Akhtar Hussain Raipuri

Dr Akhtar Husain (1912-1992Urdu: اختر حسین‎) also known as Dr Akhtar Husain Raipuri was a British Indian Muhajir Pakistani scholar, journalist and lexicographer. He is also the author of the book The Dust of the Road: A Translation of Gard-e-Raah that was translated into English many years after his death.

Akhtar Husain was born in the district of Raipur in the British Indian Empire, now within the state of Bihar, Republic of India. He was born to Saiyyed Akbar Husain, an engineer stationed in Raipur. His mother Mumtazunnisa was a publisher in women's journals. She died at age twenty-six when Akhtar was just three.

As a child, Akhtar became fond of reading and saved money to buy books in Hindi (a major register of Hindustani written in the Sanskrit script), but could not read Urdu (another major register of Hindustani written in the Perso-Arabic script) as fluently. At age twelve, his school teacher asked him to help organize the school library.

Husain moved to Calcutta to pursue advanced studies which at the time was also a major center for publication in Bengali, Hindi and Urdu. But after leaving there in 1932, Husain went on to translate popular works from Bengali poet Qazi Nazrul Islam into Urdu. According to Husain, Babu Moolchand and Maulvi Abdul Huq as his two major life influences.

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