Irfan Habib (born 12 August 1931) is an Indian historian of ancient and medieval India. His work includes historical geography, the history of Indian technology, and the economic history of medieval India, especially the Mughal Empire. His scholarship is associated with Marxist historiography. He is Professor Emeritus at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Habib has written several works, including The Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556–1707, An Atlas of the Mughal Empire, Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perception, and An Atlas of Ancient Indian History, co-authored with Faiz Habib. His paternal grandfather was Mohammad Naseem, a barrister and member of the Indian National Congress, and his maternal grandfather was Abbas Tyabji, Chief Justice of the High Court of Baroda State and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Habib's father, Mohammad Habib, was a historian and was associated with the Indian independence movement. The couple have three sons and one daughter.
Positions
Habib served as Coordinator and Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Studies at AMU in 1975–1977 and 1984–1994. He served as General President of the Indian History Congress in 1981.
Philosophical and political views
Habib's scholarship is associated with Marxist historiography.
Habib has been active in public debates over secularism and history education in India. He led historians at the Indian History Congress in 1998 who moved a resolution against the alleged "saffronisation" of history. He has criticised textbook revisions and public-history initiatives associated with Hindu nationalist politics.
In 2023, Habib criticised textbook revisions that removed or reduced material on Muslim rule in India, including the Mughals, and references to Muslim contributions to the Indian freedom struggle. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said that such revisions distorted Indian history and reflected a Hindu nationalist interpretation of the past.
Honours
- 1968 – Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship, awarded for research on India during the seventeenth century.
- 1982 – Watumull Prize of the American Historical Association, jointly with Tapan Raychaudhuri, for The Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume 1.
- 2010 – Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt), University of Calicut.
- 2016 – Yash Bharti Award, Government of Uttar Pradesh.