conquered Alamut in 1256, took Baghdad in 1258 and Aleppo and Damascus in 1260, but returned to Persia at the news of the death of the Great Khan.  The army Hulegu left behind was destroyed by the Mamelukes at ‘Ayn Jalut in 1260.  Hulegu was Buddhist but also favored Christians, and formed an alliance with the pope and European kings against the Arab Mamelukes.  He likewise promoted Islamic culture, patronizing the Persian historian Juwaini and the Shi’ite scholar Nasir al-Din Tusi, for whom he built an observatory. 

Hulagu Khan was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia. Son of Tolui and the Kerait princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan, and the brother of Arik Boke, Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan. Hulagu's army greatly expanded the southwestern portion of the Mongol Empire, founding the Ilkhanate of Persia, a precursor to the eventual Safavid dynasty, and then the modern state of Iran. Under Hulagu's leadership, the Mongols destroyed the greatest center of Islamic power, Baghdad, and also weakened Damascus, causing a shift of Islamic influence to the Mamelukes in Cairo. It was also in Hulagu's reign that historians switched from writing in Arabic to writing in Persian.

Hulagu was born to Tolui, one of Genghis Khan's sons, and Sorghaghtani Beki, an influential Kerait princess. Sorghaghtani successfully navigated Mongol politics, arranging for all of her sons to become Mongol leaders. Hulagu was friendly to Christianity, as his mother was a Nestorian Christian. Hulagu's favorite wife, Dokuz Khatun, was also a Christian, as was Hulagu's closest friend and general, Kitbuqa. Hulagu told the Armenian historian Vardan Arewelc'i in 1264 that he had been a Christian since birth. It is recorded however that he was a Buddhist. as he neared his death, against the will of his Christian wife Dokuz Khatun.

Hulagu had at least three children: Abaqa, second Ilkhan of Persia from 1265–1282, Taraqai, whose son Baydu became Ilkhan in 1295, and Teguder Ahmad, third Ilkhan from 1282-1284.


Hulagu see Hulegu
Hulagu Khan see Hulegu


Humai
Humai (Ume). First ruler of the Kanuri empire of Kanem (in Chad, Niger, and Nigeria) to accept Islam (r.1085-1097).  He was probably converted through the influence of Muslim traders who lived in colonies in the larger towns.
Ume see Humai


Humayun
Humayun (Nasir al-Din Humayun) (Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun) (March 17, 1508– March 4, 1556) (OS March 7, 1508-OS February 22, 1556). Son of Babur and the second Mughal ruler of Hindustan and Kabul (r.1530-1540 and 1555-1556).  His first period of rule was a long struggle against his family, most of all his half-brother Kamran, and against the Afghan chief Shir Shah Suri (Sher Khan), who took over Bengal and used it as a base from which to expel Humayun from India. 
 
Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one. On the eve of his death in 1556, the Mughal empire spanned almost one million square kilometers.

He succeeded his father in India in 1530, while his half-brother Kamran Mirza, who was to become a rather bitter rival, obtained the sovereignty of Kabul and Lahore, the more northern parts of their father's empire. He originally ascended the throne at the age of 22 and was somewhat inexperienced when he came to power.

Humayun lost his Indian territories to the Pashtun (Afghan) noble, Sher Shah Suri, and, with Persian aid, regained them fifteen years later. Humayun's return from Persia, accompanied by a large retinue of Persian noblemen, signaled an important change in Mughal court culture, as the Central Asian origins of the dynasty were largely overshadowed by the influences of Persian art, architecture, language and literature.

Subsequently, in a very short time, Humayun was able to expand the Empire further, leaving a substantial legacy for his son, Akbar.

Humayun, upon his accession, inherited troublesome brothers and a shaky empire surrounded by hostile regional powers.  The most determined hostile element, however, lay within the empire, toward the east.  The Afghans, from whom Babur had snatched the throne at Panipat, still commanded considerable strength, and an ambitious and competent leader was preparing them for the final trial with the Mughals.  In 1540, the Afghan Sher Shah retrieved the imperial throne, which he held for five years.  During this period, Humayun wandered about in western India (Sind) and Persia.  In 1543, Humayun was obliged to seek the hospitality of Shah Tahmasp I of Persia, who forced Humayun to sign papers professing Shi 'ism.  In 1545, aided by the Iranian shah, Humayun wrested Afghanistan from his brother Kamran and, in 1555, Humayun recaptured Delhi and Agra from Sher Khan's warring descendants.  Thus, the second Afghan attempt at empire building in India lasted a mere fifteen years.  Internal Afghan dissension facilitated Humayun’s return.

Humayun was a keen patron of mathematics and astronomy, wrote Persian verse, and carried books on his travels.

He died of an accident (from a fall), leaving the empire to his son, Akbar.

Nasir al-Din Humayun see Humayun
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun see Humayun


Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-‘Ibadi
Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-‘Ibadi (Hunayn ibn Ishaq) ('Abu Zayd Hunayn ibn 'Ishaq al-'Ibadi) (Hunain ibn Ishaq)   (808-873).  Scientist and translator.  He was the most important mediator of ancient Greek science to the Arabs.  He is credited with an immense number of translations from Greek into Syriac and Arabic, among them those of Hippocrates and Galen.  He also composed numerous original works, mainly on medical subjects, and had a special interest in ophthalmology.

Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic and Syriac during the glory years of the Abbasid Caliphate. Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive translator of Greek medical and scientific treatises. He was originally from southern Iraq but he spent his working life in Baghdad, the center of the great ninth-century Greek-into-Arabic/Syriac translation movement. Impressively, Hunayn's translations did not require corrections at all. This perfection possibly came about because he mastered four languages: Arabic, Syriac, Greek and Persian. He studied Greek and became known among the Arabs as the "Sheikh of the translators." Hunayn’s method was widely followed by later translators.



Huq, Saleemul

Saleemul Huq (b. October 2, 1952, Karachi, Pakistan – d. October 28, 2023, Dhaka, Bangladesh) was a Bangladeshi-British scientist who was the Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) based in Bangladesh.  Huq was also Professor at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). He was elected one of Nature's 10 top scientists in 2022.


Huq was an expert in the field of climate change, environment and development. He worked extensively on the inter-linkages between climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainable development, from the perspective of developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries (LDCs). He was a lead author of the chapter on Adaptation and Sustainable Development in the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and was one of two coordinating lead authors of "Inter-relationships between adaptation and mitigation" in the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report (2007).


In addition, Huq contributed to the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Having established the climate change research group at the International Institute for Environment and Deveolopment (IIED), based in the United Kingdom, in 2000, he later became a senior fellow, and was also Senior Adviser on Locally Led Adaptation with Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA).


Huq strived to grow the capacity of Bangladesh stakeholders, while enabling people and international organizations to benefit from training in Bangladesh. His teaching experiences included at Imperial College London, the University of Dhaka and United Nations University. He was the founder and the Chairman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), a leading research and policy institute in Bangladesh.


Huq attended all sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 1995 until his passing. He actively engaged as an adviser on adaptation, loss and damage and climate finance to the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group in the UNFCCC and provided training to LDC negotiators. He was also involved as a board member of the Climate Vulnerability Forum under UNFCCC. 


Huq, who trained as a botanist, was perhaps the principal proponent of the idea that the developed world’s emissions of greenhouse gases were having a disproportionate impact on the climate in poorer countries, and that wealthy countries should pay for measures to curb or reverse those effects.


For his contributions at addressing the climate change issues, Huq was awarded 2020 National Environment Award by the Government of Bangladesh.  Huq was also appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to combating international climate change.


Huq received his early education in Germany, Indonesia, and Kenya. He later went and received Bachelor of Science degree in Botany from the Imperial College at London University in the United Kingdom in 1975, and a Ph.D. in Botany from the same university in 1978.


Before joining IIED, Huq was the director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, which he founded in 1984. He was founding director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh. He was involved in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which he has served as the lead author and coordinating lead author in Working Group II, which focused on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation.


Huq published reports and articles on climate change, particularly on adaptation to climate change. He was the lead author of the chapter on Adaptation and Sustainable Development in the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He was a Senior Fellow in the Climate Change Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development.  


As a researcher, Huq contributed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). His work with the IPCC and ICCCAD contributed significantly to Goal 13 (Climate Action) and Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).


Under Goal 13, Huq's research helped to achieve the following targets:

  • Target 13.3: Build knowledge and capacity to meet climate change
  • Target 13.a: Implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
  • Target 13.b: Promote mechanisms to raise capacity for planning and management

Saleemul Huq died from a heart attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on October 28, 2023, at the age of 71.

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