Syed Abdul Latif (1891-1971) was born in Andhra Pradesh, India. He studied Persian and Arabic under his father Syed Shah Hussaini and graduated from the Christian College, Madras. He taught English at Osmania University, Hyderabad. In 1924, he was awarded a PhD by the University of London. Being interested in politics, Dr Syed Abdul Latif had close contacts with Mohandas K. Gandhi, Abul Kalam Azad and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He edited the weeklies New Era (1937) and Clarion (1947). Besides translating the Qur’an into the English language, he also translated Azad’s celebrated Tarjuman al-Qur’an (in 3 volumes). Among his other works are Basic Concepts of the Qur’an, Bases of Islamic Culture and Islamic Cultural Studies. Syed Abdul Latif was conferred the title of ‘Padma Bhushan’ by the President of India in 1970.