Sultan Muhammad Khan
Chaudhry Sultan Muhammad Khan had a unique association with imperial Afghanistan while being a British Indian subject, as an advisor to King Abdur Rahman Khan, record-keeper and translator to/from English and later, ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Kingdom.
He was the father of author, poet, educator and revolutionary Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
Biography
Studying part-time, he finished middle school in 1873 placing top in the examinations and earned a high school scholarship of two rupees a month from the Education Department of the Government of Punjab.A polyglot, he was fluent in Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Arabic, English, Pashto and Russian, which would help him for his later career.
In 1897, Sultan Muhammad fled Afghanistan and after a brief imprisonment and stay in British India, left for England. After studying law at Cambridge, he was called to the Bar. He also earned a Master's degree in English.
In 1898, Sultan Muhammad Khan was named the ambassador of Afghanistan in London. He served in the post until 1905.
Sultan Muhammad returned from British India and settled in Sialkot in 1908.
Marriage and children
Sultan Muhammad married four times in Afghanistan and his living wives and children eventually joined him in Sialkot.He married for a fifth time on his return from England and had children:
- Tufail Ahmed, judge
- Faiz Ahmad Faiz, teacher and eminent poet
- Inayat, Major in British Indian Army
- Bashir, disabled from birth
Death
Published works
- The Constitution and Laws of Afghanistan, comprising 164 pages, published in London, in 1900 by Jon Marry Printing press
- The Life of Amir Abdur Rahman, Volumes I & II, printed in 1900, by John Murray, Albemarle Street London, reprinted, in 1980, by Oxford University Press, Karachi