Fida Muhammad Hassnain

{{Short description|Indian historian}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Fida Muhammad Hasnain

| image = Prof. Fida Muhammad Hassnain .jpg

| birth_date = {{Birth year|1924}}

| death_date = {{Death year|2016}}

| death_place = Srinagar

| alma_mater = University of Punjab
Aligarh Muslim University

}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

Fida Muhammad Hassnain (Urdu فدا حسنین; Srinagar, 1924 – 2016) was a Kashmiri writer, lecturer and Sufi mystic.{{cite web|title=Noted Historian Fida Hassnain passes away|url=http://kashmirscan.com/2016/07/09/noted-historian-fida-hassnain-passes-away/ |publisher=kashmirscan.com|accessdate=14 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805053753/http://kashmirscan.com/2016/07/09/noted-historian-fida-hassnain-passes-away/ |archive-date=5 August 2016|url-status=dead}}

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He was born in 1924 in Srinagar, Kashmir, as the child of schoolteachers. His father fought with the British Indian forces in the Boer War in South Africa in 1902.Biographical notes of author in Appendix of "A Search for the Historical Jesus" -- published 1994 in the UK Fida Hassnain graduated from the University of Punjab and the Aligarh Muslim University, and became a barrister,A Search for the Historical Jesus from Apocryphal, Buddhist, Islamic and Sanskrit Sources. Professor Fida Hassanain. Gateway Books, Bath.1994, p. 244. but the events surrounding the partition of colonial British India made him lose faith in the law, and after a short period of social work he became a lecturer in 1947 at the Sri Patrap (SP) College in Srinagar. In 1954, he became Director of the Kashmir State Archives, retiring in 1983.Biographical notes of author in Appendix of "A Search for the Historical Jesus" -- published 1994 in the UK Fida Hassnain on died 9 July 2016 in Srinagar, Kashmir.{{cite news|title=Prof Fida Muhammad Khan Hassnain|url=https://kashmirobserver.net/category/prof-fida-muhammad-khan-hassnain|accessdate=17 April 2017|agency=Kashmir Observer|date=9 July 2016|archive-date=18 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418081502/https://kashmirobserver.net/category/prof-fida-muhammad-khan-hassnain|url-status=dead}}

His study tours resulted in the salvaging of several hundred manuscripts in Arabic, Sanskrit and Persian, which were housed in the Archives and Oriental Research Libraries.{{cite news | last = Fowler | first = Lilly | date = 4 January 2008 | title = For 17 years, what did Jesus do? | work = Star Tribune | url = http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/13043331.html | accessdate = 1 February 2009 }} As an archaeologist, he conducted several excavations.

He has written several books on the subject of Lost years of Jesus and Kashmir,{{cite news | last = Ramesh | first = Randeep | date = 19 November 2007 | title = Hollywood takes action hero Jesus to India | work = The Guardian | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/19/india.religion | accessdate = 1 February 2009 | archive-date = 1 August 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240801235129/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/19/india.religion | url-status = live }} which have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Japanese. He has made frequent guest appearances in documentaries about the tomb of Roza Bal supporting the teaching of the founder of Ahmadiyya Islam Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1899) that Jesus of Nazareth died in India. Christian theologians have been highly critical of Hassnain's works - Christian academics dismissing these claims include Günter Grönbold, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, Norbert Klatt, Per Beskow, and Gerald O'Collins.Mark Bothe Die "Jesus-in-Indien-Legende" - Eine alternative Jesus-Erzählung? - 2011 - Page 30 "1.4.2 Fida Hassnain - Fida M. Hassnain wurde 1924 in Srinagar, Kaschmir, ..."

In January 2009 The Jammu Kashmir Government recognized Hassnain for his lifetime contributions.{{cite news|date=25 January 2009 |title=Govt confers State awards to 17 outstanding persons |work=The Shadow: Daily News Paper Jammu |url=http://www.theshadow.in/theshadow/newsdet.aspx?q=7603 |accessdate=1 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526174526/http://www.theshadow.in/theshadow/newsdet.aspx?q=7603 |archivedate=26 May 2012 }}