GREAT MUSLIMS OF INDIA

 ARTISTS

AKBAR PADAMSEE

Birth and Early Life

Akbar Padmasee was born in Bombay, Maharashtra in 1928. Akbar Padamsee is an inveterate artist. He went out for Paris in 1951 and lived and worked there till his return in 1967.Although he is best known as a painter, Akbar Padamsee has experimented with film-making, sculpture, and writing as an art critic. Akbar Padamsee is a man of varied interests- an artist, a philosopher and a Sanskritist. His philosophical personality finds itself reflected on his landscapes where he uncovers the underlying harmony in the landscape rather than building a grid. He looks at the totality of things with all its contradicting factors. To him painting is an act of enquiry into one's self, a deep thought-provoking process.

His images are stark, built with classical formal harmony which is an effective tool in Padamsee's language. Dialectically opposed views converge in his paintings, like the sense of intimacy and detachment that his landscapes exude. Having started his early life in art in J.J.School he soon moved to Paris becoming one among the few Indian artists in the 60s working successfully in the international arena. 1945-49 Diploma in Fine Arts, J.J. School of Art, Bombay. Got JRD 3rd Foundation Fellowship, NY; Awarded Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship.

Career

Akbar Padamsee, since the beginning of his artistic career, never wavered from his strength of line and astute vision. His idiom, even as a very young painter, did not succumb to prevailing conventions. Even as Padamsee broke free from the accepted European schooled thought, which was ruling the roost then, he maintained a classical balance in all his work. Padamsee's forms bounded by the line and created from an assemblage of strokes on the surface are both real and transcendent.In recent years he had painted Diptychs which are relative versions of the same landscape. He held many exhibitions and his works displayed were recognized well all over the world.

Exhibitions

• 1952 (Solo exhibition) Galerie Saint Placide, Paris. 1953, 55 Venice Biennale, Italy.
• 1957 (Solo exhibition) Galerie Ventadour, France.
• 1958 Seven Indian Painters, Gallery One, London.
• 1959 Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil.
• 1959 Tokyo Biennale, Japan.
• 1960 (Solo exhibition) Painting in Grey, Gallery ‘59, Bombay.
• 1967 (Solo exhibition) Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal.
• 1980 Retrospective, organised by Art Heritage, Bombay and New Delhi.
• 1981 India: Myth and Reality- Aspects of Modern Indian Art, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.
• 1982 Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London.
• 1985-86 Artistes Indiens en France, Foundation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris.
• 1987 Festival of India, Moscow, USSR.
• 1991 National Exposition of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
• 1992 Sanskriti Art Gallery, Calcutta.
• 1993 Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore & Madras

Achievements
Padmasee received following awards in his career:

• 1965 Awarded JDR 3rd Foundation Fellowship, New York.
• 1965 Rockerfeller IIIrd. Fund Fellowship, U.S.A.
• 1967 Artist - in - Residence, Stout State University, Wisconsin.
• 1969-70 Awarded Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship.
• 2004 Lalit Kala Ratna, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
  
  
  

ALTAF RAJA

Birth and Early Life

Altaf Raja is an Indian musician born in October 1967 in Nagpur Maharashtra. He has produced several pop albums in Hindi including his rise to fame album Tum to thehre pardesi. His songs are popular for both their lyrics and for his unique voice. He is also a playback singer. Born to little-known qawwals Rani Roop Lata and Ibrahim Iqbal, Raja accompanied his parents for shows all over the country. He learnt concert techniques, stage craft and the art of extempore entertainment. Raja also spent time at Vazir, a restaurant in south Mumbai's Bhendi Bazar where musicians and qawwals discussed sur and tal over chai. However, his parents were acutely conscious of the need for a sound education. So he was sent to school, first in Pune and then in Mumbai. They also insisted that he get trained in a vocation which would get him at least his daily bread.

So Raja mastered garment designing. But fashioning clothes didn't measure up to his dreams. He was 18 when he felt music was his true calling. His parents relented and sent him to train under Pandit Govindprasad Jaipurwale.

Career

By the time he was 20, Raja was singing Muslim devotional songs in true Sufi tradition at Urs and public functions. With the help of Mohammed Shafi Niazi of Venus, Raja cut his first disc in 1993. It may have been a cover version -- devotional songs in qawwali tradition called Sajda rab ko karle -- but it also marked the beginning of Raja's good fortune. Raja was signed up by Venus for a qawwali album Jungi Qawwali Muqabla with Yasmin Akhtar in 1995 and a solo Mujko Baghdadwale Ka Dar Chahiye. More albums were followed by invitations for shows from different parts of the country.

But Raja was not satisfied. To him, singing only devotionals was life on-the-fringe. To get national recognition, he knew he would have to hit big time. This meant a mix of music, including those for films, which eluded him. Unruffled, he played on. "I read books, went through the lyrics of over 2,000 songs, listened to Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh who are my favourites." And kept going to Venus for a break. "Meanwhile," Raja recollects, "I kept singing in chorus, singing the cue for big singers and, of course, my solo shows of devotional and other qawwalis. I was confident my break would happen."

Achievements

In 1996, Raja recorded his first commercial album. Venus released it as Panga Le Liya, based on a popular number on Side A. Surprisingly, it was a number on the flip side -- Tum to thehre pardesi -- that made waves. Venus was quick to cash in on the hit. It repackaged the album as Tum To Thehre Pardesi. Within a few weeks, TTTP had taken the market by storm. Initially, however, the album swept only the small towns. In the wake of TTTP's success, Venus has spun out two more discs: a devotional one called Maiya Meri Jholi Bharde released during Navratri and another on Sai Baba. And, of course, a sequel to TTTP titled Aaj Ki Raat Na Ja Pardesi which is already on countdown shows and Liberty Top Ten, a non-film music programme.

His later albums were:

• Shapath
• Yamraaj
• Tirchi Topiwale
• Keemat
• Mujhe Apna Bana Lo
• Do Dil Haare
• Dil Ke Tukde Hazaar Hue
• Dil Ka Haal Sune Dilwala
• Company
• Ek Dard Sabhi Ko Hota Hai
• Taaza Hawa Lete Hain
• Koi Patthar Se Na Mare
• Harjaiie

He gave his voice for following movies as play back singer:

• Market (2003)
• Company (2002)
• Benaam (1999)
• Mother (1999)
• Pardesi Babu (1998)
• Keemat: They Are Back (1998)
• Tirchhi Topiwale (1998)
• Main hun na (2006)
• Haarjai (2007)
• Chandaal (1998)

DILIP KUMAR

Birth and Early Life

Yusuf Khan born December 11, 1922, popularly known as Dilip Kumar is a legendary Bollywood film actor and a former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). He was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan, in Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar, in the then British Raj, now in Pakistan, in a Pashtun family of twelve children. His father, Ghulam Sarwar was a fruit merchant and owned large orchards in Peshawar and Devlali in Maharashtra near Mumbai. The family relocated to Mumbai in 1930s and in the early 1940s Yusuf Khan moved to Pune and started off with his canteen business and supplying dry fruits. There he was spotted by a leading actress of those years, Devika Rani, who was also the wife of the founder of Bombay Talkies, Himanshu Rai, and helped his entry into the Bollywood film industry. She also gave him the screen name of Dilip Kumar.

Career

His first film Jwar Bhata, was released in 1944 which went unnoticed. In 1947 he shot to prominence with the film Jugnu which was his first major hit. In 1949, he co-starred with Raj Kapoor in the romantic melodrama film Andaz, which went to become a huge success and made him a star. Throughout the 1950s he was one of the biggest stars of Bollywood along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. He became known for playing tragic roles in popular films such as Deedar (1951), Amar (1954), Devdas (1955) and Madhumati (1958) which earned him the title of "tragedy king".

He was also successful in playing lighthearted roles such as playing a swashbuckling peasant in Aan (1952) and a comic role in Azaad (1955). In 1960 he starred in the historical film Mughal-e-Azam which is as of 2008, the second highest grossing film in Hindi film history inflation adjusted in which he played the role of the Mughal crown-prince Jehangir, the son of Akbar.

In 1961 he produced and starred in the hit Ganga Jamuna in which he and his real-life brother Nasir Khan played the title roles. Despite the film's success he did not produce any film after this. Dilip had a narrow brush with international fame in 1962, when British director David Lean offered him the role of Sherif Ali in his 1962 blockbuster, Lawrence of Arabia. However, Kumar declined the part. The role eventually went to Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor. After a brief period of box office flops in the mid 1960s, he bounced back when he played a dual role of twins separated at birth in the film Ram Aur Shyam (1967) which was one of the biggest box office hits of the year. The success of Ram Aur Shyam spawned a number of remakes and imitators.

In the 1970s Kumar acted in fewer films as newer actors such as Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan had began to take the spotlight. Many of Kumar's films failed at the box office during this period and after the release of his 1976 film Bairaag in which he played triple roles, he took a five year break from acting.

He made a comeback in 1981 with the multi-starrer Kranti which was the biggest hit of the year. He went onto play character roles as an elderly family patriarch or a police officer in a string of box office hits including Shakti (1982) (in which he starred alongside the reigning superstar of the time Amitabh Bachchan), Vidhaata (1982), Mashaal (1984) and Karma (1986). In his last major successful film, Saudagar (1991) he appeared alongside another legendary actor Raaj Kumar after three decades since they last appeared together in Paigham (1959). In 1992 he won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1996 he was attached to make his directorial debut with a film titled Kalinga but the film was shelved. In 1998 he made his last film appearance to date in the box office flop Qila where in a rare form he played a villainous role. He has since retired from the film industry although he has continued to receive film offers in recent years but the films have either been shelved due to his indifferent health or because he refused them.

He is considered to be one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. Starting his career in 1944, Dilip Kumar has starred in some of the biggest commercially successful films from the late 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1980s. His performances have been regarded as the epitome of emoting in Indian Cinema. He was the first actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for most number of Filmfare Awards won for that category. Though he has done all kinds of films - he balanced a wide variety of roles such as the intense Andaz (1949) with the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955) with the comical Azaad (1955) and the historical romance Mughal E Azam (1960) with the social Ganga Jamuna (1961). In the 1970s roles dried up for Kumar and after 1976 he left films for a five year break. In 1981 he returned with a character role in the blockbuster film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in hits such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991). He has since retired from the industry.

ISMAIL GULGEE

Birth and Early Life

Ismail Gulgee (October 25, 1926 – December 14, 2007) Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz (twice), Hilal-e-Imtiaz, was an award-winning, globally famous Pakistani artist born in Peshawar. He was a qualified engineer in the U.S. and self-taught abstract painter and portrait painter. Before 1959, as portraitist, he painted the entire Afghan Royal Family. From about 1960 on, he was noted as an abstract painter influenced by the tradition of Islamic calligraphy and by the American "action painting" idiom.

Career

Initially, he went to Aligarh University to study civil engineering before heading off to USA for continuing his higher education. According to artnet.com, Gulgee started to paint while acquiring his training as an engineer in the United States at Columbia University and then Harvard. His first exhibition was in 1950.

Gulgee was a gifted and consummately skilled naturalistic portrait painter who had enjoyed (according to Partha Mitter) "lavish state support" and plenty of elite commissions in this capacity. Nevertheless, he was perhaps best known worldwide for his abstract work, which was inspired by Islamic calligraphy and was also influenced by the "action painting" movement of the 1950s and 1960s (Mitter notes that Elaine Hamilton was a strong influence in this direction). This is perhaps a natural enough stylistic combination, since in both Islamic calligraphy and action painting a high value is placed on the unity and energy of gestural flow. As with the works of other action painters or abstract expressionists, Gulgee's canvases were often quite large. He was also known for using materials such as mirror glass and gold or silver leaf in his oil paintings, so that they were in fact mixed media pieces.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: "Gulgee's calligraphy paintings are abstract and gestural interpretations of Arabic and Urdu letters. His sweeping layers of paint explore the formal qualities of oil paint while they make references to Islamic design elements."

Beginning in the 1960s (if not earlier), Gulgee also created sculptures, including bronze pieces that were (like so many of his paintings) calligraphic in form and inspiration, and sometimes specifically based on verses from the Quran.

His paintings were bright and full of color, but the paint was put on with great sensitivity, and paintings vibrate with intense feeling. Areas sing with luminous, thin color; thick blobs of paint pulsate with fiberglass tears, the brush swirls strong and free. The total effect used to be very free, yet considered and well thought out. They work enormously well, because it was all orchestrated with great care and concentration.

Achievements

Guljee, as he was famously known, received many requests for his paintings internationally, from the Saudi royal family to the Islamabad presidency. Many of his works are placed in the "Faisal Mosque" in Islamabad. Guljee received many awards, including in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Japan and France. Guljee's exhibitions have mostly been available to few people. Keeping that in mind and high demand from public and lovers of his works, an art gallery for Guljee has been built in Clifton, Karachi near South City Hospital and Sea View Karachi. Guljee mostly painted for his own inspirations and vision. Although selected paintings are available for sale in Guljee art gallery. Guljee was last based in Boat Basin in Karachi.

Gulgee, his wife Zarrin Gulgee and a maid were found dead in their house on the evening of December 19, 2007 by his servents. Police suspect that all three had been murdered. While the bodies were found on the 19th, officials report that they had apparently been deceased for three days, leading to a speculative death date of December 16, 2007. Their bodies were found bound and gagged in separate rooms of the house. The initial cause of death for all three has been attributed to suffocation. Gulgee was buried on the evening of December 20, 2007, in Karachi.

LUBNA AGHA

Lubna Agha born in 1949 is a South Asian artist. Lubna Agha, one of Pakistan's preeminent artists, is noted for her eclectic, innovative, and substantial body of work. Formally identified as a seminal and pivotal figure in the burgeoning Pakistani female art movement, Agha has proven herself to be a continuously evolving and stylistically fluid artist throughout her esteemed thirty-year career.

Career

Twenty years ago, Agha left her native Pakistan and resettled in the United States. Throughout her residency in the United States, Agha has continued to assimilate and reflect the ideals, challenges and idiosyncrasies of her adopted land. The evolving panorama of the American Experience is explored in her latest works-in-progress series entitled, InfoSeries. Agha feels that remaining cued to the pulse of American life and its influences provides a dynamic source of inspiration and direction in her work that enriches her artistic development.

Never straying too far from her native Persian roots, such as traditional miniature painting and Sufi mysticism, Agha has also been equally influenced by Western artistic movements originating from the Colonial Era and beyond. Agha feels that her work bridges the psyche of the East with that of the West-resulting in a melding of the literary influences and highly stylized miniature painting of the East, with the individualistic and emotive artistic concerns of the West.

Her work is a type of "lyrical expressionism," and favors a lush, sensuous, and bold use of color. Her transition to acrylics has allowed her a greater amount of freedom and flexibility to use color as a thematic element that enlivens and enriches her canvases. Her use of vibrant color heightens the sense of robustness and fertile possibilities inherent in her works.

Agha's thematic concerns often revolve around concepts of individual identity and personal boundaries. These boundaries are either self-imposed or culturally imposed, and can be emotional, intellectual, sexual, metaphysical or personal in origin. Oftentimes these boundaries and identities constrict and burden the individual, inhibiting their spiritual development and growth. These boundaries can even cloud and distort our perceptions of truth. At times, imposed boundaries isolate and remove us-from others, from ourselves, from truth, from that which provides nourishment. Agha's artistic thesis is that the struggle with and examination of these boundaries and constraints allows us a pathway into spiritual and personal transcendence. This transcendence allows us to reassert our connections with others and with ourselves, thereby restoring us to the sense of whole we crave for spiritual fulfillment. This journey of revelation and discovery leads us to an understanding of a higher, universal truth.

Agha offers an alternative to her barren surroundings of deconstruction, uncertainty, and eradication. She responds with a realized vision of fulfillment, which is grounded in the commonalties of cyclical events. These cyclical events can be derived from nature or from human experience. Oftentimes their depiction is a representative microcosm of the whole that binds us together. The cycles of birth, life, death and disintegration are an inescapable reality for each human being. By identifying with and examining our commonalties, we can transcend imposed boundaries.

In no work is this better illustrated than in Roots. The elements depicted all sustain life-from the umbilical cord in the womb, to the roots of a tree. The intertwining of the two represent how we, as human beings, are tied into a greater reality and cycle of rebirth and life. It becomes impossible to separate one from the other.

Achievements

She has exhibited in art museums and galleries throughout the world - in her homeland, Pakistan, as well as in Britain, Japan, Jordan, Switzerland, and the United States. Agha's latest paintings draw inspiration from Asian and Islamic architecture and from traditional Muslim crafts such as woodcarving, metalworking, and textile production.

Her work is part of the permanent collections at the Asian Collection at Bradford Museum, UK, National Council of the Arts, Pakistan, and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Jordan.

A book about the artist by Marcella Sirhandi entitled Lubna Agha:Points of Reference was published by The Foundation of Museum of Modern Art, Pakistan in 2007.

Agha lives and works in Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

 Individual Exhibitions

• 2007 International Visions Gallery, Washington DC
• 2001 Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
• 1996 Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
• 1991 Himovitz Solomon Gallery, Sacramento, California
• 1987 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
• 1985 Djurovich Gallery, Sacramento, California
• 1983 Rara Avis, Sacramento, California
• 1981 Alta Galleries, Sacramento, California
• 1981 Stuart/Scott Gallery, Fair Oaks, California
• 1980 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
• 1976 Contemporary Art Gallery, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
• 1975 Pakistan Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
• 1973 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
• 1972 Contemporary Art Gallery, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
• 1971 Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan
• 1969 Pakistan American Cultural Centre, Karachi, Pakistan

M. F. HUSAIN

Birth and Early Life

Maqbool Fida Husain, (born 1915, Pandharpur, Maharashtra) popularly known as M F Husain, is one of India's best known artists. He is more popularly known for his lust towards the Bollywood Diva Madhuri Dixit. According to Forbes magazine, he has been called the "Picasso of India". After a long, successful career his work suddenly became controversial in 1996, when he was 81 years old, following the publication of an article about nude images of Hindu deities painted in the 1970s. Husain comes from a Muslim Indian family. His mother died when he was one and a half years old. His father remarried and moved to Indore, where Husain went to school. In 1935, he moved to Bombay and was admitted to the Sir J. J. School of Art. He started off by painting cinema hoardings.

Career

Husain first became well-known as an artist in the late 1940s. In 1947, he joined the Progressive Artists' Group, founded by Francis Newton Souza. This was a clique of young artists who wished to break with the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde, engaged at an international level. He has also worked (produced & directed) on few movies, including Gaja Gamini (with his muse Madhuri Dixit who was the subject of a series of his paintings which he signed Fida). The film was intended as a tribute to Ms. Dixit herself. In this film she can be seen portraying various forms and manifestations of womanhood including the muse of Kalidasa, the Mona Lisa, a rebel, and musical euphoria. He went on to make Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (with Tabu). His autobiography is being made into a movie tentatively titled "The Making of the Painter.", starring Shreyas Talpade as the young Husain.

Achievements

In 1952, his first solo exhibition was held at Zürich and over the next few years, his work was widely seen in Europe and U.S. In 1955, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shree prize by the Government of India. In 1967, he made his first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter. It was shown at the Berlin Film Festival and won a Golden Bear. M. F. Husain was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1973 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1991.

Husain went on to become the highest paid painter in India. His single canvases have fetched up to $2 million at a recent Christie's auction. The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) (USA, Massachusetts) showed a solo exhibition from 4 November 2006 to 3 June 2007. It exhibited Husain’s paintings inspired by the Hindu epic, Mahabharata.

At the age of 92 Husain was to be given the prestigious Raja Ravi Varma award by the government of Kerala. The announcement led to controversy in Kerala and some Sangh Parivar organisations campaigned against the granting of the award and petitioned the Kerala courts. The Kerala High Court granted an intermin order to stay the granting of the award until the petition had been disposed of.

In early 2008, Husain’s Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12, a large diptych, from the Hindu epic, fetched $1.6 million, setting a world record at Christie's South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sale.

MADHUBALA

Birth and Early Life

Madhubala (February 14, 1933 – February 23, 1969), born Mumtaz Begum Jehan Dehlavi, was a popular Hindi film actress who starred in several successful films in the 1950s and early 1960s, many of which have achieved classic and cult status today. With her contemporaries, Nargis and Meena Kumari, she is widely regarded as one of the most talented and influential actresses to have appeared on the screens of Hindi Cinema.

Mumtaz Begum Jehan Dehlavi, famously known as Madhubala, was born in Delhi, India on February 14, 1933. She was Muslim and an ethnic Pathan, the fifth child of a conservative family of eleven children.

After Madhubala's father, Ataullah Khan lost his job at the Imperial Tobacco Company, the family endured many hardships including the deaths of four of Madhubala's sisters and her two brothers. Madhubala and four other sisters remained. In search of a better life for his impoverished family, her father relocated them to Bombay. There they struggled for over a year and often frequented the Bombay film studios in search of work. Young Mumtaz entered films at the age of nine.

Career

Her first film was the box-office success, Basant (1942) in which she played the daughter of the popular actress, Mumtaz Shanti. She then went on to act in several films as a child artist. It was the celebrated actress, Devika Rani, impressed by her performances and potential, who advised her to change her name to Madhubala. Her talent was clearly evident and she soon garnered a reputation as a reliable and professional performer. By the time she was an adolescent, her uncommon good looks and tall, lissome figure, meant she was already being groomed for lead roles.

Her first break came when filmmaker, Kidar Sharma cast her opposite Raj Kapoor in Neel Kamal (1947). Until that point, she had always been billed as Mumtaz but after this film she was credited as Madhubala. She was only fourteen years old, but Madhubala had finally arrived on the Indian screen in a lead role. Though the film was not a commercial success, she was noticed and her performance well received.

In the next two years she blossomed into a captivating beauty (film media and fans referred to her as the Venus of the Screen). However it was not until she starred in the coveted lead role of Bombay Talkies production, Mahal in 1949, that Madhubala became a fully fledged star and a household name. Audiences enthused over Madhubala's enigmatic screen presence and beauty. Though she was only sixteen at the time, critics widley acknowledged that her subtle and skillful performance upstaged her seasoned co-star, Ashok Kumar. The film became a popular success and the song Aayega Aanewala heralded the arrival of two new superstars both Madhubala and playback singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Madhubala's heart problem was discovered in 1950 after she frequently coughed up blood on the sets. She was born with a cardiac defect commonly known as a "hole in the heart". At the time, heart surgery was not widely available.

Her illness was kept a secret from the industry for many years, though one incident was widely reported by the film media in 1954. Madhubala was filming in Madras for S.S. Vassan's film Bahut Din Huwe. She became very ill and vomited blood on the set. Vassan and his wife were very hospitable and cared for her until she was well again. Madhubala was extremely grateful and as a result broke her own rule of never attending film premieres, even her own, by making an exception for Bahut Din Huwe (1954) and the following year, another Vassan production, Insaniyat (1955). The incident in Madras was down-played and soon forgotten, enabling Madhubala to continue working and to establish herself as an A-grade star.

As a result, Madhubala's family was extremely protective. When filming at the studios, she would only eat home prepared food and drink water that came from a specific well in an attempt to minimize risks of illness or infection. Eventually her condition would take its toll and abbreviate her life and career, but for most of the 1950s, Madhubala performed successfully despite her illness and physical limitations.

MOHAMMED RAFI

Birth and Early Life

Mohammed Rafi (December 24, 1924 – July 31, 1980) was a popular Indian playback singer. A versatile singer, Rafi sang in many Indian languages including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada and Telugu. He is primarily remembered, however, for his Hindi songs, which still remain very popular in the Indian subcontinent and also among the Indian diaspora. Along with Mukesh and Kishore Kumar, he was one of the leading male Bollywood playback singers from the 1950s to the 1970s. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1965.

Mohammed Rafi was born the youngest of six sons of Hajji Ali Mohammad at Kotla Sultan Singh (or Kotla Sultanpur), a town near Amritsar in Punjab (India). Rafi, whose nickname was Pheeko, started singing by imitating chants of a fakir in his village. In 1935-36, Rafi's father shifted to Lahore, and the rest of the family followed later. Rafi's family managed a men's salon in Lahore's Noor Mohalla. It was his brother-in-law Mohammed Hameed who spotted the talent in Rafi and encouraged him. Rafi learnt Hindustani classical music from maestros Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami.

Career

Rafi's first public performance came at the age of 13, when he was allowed to sing at a concert featuring the legendary K. L. Saigal. Rafi, under Shyam Sunder, made his debut in playback singing with the duet Soniye nee, Heeriye nee with Zeenat Begum in a Punjabi film Gul Baloch in 1942 (the film was released in 1944). Soon after, Rafi was invited by the Lahore radio station to sing for them. In 1944, Rafi shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai). He was introduced to some of the leading film producers of the time such as Abdul Rashid Kardar, Mehboob Khan and actor-director Nazeer by Tanvir Naqvi. Rafi contacted the famous music director Naushad, who initially used him as part of the chorus. Rafi's first song with Naushad was Hindustan ke hum hain with Shyam Kumar, Alauddin and others, from A. R. Kardar's Pehle Aap (1944). Around the same time, Rafi recorded another song for the film Gaon ki Gori (1944) for Shyam Sunder, Aji dil ho kaaboo mein with G. M. Durrani and chorus. He considered this song as his first Hindi language song. In 1945, Rafi got married to his cousin Bashira, nicknamed "Majhi", in his village.

In 1945, Rafi appeared on the screen for the song "Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha" in the film Laila Majnu. He sang a number of songs for Naushad as part of the chorus, including "Mere sapnon ki rani, Roohi Roohi" with K. L. Saigal from the film Shahjahan (1946). Rafi was first noted for the song Tera Khilona Toota Balak from Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946). His duet with Noor Jehan in the film Jugnu 1947, Yahan Badla Wafa Ka became a hit. Following partition, Rafi decided to stay back in India and had his family flown to Bombay. In 1948, Rafi sang "Suno Suno Aye Duniya Walon Bapuji Ki Amar Kahani, written by Rajendra Krishan, which became a huge hit. He was invited by the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to sing at the latter's house. In 1948, Rafi received a silver medal from Nehru on the Indian Independence Day. In 1949, Rafi was given solo songs by music directors such as Naushad (Chandni Raat, Dillagi and Dulari), Shyam Sunder (Bazaar) and Husnalal Bhagatram (Meena Bazaar).

Achievements

• 2001 - Rafi was honored with the "best singer of the millennium" by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine in Mumbai on Jan 7, 2001.

Government Awards

• 1948 - Rafi received a silver medal from the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, on the first anniversary of the Indian Independence Day..
• 1965 - he was honoured with the Padmashri by the Government of India

National Film Awards

• 1968 - National Award for Best Male Playback Singer for Neel Kamal composed by Ravi.

• 1977 - National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for Kya Hua Tera Wada song in the film Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin), composed by RD Burman, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Filmfare Awards

• 1960 - Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho song in the film Chaudhvin Ka Chand
• 1961 - Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for Teri Pyaari Pyaari Surat Ko song in the film Sasural
• 1964 - Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for Chahunga Mein Tujhe song in the film Dosti
• 1966 - Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for Baharon Phool Barsao song in the film Suraj
• 1968 - Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for Dil Ke Jharoke Mein song in the film Brahmachari
• 1977 - Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for Kya Hua Tera Vaada song in the film Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin

Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards

• 1965 - Best Male Playback Singer for Dosti
• 1966 - Best Male Playback Singer for Arzoo

MEHMOOD

Birth and Early Life

Mehmood Ali (September 29, 1932 - July 23, 2004) popularly known simply as Mehmood, was an Indian actor, director and producer. He was known and appreciated for playing comic roles in Hindi films. He worked in over 300 Hindi films in a career spanning three decades.

Mehmood was one of eight children born to actor and dancer Mumtaz Ali in Bombay. Mehmood had an elder sister and the remaining six siblings were younger to him. Mehmood started acting as a reluctant child actor in Bombay Talkies films like Kismet. Some of his early jobs before he started acting were driving, doing odd jobs, selling poultry. He worked as director P L Santoshi's driver (Later Santoshi's son Rajkumar Santoshi cast Mehmood in his venture Andaz Apna Apna). He was hired to teach table tennis to Meena Kumari in those days. He later married her sister Madhu. It was after marriage and becoming a father that he decided to act to earn a better living. He got a small break as a murder victim in CID. He started off by doing small unnoticed roles in films like "Do Bigha Zameen" and "Pyaasa". He later went on to act in lead roles but he was appreciated for his comedy.

He died in his sleep on July 23, 2004 in Pennsylvania, U.S. where he had gone for treatment of lung disease after suffering poor health for several years. His fans were able to pay homage to him at Mehboob studio in Mumbai, India. Mehmood's son Lucky Ali, is a popular singer who has also acted in films.

Selected filmography

• Chotte Nawab (1961) with Ameeta
• Sasuraal (1961) with Shobha Khote
• Zindagi (1964
• Gumnaam (1965) with Helen
• Pyar Kiye Ja (1966) with Mumtaz
• Love in Tokyo (1966) with Shobha Khote
• Patthar ke Sanam (1967)
• Padosan (1968) with Sunil Dutt, Saira Banu and Kishore Kumar
• " Aankhen (1968)
• "Do Phool" (1968)
• Dil Tera Diwana (1962)
• Bhoot Bangla
• Bombay to Goa
• Sadhu aur Shaitan (1968)
• Humjoli (1970)
• Main Sundar Hoon (1971) with Leena Chandavarkar
• Kunwaara Baap (1974)
• Sangharsh
• Do Phool
• Ginny Aur Johnny
• Sabse Bada Rupaiya (1976)
• Johar Mehmood in Goa with I. S. Johar
• Johar Mehood in Hong Kong I. S. Johar
• Guddu (1995)

Some of his memorable songs are: "Ek chatur naar" from Padosan, "Aao Twist Karen" (Let's do the twist) from Bhoot Bangla, "Yeh do deewane dil ke" from Johar Mehmood in Goa, "Hum kaale hai to kyaa huaa dilwaale hain" (What if I am dark, I have a heart) from Gumnaam.

Achievements

• Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award For Dil Tera Diwana
• Filmfare Best Comedian Award twice, for Pyar Kiye Jaa and for Vardaan.

MEENA KUMARI

Birth and Early Life

Meena Kumari or Mahjabeen Bano (August 1, 1932 - March 31, 1972), was a prominent Indian movie actress. Mahjabeen Bano was the third daughter of Ali Baksh and Iqbal Begum; Khursheed and Madhu were her two elder sisters. At the time of her birth, her parents were unable to pay the fees of Dr. Gadre, who had delivered her, so her father left her at a Muslim orphanage, however, he picked her up after a few hours.

Her father, a Sunni Muslim, was a veteran of Parsi theater, played harmonium, taught music, and wrote Urdu poetry. He played small roles in films like Id Ka Chand and composed music for films like Shahi Lutere.

Her mother, Prabhwati Devi, was the second wife of Ali Baksh. Before meeting and then marrying Ali Baksh, she was a stage actress and dancer, under the stage name, Kamini. After marriage, she converted from Hinduism to Islam, and changed her name to Iqbal Begum.

Career

When Mahjabeen was born, Ali Bakhsh aspired to get roles as an actor in Rooptara Studios. At the urging of his wife, he got Mahjabeen too into movies despite her protestations of wanting to go to school. Young Mahjabeen is said to have said, "I do not want to work in movies; I want to go to school, and learn like other children." As Mahjabeen embarked on her acting career at the age of 7, she was renamed Baby Meena. Farzand-e-Watan or Leatherface (1939) was her first movie, which was directed for Prakash Studios by Vijay Bhatt. She became practically the sole breadwinner of her family during the 1940s. Her early adult acting, under the name Meena Kumari, was mainly in mythological movies like Veer Ghatotkach (1949), Shri Ganesh Mahima (1950), and fantasy movies like Alladin and The Wonderful Lamp (1952).

Meena Kumari gained fame with her role as a heroine in Vijay Bhatt's Baiju Bawra (1952). This heroine always negated herself for the material and spiritual advancement of the man she loved and was even willing to annihilate herself to provide him the experience of pain so that his music would be enriched. She became the first actress to win the Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1953 for this performance.

Meena Kumari highly successfully played the roles of a suffering woman in Parineeta (1953), Daera (1953), Ek Hi Raasta (1956), Sharda (1957), and Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi (1960). Though she cultivated the image of a tragedienne, she also performed commendably in a few light-hearted movies like Azaad (1955), Miss Mary (1957), Shararat (1959), and Kohinoor (1960).

One of her best known performance was of an alcoholic wife in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), which was produced by Guru Dutt. In one memorable scene, the heroine, Choti Bahu, dresses for her husband, providing a poignant presentation of a woman's expectations and sexual desire.

At that time, Meena Kumari herself was on a road to gradual ruin in her own personal life. Like her character, Choti Bahu, she began to drink heavily, though she carried on. In fact, in 1962, she made history by being nominated for three Filmfare Best Actress Awards for her roles in Aarti, Main Chup Rahungi, and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. She won the award for her role in Aarti.

There are some eerie commonalities between the lives of Choti Bahu and Meena Kumari: The estranged marital relationship, the taking to drinking, the seeking of younger male company, and the craving to be understood and loved by all.

For four more years, Meena Kumari performed admirably in Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Kaajal (1965), and Phool Aur Patthar (1966). However, she relied more and more on intimate relationships with younger men like Dharmendra, and often dulled her senses with liquor. She spent the last years of her life playing the doomed woman. Because of heavy drinking, she increasingly lost her good looks, and began playing character roles in B grade movies like Jawab (1970) and Dushmun (1972).

She developed an attachment to writer-lyricist Gulzar and acted in his directorial debut, Mere Apne (1971), Meena Kumari presented a strong portrayal of an elderly woman who got caught between two street gangs of frustrated, unemployed youth and got killed, her death making the youth realize the futility of violence. In 1972, she recognized that she had a limited time left on this earth, and so she went out of her way to complete at the earliest the cult classic, Pakeezah (1972). Initially, after its release in February 1972, Pakeezah opened to a lukewarm response from the public; however, after Meena Kumari's death less than two months later, people flocked to see it. Throughout her life, Meena Kumari had a love-hate relationship with movies.

Three weeks after the release of Pakeezah, Meena Kumari became seriously ill, and passed away on March 31, 1972 of cirrhosis of the liver. At her death, she was in more or less the same financial circumstance as her parents at the time of her birth: It is said that when she died in a nursing home, there was no money to pay her hospital bills.

Achievements

Awards

• 1953 Filmfare Best Actress Award - Baiju Bawra

• 1954 Filmfare Best Actress Award - Parineeta

• 1962 Filmfare Best Actress Award - Aarti (1962 film)

• 1965 Filmfare Best Actress Award - Kaajal

Nominations

• 1955 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Azaad

• 1958 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Sahara (1958 film)

• 1959 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan

• 1962 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam

• 1962 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Main Chup Rahungi

• 1963 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Dil Ek Mandir

• 1966 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Phool Aur Patthar

• 1972 Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress - Pakeezah

One of the first biography of Meena Kumari was written just after her death by Vinod Mehta in the year 1972. It was simply titled Meena Kumari.

NASEERUDDIN SHAH

Birth and Early Life

Naseeruddin Shah aka Nasiruddin Shah (b. 20 July 1950) is an Indian film actor born at Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. He has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood cinema as well as in Parallel Cinema. He also appeared in many international films most notably playing Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Career

He became active in mainstream movies, popularly known as Bollywood with the 1980 film Hum Paanch. His next major success in mainstream films was the 1986 multi-starrer film Karma where he acted alongside veteran Dilip Kumar. Sole hero films such as Ijaazat (1987), Jalwa (1988) and Hero Hiralal (1988) followed. In 1988 he played opposite his wife Ratna Pathak as Inspector Ghote, the fictional detective of H. R. F. Keating's novels in the Merchant-Ivory English language film The Perfect Murder.

He acted in several multi-starrer Bollywood films as well such as Ghulami (1985), Tridev (1989) and Vishwatma (1992). In 1994, he acted as the villain in Mohra, his 100th film as an actor. He strongly believed that the distinction between art and commercial films had largely reduced, especially with the directors of the former also making commercial films. In 2000 his dream of playing Mahatma Gandhi was realised when he played Gandhi in Kamal Hassan's critically acclaimed Hey Ram which focused on the assassination of Gandhi from the assailant's point of view.

Later, he starred in international projects such as Monsoon Wedding in 2001 and a Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 (co-starring Sean Connery) where he played the role of Captain Nemo. His portrayal of Nemo was very close to the design of the graphic novel, although his Nemo was far less manic. He worked in an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Maqbool in 2004. He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful. He was most recently seen in Omkara which is an Indian adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. He recently made his Pakistani film debut in the critically-acclaimed and controversial film Khuda Ke Liye by Shoaib Mansoor where he played a short, yet powerful cameo.

In 1977, he along with Tom Alter and Benjamin Gilani formed a theatre group called Motley Productions. Their first play was Samuel Beckett's novel Waiting for Godot, which was staged at Prithvi Theatre on July 29, 1979. In 1988, he acted in the eponymous television series based on the life and times of Mirza Ghalib, directed by Gulzar and telecast on DD National. In 1989, he acted as the Maratha King Shivaji in another eponymous television series Bharat Ek Khoj based on Jawaharlal Nehru's book The Discovery of India directed by noted film director Shyam Benegal. The role of Aurangzeb was performed by Om Puri. It was speculated that he was paid a sum of Rupees Four Lakhs per episode. The story of Shivaji was spread over two episodes.

In 1998, he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the play Mahatma Vs. Gandhi, (which looked at the Mahatma's relation with Harilal Gandhi, his first son). With this, he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma Gandhi. Incidentally, in 2000, he again portrayed the Mahatma, this time on film, in Hey Ram. His Performance in Sarfarosh (1999) was widely acclaimed. He played the villain with dual identity of a Ghazal singer and Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India.

He was the first of several celebrity actors, who played the role of narrator in the popular audiobook series for kids Karadi Tales. He was also the narrator in the film Paheli - the Indian entry to the 2006 Oscars. Naseeruddin Shah has been giving performances with his theatre troupe at places such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Lahore. He has directed plays written by Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto. His directorial debut in movie, Yun Hota To Kya Hota, was released in 2006. The movie stars several established actors such as Paresh Rawal, Irfan Khan and newcomer Ayesha Takia.

Achievements

• 1980: National Film Awards for Best Actor, Sparsh
• 1980: Filmfare Best Actor Award, Aakrosh
• 1981: Filmfare Best Actor Award, Chakra
• 1983: Filmfare Best Actor Award, Masoom
• 1985: National Film Awards for Best Actor, Paar
• 1984: The Volpi Cup (Award for Best Actor) at Venice Film Festival for Paar
• 1987: Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award
• 2000: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• 2000: IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) Award - Artistic Excellence for Performance in a Negative Role for Sarfarosh
• 2003: Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award
• 2004: 7th International Film Festival of Mumbai - Award for contribution to Indian cinema
• 2007: National Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Iqbal

NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born on October 13, 1948 in the city of Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Pakistan. He was the fifth child and first son of Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a distinguished and legendary musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and Qawwal. Nusrat's family, which included his four older sisters and his younger brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan grew in central Lyallpur, in a small flat which was rented from a local businessman.

Qawwali had traditionally been passed down through the generations of a family, with Nusrat's family having enjoyed an unbroken tradition of performing Qawwali for approximatley 600 years. Nusrat's father was initially reluctant to allow him to enter the family business, instead hoping his son would become a doctor or an engineer, having felt Qawwals had a low social status. However, Nusrat's enthusiasm for Qawwali eventually persuaded his father to train him in the art. Nusrat began by learning to play tabla alongside his father before progressing to learn Raag Vidya and Bolbandish. He then went on to learn to sing within the classical framework of khayal in the Qawwal Bachchon Gharana and was taught dhrupad from the Dagar family. Khan's training with his father was cut short when his father died in 1964, leaving Nusrat's paternal uncles, Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, to complete his training.

Career

His first performance was at a traditional graveside ceremony for his father, known as chehlum, which took place forty days after his father's death. In 1971, after the death of Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, Nusrat became the official leader of the family Qawwali party and the party became known as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party. Nusrat assumed leadership of the party, despite the fact that Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan, who was Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan's son, was considerably older than him.

Nusrat's first public performance as the leader of the Qawwali party was at a studio recording broadcast as part of an annual music festival organised by Radio Pakistan, known as Jashn-e-Baharan. Nusrat went on to distinguish himself from other Qawwals and became renowned on the Indian subcontinent and in the Islamic world. He sang mainly in Urdu and Punjabi and occasionally in Persian, Brajbhasha and Hindi. His first major hit in Pakistan was the song Haq Ali Ali, which was performed in a traditional style and with traditional instrumentation. The song featured restrained use of Nusrat's sargam improvisations and attracted a large number of listeners.

Early in his career, Nusrat was signed up by Oriental Star Agencies [OSA] of Birmingham UK to their Star Cassette Label. OSA sponsored regular concert tours by Nusrat to the U.K. from the early '80s onwards, and released much of this live material (albeit not always very well recorded) on cassette, CD, videotape and DVD. The vast majority of Nusrat's qawwali performances that are available today in video format on various labels comes from these OSA-sponsored concert tours.

Nusrat reached out to Western audiences through his collaborations with Canadian musician, Michael Brook and his work with Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder in 1995 on the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking. He went on to gain popularity in the West through his contributions to the soundtracks of The Last Temptation of Christ and Natural Born Killers, together with his friendship with Peter Gabriel. Nusrat was unhappy with the use of his vocals on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, stating that the nature of the film was contrary to the beliefs and the ideals conveyed in his work.

Peter Gabriel's Real World label later released five albums of Nusrat's traditional Qawwali, together with some of his experimental work which included the albums Mustt Mustt and Star Rise. Nusrat provided vocals for The Prayer Cycle, which was put together by Jonathan Elias, but died before the vocals could be completed. Alanis Morissette was brought in to sing with his unfinished vocals. He also performed traditional Qawwali before international audiences at several WOMAD world music festivals and the single Dam Mast Qalandar was remixed by electronic trip hop group Massive Attack in 1998.

Nusrat contributed songs to, and performed in, several Pakistani films. Shortly before his death, he recorded a song each for two Bollywood films, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (in which he also appeared) and Kachche Dhaage. He also sang the immensely-popular title song of the film, Dhadkan. Nusrat was taken ill with kidney and liver failure on August 11, 1997 in London, England while on the way to Los Angeles in order to receive a kidney transplant. Nusrat died of a sudden cardiac arrest at Cromwell Hospital, London, on Saturday, August 16, 1997, aged 48, at the height of his career. . His body was returned to Faisalabad, Pakistan and his funeral was attended by thousands of people.

Achievements

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan holds the world record for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist—a total of 125 albums.

In the summer of 1985, Mr. Nusrat performed at the World Music Arts and Dance festival (WOMAD) in London, where he stood out as the most promising singer.

His concerts in Paris in 1985 and 1988 were received with great enthusiasm as his amazing vocal performances produced a craze for his music throughout Europe. His first visit to Japan took place in 1987, at the invitation of the Japan Foundation. His participation in seminars and his performances at the 5th Asian Traditional Performing Art Festival and subsequent concerts in Japan have earned him a steadily increasing number of fans in this country.
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's accomplishments have contributed both to the succession and advancement of the qawwali tradition, and to the popularization of South Asia's outstanding traditional music culture around the world. Moreover, he has brought innovation into the sphere of the qawwali by taking advantage of his artistic gifts and flexibility to transcend the rules imposed by tradition. These achievements, taken together, have had an immeasurable impact on cultural exchange between the East and the West; led to the enhancement of both cultures, and thus make Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan particularly worthy of receiving the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes.

SAYED HAIDER RAZA

Birth and Early Life

Born in 1922 in Babaria in Madhya Pradesh, Raza lived his first impressionable 13 years in the forest ranges of Narsimhapur and Mandal districts where his father was posted as a forest officer. In his early childhood, therefore, his environment was formed of the Narmada river surrounded by the Satpura and Vindhyachal mountain ranges, dense forests, birds, animals, tribal life, symbols and mythology. With these beautiful natural surroundings forming the basis of his visual archive of memories, Raza developed his intuitive proclivity.

  Raza studied painting in the Nagpur School of Art and the J. J. School of Art, Bombay. He owes his elementary values of art to Bapurao Athawale, his teacher at Nagpur. In Bombay he realized the seriousness of art expression, with the artistic experimentations introduced to him by Walter Langhammer of Vienna Academy on the one hand, and the richness of Indian philosophy and culture unvieled to him by Shri Ahiwasi of Benares. When still a young painter, Raza saw an atmosphere of artistic renaissance building up in Bengal. The art-scene was dominated by the artists like Abanindranath Tagore, Nandlal Bose, Jamini Roy and Asit Haldar.

Career

Young Raza searched for an expression between the Indian working concepts of these artists and the Victorian realistic norms being taught in most art schools of India at that time. This yearning was shared by some other young artists in Bombay, in their early twenties and from different parts of the country. They were confident and determined to take their destinies in their own hands. Along with Francis Newton Souza, M.F.Hussain, K.H. Ara and Bakre, Raza became a founding member of the Progressive Artists Group, with a view to bring about resurgence in the Indian Art Scene. 

Paris became the Mecca for the young “Progressive Artists”, with its pulsating modern art movements and trends, and Raza too, after tasting the success of several exhibitions in India, was drawn towards this fascinating city to view the works of his favourite artists live. He moved to France on a French government scholarship, for studying painting at the Ecole Nationale Superior de Beaux-Arts, in Paris from 1950 to 1953. Alone and unbiased by any guide he exposed himself to the works of the European Impressionist masters and drew his inspirations. In 1956, he won the much coveted Prix de la Critique conferred on him by 14 Parisian art critics. 

Yet he was not satisfied with his expression. Raza decided to rediscover his country and the values of an immense civilization. He had had numerous individual exhibitions of his paintings and has participated in group-shows and salons, including the International Biennales at Venice, Sao Paolo and Menton, and in the Triennale at New Delhi. In 1959 he married the French artist Janine Mongillat. He visited the University of California at Berkeley as a visiting lecturer in the art department three years later, in 1962. He revisited India several times between 1959 and 1985. He held an important exhibition in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh in 1978, on invitation of the government of the state. It was in his home region only that he realized his true style. As a child once, he was made to stand in his primary school verandah and stare at a “bindu” or dot on the wall for four successive days after classes to help anchor his wandering mind. It was in this bindu that Raza discovered his true destiny. For years after its rediscovery, he researched its primordial significance in the visual arts of India. From painting street and city life of India and France, he made a switch to the intuitive knowledge and spirituality of his new style. For him the bindu became the magic image from which all his work has emerged. The point, the bindu, symbolizes for him the seed, the precursor to all life, or the epicentre of rythmic reverbrations. To express this concept, Raza has integrated a basic sense of geometry into his canvas after years of hard work. He compares the intuitive knowledge of his work with the abstraction achieved by a musician while performing when rhyme and verse give way to pure perception of the subject. 

He was awarded the Padma Shri by the President of India in 1981, and was elected a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 1983. Since then he has received the Kalidas Samman from the government of Madhya Pradesh and a retrospective of his paintings has been presented at the Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal. Raza now lives and works in Paris and Gorbio, in Southern France. 

 Exhibitions by him:

• 1947-1948 Bombay Art Society, Bombay
• 1950 Institiute of Foreign Languages, 
• 1959 Jeingar Art Gallery, Bombay
• 1962 Lanyon gallery, Palo Alto, California
• 1962 Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Berkeley University of California
• 1963-1968 Dom Gallerie, Cologne, Allemagne
• 1972 Abbaye du pommier, Annacy, Le Grenier
• 1973 La Pallette, Trouville.
• 1979 Stavanger Kunstforening, Norway

Achievements

Awarded the Prix de la Critique in Paris in 1956, Raza has held numerous exhibitions both in India and abroad. He has participated in the Venice, Sao Paulo and Menton Biennales and has held retrospective shows the most recent being in 1997 in Mumbai, Bhopal and New Delhi The University of California invited him as a visiting lecturer at the art department of Berkeley in 1962. In December 1978 the Madhya Pradesh Government invited him to his native state for a homage and an exhibition of his work in Bhopal. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1981 and was elected Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1983. In 1997 Raza was awarded the Madhya Pradesh Government's prestigious Kalidas Samman.

SYED SADEQUAIN AHMED RAZA

Birth and Early Life

Sadequain was born in 1930, descending from a family of calligraphers. In late 1940s he joined the Progressive Writers and Artists Movement. His true talent was discovered by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy who brought Sadequain into the limelight. He also spent some time in Paris augmenting his skills. Sadequain received much praise for his calligraphic style, which is widely considered iconic by many critics of South Asian art. Sadequain died while still working on the mural for the ceiling of Frere Hall in Karachi. The mural was not quite complete and yet the autjhorities to their credit decided to mount it. Although not complete, yet the ceiling appears full and awesome, nothing like ever done by anyone in Pakistan.

Career

His calligraphy was endowed with divine inspiration giving it a dimension of time and space. He carried the script with a flourish in all directions, giving it the power of space, vigor and volume. Before Sadeqain, few painters had experimented with the medium in Pakistan. But Sadequain is commended for bringing calligraphy into a mainstream art form, as most of the known Pakistani artists have followed Sadequain and calligraphic art now dominates the art scene. Sadequain also painted classical literature from the poetic verses of Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz. He belonged to the school of thought which enriched realism with lyricism. Sadequain Illustrated French Nobel Prize winning writer Albert Camus, Ghalib, Iqbal, and Faiz Sadequain was responsible for transforming Calligraphy to main stream art form in Pakistan He did thousands of Drawings and gave them away to his admirers and wrote and published hundreds of quartets. Sadequain was the most prolific painter of the post partition Pakistan and perhaps of our times. He was constantly at work and he worked on large scale. He repeatedly stated that he was not interested in decorating drawing rooms of rich and powerful. He worked tirelessly on large murals for public buildings symbolic of the collective labor of humanity and his work was mostly donated to the public.

Prominent Works

• Lithographic illustration of L'Étranger by Albert Camus, 1965
• Illustrations of the classical urdu literature, especially the poetry of Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz on canvas.
• Painting, Aftaab-e-Taaza, illustration of lines by Allama Iqbal, 9 by 6 feet.

Global Recognition

Le Monde, France: Sadequain is one of the few serious artists from the subcontinent. The multiplicity of his gifts is reminiscent of Picasso

New York Times, USA: There is a new personality in art. Pakistan’s pride Upside Down Artist Sadequain

UAE News, UAE: His exhibition in Abu Dhabi has been seen by many people and most of the visitors who inspected his works wanted to buy them. “But the exhibits are not for sale” he told them

Dr. Akbar Naqvi, IMAGE AND IDENTITY: If Sadequain had done nothing but his drawings, he would still be among the inventors of modern art in the country

Achievements

• 1960 Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by government of Pakistan.
• 1961, Paris Biennale
• 1962 President’s Medal of Honor
• 1975 awarded "Cultural Award" by Government of Australia.
• 1980 awarded "Sitara-e-Imtiaz" by government of Pakistan.

Sadeqain died on February 10, 1987 in Karachi at the age of 57. He is buried in Sakhi Hassan graveyard.

SURAIYA

Birth and Early Life

Suraiya was born as Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh on June 15, 1929 in Gujranwala, Punjab and was the only child of her parents. She was a dark plain looking girl and was not trained in music, however she went on to become a successful actress and singer. She had been educated in New Girls' High School in Bombay. Simultaneously she was given religious teachings in Persian at home. Her study of Persian literature and Qur'an at home, helped her build up her personality.

Career

She made her debut as a child artist in Usne Kya Socha (1937). Her films as a child artist ran between 1937 and 1941. She got a break in films with the help of her uncle Zahoor, who was a popular villain of his time. In 1941 during a holiday from school, she accompanied her uncle to Mohan Studios to see the shooting of the film Taj Mahal (1941), a film by Nanubhai Vakil. Vakil noticed the 12-year old girl and chose her to play the role of a young Mumtaz Mahal as they had nobody else to play the role. Naushad had heard her voice on the All India Radio where she sang for a children's programme at the insistence of friend Raj Kapoor and neighbour Madan Mohan. Her singing career soon found a mentor in music maestro Naushad. Naushad heard her on the radio and chose her to sing as a 13 year old for Mehtaab in Kardar's Sharda (1942).

Career

She initially started by playing secondary roles in films like K. Asif's Phool (1944), Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Dard (1947). She got the break as a heroine for the movie Tadbir (1945) at the recommendation of K. L. Saigal who liked her voice during a rehearsal. She went on to co-star with Saigal for two more films Omar Khayyam (1946) and Parwana (1947). More opportunities appeared for Suraiya after reigning actresses Noor Jehan and Khursheed Bano migrated to Pakistan during the 1947 partition.

Suraiya was romantically involved with actor Dev Anand and the two of them did six films together between 1948 and 1951. During the shooting of a song, a boat capsized and Dev Anand saved Suraiya from drowning. She fell in love with him but her grandmother opposed the relationship. Suraiya remained unmarried all her life.

Suraiya had an edge over her contemporaries Kamini Kaushal and Nargis because she could sing her own songs. The years 1948-49 were the best of her career. After three hits Pyar Ki Jeet (1948), Badi Bahen and Dillagi (1949), she became the highest paid female star. Her reign at the top was brief and her films started flopping in the 1950s. She made a comeback with Waaris and Mirza Ghalib (1954). Her last film was Rustom Sohrab (1963) following which she kept away from films. She stayed at "Krishna Mahal", her Marine Drive residence in Mumbai until her death in 2004.

She died in 2004 of old age at 75. In 2004, during the Sansui Awards, actress Jaya Bhaduri received the Lifetime Achievement Award and while she was on stage, she was disappointed that no one gave a tribute to the legendary actress Suraiya who had passed right around that time.

Achievements

The 1948-49 phase saw her rise to her peak. With Pyar ki Jeet (1948), Badi Bahen (1949) and Dillagi (1949) she became the highest paid female star of her time. With Sohrab Modi's 'Mirza Ghalib' in which she played the role of the married Ghalib's lover.She made a short-lived comeback with Waaris (1954) and Mirza Ghalib (1954). At her peak, Suraiya generated hysteria comparable only to Rajesh Khanna in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

TALAT AZIZ

 

Birth and Early years

Talat Aziz was born to Abdul Azeem Khan and Sajida Abid in on 14th May, 1955 in Hyderabad, India. Talatâ's mother, Sajida, is a famous Urdu, writer and poet. He went to Hyderabad Public School till 10th standard. Talatâ's family loved fine arts. They used to organize Mehfils in their house inviting great artists like Jagjit Singh etc. This greatly influenced young Talat and was into music from an early age.

Career

He took his initial training in music from Kirana Gharana. He was trained primarily by Ustad Samad Khan and later by Ustad Fayaz Ahmed who were famous in classical music singers. After the initial training, Talat decided to learn music from music maestro Mehdi Hassan. On many occasions, he shared the same stage with him on concerts in India and abroad. His first major performance was in Hyderabad at a place called King Kothi. He sang before a crowd of over 5,000. He sung Kaise Sukoon Paoon and some ghazals by noted shaayars of Hyderabad. Though he was nervous at his first performance in front of audience yet he performed well. After his graduation he moved to Bombay in 1979 on a suggestion from Jagjit Singh. He also trained under classical music Ustad Samaad Khan and Faiyaz Ahmed Khan. And even briefly from Mehdi Hassan. With the help of Jagjit he released his first album in 1979, Jagjit Singh Presents Talat Aziz. But for several years he was to struggle for a living. With Jagjit Singh's help, he released his first album in 1979, titled Jagjit Singh presents Talat Aziz. Talat also sang some ghazals in films like Umrao Jaan and Bazaar, which were super-hit.

Talat also composes music for TV serials and has also acted in several of them. He composed music for teleserials like Deewar, Baaz, Adhikaar, Ghutan, Sailaab, Aashirwaad and the magnum opus, Noorjehan. His acting was appreciated in serials like Ghulam, Manzil, Sahil, Sailaab, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayee and Noorjehan a TV serial written by Nida Fazli. Talat released many albums like Talat Aziz live, Lehren, Ehsaas, Suroor, Manzil, Saughaat, Dhadkan, Irshaad, etc. The singer's first ghazal musical video of Tasavvur, a ghazal sung by him, to his credit.He is often seen on the small screen.However, his fans would love to see him on the silver screen too.He worked in a film in 1990.It was Mahesh Bhatt's `Dhun' opposite Sangeeta Bijlani. The film never got released. The late 60's and early 70's saw the steady deterioration of Hindi film music, and before one could say K.L. Saigal, the disco trend had caught on youngsters who preferred the wild beats of western pop and disco music to the lilting tunes of Hindi films. It was during that time a music form which gradually but definitely became popular was 'ghazals'. Begum Akhtar had her following of ghazal lovers. Then came Mehdi Hassan's , Ghulam Ali who was equally well known.On this side of the border, the Indian couple Jagjit and Chitra Singh, the ghazal exponents did live shows and sang at private mehfils. During that period Sanjeev Kohli,son of Madan Mohan, discovered a singer called Talat Aziz , who was young, good-looking, malleable and above all, he had a good voice. Jagjit Singh had already heard Talat sing at a Mehfil in Hyderabad, so he agreed to compose his first album.In 1979 his first album titled "Jagjit Singh presents Talat Aziz" came out which was phenomenal success thus gave him a launch pad for his meteoric rise.

Music India then decided to experiment Talat on his own - to see whether he was good enough on his own or whether Jagjit's name had contributed to the success of the album. But even his second album and subsequent releases did extremely well.The rest is history.

Achievements

Since then he has released various albums like Talat Aziz live, Lehren, Ehsaas, Suroor, Manzil, Saughaat, Dhadkan, Irshaad, etc. He is equally versatile while singing a popular hit like "Damadam mast Kalandar" or the soul stirring rendition of "Aaina Mujhse Meri" from the film Daddy. Between 1979 and 1984 he was the top artist recording for Music India Company. In 1984, he joined HMV, the giant recording company.

Best Of Talat Aziz songs:
Na Kisi Ki Aankh Ka, Movie :Shararat
Zindagi jab bhi teri bazm mein, Movie :Umrao Jaan
Fir chhidi raat baat fulon ki, Movie :Bazaar

TALAT MAHMOOD

Birth and

Early days

Talat Mahmood was born in Lucknow, India, on February 24, 1924. His father was Manzoor Mahmood. Talat showed his musical leanings from a very young age and would enjoy sitting through all-night music soiree's listening patiently to some of the biggest names in classical Indian music then.

Talat's father was a good singer, as were his sisters. But being from a conservative Muslim background, singing was not encouraged. Talat had to choose between a career in acting and singing and staying at home. He opted for the former, though the family accepted the fact only about a decade later when the industry gained respectability. His conservative parents had objected to him becoming a singer though they also were musical people. Things only began improving when people from respectable families started joining the industry.

Career

Talat apprenticed classical music under Pandit S.C.R. Bhat at Morris Music College some time in the 30s. He started his career purely as a ghazal singer in 1939. Talat Mahmood began his singing career at the age of 16 in 1939 when he began singing the Ghazals of Daag, Mir, Jigar etc. on All India Radio, Lucknow. His voice had a quality distinct from all the other singers. HMV was quick to notice this and offered Talat his first disc in 1941 "sab din ek samaan nahin tha, ban jaoonga kya se kya main, iska to kuch dhyan nahin tha".

His reputation as a ghazal singer was not limited to his hometown of Lucknow, but it reached the city that proved to shape his destiny - Calcutta. The then famous ghazal singers were Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, K.L. Saigal and M.A. Rauf. The classical songs he sang were " Sapnon Ki Suhaani Duniyaa Ko " for film Shiqast and " Laage Tose Naina " for Chaandi Ki Deewar.

In 1944 came the hit "Tasveer teri dil mera behela na sakegi". Its popularity was so phenomenal and unrivalled that even today it remains one of the top selling non-film discs. This disc brought Talat fame throughout India and soon he was beckoned by the Calcutta film industry. Talat made cameo appearances and starred in about 16 movies, for both the Calcutta Film Industry (hub of the 1940s) and Bollywood. The three movies in which he starred were regional hits in Calcutta.

In 1949 Talat moved to Bombay, to sing for the Bombay film industry -- Bollywood. His name and fame had already preceded him and soon he was flooded with offers. His big break came with the song "Ae dil mujhe aisi jagha le chal jahan koi na ho" composed by music-composer Anil Biswas for the soundtrack of the movie "Arzoo". The song was successful and ensured the box-office success of the movie.

Memorable songs

Even though Talat sang hundreds of hits, some of his most memorable songs from Hindi cinema are;

• Humse aaya na gaya - Dekh Kabira Roya (1957)
• Jayen to jayen kahan - Taxi Driver (1954)
• Tasveer banata hoon - Baradari (1955)
• Dil-E-Nadaan tujhe hua kya hai - Mirza Ghalib (1954)
• Sham-E-Gham ki qassam - Foothpath (1953)
• Jalte hain jiske liye - Sujata (1959)
• Meri yaad me tum na - Madhosh (1951)
• Phir wohi sham wohi gam - Jahan Aara (1964)
• Aye mere dil kahi aur chal - Daag (1952)

Movie career

Talat was a handsome man and a good singer, which prompted movie producers to try him as an actor. The handsome young Ghazal king did not go unnoticed by the film producers, who besieged him with offers to act in their films. Talat was to finally accept 13 films with top heroines like Nutan, Mala Sinha, Suraiya and others before he decided that acting was not his forte. Talat gave up acting to concentrate on singing.

Talat acted in the following Hindi films:

Film Name	Year	Opposite
Rajlaxmi	1945	Kananbala
Tum Aur Main	1947	Kanandevi
Samapti	1949	Bharti Devi
Araam	1951	Madhubala, Dev Anand
Dil-e-Nadaan	1953	Shyama, Peace Kanwal
Daak Babu	1954	Nadira
Waris	1954	Suraiya, Nadira
Raftaar	1955	Nadira
Diwali ki Raat	1956	Roopmala, Shashikala
Ek Gaon ki Kahani	1957	Mala Sinha
Lala Rukh	1958	Shyama
Maalik	1958	Suraiya
Sone ki Chidiya	1958	Nutan

Achievements

• For Talat's film 'Dil-e-Nadan', producer A.R. Kardar launched an 'All India Beauty Contest' to hunt for a new heroine to act opposite him. The winner was beautiful Peace Kanwal.
• In 1956, Talat became the first ever Indian playback singer to go abroad for commercial concerts.
• On Talat's US Concert Tour, Talat's popularity prompted famous New York television host Joe Franklin to invite Talat on his hugely popular programme "The Joe Franklin Show" watched by over 25 million Americans. He introduced Talat to American audiences as "The Frank Sinatra of India!"
• 1954, the year Binaca Geet Mala switched to a countdown system; the topper was Talat Mahmood’s " Jayen to jayen kahan ".
• Producer-Director-Studio Owner Mehboob Khan of 'Mother India' fame, would always put his finger on Talat's throat and tell him "Khuda ka noor tumhare gale mein hai!"
• Talat's first recording: "Sab din ek samaan nahin hote" - for HMV in 1941.
• Talat's first film recording: "Jago musafir jago" for film RAJLAXMI in 1945.
• Talat's last recording: Ghazal album titled "Ghazal Ke Saaz Uthao" for HMV in 1986.
• Has sung in 17 Indian languages, including Urdu/Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Awadhi.
• In 1979, Talat performed at the world renowned Royal Albert Hall. Talat was the second Indian playback singer after Lata Mangeshkar to be invited to perform at this historical venue.

TYEB MEHTA

Birth and Early Life

Tyeb Mehta was born on 26th July 1925 in the Kapadvanj city of Gujarat. In the initial years of his career, he worked as a film editor in a cinema laboratory. However, soon, his interest in painting led him to leave that line of career. He came to Mumbai and joined the Sir J.J. School of Art. He studied at the school for five years, from 1947 to 1952. There, he came into contact with Akbar Padamsee and joined the Progressive Artist's Group. In the year 1954, Tyeb Mehta went to London and Paris for four months and then returned to India.

Career

Thereafter, he started participating in group-exhibitions on a regular basis. His first solo exhibition of drawings, paintings and sculptures was organized at the Jehangir Art Gallery of Bombay (now Mumbai), in 1959. Tyeb Mehta moved to London in 1959 and worked there till 1965. In 1965, he came back to his home country and started living in Delhi. Tyeb received Rockefeller Fellowship in 1968 and went to U.S.A for a few years. Thereafter, he started experimenting in films also. In the 1980s, he worked as 'Artist in Residence' in Shantiniketan.

Tyeb Mehta participated in a number of international exhibitions, including 'Ten Contemporary Indian Painters' at Trenton in U.S.A.; 'Deuxieme Biennial Internationale de Menton', 'Festival Intemationale de la Peinture' and Cagnes-Sur-Mer in France; 'Modem Indian Paintings' at Hirschhom Museum of Washington and 'Seven Indian Painters' at Gallerie Le Monde de U art of Paris.

Achievements
One of the paintings of Tyeb Mehta holds the record for being the highest priced Indian painting. In December 2005, his painting 'Gesture' was sold for 31 million Indian rupees at the Osian's auction. His film 'Koodal' won the Filmfare Critic's Award in 1970. Tyeb Mehta was awarded the 'Kalidas Samman' by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 1988.

USTAD AMIR KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Amir Khan was born in a family of musicians on August 15, 1912 in Indore, India. His mother passed away when he was nine years old. Ustad Amir Khan was a well-known Indian classical vocalist. He is considered one of the most influential figures in Hindustani classical music, and is the founder of the Indore Gharana.

Young Amir Ali was initially trained in the sarangi by his father Shahmir Khan, himself an expert sarangi player from the Bhendibazaar gharana. However, seeing his interest in vocal music, his father gradually devoted more time to vocal training, focusing on the Merukhand technique. Amir Ali was exposed at an early age to many different styles, since just about every musician who visited Indore would come to their house, and there would be mehfils at their place on a regular basis. His father died in 1937. Amir Khan lived for some time in Delhi and Calcutta, but after the partition of India he moved to Bombay.

Career

He developed his own singing style, incorporating the styles of Abdul Waheed Khan, Rajab Ali Khan and Aman Ali Khan. This unique style, known as the Indore Gharana, blends the spiritual flavor and grandeur of dhrupad with the ornate vividness of khayal. His performances had an understated elegance, reverence, restrained passion and an utter lack of showmanship that both moved and awed listeners. He helped popularize taranas, as well as compositions in Fārsi. He often used the Jhoomra and Tilwada taals, and generally preferred a simple 'theka' from the tabla accompanist. As in the case of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan's initial sarangi training was important in establishing him as a great singer, showing up in his intricate taans.

Besides singing in concerts, he also sang film songs in ragas, most notably for the films Baiju Bawra, Kshudhita Pashan, Shabaab, and Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje.

His disciples include Pandit Amarnath, A. Kanan, Srikant Bakre, Singh Brothers, Mukund Goswami, Gajendra Bakshi, Kankana Banerjee, and Poorabi Mukherjee. His style has also influenced many other singers and instrumentalists, including Rashid Khan, Mahendra Toke, Shanti Sharma, Gokulotsavji Maharaj, Nikhil Banerjee, and the Imdadkhani gharana.

Achievements

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1967
• Presidential Award in 1971
• Padmabhushan in 1971
• Swar Vilas from Sur Singar Sansad in 1971

He died a premature death in a car accident in Calcutta on February 13, 1974.

USTAD AMJAD ALI KHAN

Birth and Early life

Khan was born in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh in 1945, is the sixth-generation sarod player in his family and his ancestors have developed and shaped the instrument over several hundred years. His forefathers came from Afghanistan to India's relaxed music atmosphere and brought the Rabab which later developed into Sarod. The modern sarod has undergone modifications to improve its tonal quality, notably from Ustad Allauddin Khan and his brother Ustad Ayet Ali Khan of the Senia Maihar Gharana.

Khan was taught by his father Hafiz Ali Khan, a musician to the royal family of Gwalior; he was born to the Gwalior Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of Music and is the sixth generation inheritor of this lineage.

Career

Amjad Ali Khan has developed a unique style of playing the sarod. The key innovations in his style are compositions based on vocal music, the technical ability to play highly complex phrases (ekhara taans), at times with ascending or descending volume scales on the sarod spanning three octaves with equal emphasis on the composition.

There are two schools of sarod playing – one in which the strings are stopped by the fingertips and the other in which the strings are stopped by the finger-nails of the left hand (as practised by Amjad Ali Khan). This is what makes the clear ringing sound and is one of the things that makes it so difficult to play. Khan is also noted for producing a wider variety of sounds on the sarod using bends up to 7 notes by sliding across the fingerboard. Khan has also stated that this extended bends is an advantage over fretted string instruments like the sitar.

Khan uses the traditional sarod minus Allauddin Khan's changes to the tuning and string configurations. The only modern trait that he has adopted into his instrument is the round drum of the resonating chamber (the traditional sarod has two jod and chikari strings and 11 tarab strings). His base frequency is also lower than the other schools. His instrument is made by Hemen Sen of Kolkata, who also makes the sarod for other leading maestros such as Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Amjad's playing places much emphasis on percussive right-hand plectrum work characteristic of the Afghan rabab-based idiom of the early sarod players. His chief innovation are his ekhara taans (complex high speed staccato passages), something which many sarod players find very difficult to do. Paraphrasing his words "I asked my father why the sarod could not keep up with sitar when it came to taans....my father explained that the sarod was a much more difficult instrument to play, not having frets ... it is then I resolved to develop a style where I could match sitar like taans...".

Amjad Ali Khan has had a successful career spanning over 40 years and continues to be one of the busiest classical musicians in India.

Achievements

He was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2001. And he was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2004.

On April 8, 2007, he got international recognition too. He was honoured with the Key to the City award by Kathy Taylor Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma state, for his long-standing contribution to the Indian Classical Music.

Ustad's sons: Ayaan - Amaan are already set to carry their Father's legacy to the next generation of Hindustani Music and Sarod

• Houston and Nashville has conferred him honorary citizenship in 1997.
• Massachusetts has declared April 20 as the 'Amjad Ali Khan Day' in 1984.
• Tulsa is the third US city to confer honorary citizenship to him.

BADE GHULAM ALI KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan b. Kasur, near Lahore, Punjab, British India (now Pakistan), c. 1902; d. Hyderabad, India, April 25, 1968) was an Indian vocalist, considered one of the finest representatives of the Hindustani music tradition in the early and middle 20th century.

He belonged to the Patiala Gharana of Hindustani classical music. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1962, and the Sangeet Natak Academy award.

Bade Ghulam Ali had a unique voice, a wide range spanning three octaves, effortless production, all-round sweetness and unparalleled flexibility and ease of movement in all tempi.

Career

Bade Ghulam Ali was the son of a famous singer, Ali Baksh Khan. He hailed from a West Punjabi family of musical heritage. His paternal uncle Kale Khan was also a famous singer was a big influence on him.

Having lived a life of the greatest and worst experiences, Bade Ghulam Ali absorbed all his mental, physical and spiritual powers into the study and practice of music. Khansahib was married to Ali Jiwai, who died in 1932, which made his grief pour into his music.

By 1944, though in the age of giant personalities like Abdul Karim Khan, Alladiya Khan and Faiyaz Khan, he was considered by many as the uncrowned king of Hindustani music.

He lived at various intervals in Lahore, Bombay, Calcutta and Hyderabad. He remains the inspiration for a whole generation of top-ranking singers and performers in both India and Pakistan, including Ghulam Ali (b. 1940), Pakistan's leading ghazal singer.

After the partition of India in 1947, Khan returned to his home in Pakistan, but returned to India some time afterward to permanently reside there. He did not approve of the partition, saying: "If in every home one child was taught Hindustani classical music this country would never have been partitioned." In 1957, he acquired Indian citizenship.

Khan was reluctant to sing for films, but sang two songs based on ragas Sohni and Rageshree for the 1960 film Mughal-e-Azam, in which his voice was represented as Tansen's by the music director Naushad. In an attempt to dissuade Naushad by asking an obnoxiously high price, he reportedly ended up charging Rs. 25,000/- per song when the going rate for popular playback singers such as Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi was below Rs. 500/- per song.

He died in Hyderabad at Basheerbagh Palace in 1968, after a prolonged illness which left him partially paralysed in his last years; he continued to sing and perform in public with support from his son Munawar Ali Khan until his death.

Famous Works

• Mehfil - Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan - Times Music
• Golden Milestones - Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
• Homage to Bade Gulam Ali Audio Rec. Double CD With Ustad Munawar Ali Khan and Raza Ali

Achievements

Today, the Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Yaadgar Sabha, founded by his disciple Malti Gilani, keeps his music and memory alive. It aims to promote Hindustani classical music and organises many concerts to this end. Its primary aim, however, is to provide medical aid to ailing musicians. The Sabha organises a Sabrang Utsav every year in the memory of the maestro.

He made his mark in Calcutta in the year 1938 and All India Music Conference in Bombay in the year 1944. He was titled the Master in each and every field of music that he explored. But, he breathed his last at the age of 66, much to the shock of his fans and music lovers. On 25th April, 1968 he breathed his last, depriving the world of much more priceless treasure that he could have given.

BISMILLAH KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Bismillah Khan was born on March 21, 1916 at Bhirung Raut Ki Gali, in Dumraon, Bihar as the second son of Paigambar Khan and Mitthan. He was named as Qamaruddin to rhyme with Shamsuddin, their first son. His grandfather, Rasool Baksh Khan uttered "Bismillah" (the basmala) after looking at the newborn, thus he was named Bismillah Khan.

His ancestors were court musicians and used to play in Naqqar khana in the princely states of Bhojpur, now in Bihar. His father was a shehnai player in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate, Bihar. Though a pious Shi'ite Muslim, he was also, like many Indian musicians, regardless of religion, a devotee of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of wisdom and the arts, and often played at Hindu temples, including the famous Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, on the banks of the river Ganga. He also performed for Prem Rawat. He received his training under his uncle, the late Ali Baksh 'Vilayatu', a shehnai player attached to Varanasi's Vishwanath Temple.

Career

Khan was perhaps single handedly responsible for making the shehnai a famous classical instrument. He brought the shehnai to the center stage of Indian music with his concert in the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937. He was credited with having almost monopoly over the instrument as he and the shehnai are almost synonyms.

Khan is one of the finest musicians in post-independent Indian Classical music and one of the best examples of hindu-muslim unity in India.

His concept of music was very beautiful and his vision, superb. He once said, "Even if the world ends, the music will still survive" and he often said, "Music has no caste".

He played in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Canada, West Africa, U.S., USSR, Japan, Hong Kong and almost every capital city across the world.

His shehnai was so close to him that after the demise of his wife he began to refer to it as his begum, or wife. After his death, his shehnai was buried with him.

 Performances at Red Fort

Khan had the rare honor of performing at Delhi's Red Fort on the eve of India's Independence in 1947. He also performed Raga Kafi from the Red Fort on the eve of India’s first Republic Day ceremony, on January 26, 1950. His recital had become a cultural part of India's Independence Day Celebrations, telecast on Doordarshan every year on August 15th. After the Prime Minister's speech from Lal Qila (the Red Fort,) in Old Delhi, Doordarshan would broadcast a live performance by the shehnai maestro. This tradition dated from the days of Pandit Nehru.

Achievements

• Bharat Ratna (2001)
• Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi (1994).
• Talar Mausiquee from Republic of Iran (1992).
• Padma Vibhushan (1980)
• Padma Bhushan (1968)
• Padma Shri (1961)
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1956)
• Tansen Award by Govt. of Madhya Pradesh.
• Three medals in All India Music Conference, Calcutta (1937)
• "Best Performer" in All India Music Conference, Allahabad (1930)

Bismillah Khan had honorary doctorates from

• Banaras Hindu University
• Visva Bharati University
• Santiniketan.

Others include

• Was invited by the then Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to play shehnai on the first Independence Day (August 15, 1947) in Delhi's Red Fort.
• Participated in World Exposition in Montreal
• Participated in Cannes Art Festival
• Participated in Osaka Trade Fair
• His 80th birthday was celebrated by World Music Institute in New York

Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, instituted the 'Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar' in 2007, in his honour. It is given to young artistes in the field of music, theatre and dance.

On August 17, 2006, Khan was taken ill and admitted to the Heritage Hospital, Varanasi for treatment. He died after four days on August 21, 2006 due to a cardiac arrest. He was ninety years old. He is survived by five sons, three daughters and a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

USTAD FAIYAZ KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Faiyaz Khan was born in 1886 at Sikandra in Agra. He belonged to a family of great musicians, going back to Haji Sujaan Khan in the court of Emperor Akbar. He was groomed mainly by his grandfather, Ghulam Abbas Khan, and granduncle, Kallan Khan. Both were very eminent singers of the Agra gharana. In his formative years, Faiyaz Khan was also deeply influenced by Zohra Bai and other contemporary ustads. Later he became the son-in-law of the great musician and composer ‘Daraspiya’ Ustad Mehboob Khan. Faiyaz Khan blended the styles of his different gurus giving the Agra gayaki a new direction. He also included many thumris, dadras, ghazals and qawalis in his repertoire.

Career

Ustad Faiyaz Khan is the most well known exponent of Agra Gharana in Hindustani classical music. He was the master khayal vocalist of his time. Born at Sikandara near Agra in 1886 (contested as 1888, 1889), he was the son of Shabr Hussain, who died three months before his birth. He was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Ghulam Abbas, who taught him music, up to the age of 25. Faiyaz Khan's musical lineage goes back to Tansen himself. He served for a long time as the court musician of Baroda, where he was awarded the "Gyan Ratna"; the Maharaja of Mysore awarded him the title "Aftab-e-Mousiqui." Faiyaz Khan's specialities were dhrupad and khyal, but he was also capable of singing thumri and ghazal. Some of his best-known students are Dilip Chan Bedi and Ratajankar. By the time he died (on 5 November 1950 at Baroda), he had earned the reputation of being one of the most influential vocalists of that century. One of the foremost modern classical Indian vocalists, Pandit Jasraj, maintains that Faiyaz Khan and Amir Khan are the most important vocalists of the 20th century.

The various gharanas in Hindustani music constitute a rich heritage of artistic traditions, which has been transmitted to us orally through generations of great musicians. The Gwalior, Agra, Kirana, Delhi, Jaipur, Atrauli, Patiala and other gharanas have produced some of our greatest maestros such as Haddu-Hassu Khans, Tanras Khan, Ghagge Khuda Bux, Rahmat Khan, Alia-Fattu, Umrao Khan, Ghulam Abbas Khan, Nathan Khan, and so many others. Ustad Faiyaz Khan popularly called "Aftab-e-Mousiqui", was "the ultimate flowering of the genius of the Agra or Rangila Gharana." He summed up in himself the finest traditions of his gharana and was its greatest exponent in recent times. He belonged passionately to his age, "and yet, he belonged to an infinitely more glorious past of our music and its traditions".

In addition to all the valuable training and experience given to him by his loving grandfather-(Nana)-cum-Ustad, there was Faiyaz's own native genius "an eternally intangible factor" that shapes the destinies of great men. Ghulam Abbas Khan, who is said to have lived to the incredible old age of 120, saw his favourite grandson mature into a maestro with a grand future ahead of him.

Once when certain mischief mongers tried to arrange a competition between the great Bhaskar Buwa Bhakle and the young Faiyaz Khan, the former is reported to have been so impressed with Faiyaz's performance that he refused to stand up as a rival, and to the utter disappointment of the men behind the mischief, embraced him "as a brother."

In 1908, a grand competition was arranged in Mysore between Ustad Faiyaz Khan and Ustad Hafiz Khan of the Mysore Durbar. Both sang for hours and sang so splendidly that it became difficult to decide who should get the first prize Nevertheless, the Maharaja who felt enraptured by Faiyaz Khan's music conferred on him the title of `Aftab-o-Mausiqui' meaning "the sun of music." Soon after this, the Lahore All India Music Conference gave him the. title of `Sangeet Chudamani. "At another famous All India music conference organised by Pdt. Bhatkhandeji, Faiyaz Khan was selected as the top most khayal-singer of the day. It was no wonder then that Pdt Bhatkhandeji chose him as the guru of his favourite pupil, Sri Krishna Narayan Ratanjankar and took him to Kashmir, from where his fame spread fan and wide.

At an All India Music Conference held in Baroda, which was attended by more than 400 singers, Faiyaz Khan captivated the audience so deeply that they showed their appreciation by handing over to him a purse of 33,000 rupees.

Though Ustad Faiyaz Khan had settled down in Baroda as a court musician, he was always travelling because no music conference was deemed incomplete without his performance. Thanks to All India Radio, thousands of his admirers all over the country used to be thrilled by his rich velvety voice whenever he broadcast from Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta or Lucknow. To the last, he remained the President of the All India Society for Contemporary Music.

In spite of his short stature, Ustad Faiyaz Khan had a dignified personality. It is said that in his younger days he used to look so courtly in his gold embroidered black achkan, black cap, and imposing moustache, that once he was mistaken for the ruler himself in a certain darbar. Though he had no school education he had an innate sense of culture which enabled him to appreciate the good things of life. A thorough gentleman, he was generous, tender hearted and full of warmth with a capacity for lasting friendships. Modest and unassuming, courteous and polite, he combined greatness with childlike simplicity. The Ustad never hurt others' feelings, could never tolerate slander or gossip. People from all walks of life were drawn to him by his suavity, natural culture, humility and kind heartedness. As an artist he was surrounded by admirers wherever he went.

A widower for years, Faiyaz Khan left behind no child when he died in 1950, but he was mourned by thousands of admirers all over the country. The passing of Faiyaz Khan Saheb marked the end of a great era in music. Though, he was 70, his music had retained a youthful vigour, and a variety that age could not wither. He was a maestro and a phenomenon in the world of Hindustani music, and "his art symbolised the grand evolution of Hindustani music from the ancient Dhrupad - Dhamar to the more modern Khayal - Thumri." His music was characterised by dignity, grandeur and rich emotion.

Achievements

He was appointed court singer at Baroda in 1912. However, Faiyaz Khan also performed in various other darbars, festivals and conferences. He taught many students like Ata Hussain Khan (his brother-in-law), Latafat Hussain Khan, K. L. Saigal, Dipali Nag, Dilip Chandra Vedi, D. T. Joshi, S. N. Ratanjhankar, Swami Ballabhdas, Ramrao Naik, R. N. Chatterjee and Sharafat Hussain Khan among others.

In his last years, he suffered from tuberculosis. His demise, in November 1950, marked the end of a great era in Hindustani Classical Music.

ZAKIR HUSSAIN (MUSICIAN)

Birth and Early Life

Ustad Zakir Hussai, born March 9, 1951, is a famous Tabla player from India. He has also won awards and recognitions for his contribution to the world of music. He was born in Bombay to the well known tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha in India. He attended St. Michael's High School in Mahim, and graduated from St Xaviers, Mumbai.

Career

Zakir was touring by the age of twelve. Zakir went to the United States in 1970, embarking on an international career that today includes no fewer than 150 concert dates a year. He also has a PhD in musicology. Zakir has worked with many western and Indian artists, and has produced many works for fusion, perhaps most notably with The Beatles (reference needed). In 1971 he recorded with an American psychedelic band called Shanti. He has also worked with John McLaughlin in Shakti in 1975, with L. Shankar (Lakshminarayanan Shankar) in the Diga Rhythm Band, and with Mickey Hart on his Rolling Thunder album (on which he and his father played a tabla duet). Although Shakti was disbanded a few years later, it reunited under the name Remember Shakti.

In 1987, his first solo release, Making Music, was acclaimed as one of the most inspired East-West fusion albums ever recorded. In 1988, he became the youngest percussionist to ever be awarded the title of Padma Shri. In 1990, he was awarded the Indo-American Award in recognition for his cultural contribution to relations between the United States and India. In April, 1991, he was presented with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by the President of India, making him one of the youngest musicians to receive this recognition from India's governing cultural institute.

In 1992, Planet Drum, an album co-created and produced by Zakir and Mickey Hart, was awarded a Grammy for Best World Music Album, the Downbeat Critics Poll for Best World Beat Album, and the NARM Indie Best Seller Award for World Music Recording. The band Planet Drum, with Zakir as music director, toured nationally in 1996 and 1997. Zakir also continues to tour with the musicians from Shakti — John McLaughlin, Shankar and T.H. Vinayakram — in different collaborations and ensembles as well as leading various percussion ensembles of his own design. In Summer'99, Shakti re-grouped for an international tour.

In 1992, Zakir founded live concert performances by masters of the classical music of India. The label presents Zakir's own world percussion ensemble, The Rhythm Experience, both North and South Indian classical recordings, Best of Shakti, and a Masters of Percussion series. He has recorded and performed with artists as diverse as George Harrison, Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Aashish Khan,Vasant Rai, Imrat Khan, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Jack Bruce, Tito Puente, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham, Charles Lloyd, the Hong Kong Symphony and the New Orleans Symphony. Zakir is notably famous for his long time associations and accompanyments with the maestros in Indian Classical Music like Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivkumar Sharma, Birju Maharaj, Amjad Ali Khan.

Zakir is a founding member of Bill Laswell's 'World Music Supergroup' Tabla Beat Science.

He was a visiting professor at Princeton University for one semester in 2006, as well as a visiting professor at Stanford University for a quarter in 2007.

He starred in the Merchant Ivory Film Heat and Dust, in which he also composed the score. He has composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha, and other films.

Zakir composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for Vaanaprastham, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999. He is the recipient of the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States' most prestigious honor for a master in the traditional arts.

Zakir starred in the documentary "The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum" (2003 Sumantra Ghosal) and the 1998 documentary "Zakir and His Friends".

Zakir participates in the Silk Road collaborative musical project.

Zakir teaches Tabla to advanced students in both San Francisco and Mumbai.

Zakir participates in the Global Drum Project.

Achievements

• Awarded the civilian honour of Padma Shri by the Indian government in 1988
• Planet Drum (Produced by Zakir) awarded Grammy for Best World Music album in 1992
• Awarded the title of Padma Bhushan by the Indian government in 2002 for his contributions to the field of Indian music.

Zakir received the distinct honor of co-composing the opening music for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 1996, and was commissioned to compose music for San Francisco's premiere contemporary ballet company, Lines and to compose an original work for the San Francisco Jazz Festival, both in 1998. He has received numerous grants and awards, including participation in the Meet the Composer programs funded by the Pew Memorial Trust.

WAHEEDA REHMAN

Birth and Early Life

Waheeda Rehman was born into a traditional Muslim family in Andhra Pradesh on 14 May 1936. Her father a DM (District Magistrate), was posted all over the South and he settled in Vizag where she was brought up and had her schooling.  She had dreamt of becoming a doctor but destiny willed otherwise and she could not undergo proper schooling, due to some infection in her lungs. She was trained in Bharatnatyam and, prodded by her helpful parents, hit the silver screen with the Telugu film Jaisimha (1955), followed by Rojulu Maraayi (1955). She lost her father at the age of twelve.

Career

She was spotted by Guru Dutt in a song in a film and was brought to Mumbai and cast as a vamp in his production C.I.D. (1956), directed by Raj Khosla. A few years after joining Hindi film industry, she lost her mother. After the success of C.I.D., she was given a leading role in Pyaasa (1957). It was at this point that she got involved in an unsuccessful love affair with director Guru Dutt. Their next venture together, Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), depicted the story of a successful director's fall from grace after he falls for his leading lady, and foreshadowed events in Guru Dutt's own life as well. Guru Dutt's marital status and her success in films outside his tore them apart personally and professionally, although they continued to work together in 1960's Chaudhvin Ka Chand. She completed Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) under some strain. They broke away from each other after the film's indifferent reception at the Berlin Film Festival in 1963. Guru Dutt overdosed on sleeping pills and alcohol in 1964.

Waheeda Rahman was cast as "Gulabi" in Satyajit Ray's Bengali film 'Abhijan' in 1962, which she obliged canceling her usual schedules in Mumbai.

Her career continued throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her roles in Guide (1965) and Neel Kamal (1968), but despite good roles in subsequent films some of the films failed at the box office. At around this time, Kamaljeet (who starred opposite her in Shagun (1964)) proposed marriage. She accepted the proposal and they were married on April 27, 1974. After her marriage, she shifted to a farmhouse in Bangalore and took to farming. She bore two children named Sohail and Kashvi. After her appearance in Lamhe (1991) she retired from the film industry for 12 years. On November 21, 2000 her husband died following a prolonged illness she moved back to her sea-facing bungalow in Bandra, Bombay where she lives currently.

In recent years she made a comeback to films playing elderly mother and grandmother roles in Om Jai Jagadish (2002), Water (2005) and Rang De Basanti (2006) which were all critically acclaimed.

In October 2004, a Waheeda Rahman film retrospective was held at the Seattle Art Museum and the University of Washington where Waheeda participated in spirited panel and audience discussions on her most memorable films, Pyaasa, Teesri Kasam and Guide. She was and still is a big Diwani Hundi fan.

Achievements

• National Film Award for Best Actress for Reshma Aur Shera in 1971.
• Filmfare Best Actress Award for Guide in 1965
• Filmfare Best Actress Award for Neel Kamal in 1968
• Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994
• Taj Enlighten Tareef Award for contribution to the world of cinema in 2008

 Nominations

• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress--Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress--Ram Aur Shyam (1967)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress--Khamoshi (1970)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress--Kabhi Kabhie (1976)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress--Namkeen (1982)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress--Lamhe (1991)

FREEDOM FIGHTERS

MUHAMMAD IQBAL

Birth and Early Life

Sir Muhammad Iqbal born (November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938) was a Muslim poet, philosopher and politician born in Sialkot, British India (now in Pakistan), whose poetry in Urdu, Arabic and Persian is considered to be among the greatest of the modern era, and whose vision of an independent state for the Muslims of British India was to inspire the creation of Pakistan. He is commonly referred to as Allama Iqbal.

After studying in England and Germany, Iqbal established a law practice, but concentrated primarily on writing scholarly works on politics, economics, history, philosophy and religion. He is best known for his poetic works, including Asrar-e-Khudi—which brought a knighthood— Rumuz-e-Bekhudi, and the Bang-e-Dara, with its enduring patriotic song Tarana-e-Hind. In India, he is regarding for the patriotic song, Saare Jahan Se Achcha. In Afghanistan and Iran, where he is known as Iqbāl-e Lāhorī  Iqbal of Lahore), he is highly regarded for his Persian works.

Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal was born in Sialkot, Punjab, British India (now part of Pakistan); the eldest of five siblings in a Kashmiri family. It is believed that Iqbal's family were originally Hindu Brahmins, but became Muslim following his ancestor Sahaj Ram Sapru's conversion to Islam, although this version is disputed by some scholars. Iqbal's father Shaikh Nur Muhammad was a prosperous tailor, well-known for his devotion to Islam, and the family raised their children with deep religious grounding.

The boy was educated initially by tutors in languages and writing, history, poetry and religion. His potential as a poet and writer was recognised by one of his tutors, Sayyid Mir Hassan, and Iqbal would continue to study under him at the Scotch Mission College in Sialkot. The student became proficient in several languages and the skill of writing prose and poetry, and graduated in 1892. Following custom, at the age of 15 Iqbal's family arranged for him to be married to Karim Bibi, the daughter of an affluent Gujrati physician. The couple had two children: a daughter, Mi'raj Begam (born 1895) and a son, Aftab (born 1899). Iqbal's third son died soon after birth. The husband and wife were unhappy in their marriage and eventually divorced in 1916.

Iqbal entered the Government College in Lahore where he studied philosophy, English literature and Arabic and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating cum laude. He won a gold medal for topping his examination in philosophy. While studying for his masters degree, Iqbal came under the wing of Sir Thomas Arnold, a scholar of Islam and modern philosophy at the college. Arnold exposed the young man to Western culture and ideas, and served as a bridge for Iqbal between the ideas of East and West. Iqbal was appointed to a readership in Arabic at the Oriental College in Lahore, and he published his first book in Urdu, The Knowledge of Economics in 1903. In 1905 Iqbal published the patriotic song, Tarana-e-Hind (Song of India).

At Sir Thomas's encouragement, Iqbal travelled to and spend many years studying in Europe. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College at Cambridge in 1907, while simultaneously studying law at Lincoln's Inn, from where he qualified as a barrister in 1908. Iqbal also met a Muslim student, Atiyah Faizi in 1907, and had a close relationship with her. In Europe, he started writing his poetry in Persian as well. Throughout his life, Iqbal would prefer writing in Persian as he believed it allowed him to fully express philosophical concepts, and it gave him a wider audience. It was while in England that he first participated in politics. Following the formation of the All-India Muslim League in 1906, Iqbal was elected to the executive committee of its British chapter in 1908. Together with two other politicians, Syed Hassan Bilgrami and Syed Ameer Ali, Iqbal sat on the subcommittee which drafted the constitution of the League. In 1907, Iqbal travelled to Germany to pursue a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität at Munich.^{[citation needed]} Working under the supervision of Friedrich Hommel, Iqbal published a thesis titled: The Development of Metaphysics in Persia.

Career

Upon his return to India in 1908, Iqbal took up assistant professorship at the Government College in Lahore, but for financial reasons he relinquished it within a year to practise law. During this period, Iqbal's personal life was in turmoil. He divorced Karim Bibi in 1916, but provided financial support to her and their children for the rest of his life.

While maintaining his legal practise, Iqbal began concentrating on spiritual and religious subjects, and publishing poetry and literary works. He became active in the Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam, a congress of Muslim intellectuals, writers and poets as well as politicians, and in 1919 became the general secretary of the organisation. Iqbal's thoughts in his work primarily focused on the spiritual direction and development of human society, centred around experiences from his travel and stay in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was profoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson and Goethe, and soon became a strong critic of Western society's separation of religion from state and what he perceived as its obsession with materialist pursuits.

The poetry and philosophy of Mawlana Rumi bore the deepest influence on Iqbal's mind. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal would begin intensely concentrating on the study of Islam, the culture and history of Islamic civilization and its political future, and embrace Rumi as "his guide." Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of a guide in many of his poems, and his works focused on reminding his readers of the past glories of Islamic civilization, and delivering a message of a pure, spiritual focus on Islam as a source for socio-political liberation and greatness. Iqbal denounced political divisions within and amongst Muslim nations, and frequently alluded to and spoke in terms of the global Muslim community, or the Ummah.

While dividing his time between law and poetry, Iqbal had remained active in the Muslim League. He supported Indian involvement in World War I, as well as the Khilafat movement and remained in close touch with Muslim political leaders such as Maulana Mohammad Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was a critic of the mainstream Indian National Congress, which he regarded as dominated by Hindus and was disappointed with the League when during the 1920s, it was absorbed in factional divides between the pro-British group led by Sir Muhammad Shafi and the centrist group led by Jinnah.

In November 1926, with the encouragement of friends and supporters, Iqbal contested for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Muslim district of Lahore, and defeated his opponent by a margin of 3,177 votes. He supported the constitutional proposals presented by Jinnah with the aim of guaranteeing Muslim political rights and influence in a coalition with the Congress, and worked with the Aga Khan and other Muslim leaders to mend the factional divisions and achieve unity in the Muslim League.

Achievements

Iqbal is commemorated widely in Pakistan, where he is regarded as the ideological founder of the state. His Tarana-e-Hind is a song that is widely used in India as a patriotic song speaking of communal harmony. His birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as Iqbal Day and is a national holiday. For a long time, Iqbal's actual date of birth remained disputed, with many believing February 23 to be the date of Iqbal's birth. On February 1, 1974 a Pakistani government committee officially declared Iqbal's date of birth to be November 9. Iqbal is the namesake of many public institutions, including the Allama Iqbal Open University and the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore — the second-busiest airport in the nation. Government and public organizations have sponsored the establishment of colleges and schools dedicated to Iqbal, and have established the Iqbal Academy to research, teach and preserve the works, literature and philosophy of Iqbal. His son Javid Iqbal has served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

In 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal's health deteriorated. He spent his final years working to establish the Idara Dar-ul-Islam, an institution where studies in classical Islam and contemporary social science would be subsidised, and advocating the demand for an independent Muslim state. Iqbal ceased practising law in 1934 and he was granted pension by the Nawab of Bhopal. After suffering for months from a series of protracted illnesses, Iqbal died in Lahore in 1938. His tomb is located in the space between the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort, and an official guard is maintained there by the Government of Pakistan.

ASHFAQULLA KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Ashfaqulla Khan (October 22, 1900 - December 19, 1927) was a freedom fighter in Indian independence movement. Ashfaqulla Khan was born in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Shafiqur Rahman was posted in the police department. His mother's name was Mazharunissa. Ashfaqullah was the youngest amongst his six siblings. Ashfaq was in school when Mahatma Gandhi Called the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Career

After Mahatma Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri Chaura incident, many Indian youths were left dejected. Ashfaq was one of them. He felt that India should become free as soon as possible and so he decided to join the revolutionaries and also win the friendship of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, a famous revolutionary of Shahjahanpur. Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, a member of the Arya Samaj, was eager to explain the greatness of the Hindu religion to those belonging to other religion. Initially this was a difficulty for Ashfaq who was a devout Muslim. Nevertheless, the common goal of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaq was India's freedom. This helped him to win over the friendship of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil. They died on the same day, as martyrs for India, but in different jails.

To give a fillip to their movement and buy arms and ammunition to carry out their activities, the revolutionaries organised a meeting on August 8, 1925 in Shahjahanpur. After a lot of deliberations it was decided to loot the government treasury carried in the trains. On 9 August 1925 Ashfaqulla and other revolutionaries, namely Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Rajendra Lahiri, Thakur Roshan Singh, Sachindra Bakshi, Chandrashekar Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy, Banwari Lal, Mukundi Lal, Manmathnath Gupta looted the train carrying British government money in Kakori near Lucknow.

On the morning of 26 September 1925, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil was caught by the police and Ashfaq was the only one untraced by the police. Ashfaq went into hiding and moved to Banaras from Bihar where he worked in an engineering company for 10 months. Ashfaq wanted to move abroad to learn engineering to further help the freedom struggle and so he went to Delhi to find out ways to move out of the country. He took the help of one of his Pathan friend who in turn betrayed him by informing the police about his whereabouts."

Ashfaqullah Khan was detained in the Faizabad jail. A case was filed against Ashfaqullah. His brother Riyasatullah was his counsel who fought the case till the very end. While in jail, Ashfaqullah recited the Quran. The case for the Kakori dacoity was concluded by awarding death sentence to Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Thankur Roshan Singh. The others were given life sentences.

Achievements

Kakori train robbery was one of his achievements. Ashfaq’s devotion to the cause of freedom made him the foremost among those who gave their lives to win the freedom of the country. Love for the motherland, clear thinking, courage, firmness and loyalty were embodied in Ashfaq to the hilt. He deserves to be remembered and cherished by all Indians for his noble qualities.

ZAKIR HUSSAIN

Birth and Early Life

Dr. Zakir Hussain (February 8, 1897 - May 3, 1969), was the third President of India from May 13, 1967 until his death on May 3, 1969.

Hussain was born in Hyderabad (India). His Pakhtun father had migrated to Hyderabad from Qaimganj, district Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. He was educated at Islamia High School, Etawah and at the Anglo-Muhammadan Oriental College (now Aligarh Muslim University where he was a prominent student leader).

Career

Hussain, then only 23, was among the small group of students and teachers who founded a National Muslim University near Delhi and named it Jamia Millia Islamia. He subsequently went to Germany to obtain a PhD from the University of Berlin in Economics. While in Germany Hussain was instrumental in bringing out the anthology of arguably the greatest Urdu poet Mirza Assadullah Khan "Ghalib" (1797-1868). He returned to India to head the Jamia Millia Islamia which was facing closure in 1927. He continued in that position for the next twenty one years providing academic and managerial leadership to an institution that was intimately involved with India's struggle for freedom from the British Rule and experimented with value base education on the lines advocated by Mahatma Gandhi. During this period he continued to engage himself with movements for educational reforms in India and was particularly active in the affairs of his old alma mater' the MAO College, now the Aligarh Muslim University. During this period Hussain emerged as one of the most prominent educational thinkers and practitioners of modern India. His personal sacrifice and untiring efforts to keep the Jamia afloat in very adverse circumstances won him appreciation of even his arch political rivals like Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Soon after India attained independence he agreed to be the Vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University which, because of active involvement of a section of its teachers and students in the movement for creation of Pakistan was facing trying times in post partition India. Dr Hussain, again, provided leadership during a critical phase of the history of the University at Aligarh from 1948-1956. Soon after completing his term as Vice Chancellor he was nominated as a member of the Upper House of Indian Parliament in 1956, a position he vacated in 1957 to become Governor of the State of Bihar.

Achievements

After serving as the Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962, and as the Vice President of India from 1962 to 1967, Hussain was elected President of India on May 13, 1967. In his inaugural speech he said that the whole of India was his home and all its people were his family.

He was awarded the highest Indian national honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1963. He is the first Indian President to die in office on the 3rd day of May, 1969.

HAKIM AJMAL KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Ajmal Khan (1863–December 29, 1927) was a noted Indian freedom fighter, renowned physician and educationalist. He was the founder and the first chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. He is the only person to have been elected President of both the Indian National Congress (1921) and the Muslim League, as well as the All India Khilafat Committee. In 1901, after the death of his eldest brother, Hakim Abdul Majid, he founded three institutions in Delhi - the Central College in Delhi, the Pharmacy of Indian Medicines and the Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia Conference

Hakim Ajmal Khan was born in 1863 in Punjab. His family, a distinguished line of physicians, descended from the army of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India. Khan studied the Qur'an and traditional Islamic knowledge, before studying medicine at Siddiqui Dawakhana under Hakim Jameel Siddiqui. After launching himself in practise, Khan was appointed chief physician to the Nawab of Rampur from 1892 to 1902. In Rampur he met Syed Ahmed Khan and was appointed a trustee of the Aligarh college, now the Aligarh Muslim University.

Hakim Ajmal Khan took much interest in the expansion and development of the indigenous system of medicine, Tibb-i-Yunani, or Unani. Khan's family established Tibbia College in Delhi, in order to expand the research and practise of Unani. In recognition of his services in this field the Government of India conferred on him, in 1907 the title of Haziq-ul-Mulk. But in 1910, Dr. Khan was organizing Indian physicians in protest of a Government decision to revoke official recognition for the practitioners of Indian systems of medicine, of Unani and Ayurveda.

Career

Dr. Khan's involvement in politics began with writing for the Urdu weekly Akmal-ul-Akhbar, which was founded in 1865-70 and was run by his family. Dr. Khan was in the deputation of Muslims that met the Viceroy of India in Shimla in 1906, presenting him a memorandum on behalf of the community, and in 1907 was present in Dhaka where the All India Muslim League was created.

Dr. Khan also backed the British during World War I, encouraging Indians to support the government, but the situation changed with the entry of Turkey. Upon the arrest of many Muslim leaders, Dr. Khan came to Mahatma Gandhi for support, who joined Khan and other Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad, Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali in the Khilafat movement.

Dr. Khan resigned from the AMU when the authorities refused to endorse or participate in the Non-Cooperation Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. He was elected the President of the Congress in 1921, and fiercely condemned the Amritsar Massacre and the British response to the Khilafat. He was imprisoned for many months by police authorities.

Dr. Khan had left the AMU owing to its historic resistance to the Indian National Congress. Along with many prominent Muslim nationalists like Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, he laid the foundations of the Jamia Millia Islamia (Islamic National University) in Aligarh in 1920, in response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for Indians to boycott government institutions. The JMI grew into a prominent and prestigious university, and was moved to Delhi, where it stands today. Dr. Khan served as its first Chancellor, and was a key patron of the institution.

Achievements

Dr. Khan died of heart problems on December 29, 1927. Dr. Khan had renounced his government title, and many of his Indian fans awarded him the title of Masih-ul-Mulk (Healer of the Nation). He was succeeded in the position of JMI Chancellor by Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari.

KHAN ABDUL GHAFFAR KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (b. at Hashtnagar in Utmanzai, Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, British India, c. 1890 – d. in Peshawar, NWFP, Pakistan, 20 January 1988) was a Pashtun Indian political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India. A lifelong pacifist, a devout Muslim,and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he was also known as Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, Urdu, Pashto: lit., "King of Kings"), and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu, Hindi lit., "Frontier Gandhi"). In 1985 he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. In 1987 he became the first non-citizen to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.

Ghaffar Khan was born into a generally peaceful and prosperous family from Charsadda, in the Peshawar Valley. His father, Behram Khan, was a land owner, farmer, and the chief of the Mohammedzais ("sons of Mohamed") tribe of the Pashtun (Pathan) people. Ghaffar was the second son of Behram to attend the British run Edward's mission school -- an unusual arrangement since it was discouraged by the local mullahs. At school the young Ghaffar did well in his studies and was inspired by his mentor Reverend Wigram to see the importance of education in service to the community. In his 10th and final year of high school he was offered a highly prestigious commission in The Guides, an elite corp of Pashtun soldiers of the British Raj. Ghaffar refused the commission after realising even Guide officers were still second-class citizens in their own country. He resumed his intention of University study and Reverend Wigram offered him the opportunity to follow his brother, Khan Sahib, to study in London. While he eventually received the permission of his father, Ghaffar's mother wasn't willing to lose another son to London -- and their own culture and religion as the mullahs warned her. So Ghaffar began working on his father's lands while attempting to discern what more he might do with his life.

Career

In response to his inability to continue his own education, Ghaffar Khan turned to helping others start theirs. Like many such regions of the world, the strategic importance of the newly formed North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as a buffer for the British Raj from Russian influence was of little benefit to its residents. The oppression of the British, the repression of the mullahs, and an ancient culture of violence and vendetta prompted Ghaffar to want to serve and uplift his fellow men and women by means of education. At 20 years of age, Ghaffar opened his first school in Utmanzai. It was an instant success and he was soon invited into a larger circle of progressively minded reformers.

While he faced much opposition and personal difficulties, Ghaffar Khan worked tirelessly to organize and raise the consciousness of his fellow Pushtuns. Between 1915 and 1918 he visited every one of the 500 settled districts of the Frontier. It was in this frenzied activity that he had come to be known as Badshah (Bacha) Khan (King of Chiefs).

He married his first wife Meharqanda in 1912; she was a daughter of Yar Mohammad Khan of the Kinankhel clan of the Mohammadzai tribe of Razzar, a village adjacent to Utmanzai. They had a son in 1913, Abdul Ghani Khan, who would become a noted artist and poet. Subsequently, they had another son, Abdul Wali Khan (17 January 1917-), and daughter, Sardaro. Meharqanda died during the 1918 influenza epidemic. In 1920, Abdul Ghaffar Khan remarried; his new wife, Nambata, was a cousin of his first wife and the daughter of Sultan Mohammad Khan of Razzar. She bore him a daughter, Mehar Taj (25 May 1921- ), and a son, Abdul Ali Khan (20th August 1922-19 February 1997). Tragically, in 1926 Nambata died early as well from a fall down the stairs of the apartment they were staying at in Jerusalem.

In time, Ghaffar Khan's goal came to be the formulation of a united, independent, secular India. To achieve this end, he founded the Khudai Khidmatgar ("Servants of God"), commonly known as the "Red Shirts" (Surkh Posh), during the 1920s.

The Khudai Khidmatgar was founded on a belief in the power of Gandhi's notion of Satyagraha, a form of active non-violence as captured in an oath. He told its members:

I am going to give you such a weapon that the police and the army will not be able to stand against it. It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not aware of it. That weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it.

The organization recruited over 100,000 members and became legendary in opposing (and dying at the hands of) the British-controlled police and army. Through strikes, political organisation and non-violent opposition, the Khudai Khidmatgar were able to achieve some success and came to dominate the politics of the NWFP. His brother, Dr. Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (known as Dr. Khan Sahib), led the political wing of the movement, and was the Chief Minister of the province (from the late 1920s until 1947 when his government was dismissed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah of the Muslim League).

Ghaffar Khan forged a close, spiritual, and uninhibited friendship with Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer of non-violent mass civil disobedience in India. The two had a deep admiration towards each other and worked together closely till 1947.

The Khudai Khidmatgar agitated and worked cohesively with the Indian National Congress, the leading national organization fighting for freedom, of which Ghaffar Khan was a senior and respected member. On several occasions when the Congress seemed to disagree with Gandhi on policy, Ghaffar Khan remained his staunchest ally. In 1931 the Congress offered him the presidency of the party, but he refused saying, "I am a simple soldier and Khudai Khidmatgar, and I only want to serve." He remained a member of the Congress Working Committee for many years, resigning only in 1939 because of his differences with the Party's War Policy. He rejoined the Congress Party when the War Policy was revised.

On April 23, 1930, Ghaffar Khan was arrested during protests arising out of the Salt Satyagraha. A crowd of Khudai Khidmatgar gathered in Peshawar's Kissa Khwani (Storytellers) Bazaar. The British ordered troops to open fire with machine guns on the unarmed crowd, killing an estimated 200-250. The Khudai Khidmatgar members acted in accord with their training in non-violence under Ghaffar Khan, facing bullets as the troops fired on them.

Ghaffar Khan was a champion of women's rights and nonviolence. He became a hero in a society dominated by violence; notwithstanding his liberal views, his unswerving faith and obvious bravery led to immense respect. Throughout his life, he never lost faith in his non-violent methods or in the compatibility of Islam and nonviolence. He viewed his struggle as a jihad with only the enemy holding swords. He was closely identified with Gandhi and he is known in India as the `Frontier Gandhi'.

"O Pathans! Your house has fallen into ruin. Arise and rebuild it, and remember to what race you belong." -- Ghaffar Khan

Achievements

Founder of Khudai Khidmatgar

Ghaffar Khan died in Peshawar under house arrest in 1988 and was buried in Jalalabad according to his wishes. The Indian government to mourn his passing declared a five-day period of mourning in his honour. Although he had been repeatedly imprisoned and persecuted, tens of thousands of mourners attended his funeral, marching through the historic Khyber Pass from Peshawar to Jalalabad. A cease fire was announced in the Afghan Civil War to allow the funeral to take place, even though it was marred by bomb explosions killing 15.

Ali Khan was also the head of Aitchison College, Lahore and Fazle Haq College, Mardan.

LIAQUAT ALI KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan (accurate transliteration Liāqat Alī Khān) (2 October 1896 – 16 October 1951) was a Pakistani politician who became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan and Defence Minister. Liaquat rose to political prominence as a member of the All India Muslim League. He played a vital role in the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. In 1947, he became the prime minister of Pakistan, a position that he held until his assassination in October 1951. In Pakistan, he is regarded as the right-hand man of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League and first governor-general of Pakistan. Liaquat was given the titles of Quaid-e-Millat (Leader of the Nation), and posthumously Shaheed-e-Millat (Martyr of the Nation).

Liaquat was a graduate of Aligarh Muslim University, of Exeter College, Oxford University and Middle Temple, London. He rose into prominence within the Muslim League during the 1930s. Significantly, he is credited with persuading Jinnah to return to India, an event which marked the beginning of the Muslim League's ascendancy and paved the way for the Pakistan movement. Following the passage of the Pakistan Resolution in 1940, Liaquat assisted Jinnah in campaigning for the creation of a separate state for Indian Muslims. In 1947, British Raj was partitioned into the modern-day states of India and Pakistan.

Liaquat Ali Khan, the second son of Nawab Rustam Ali Khan, was born on 2 October 1896, in Karnal, India, into an aristocratic Punjabi family. His father enjoyed the title of Ruken-ud-Daulah, Shamsher Jang and Nawab Bahadur, bestowed by the British government. Nawab Rustam Ali Khan was one of the few landlords whose property was spread across both the Punjab and the United Provinces. Liaquat's mother, Mahmoodah Begum, arranged for his lessons in the Qur'an and Ahadith at home before his formal schooling started.

He graduated in 1918 from Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College (later: Aligarh Muslim University), Aligarh, and married his cousin, Jehangira Begum, in 1918. After the death of his father, Liaquat went to England and was awarded a Master's degree from Exeter College, Oxford in 1921. While a student at Oxford University, he was elected Honorary Treasurer of the Indian Majlis. Thereafter he joined the Inner Temple, one of the Inns of Court in London. He was called to the Bar in 1922.

Career

On his return from Britain in 1923, Liaquat entered politics, determined to eradicate what he saw as the injustices and ill treatment meted out to the Indian Muslims under the British. In his early life, Liaquat believed in Indian Nationalism. His views gradually changed. The Congress leaders asked him to join their party, but he refused and joined the Muslim League in 1923. Under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Muslim League held its annual session in May 1924 in Lahore. The aim of this session was to revive the League. Liaquat was among those who attended this conference.

Liaquat began his parliamentary career as an elected member of the United Provinces Legislative Council from the rural Muslim constituency of Muzzafarnagar in 1926. In 1932, he was unanimously elected Deputy President of UP Legislative Council. He remained a member of the UP Legislative Council until 1940, when he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly.

Liaquat took active part in legislative affairs. He was one of the members of the Muslim League delegation that attended the National Convention held at Calcutta to discuss the Nehru Report in December 1928.

Liaquat's second marriage took place in December 1932. His wife Begum Ra'ana was a prominent economist and an educator. She, too, was an influential figure in the Pakistan movement.

Following the failure of the Round Table Conferences, Muhammad Ali Jinnah had settled in London and was practicing law before the Privy Council. Liaquat and his wife had a number of meetings with Jinnah and convinced him to come back to India to take up the leadership of the Muslims of the region.

On 16 October 1951, Liaquat had been scheduled to make an important announcement in a public meeting of the Muslim City League at Municipal Park, Rawalpindi. Liaquat was shot twice in the chest during that meeting by a man sitting in the audience only fifteen yards away.

Achievements

Upon his death, Liaquat Ali Khan was given the honorific title of "Shaheed-e-Millat", or "Martyr of the Nation".

Municipal Park, where he was assassinated, was renamed Liaquat Bagh (Bagh means park) in his honor.This is the same park where later on in 2007 Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

In Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan is regarded as Jinnah's “right hand man” and heir apparent. His role in filling in the vacuum created by Jinnah’s death is seen as decisive in tackling critical problems during Pakistan’s fledgling years and in devising measures for the consolidation of Pakistan. His face is printed on postage stamps across the country.

ABUL KALAM AZAD

Birth and Early Life

Maulana Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed (11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was a Muslim scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian independence movement. He was one of the most prominent Muslim leaders to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the partition of India on communal lines. Following India's independence, he became the first Minister of Education in the Indian government. He is commonly remembered as Maulana Azad; he had adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name.

As a young man, Azad composed poetry in Urdu as well as treatises on religion and philosophy. He rose to prominence through his work as a journalist, publishing works critical of the British Raj and espousing the causes of Indian nationalism. Azad became a leader of the Khilafat Movement during which he came into close contact with Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Azad became an enthusiastic supporter of Gandhi's ideas of non-violent civil disobedience, and worked actively to organise the Non-cooperation movement in protest of the 1919 Rowlatt Acts. Azad committed himself to Gandhi's ideals, including promoting Swadeshi (Indigenous) products and the cause of Swaraj (Self-rule) for India. He would become the youngest person to serve as the President of the Indian National Congress in 1923.

Azad was one of the main organisers of the Dharasana Satyagraha in 1931, and emerged as one of the most important national leaders of the time, prominently leading the causes of Hindu-Muslim unity as well as espousing secularism and socialism. He served as Congress President from 1940 to 1945, during which the Quit India rebellion was launched and Azad was imprisoned with the entire Congress leadership for three years. Azad became the most prominent Muslim opponent of the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan and served in the interim national government. Amidst communal turmoil following the partition of India, he worked for religious harmony. As India's Education Minister, Azad oversaw the establishment of a national education system with free primary education and modern institutions of higher education. He is also credited with the foundation of the University Grants Commission, an important institution to supervise and advance the higher education in the nation.

Azad's family descended from a line of eminent Ulama or scholars of Islam, hailing from Herat in Afghanistan and had settled in India during the reign of the Mughal emperor Babur. His mother was of Arab descent, the daughter of Shaikh Muhammad Zahir Watri and his father, Maulana Khairuddin was of ethnic Persian origin. The family lived in the Bengal region until Maulana Khairuddin left India during the Indian rebellion of 1857 and settled in Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, where he met his wife. The family returned to Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1890 where his father earned a reputation as a learned Muslim scholar. Azad's mother died when he was 11 years old.

Azad was raised in an environment steeped in Islamic religion. He was given a traditional Islamic education, tutored at his home and in the neighbourhood mosque by his father and later religious scholars. Azad mastered several languages, including Urdu, Persian, Hindko, Arabic, and Hindi. He was also trained in the subjects of mathematics, philosophy, world history and science by reputed tutors hired by his family. An avid and determined student, Azad succeeded in completing the traditional course of study at the young age of sixteen, nine years ahead of his contemporaries. At the age of thirteen, he was married to a young Muslim girl, Zuleikha Begum. Azad was, more closer, a follower of the Deobandi school and compiled many treatises reinterpreting the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the principles of Fiqh and Kalam. A young man, Azad was also exposed to the modern intellectual life of Kolkata, the then capital of British-ruled India and the centre of cultural and political life. He began to doubt the traditional ways of his father and secretly diversified his studies. Azad learned English through intensive personal study and began learning Western philosophy, history and contemporary politics by reading advanced books and modern periodicals. Azad grew disillusioned with Islamic teachings and was inspired by the modern views of Muslim educationalist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who had promoted rationalism. Increasingly doubtful of religious dogma, Azad entered a period of self-described "atheism" and "sinfulness" that lasted for almost a decade.

Career

Azad developed political views considered radical for most Muslims of the time and became a full-fledged Indian nationalist. He fiercely criticised the British for racial discrimination and ignoring the needs of common people across India. He also criticised Muslim politicians for focusing on communal issues before the national interest and rejected the All India Muslim League's communal separatism. Azad developed curiosity and interest in the pan-Islamic doctrines of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and visited Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. But his views changed considerably when he met revolutionary activists in Iraq and was influence by their fervent anti-imperialism and nationalism. Against common Muslim opinion of the time, Azad opposed the partition of Bengal in 1905 and became increasingly active in revolutionary activities, to which he was introduced by the prominent Hindu revolutionaries Sri Aurobindo and Shyam Sundar Chakravarthy. Azad initially evoked surprise from other revolutionaries, but Azad won their praise and confidence by working secretly to organise revolutionaries activities and meetings in Bengal, Bihar and Mumbai (then Bombay).

Azad's education had been shaped for him to become a cleric, but his rebellious nature and affinity for politics turned him towards journalism. He established an Urdu weekly newspaper in 1912 called Al-Hilal and openly attacked British policies while exploring the challenges facing common people. Espousing the ideals of Indian nationalism, Azad's publications were aimed at encouraging young Muslims into fighting for independence and Hindu-Muslim unity. His work helped improve the relationship between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal, which had been soured by the controversy surrounding the partition of Bengal and the issue of separate communal electorates.

With the onset of World War I, the British stiffened censorship and restrictions on political activity. Azad's Al-Hilal was consequently banned in 1914 under the Press Act. Azad started a new journal, the Al-Balagh, which increased its active support for nationalist causes and communal unity. In this period Azad also became active in his support for the Khilafat agitation to protect the position of the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey, who was the caliph for Muslims worldwide. The Sultan had sided against the British in the war and the continuity of his rule came under serious threat, causing distress amongst Muslim conservatives. Azad saw an opportunity to energise Indian Muslims and achieve major political and social reform through the struggle. With his popularity increasing across India, the government outlawed Azad's second publication under the Defence of India Regulations Act and arrested him. The governments of the Bombay Presidency, United Provinces, Punjab and Delhi prohibited his entry into the provinces and Azad was moved to a jail in Ranchi, where he was incarcerated until January 1, 1920.

Upon his release, Azad returned to a political atmosphere charged with sentiments of outrage and rebellion against British rule. The Indian public had been angered by the passage of the Rowlatt Acts in 1919, which severely restricted civil liberties and individual rights. Consequently, thousands of political activists had been arrested and many publications banned. The killing of unarmed civilians at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on April 13, 1919 had provoked intense outrage all over India, alienating most Indians, including long-time British supporters from the authorities. The Khilafat struggle had also peaked with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the raging Turkish War of Independence, which had made the caliphate's position precarious. India's main political party, the Indian National Congress came under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, who had aroused excitement all over India when he led the farmers of Champaran and Kheda in a successful revolt against British authorities in 1918. Gandhi organised the people of the region and pioneered the art of Satyagraha — combining mass civil disobedience with complete non-violence and self-reliance.

Taking charge of the Congress, Gandhi also reached out to support the Khilafat struggle, helping to bridge Hindu-Muslim political divides. Azad and the Ali brothers warmly welcomed Congress support and began working together on a programme of non-cooperation by asking all Indians to boycott British-run schools, colleges, courts, public services, the civil service, police and military. Non-violence and Hindu-Muslim unity were universally emphasized, while the boycott of foreign goods, especially clothes were organised. Azad joined the Congress and was also elected president of the All India Khilafat Committee. Although Azad and other leaders were soon arrested, the movement drew out millions of people in peaceful processions, strikes and protests.

This period marked a transformation in Azad's own life. Along with fellow Khilafat leaders Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan and others, Azad grew personally close to Gandhi and his philosophy. The three men founded the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi as an institution of higher education managed entirely by Indians without any British support or control. Both Azad and Gandhi shared a deep passion for religion and Azad developed a close friendship with him. He adopted Gandhi's ideas by living simply, rejecting material possessions and pleasures. He began to spin his own clothes using khadi on the charkha, and began frequently living and participating in the ashrams organised by Gandhi. Becoming deeply committed to ahimsa (non-violence) himself, Azad grew close to fellow nationalists like Jawaharlal Nehru, Chittaranjan Das and Subhash Chandra Bose. He strongly criticised the continuing suspicion of the Congress amongst the Muslim intellectuals from the Aligarh Muslim University and the Muslim League.

The rebellion began a sudden decline when with rising incidences of violence; a nationalist mob killed 22 policemen in Chauri Chaura in 1922. Fearing degeneration into violence, Gandhi asked Indians to suspend the revolt and embarked on a fast-unto-death to repent and encourage others to stop the rebellion. Although the movement stopped all over India, several Congress leaders and activists were disillusioned with Gandhi. The following year, the caliphate was overthrown by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Ali brothers grew distant and critical of Gandhi and the Congress. Azad's close friend Chittaranjan Das co-founded the Swaraj Party, breaking from Gandhi's leadership. Despite the circumstances, Azad remained firmly committed to Gandhi's ideals and leadership. In 1923, he became the youngest man to be elected Congress President. Azad led efforts to organise the Flag Satyagraha in Nagpur. Azad served as president of the 1924 Unity Conference in Delhi, using his position to work to re-unite the Swarajists and the Khilafat leaders under the common banner of the Congress. In the years following the movement, Azad travelled across India, working extensively to promote Gandhi's vision, education and social reform.

Azad had become an important national leader, and would serve on the Congress Working Committee and in the offices of general secretary and president many times. The political environment in India re-energised in 1928 with nationalist outrage against the Simon Commission appointed to propose constitutional reforms. The commission included no Indian members and did not even consult Indian leaders and experts. In response, the Congress and other political parties appointed a commission under Motilal Nehru to propose constitutional reforms from Indian opinions. In 1928, Azad endorsed the Nehru Report, which was criticised by the Ali brothers and Muslim League politician Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Azad endorsed the ending of separate electorates based on religion, and called for an independent India to be committed to secularism. At the 1928 Congress session in Guwahati, Azad endorsed Gandhi's call for dominion status for India within a year. If not granted, the Congress would adopt the goal of complete political independence for India. Despite his affinity for Gandhi, Azad also drew close to the young radical leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Bose, who had criticised the delay in demanding full independence. Azad developed a close friendship with Nehru and began espousing socialism as the means to fight inequality, poverty and other national challenges.

When Gandhi embarked on the Dandi Salt March that inaugurated the Salt Satyagraha in 1930, Azad organised and led the nationalist raid, albeit non-violent on the Dharasana salt works in order to protest the salt tax and restriction of its production and sale. The biggest nationalist upheaval in a decade, Azad was imprisoned along with millions of people, and would frequently be jailed from 1930 to 1934 for long periods of time. Following the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1934, Azad was amongst millions of political prisoners released. When elections were called under the Government of India Act 1935, Azad was appointed to organise the Congress election campaign, raising funds, selecting candidates and organising volunteers and rallies across India. Azad had criticised the Act for including a high proportion of un-elected members in the central legislature, and did not himself contest a seat. He again declined to contest elections in 1937, and helped head the party's efforts to organise elections and preserve coordination and unity amongst the Congress governments elected in different provinces.

At the 1936 Congress session in Lucknow, Azad was drawn into a dispute with right-wing Congressmen Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari regarding the espousal of socialism as the Congress goal. Azad had backed the election of Nehru as Congress President, and supported the resolution endorsing socialism. In doing so, he aligned with Congress socialists like Nehru, Subhash Bose and Jayaprakash Narayan. Azad also supported Nehru's re-election in 1937, at the consternation of many conservative Congressmen. Azad supported dialogue with Jinnah and the Muslim League between 1935 and 1937 over a Congress-League coalition and broader political cooperation. Less inclined to brand the League as obstructive, Azad nevertheless joined the Congress's vehement rejection of Jinnah's demand that the League be seen exclusively as the representative of Indian Muslims.

In 1938, Azad served as an intermediary between the supporters of Gandhi and the Congress faction led by Congress President Subhash Bose, who criticised Gandhi for not launching another rebellion against the British and sought to move the Congress away from Gandhi's leadership. Azad stood by Gandhi with most other Congress leaders, but reluctantly endorsed the Congress's exit from the assemblies in 1939 following the inclusion of India in World War II. Nationalists were infuriated that the viceroy had entered India into the war without consulting national leaders. Although willing to support the British effort in return for independence, Azad sided with Gandhi when the British ignored the Congress overtures. Azad's criticism of Jinnah and the League intensified as Jinnah called Congress rule in the provinces as "Hindu Raj," calling the resignation of the Congress ministries as a "Day of Deliverance" for Muslims. Jinnah and the League's separatist agenda was gaining popular support amongst Muslims. Muslim religious and conservative leaders criticised Azad as being too close to the Congress and placing politics before faith. As the Muslim League adopted a resolution calling for a separate Muslim state in its session in Lahore in 1940, Azad was elected Congress President in its session in Ramgarh. Speaking vehemently against Jinnah's Two-Nation Theory — the notion that Hindus and Muslims were distinct nations — Azad lambasted religious separatism and exhorted all Muslims to preserve a united India, as all Hindus and Muslims were Indians who shared deep bonds of brotherhood and nationhood. In his presidential address, Azad said:

"...Full eleven centuries have passed by since then. Islam has now as great a claim on the soil of India as Hinduism. If Hinduism has been the religion of the people here for several thousands of years Islam also has been their religion for a thousand years. Just as a Hindu can say with pride that he is an Indian and follows Hinduism, so also we can say with equal pride that we are Indians and follow Islam. I shall enlarge this orbit still further. The Indian Christian is equally entitled to say with pride that he is an Indian and is following a religion of India, namely Christianity."

In face of increasing popular disenchantment with the British across India, Gandhi and Patel advocated an all-out rebellion demanding immediate independence. The situation had grown precarious as the Japanese conquered Burma and approached India's borders, which left Indians insecure but resentful of the British inability to protect India. Azad was wary and skeptical of the idea, aware that India's Muslims were increasingly looking to Jinnah and had supported the war. Feeling that a struggle would not force a British exit, Azad and Nehru warned that such a campaign would divide India and make the war situation even more precarious. Intensive and emotional debates took place between Azad, Nehru, Gandhi and Patel in the Congress Working Committee's meetings in May and June 1942. In the end, Azad became convinced that decisive action in one form or another had to be taken, as the Congress had to provide leadership to India's people and would lose its standing if it did not.

Supporting the call for the British to "Quit India," Azad began exhorting thousands of people in rallies across the nation to prepare for a definitive, all-out struggle. As Congress President, Azad travelled across India and met with local and provincial Congress leaders and grass-roots activists, delivering speeches and planning the rebellion. Despite their previous differences, Azad worked closely with Patel and Dr. Rajendra Prasad to make the rebellion as effective as possible. On August 7, 1942 at the Gowalia Tank in Mumbai, Congress President Azad inaugurated the struggle with a vociferous speech exhorting Indians into action. Just two days later, the British arrested Azad and the entire Congress leadership. While Gandhi was incarcerated at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, Azad and the Congress Working Committee were imprisoned at a fort in Ahmednagar, where they would remain under isolation and intense security for nearly four years. Outside news and communication had been largely prohibited and completely censored. Although frustrated at their incarceration and isolation, Azad and his companions attested to feeling a deep satisfaction at having done their duty to their country and people.

Azad occupied the time playing bridge and acting as the referee in tennis matches played by his colleagues. In the afternoons, Azad began working on his classic Urdu work, the Ghubhar-i-Khatir. Sharing daily chores, Azad also taught the Persian and Urdu languages, as well as Indian and world history to several of his companions. The leaders would generally avoid talking of politics, unwilling to cause any arguments that could exacerbate the pain of their imprisonment. However, each year on January 26, the leaders would gather to remember their cause and pray together. Azad, Nehru and Patel would briefly speak about the nation and the future. Azad and Nehru proposed an initiative to forge an agreement with the British in 1943. Arguing that the rebellion had been mis-timed, Azad attempted to convince his colleagues that the Congress should agree to negotiate with the British and call for the suspension of disobedience if the British agreed to transfer power. Although his proposal was overwhelmingly rejected, Azad and a few others agreed that Gandhi and the Congress had not done enough. When they learnt of Gandhi holding talks with Jinnah in Mumbai in 1944, Azad criticised Gandhi's move as counter-productive and ill-advised.

Achievements

Azad is remembered as amongst the leading Indian nationalists of his time. His firm belief in Hindu-Muslim unity earned him the respect of the Hindu community and he still remains one of the most important symbols of communal harmony in modern India. His work for education and social upliftment in India made him an important influence in guiding India's economic and social development.

Maulana Azad is the namesake of many public institutions across India such as the Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology in Bhopal, the Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the Maulana Azad College in Kolkata. He is celebrated as the one of the founders and greatest patrons of the Jamia Millia Islamia. Azad's tomb is located next to the Jama Masjid in Delhi. In recent years great concern has been expressed by many in India over the poor maintenance of the tomb. On November 16, 2005 the Delhi High Court ordered that the tomb of Maulana Azad in New Delhi be renovated and restored as a major national monument. Azad's tomb is a major landmark and receives large numbers of visitors annually.

HASRAT MOHANI

Birth and Early Life

Maulana Hasrat Mohani (b. 1875 - d. 1951) was a romantic poet of Urdu language, journalist, politician, parliamentarian and a fearless freedom fighter of Indo-Pak Sub-continent . His real name was Syed Fazl ul Hasan. He was born in 1875 at Mohan in Unnao district of U.P. India.

He was a brilliant student as well as a topper in his first state level exams. Later, he studied in Aligarh Muslim University, where some of his colleagues were Molana Mohammad Ali Johar, Molana Shaukat Ali, etc. His teachers in poetry were Tasleem Lucknawi and Naseem Dehlvi. A few of his books are Kulliyat-e-Hasrat Mohani (Collection of Hasrat Mohani's poetry), Sharh-e-Kalam-e-Ghalib (Explanation of Ghalib's poetry), Nukaat-e-Sukhan (Important aspects of poetry, Mushahidaat-e-Zindaan(Observations in Prison], etc. A very popular ghazal sung by Ghulam Ali, Chupke Chupke raat din... was penned by Hasrat Mohani.

Career

Hasrat Mohani participated in the struggle for Indian Independence (end of British Raj); and was jailed for many years by British authorities. He was the first person in Indian History who demanded 'Complete Independence' (Azadi-e-Kaamil) in 1921 as he presided over an annual seesion of All India Muslim League. He was not only a practising Muslim but also a strong supporter of the communist philosophy, as he could see that British could be possibly defeated by following its principles. Therefore, he was among the founders of The Communist Party of India. He was also imprisoned for promoting anti-British ideas especially for publishing an article against British policies in Egypt, in his magazine 'Urdu-e-Mualla'. Afterwards, unlike some Urdu poets, notably Josh Malihabadi and Nasir Kazmi, and many Muslim leaders, he chose to live in India rather than move to Pakistan after independence (1947) in order to represent left over Indian Muslims on various platforms. In recognition for his efforts, he was made a member of the constituent assembly which drafted the Indian constitution. But unlike other members, he never signed it since he saw hypocrisy towards Muslim minorities in it (he was a Muslim himself). According to Akhtar Payami: Hasrat's poetic genius has been acclaimed by many writers and critics. In the not too distant past (beginning and the first half of the 20th century), Hasrat, Jigar and Asghar formed a constellation of emerging poets in a crucial period of India's history. Major political developments were taking place in the subcontinent and the sun was about to set on the British Empire. As conscious members of society, poets and writers do not remain indifferent to the changes in their socio-political milieu. Not only India but the whole world was in a state of flux.

Maulana died on 13th May, 1951 in Lucknow, India.

Achievements

Hasrat Mohani Memorial Society was founded by Maulana Nusrat Mohani in 1951. In Karachi, Pakistan, a Memorial Hall and Library have been established by Hasrat Mohani Memorial Society (Regd.) every year, on his death anniversary, a memorial meeting is conducted by this Trust as well as many other organisations in India and Pakistan. Also Hasrat Mohani Colony, at Korangi Town in Karachi, Pakistan, was named after Maulana Hasrat Mohani.

MAULANA MOHAMMAD ALI

Birth and Early Life

Maulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar (1878 – 4 January 1931), was an Indian Muslim journalist and poet, and was among the leading figures of the Khilafat Movement.

Muhammad Ali, who later became well-known as Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauha, was born in Rampur state in 1878 to a family of Rohilla sub tribe of yousafzai Pashtun ancestry. He was the brother of Maulana Shaukat Ali. Despite the early death of his father, the family strived and Ali attended the Aligarh Muslim University and Lincoln College, Oxford University in 1898, studying modern history.

Upon his return to India, he served as education director for the Rampur state, and later joined the Baroda civil service. He became a brilliant writer and orator, and wrote for major English and Indian newspapers, in both English and Urdu. He himself launched the Urdu weekly Hamdard and English Comrade in 1911. He moved to Delhi in 1913.

Mohammad Ali worked hard to expand the AMU, then known as the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, and was one of the co-founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920, which was later moved to Delhi.

Career

Mohammed Ali had attended the founding meeting of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906, and served as its president in 1918. He remained active in the League till 1928.

Ali represented the Muslim delegation that travelled to England in 1919 in order to convince the British government to influence the Turkish nationalist Mustafa Kemal not to depose the Sultan of Turkey, who was the Caliph of Islam. British rejection of their demands resulted in the formation of the Khilafat committee which directed Muslims all over India to protest and boycott the government.

Now accorded the respectful title of Maulana, Ali formed in 1921, a broad coalition with Muslim nationalists like Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari and Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi, who enlisted the support of the Indian National Congress and many thousands of Hindus, who joined the Muslims in a demonstration of unity. Ali also wholeheartedly supported Gandhi's call for a national civil resistance movement, and inspired many hundreds of protests and strikes all over India. He was arrested by British authorities and imprisoned for two years for what was termed as a seditious speech at the meeting of the Khilafat Conference. He was elected as President of Indian National Congress in 1923.

Maulana Mohammad Ali was however, disillusioned by the failure of the Khilafat movement and Gandhi's suspension of civil disobedience in 1922, owing to the Chauri Chaura incident.

He re-started his weekly Hamdard, and left the Congress Party. He opposed the Nehru Report, which was a document proposing constitutional reforms and a dominion status of an independent nation within the British Empire, written by a committee of Hindu and Muslim members of the Congress Party headed by President Motilal Nehru. It was a major protest against the Simon Commission which had arrived in India to propose reforms but containing no Indian nor making any effort to listen to Indian voices.

Mohammad Ali opposed the Nehru Report's rejection of separate electorates for Muslims, and supported the Fourteen Points of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the League. He became a critic of Gandhi, breaking with fellow Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, who continued to support Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. Mohammad Ali said: "Even the most degraded Muhammadan was better than Mahatma Gandhi."

Ali attended the Round Table Conference to show that only the Muslim League spoke for India's Muslims. He died soon after the conference in London, on January 4, 1931 and was buried in Jerusalem according to his own wish.

 Achievements

Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar is remembered as a fiery leader of many of India's Muslims. He is celebrated as a hero by the Muslims of Pakistan, who claim he inspired the Pakistan movement. But in India, he is remembered for his leadership during Khilafat Movement and the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919-1922) and his leadership in Muslim education.

The famous Muhammad Ali Road in south Bombay, India's largest city, is named after him. The Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighborhood of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and Mohammad Ali Co-operative Housing Society (M.A.C.H.S.) are named in honor of Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar. Johar Town, Lahore is also named after him.

Ali died at a time when the Pakistan movement had not been formed, and it is a matter of continuing debate if he would have ever supported the idea.

MUKHTAR AHMED ANSARI

Birth and Early Life

Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was born on December 25, 1880 in Yusufpur-Mohammdabad town, district of Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. Educated at the Victoria High School, Ansari and his family moved to Hyderabad. Ansari obtained a medical degree from the Madras Medical College and went to England on scholarship studies. He achieved the M.D. and M.S. degrees. He was a top-class student and worked at the Lock Hospital and the Charing Cross Hospital in London. He was an Indian pioneer in surgery, and today there is an Ansari Ward in the Charing Cross Hospital in honour of his work.

Career

Dr. Ansari became involved in the Indian Independence Movement during his stay in England. He moved back to Delhi and joined both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. He played an important role in the negotiation of the 1916 Lucknow Pact and served as the League's president in 1918 and 1920. He was an outspoken supporter of the Khilafat movement, and worked to bring the official Khilafat body, the League and the Congress Party together on the issue against the Mustafa Kemal's decision to oust the Sultan of Turkey, who was the Caliph of Islam, and to protest the recognition of Turkey's independence by the British Empire.

Achievements

Dr. Ansari served several terms as the AICC General Secretary, as well as the President of the Indian National Congress during its 1927 session. As a result of in-fighting and political divisions within the League in the 1920s, and later the rise of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Muslim separatism, Dr. Ansari drew closer to Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party.

Dr. Ansari was one of the founders and also served as the chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia university in Delhi soon after the death of its primary founder, Dr. Hakim Ajmal Khan.

Dr. Ansari died in 1936 en route from Mussoorie to Delhi on a train due to a heart attack, and is buried in the premises of the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi.

RAFI AHMED KIDWAI

Birth and Early Life

Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, (1894 - 24 October, 1954) was an Indian independence activist and a socialist, sometimes described as an Islamic socialist. He came from Barabanki District of United Provinces, now Uttar Pradesh, in north India.

After attending M.A.O. College in Aligarh, Kidwai entered politics through the Khilafat movement, and after the passage of Government of India Act 1935, he held an office for the Indian National Congress.

Career

In 1937, Kidwai became a minister for Revenue and Prisons in Govind Ballabh Pant's cabinet in United Provinces (UP) under the Provincial Autonomy Scheme. Under his stewardship, UP became the first province to curtail the zamindari system. In April 1946, he became the Home Minister of UP.

Kidwai was a major ally of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.

After the first general elections in 1952, Nehru entrusted Kidwai with the portfolio of Food and Agriculture at a time when there was food rationing in the country. Kidwai developed cardiac asthma, and died on October 24, 1954.

Achievements

After India gained independence from the British Raj in 1947, Kidwai became India's first Minister for Communications.

Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award

Since 1956 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award is given by ICAR once every two years to a scientist who has made outstanding research contributions in the field of agriculture, animal husbandry and allied sciences (i.e. fisheries, aquatic sciences, and public health microbiology). The award consists of a Gold medal, a citation, and a cash prize of 300,000 Indian rupees.

LEADERS

AYUB KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan, GCMG, MBE, HJ, NPk, (May 14, 1907 – April 19, 1974) was a Field Marshal during the mid-1960s, and the President of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969. He became Pakistan's first native Commander in Chief in 1951, and was the youngest full-rank general and self-appointed field marshal in Pakistan's military history. He was also the first Pakistani military general to seize power through a coup.

Ayub Khan was born in the village of Rehana in Haripur District to a Pashtun family of the Tareen tribe, the first child of the second wife of Mir Dad Khan, who was a Risaldar-Major (the senior most non-commissioned rank) in Hodson's Horse, a cavalry regiment of the Royal Indian Army. For his basic education, he was enrolled in a school in Sarai Saleh, which was about 4 miles from his village. He used to go to school on a mule's back. Later he was shifted to a school in Haripur, where he started living with his grandmother. He enrolled at Aligarh University in 1922, but he did not complete his studies.

Career

He was accepted into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He did well at Sandhurst, and was given an officer's post in the British Indian Army and then joined the 1st Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment (Sherdils), later known as 5th Punjab Regiment. During World War II he served as a captain and later as a major on the Burma front. Following the war, he joined the fledgling Pakistani Army as the 10th ranking senior officer (his Pakistan Army number was 10). He was promoted to Brigadier and commanded a brigade in Waziristan and then was sent initially with the local rank of Major General to East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) as General Officer Commanding a division that was responsible for the whole East Wing of Pakistan in 1948, for which non-combatant service he was awarded the Hilal-i-Jurat (HJ) and from where he returned in November 1949 as Adjutant General and then briefly was named Deputy Commander-in-Chief.

Ayub Khan was made Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army on January 17, 1951, succeeding General Sir Douglas Gracey, thus becoming the first native Pakistani general to hold that position. The events surrounding his appointment set the precedent for a Pakistani general being promoted out of turn, ostensibly because he was the least ambitious of the Generals and the most loyal.

He would later go on to serve in the second cabinet (1954) of Muhammad Ali Bogra as Defence Minister, and when Iskander Mirza declared martial law on October 7, 1958, Ayub Khan was made its chief martial law administrator. This would be the first of many instances in the history of Pakistan of the military becoming directly involved in politics.

As a result of his having control of the Pakistan Army, Ayub deposed Mirza on October 27 in a bloodless coup, sending Generals Azam, Burki and Sheikh in the middle of the night to pack Mirza off to exile in England. This was actually welcomed in Pakistan, since the nation had experienced a very unstable political climate since independence.

In 1960, he held an indirect referendum of his term in power, Functioning as a kind of electoral college, close to 80,000 recently elected village councilmen were allowed to vote yes or no to the question: "Have you confidence in the President, Field Marshal Mohammed Ayub Khan?" Winning 95.6% of the vote, he used the confirmation as impetus to formalise his new system.

Ayub moved to have a constitution created, and this was completed in 1961. A fairly secular person by nature, Ayub Khan's constitution reflected his personal views of politicians and the use of religion in politics.

Achievements

In 1962, he pushed through a new constitution that while it did give due respect to Islam, it did not declare Islam the state religion of the country. It also provided for election of the President by 80,000 (later raised to 120,000) basic democrats—men who could theoretically make their own choice but who were essentially under his control. The government "guided" the press and, while Ayub permitted a national assembly, it had only limited powers.

Ayub Khan introduced the Muslim Family Laws through an Ordinance on March 2, 1961 under which unmitigated polygamy was abolished, consent of the current wife was made mandatory for a second marriage, brakes were also placed on the practice of instant divorce where men pronounced it irrevocably by pronouncing talaq thrice in one go. The Arbitration Councils set up under the law in the urban and rural areas were to deal with cases of (a) grant of sanction to a person to contract a second marriage during the subsistence of a marriage; (b) reconciliation of a dispute between a husband and a wife; (c) grant maintenance to the wife and children.

He subsidized fertilizers and modernized agriculture through irrigation development, spurred industrial growth with liberal tax benefits. In the decade of his rule, gross national product rose by 45% and manufactured goods began to overtake such traditional exports as jute and cotton. It is alleged that his policies were tailored to reward the elite families and the feudal lords. During the fall of his dictatorship, just when the government was celebrating the so-called "Decade of Development", mass protests erupted due an increasingly greater divide between the rich and the poor.

He shunned prestige projects and stressed birth control in a country that has the fifth largest population in the world: 125 million. He dismissed criticism with the comment that if there was no family planning, the time would surely come when "Pakistanis eat Pakistanis." In foreign affairs, he retained his ties to the West and to the United States in particular, allowing the United States to use the Badaber airbase for U-2 flights over the then Soviet Union

FAKHRUDDIN ALI AHMED

Birth and Early Life

Born on May 13, 1905 at Hauz Qazi area of Old Delhi with a silver spoon in his mouth, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was one of those few Muslims who by virtue of his service to the country under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi reached the pinnacle of honour as the President of the Indian Republic, the fifth in the roll.

Shri Fakhruddin's grandfather, Shri Khaliluddin Ali Ahmed, of Kacharighat near Golaghat town in the Sibsagar district, Assam, married in one of the families who were the relics of Emperor Aurangzeb's bid to conquer Assam. Ali Ahmed's father Col. Zalnur Ali, of the Indian Medical Service, had to leave Assam while he was a bachelor doctor following an incident in Shillong. Col. Ali and one of his Assamese contemporaries, Col. Sibram Bora, were allotted seats at a function in the Shillong Club away from the European guests. The two Assamese Colonels boycotted the function in protest against the segregation meted out to them. This naturally enraged the European bosses who transferred Col. Zalnur Ali to distant North-West Province. This provided him with an opportunity to come in contact with the Nawab of Lohari in Delhi whose daughter he married. Here was born Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

Educated first in the Bonda Government High School in U.P., Fakhruddin matriculated from the Delhi Government High School then under the Punjab University. He was sent to England for higher education in 1923 in order to groom him for the I.C.S., though his mother was opposed to his son being sent abroad. He joined the Catherine College of Cambridge University and was called to the Bar from Inner Temple of London. He could not compete for the I.C.S. examination due to illness. On return to India he started legal practice in the Lahore High Court in 1928. In October that year, Col. Zalnur Ali, accompanied by his Barrister son, Fakhruddin, paid a visit to Gauhati ostensibly to look after his paternal property which included a few hundred acres of land in and around Gauhati. Obviously, the Ahmed family's link, snapped on the Colonel's posting in N.W.P. was thus re-established after several years. Two years later Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed revisited Gauhati and came in contact with the leaders of the Congress in Assam and in 1931 enrolled himself as its primary member. This was a turning event in the life of Ahmed.

Career

During his stay in England he met Jawaharlal Nehru in 1925 whose progressive ideas impressed him very much; in fact, Nehru became his mentor and friend from the thirties onwards. (Lord Bulter, one of the luminaries of the Tories was a classmate of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed). Once Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress he steadfastly adhered to it though his co-religionists in the Muslim League tried to persuade him to join the latter. As a Congressman, Ahmed Saheb actively participated in the freedom movement. To begin with, he offered individual satyagraha on 14 December, 1940 for which he was imprisoned for a year under Section 5 of the DIR. Again, in the 'Quit India Movement' he was arrested on 9 August, 1942 while he was returning after attending the historic session of the AICC meeting held at Bombay and detained as a security prisoner for three and a half years till April 1945. In the Congress organization he occupied several positions of responsibilities. He remained a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee since 1936 except for a small break. He retained the membership of the AICC from 1947 till 1974. He was elected to the Assam Assembly for the first time in 1935 and became the Minister of Finance, Revenue and Labour in the Congress Coalition Ministry formed by the late Gopinath Bardoloi on 19 September, 1938. In the first spell of his Ministerial office Ali Ahmed demonstrated his acumen and ability in administrative sphere. His initiative in introducing the Assam Agricultural Income Tax Bill, the first of its kind in India, that levied taxes on tea garden lands in the Province and his pro-labour policy in the labour strike in the British-owned Assam Oil Company Ltd. At Digboi irked the European planters and their henchmen who considered that the measures of the Congress Coalition Government were revolutionary and, therefore, constituted a danger signal to the interests of the British commercial community. But Ali Ahmed did not heed to such opposition and went ahead with the measures which brought him and the Bardoloi Ministry a good deal of popular applause. However, the Bardoloi Ministry had to resign on 16 November, 1939 on the war efforts issue, but that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an able administrator was established.

After Independence he was elected on Congress ticket to the Assam Assembly on two terms (1957-1962) and (1962-1967). Earlier, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha (1952-1953) and thereafter became Advocate-General of the Government of Assam. Though Ali Ahmed occupied a senior position in the Chaliha Ministry from 1957 he was asked by Jawaharlal Nehru to join his Cabinet at the Centre in January 1966. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Barpeta constituency in 1971. In the Central Cabinet he was given important portfolios relating to Food and Agriculture, Cooperation, Education, Industrial Development and Company Laws. His induction to the Central Cabinet was perhaps because of his close link with, and loyalty to the Nehru family and also for his acumen in administration.

In the Congress hierarchy Ali Ahmed enjoyed an enviable position being a member of the Congress Working Committee for several years. In the Great Split of the Congress (1969), Ali Ahmed remained with Indira Gandhi, may be his deep-rooted association with the Nehru family made him adhere to Indira Gandhi's leadership till his death. He was elected to the highest post of the land - the Presidentship of the Indian Republic on 29 August, 1974, but his tenure in the office was cut short (1977) by his sudden death due to a heart attack which he suffered on his return from a tour of the South-East Asian countries only a day before. In the wake of the Emergency Ali Ahmed became the target of criticism of his detractors. It was alleged that he put his signature as President to the order on promulgation of Emergency on 25 June, 1975 at the behest of the Prime Minister, though he assured at the time of his election to Presidentship that he would not be a yes-man of the Cabinet. Notwithstanding this criticism, Ali Ahmed's personality, integrity and ability in administration were never questioned.

Achievements

Suave and sober, Ali Ahmed seldom allowed anger and prejudices to get better of him, at the same time, he did not compromise with unprincipled issues. These traits of his character were apparently the key to his success in the public life and enabled him to acquire a respectable position in the society. Towards the end of his political career, he was, however, accused of being communal by certain quarters, but this accusation was hardly warranted. Mention of an incident in this connection would perhaps be relevant. In 1935, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan, Nazimuddin and a few starwarts of the Muslim League came to Assam to campaign against Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed who was pitted by the Congress against a Muslim League candidate in the Assembly poll, a common friend at the instance of Sir Mohammad Saadullah suggested that Fakhruddin Saheb should pay a courtesy call to the Muslim League leaders at Gauhati. Liaquat Ali, however, reacted to the suggestion somewhat tersely saying that he would not shake hands with a Kafir meaning Ali Ahmed. Thus, the suggestion was scotched. It is apparently difficult to believe that he could be communal with a long record of service to the country under the banner of the Congress. It is, nonetheless, a fact that he tried to bring to the Congress fold a number of Aligarh Muslim University educated youths of his community whose communal outlook was a public knowledge. If this had created an impression in certain quarters that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was communal, that was entirely a different matter. But his love for the country and faith in secularism were profound and therefore, were not in doubt in the least.

Though politics was Ali Ahmed's forte, his deep interest in sports and other extra-mural activities was well-known. Himself a tennis player and golfer, he was elected President of the Assam Football Association and the Assam Cricket Association for several terms; he was also the Vice-President of the Assam Sports Council. In April, 1967 he was elected President of the All India Cricket Association besides being a member of the Delhi Golf Club and the Delhi Gymkhana Club since 1961. His love for music and finer arts was no less; he was deeply interested in poetical works of Ghalib. His travels in the USSR, the USA, the UK, Japan, Malaysia and many Arab countries as a Minister and afterwards as the President of India widened his urbane outlook that endeared him to all sections of the people, irrespective of caste, creed and avocation. Elegantly dressed he was always courteous but firm in what he considered to be just and fair and presented himself as a Moghul, as it were, which quality he perhaps inherited from his maternal side.

At forty Ali Ahmed married Abida (21) of a respectable family of U.P. educated in Aligarh Muslim University. When negotiations for the wedding were under way Ahmed was undergoing a jail term in Jorhat as security prisoner. At a certain stage of the negotiations Abida's family wanted to know what the prospective bride groom was doing. The answer came from one of the relatives of the would-be bridegroom: Fil hal to jail men Hai (At present he is in jail). But Destiny so ordained that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Abida were happily married on 9 November, 1945. Begum Abida Saheba was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1981 from a U.P. constituency in a by-election.

Ali Ahmed passed away on 11 February, 1977 in the Rashtrapati Bhavan leaving behind wife, two sons and a daughter.

MUHAMMAD ZIA-UL-HAQ

Birth and Early Life

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (b. August 12, 1924–August 17, 1988) was the president and military ruler of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988. Appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976, General Zia-ul-Haq came to power after he overthrew ruling Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup d'état on July 5, 1977 and became the state's third ruler to impose martial law. The coup itself was largely bloodless; however, he later had Bhutto executed.

Career

Zia initially ruled for a year as CMLA (Chief Martial Law Administrator), and later assumed the post of President of Pakistan in September 1978. During his tenure, he advanced the Islamization of Pakistan and carried out economic reform. The economy benefited from the influx of money from the West to support the mujahedin fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. To shore up the increasingly tenuous control of the central government over the tribal provinces, he appointed martial law administrators as governors of Balochistan and the tribal areas with wide powers, including the abridgement of civil liberties.

Zia was killed along with several of his top generals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel in a mysterious aircraft crash near Bahawalpur (Punjab) on August 17, 1988, the circumstances of which remain unclear. His death with the American ambassador gave rise to many conspiracy theories.

Zia was born in Jalandhar, British India, in 1924 as the second child of an Arain, Muhammad Akbar, who worked in the GHQ in Delhi and Simla pre-partition. He married Shafiq Jahan and had five children. His two sons went into politics. He completed his initial education in Simla and then at St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

He was commissioned in the British Indian Army in a cavalry regiment in 1943 and served during World War II. After Pakistan gained its independence, Zia joined the newly formed Pakistani Army as a major. He trained in the United States in 1962–1964 at the US Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Zia was a tank commander. He was stationed in Jordan from 1967 to 1970, helping in the training of Jordanian soldiers, as well as leading the training mission into battle during the Black September in Jordan operations, a strategy that proved crucial to King Hussein's remaining in power. He was appointed as Corps Commander of Multan in 1975.

On 1 March 1976, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed Zia-ul-Haq Chief of Army Staff, ahead of a number of more senior officers, most likely because Zia was from the Arain tribe, Bhutto was from the Rajput Clan and is traditionally highly respected by lower tribes. At the time of his nominating the successor to the outgoing chief General Tikka Khan, the Lieutenant Generals in order of seniority were, Muhammad Sharif, Muhammad Akbar Khan, Aftab Ahmed Khan, Azmat Baksh Awan, Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram, Abdul Majeed Malik, Ghulam Jilani Khan, and Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. But, Bhutto chose the most junior, superseding seven more senior generals. However, the senior most at that time, Lieutenant General Mohammad Sharif, though promoted to General, was made the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, a constitutional post akin to President Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry.

Achievements

Formation of Majlis-e-Shoora

In the absence of a Parliament, General Zia decided to set up an alternative system. He introduced Majlis-e-Shoora in 1980. Most of the members of the Shoora were intellectuals, scholars, ulema, journalists, economists, "lotas" (technical meaning floor crossers, but common name for opportunist politicians in Pakistani political parlance) and professionals belonging to different fields of life. The Shoora was to act as a board of advisors to the President. All 284 members of the Shoora were to be nominated by the President.

 Referendum of 1984

General Zia eventually decided to hold elections in the country. But before handing over the power to the public representatives, he decided to secure his position as the head of state. A referendum was held in December 1984, and the option was to elect or reject the General as the future President. The question asked in the referendum was whether the people of Pakistan wanted Islamic Sharia law enforced in the country. According to the official result, more than 95% of the votes were cast in favour of Zia-ul-Haq, thus he was elected as President for the next five years. However, they were marred by allegations of widespread irregularities and technical violations of the laws and ethics of democratic elections.

As he was grappling with these problems, however, General Zia-ul-Haq died in a plane crash on August 17, 1988. After witnessing a tank parade in Bahawalpur, Zia had left the small town in Punjab province by C-130 Hercules aircraft. Shortly after a smooth take-off, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft. Witnesses who saw the plane in the air afterwards claim it was flying erratically. Directly afterwards, the aircraft nosedived and exploded on impact, killing General Zia and several other senior army generals, as well as American Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and General Herbert M. Wassom, the head of the U.S. Military aid mission to Pakistan. Zia had ruled Pakistan for 11 years with ironhands. Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the Senate Chairman announced Zia's death on radio and TV. The manner of his death has given rise to many conspiracy theories. Even involvement of Israelis was suggested by some.

MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH

Birth and Early Life

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (December 25, 1876 – September 11, 1948) was a Pakistani politician and leader of the All India Muslim League who founded Pakistan and served as its first Governor-General. He is officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum ("Father of the Nation"). His birthday is a national holiday in Pakistan.

Jinnah was born as Mahomedali Jinnahbhai in Wazir Mansion, Karachi, - then a province of the Bombay Presidency of British India. Although his earliest school records were to state that he was born on October 20, 1875, he himself later in life would give December 25, 1876 as his official date of birth. Jinnah was the eldest of seven children born to Mithibai and Jinnahbhai Poonja. His father, Jinnahbhai (1857–1901), was a prosperous Gujarati merchant who had moved to Sindh from Kathiawar, Gujarat shortly before Jinnah's birth. His grandfather was Poonja Meghji, a Bhatia from Paneli village in Gondal state in Kathiawar. The family had moved there from Sahiwal near Multan. Some sources speculated that the Jinnah's ancestors were Hindu Rajputs from Sahiwal, Punjab that converted to Islam.

The firstborn Jinnah was soon joined by six siblings, brothers Ahmad Ali, Bunde Ali, and Rahmat Ali, and sisters Maryam, Fatima and Shireen. Jinnah's family belonged to the Ismaili Khoja branch of Shi'a Islam, though Jinnah later converted to Twelver Shi'a Islam. Their mother tongue was Gujarati, however, in time they also came to speak Kutchi, Sindhi, Urdu and English.

The young Jinnah, a restless student, studied at several schools: at the Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam in Karachi; briefly at the Gokal Das Tej Primary School in Bombay; and finally at the Christian Missionary Society High School in Karachi, where, at age sixteen, he passed the matriculation examination of the University of Bombay.

The same year, 1892, Jinnah was offered an apprenticeship at the London office of Graham's Shipping and Trading Company, a business that had extensive dealings with Jinnahbhai Poonja's firm in Karachi. However, before he left for England, he married, at his mother's urging, a distant cousin, Emibai Jinnah|Emibai, who was two years his junior. The marriage was not to last long: a few months later, Emibai died. Later, during his sojourn in England, his mother too would pass away. In London, Jinnah soon left the apprenticeship to study law instead, by joining Lincoln's Inn. The welcome board of the Lincoln's Inn had the names of the world's all time top ten magistrates. This list was lead by the name of Muhammad, which was the sole reason of Jinnah's joining of Lincoln's Inn. He In three years, at age 19, he became the youngest Indian to be called to the bar in England. Around this time, Jinnah also became interested in politics. An admirer of the Indian political leaders Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, he worked, with other Indian students, on the former's successful campaign for a seat in the British Parliament. Although, by now, Jinnah had developed largely constitutionalist views on Indian self-government, he nevertheless condemned both the arrogance of British officials in India and the discrimination practised by them against Indians.

During the final period of his stay in England, Jinnah came under considerable pressure when his father's business was ruined. Settling in Bombay, he became a successful lawyer—gaining particular fame for his skilled handling of the "Caucus Case". Jinnah built a house in Malabar Hill, later known as Jinnah House. His reputation as a skilled lawyer prompted Indian leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak to hire him as defence counsel for his sedition trial in 1905. Jinnah argued that it was not sedition for an Indian to demand freedom and self-government in his own country, but Tilak received a rigorous term of imprisonment test.

Career

In 1896, Jinnah joined the Indian National Congress, which was the largest Indian political organisation. Like most of the Congress at the time, Jinnah did not favour outright independence, considering British influences on education, law, culture and industry as beneficial to India. Jinnah became a member on the sixty-member Imperial Legislative Council. The council had no real power or authority, and included a large number of un-elected pro-Raj loyalists and Europeans. Nevertheless, Jinnah was instrumental in the passing of the Child Marriages Restraint Act, the legitimization of the Muslim waqf (religious endowments) and was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, which helped establish the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun. During World War I, Jinnah joined other Indian moderates in supporting the British war effort, hoping that Indians would be rewarded with political freedoms.

The Hindu centric policies of Mahatama Gandhi forced Jinnah to leave Congress. Jinnah had initially avoided joining the All India Muslim League, founded in 1906, regarding it as too Muslim oriented. Eventually, he joined the league in 1913 and became the president at the 1916 session in Lucknow. Jinnah was the architect of the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the League, bringing them together on most issues regarding self-government and presenting a united front to the British. Jinnah also played an important role in the founding of the All India Home Rule League in 1916. Along with political leaders Annie Besant and Tilak, Jinnah demanded "home rule" for India—the status of a self-governing dominion in the Empire similar to Canada, New Zealand and Australia. He headed the League's Bombay Presidency chapter. In 1918, Jinnah married his second wife Rattanbai Petit ("Ruttie"), twenty-four years his junior. She was the fashionable young daughter of his personal friend Sir Dinshaw Petit, of an elite Parsi family of Bombay. Unexpectedly there was great opposition to the marriage from Rattanbai's family and Parsi society, as well as orthodox Muslim leaders. Rattanbai defied her family and nominally converted to Islam, adopting (though never using) the name Maryam Jinnah -resulting in a permanent estrangement from her family and Parsi society. The couple resided in Bombay, and frequently travelled across India and Europe. In 1919 she bore Jinnah his only child, daughter Dina Jinnah.

Jinnah's problems with the Congress began with the ascent of Mohandas Gandhi in 1918, who espoused non-violent civil disobedience and Hindu values as the best means to obtain Swaraj (independence, or self-rule) for all South Asians. Jinnah differed, saying that only constitutional struggle could lead to independence. Unlike most Congress leaders, Gandhi did not wear western-style clothes, did his best to use an Indian language instead of English, and was deeply (Hindu) religious. Gandhi's Hindu style of leadership gained great popularity with the Indian people. Jinnah criticised Gandhi's support of the Khilafat Movement, which he saw as an endorsement of religious zealotry. By 1920, Jinnah resigned from the Congress, with prophetic warning that Gandhi's method of mass struggle would lead to divisions between Hindus and Muslims and within the two communities. Becoming president of the Muslim League, Jinnah was drawn into a conflict between a pro-Congress faction and a pro-British faction. In 1927, Jinnah entered negotiations with Muslim and Hindu leaders on the issue of a future constitution, during the struggle against the all-British Simon Commission. The League wanted separate electorates while the Nehru Report favoured joint electorates. Jinnah personally opposed separate electorates, but then drafted compromises and put forth demands that he thought would satisfy both. These became known as the 14 points of Mr. Jinnah. However, they were rejected by the Congress and other political parties.

Jinnah's personal life and especially his marriage suffered during this period due to his political work. Although they worked to save their marriage by travelling together to Europe when he was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, the couple separated in 1927. Jinnah was deeply saddened when Rattanbai died in 1929, after a serious illness.

At the Round Table Conferences in London, Jinnah was disillusioned by the breakdown of talks. Frustrated with the disunity of the Muslim League, he decided to quit politics and practice law in England.

Jinnah would receive personal care and support through his later life from his sister Fatima Jinnah, who lived and travelled with him and also became a close advisor. She helped raise his daughter, who was educated in England and India. Jinnah later became estranged from his daughter, Dina Jinnah, after she decided to marry Parsi-born Christian businessman, Neville Wadia (even though he had faced the same issues when he married Rattanbai in 1918). Jinnah continued to correspond cordially with his daughter, but their personal relationship was strained. Dina continued to live in India with her family.

Achievements

Leader of the Muslim League

Prominent Muslim leaders like the Aga Khan, Choudhary Rahmat Ali and Sir Muhammad Iqbal made efforts to convince Jinnah to return to India and take charge of a now-reunited Muslim League. In 1934 Jinnah returned and began to re-organise the party, being closely assisted by Liaquat Ali Khan, who would act as his right-hand man. In the 1937 elections, the League emerged as a competent party, capturing a significant number of seats under the Muslim electorate, but lost in the Muslim-majority Punjab, Sindh and the Northwest Frontier Province. Jinnah offered an alliance with the Congress - both bodies would face the British together, but the Congress had to share power, accept separate electorates and the League as the representative of India's Muslims. The latter two terms were unacceptable to the Congress, which had its own national Muslim leaders and membership and adhered to secularism. Even as Jinnah held talks with Congress president Rajendra Prasad, Congress leaders suspected that Jinnah would use his position as a lever for exaggerated demands and obstruct government, and demanded that the League merge with the Congress. The talks failed, and while Jinnah declared the resignation of all Congressmen from provincial and central offices in 1938 as a "Day of Deliverance" from Hindu domination, some historians assert that he remained hopeful for an agreement.

In a speech to the League in 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal mooted an independent state for Muslims in "northwest India." Choudhary Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in 1933 advocating a state called "Pakistan". Following the failure to work with the Congress, Jinnah, who had embraced separate electorates and the exclusive right of the League to represent Muslims, was converted to the idea that Muslims needed a separate state to protect their rights. Jinnah came to believe that Muslims and Hindus were distinct nations, with unbridgeable differences—a view later known as the Two Nation Theory. Jinnah declared that a united India would lead to the marginalization of Muslims, and eventually civil war between Hindus and Muslims. This change of view may have occurred through his correspondence with Iqbal, who was close to Jinnah. In the session in Lahore in 1940, the Pakistan resolution was adopted as the main goal of the party. The resolution was rejected outright by the Congress, and criticised by many Muslim leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Syed Ab'ul Ala Maududi and the Jamaat-e-Islami. On July 26, 1943, Jinnah was stabbed and wounded by a member of the extremist Khaksars in an attempted assassination.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah founded Dawn in 1941, a major newspaper that helped him propagate the League's point of views. During the mission of British minister Stafford Cripps, Jinnah demanded parity between the number of Congress and League ministers, the League's exclusive right to appoint Muslims and a right for Muslim-majority provinces to secede, leading to the breakdown of talks. Jinnah supported the British effort in World War II, and opposed the Quit India movement. During this period, the League formed provincial governments and entered the central government. The League's influence increased in the Punjab after the death of Unionist leader Sikander Hyat Khan in 1942. Gandhi held talks fourteen times with Jinnah in Bombay in 1944, about a united front—while talks failed, Gandhi's overtures to Jinnah increased the latter's standing with Muslims.

Founding Pakistan

In the 1946 elections for the Constituent Assembly of India, the Congress won most of the elected seats and Hindu electorate seats, while the League won a large majority of Muslim electorate seats. The 1946 British Cabinet Mission to India released a plan on May 16, calling for a united Indian state comprising considerably autonomous provinces, and called for "groups" of provinces formed on the basis of religion. A second plan released on June 16, called for the separation of South Asia along religious lines, with princely states to choose between accession to the dominion of their choice or independence. The Congress, fearing India's fragmentation, criticised the May 16 proposal and rejected the June 16 plan. Jinnah gave the League's assent to both plans, knowing that power would go only to the party that had supported a plan. After much debate and against Gandhi's advice that both plans were divisive, the Congress accepted the May 16 plan while condemning the grouping principle. Jinnah decried this acceptance as "dishonesty", accused the British negotiators of "treachery", and withdrew the League's approval of both plans. The League boycotted the assembly, leaving the Congress in charge of the government but denying it legitimacy in the eyes of many Muslims.

Jinnah issued a call for all Muslims to launch "Direct Action" on August 16 to "achieve Pakistan". Strikes and protests were planned, but violence broke out all over South Asia, especially in Calcutta and the district of Noakhali in Bengal, and more than 7,000 people were killed in Bihar. Although Viceroy Lord Wavell asserted that there was "no satisfactory evidence to that effect", League politicians were blamed by the Congress and the media for orchestrating the violence. Interim Government portfolios were announced on October 25, 1946. Muslim Leaguers were sworn in on October 26, 1946. The League entered the interim government, but Jinnah refrained from accepting office for himself. This was credited as a major victory for Jinnah, as the League entered government having rejected both plans, and was allowed to appoint an equal number of ministers despite being the minority party. The coalition was unable to work, resulting in a rising feeling within the Congress that independence of Pakistan was the only way of avoiding political chaos and possible civil war. The Congress agreed to the division of Punjab and Bengal along religious lines in late 1946. The new viceroy Lord Mountbatten and Indian civil servant V. P. Menon proposed a plan that would create a Muslim dominion in West Punjab, East Bengal, Baluchistan and Sindh. After heated and emotional debate, the Congress approved the plan. The North-West Frontier Province voted to join Pakistan in a referendum in July 1947. Jinnah asserted in a speech in Lahore on October 30, 1947 that the League had accepted independence of Pakistan because "the consequences of any other alternative would have been too disastrous to imagine."

Governor-General

Jinnah became the first Governor-General of Pakistan and president of its constituent assembly. Inaugurating the assembly on August 11, 1947, Jinnah spoke of an inclusive and pluralist democracy promising equal rights for all citizens regardless of religion, caste or creed. This address is a cause of much debate in Pakistan as, on its basis, many claim that Jinnah wanted a secular state while supporters of Islamic Pakistan assert that this speech is being taken out of context when compared to other speeches by him.

Through the 1940s, Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition. In 1948, Jinnah's health began to falter, hindered further by the heavy workload that had fallen upon him following Pakistan's independence from British Rule. Attempting to recuperate, he spent many months at his official retreat in Ziarat, but died on September 11, 1948 (just over a year after independence) from a combination of tuberculosis and lung cancer. His funeral was followed by the construction of a massive mausoleum—Mazar-e-Quaid—in Karachi to honour him; official and military ceremonies are hosted there on special occasions.

SHEIKH ABDULLAH

Birth and Early Life

Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, known as Sher-e-Kashmir (the Lion of Kashmir) (Dec 5, 1905, Soura, Kashmir – Sept 8 1982, Srinagar), was the leader of the National Conference, Kashmir's largest political party, and one of the most important political figures in the modern history of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1933 he married Akbar Jahan, the daughter of Michael Harry Nedou, the eldest son of the European proprietor of a chain of hotels in India including Nedous Hotel in Srinagar, and his Kashmiri wife Mirjan. Michael Harry Nedou was himself the proprietor of a hotel at the tourist resort of Gulmarg (The writer Tariq Ali claims that Akbar Jehan was previously married in 1928 to an Arab Karam Shah who disappeared after a Calcutta newspaper Liberty reported that he was actually T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) a British Intelligence officer. He claims that Akbar Jehan was divorced by her first husband in 1929.) He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh, and urged self-rule for Kashmir. He was the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State soon after its controversial provisional accession to India in 1947, and was later jailed and exiled. He again became the Chief Minister of the State following the 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord and remained in the top slot till his death on Sept 8 1982.

His mother was keen that her children should receive proper education and so as a child he was first admitted to a traditional school or Maktab where he learnt the recitation of the Koran and some basic Persian texts like Gulistan, Bostan, Pandnama, etc.Then in 1911 he was admitted to a primary school where he studied for about two years.His elder step brothers then stopped his further education and he was first set to work in the family workshop embroidering shawls and later asked to sit on a grocers shop as a sales boy. However their family barber Mohammed Ramzan prevailed upon his uncle to send him back to school. He had to walk the distance of ten miles to school and back on foot but in his own words the joy of being allowed to obtain a school education made it seem a light work.

He passed his Matriculation examination from Punjab University in 1922.

After Matriculation he obtained admission in Sri Partap College the leading college of Kashmir.Because of extreme poverty he had to walk the distance of about fifteen miles from Soura to S.P.College and back and so developed Cardiomegaly (perhaps an early sign of beriberi brought about by malnutrition and severe exercise).He was admitted to the Mission Hospital where under the treatment of the famous Neve brothers he recovered completely.His elder brother Sheikh Maqbool was moved by his illness and agreed to pay for his stay in the college hostel from where he passed his intermediate (F.Sc.) examination.

At that time the Dogra rulers discriminated against Kashmiri Muslim students and so his application for nomination for getting trained in medicine was summarily rejected as of the twenty two students who were awarded a nomination twenty one were Hindus.The Principal of Prince of Wales College Jammu also behaved rudely with him and rejected his application for admission to the B.Sc.degree course as he spoke of the right to education of persons belonging to the Muslim community. Finally he managed to obtain admission in Islamiya College Lahore from where he completed his B.Sc.Degree. After completing his graduation he again applied to the State Government for a scholarship for pursuing higher studies but was not successful. So marshalling his own resources he obtained admission to the M.Sc. Chemistry course in Aligarh Muslim University and obtained Masters degree in Chemistry on 12th April 1930. He was the first Kashmiri Muslim to have obtained Masters degree in Chemistry and so full of hope he again applied to the State Government for grant of scholarship for pursuing Doctoral course in Chemistry in England.His application was rejected on the flimsy ground that he was more than 24 years of age in April 1930.

According to Sheikh Abdullah "these early experiences convinced him that Kashmiri Muslims had as little hope of obtaining justice from the feudal Dogra ruler as of obtaining milk by squeezing a stone.

 Career

As a student at Aligarh Muslim University he came in contact with and was influenced by persons with liberal and progressive ideas. He became convinced that the feudal system was responsible for the miseries of the Kashmiris and like all progressive nations of the world Kashmir too should have a democratically elected government.

 Muslim Conference formed

Sheikh Abdullah and his colleagues were greatly influenced by the lectures of a Kashmiri polymath and lawyer Molvi Abdullah. Molvi Abdullah's son Molvi Abdul Rahim, Sheikh Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Gilkar were the first three educated Kashmiri youth to be arrested during the public agitation of 1931.

Kashmirs first Political Party the Muslim Conference with Sheikh Abdullah as President.Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas as General Secretary and Molvi Abdul Rahim as Secretary was formed on 16th of October 1932.In his presidentialaddress Sheikh Abdullah categorically stated that the Muslim Conference had come into existence to struggle for the rights of all opressed sections of the society and not Muslims alone.It was not a communal party and would struggle for the rights of the oppressed, whether Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh, with the same fervor. He reasserted that the struggle of Kashmiris was not a communal struggle.

In March 1933 the Muslim Conference constituted a committee which included Molvi Abdullah and nine other members for the purpose of establishing contacts with non Muslim parties and exploring the possibility of forming a joint organisation.According to Sheikh Abdullah this effort was not successful because of the unfavourable reception of the idea by the non Muslim parties.

 Formation of Praja Sabha (Legislative Assembly)

As a result of the 1931 agitation the Maharajah appointed a Greviances Commission with an Englishman B.J.Glancy as President which submitted its report in March 1932..Subsequently a Constitutional Reforms Conference also presided over by B.J.Glancy recommended the setting up of an elected Legislative Assembly (Praja Sabha).Consequently a Praja Sabha with 33 elected and 42 nominated members elected on the basis of separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims was established in 1934). Women and Illiterate men without sufficient property, or title, or annual income of less than Rupees four hundred did not have the right to vote. Roughly less than 10% (According to Justice Anand only 3%) of the population were enfranchised.(It would be wise for those who accuse Sheikh Abdullah’s Government of rigging elections to the Constituent Assembly in 1951 to consider these figures and understand the quantum jump in moving from elections with 10% of enfranchised population to universal adult suffrage and that too just after a cease fire from an active war. In comparison it took India nearly 50 years to attain reasonable electoral standards and Pakistan has remained under Martial Law and without proper elections for most of its past history.).

Even after the formation of Praja Sabha in 1934 as recommended by the Commission real power continued to remain in the hands of the Maharajah ..

 Meeting with Nehru

Sheikh Abdullah was introduced to Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937 and as he too as a leader of the Indian National Congress was demanding similar rights for people of British Indiaand had formed The All India States Peoples Conferencefor supporting the people of Princely States in their struggle for a representative government the two became friends and political allies.

 Muslim Conference renamed as National Conference

He introduced a resolution in the working committee of the Muslim Conference for changing its name to National Conference on 24 June 1938 to allow people from all communities to join the struggle against the autocratic rule of the Maharaja.Meanwhile he along with his liberal progressive friends, many of whom were non muslims like Kashyap Bandhu,Jia Lal Kilam,Prem Nath Bazaz and Sardar Budh Singh drafted the National Demands the forerunner of the famous Naya Kashmir (New Kashmir) Manifesto (which was a charter of demands for granting a democratic constitution committed to the welfare of the common people of Kashmir)

He presented these demand to the Maharajah in a speech on 28 August 1938.The Maharajah of course was not willing to accept these demands and so he along with many of his companions was arrested for defying prohibitory orders and sentenced to six months imprisonment and a fine.His arrest provoked a public agitation in which volunteers called Dictators(so called because they had the authority to defy laws that was forbidden for normal law abiding party members) courted arrest.This agitation was called off on the appeal of Mahatama Gandhi.He was released after serving his sentence on 24th of February 1939 and accorded a grand reception by the people of Srinagar on his return.Speeches were made at the reception stressing the importance of unity among Hindus,Muslims and Sikhs..Subsequently the resolution for changing the name of Muslim Conference to National Conference was ratified with an overwhelming majority by the General Council of the Muslim Conference on 11 June 1939 and from that date Muslim Conference became National Conference.

 Quit Kashmir Agitation

In May 1946 Sheikh Abdullah launched the Quit Kashmir agitation against the Maharajah and was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment but was released only sixteen months later on 29th September 1947

Head of emergency administration

Hari Singh appealed to Lord Mountbatten the Governor-General of India for Indian military aid.In his Accession Offer dated October 26, 1947 which accompanied The Instrument of Accession duly signed by him, the Maharaja wrote "I may also inform your Excellency's Government that it is my intention at once to set up an interim Government and ask Shaikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities in this emergency with my Prime Minister."

Lord Mountbatten accepted the accession after a meeting of the Defence Committee on October 26, 1947. In his Aide Memoire dated 25 February 1948 to the Indian delegation to the UN Security Council Lord Mountbatten wrote that, "Agreement was reached at this meeting that the accession should be accepted only subject to the proviso that a plebiscite should be held in Kashmir when the law and order situation allowed this and that a responsible government should be immediately established".

In his letter of acceptance of the Offer of Accession to the Maharaja Lord Mountbatten wrote "...My Government and I note with satisfaction that your Highness has decided to invite Sheikh Abdullah to form an Interim Government to work with your Prime Minister."The support of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru the Prime Minister of India was a key factor in getting Sheikh Abdullah appointed as Head of the emergency administration by the Maharaja.

As a consequence Sheikh Abdullah was appointed head of an emergency administration by an order issued by the Maharaja which was undated except for the mention October 1947 in place of the date.He took charge as Head of the Emergency Administration on 30 October 1947. After assuming the charge of the Head of the emergency administration he addressing his first meeting with the government officers said "Pakistan is not our enemy and we have the same respect for Mr Jinnah that we had previously. We want the Kashmir issue to be settled by Dialog and if for this purpose I have to go to Karachi to meet Mr Jinnah I am willing to go there".

He raised a force of local Kashmiri volunteers to patrol Srinagar and take control of administration after the flight of the Maharaja along with his family and Prime Minister Meher Chand Mahajan to Jammu even before the Indian troops had landed This group of volunteers would serve as the nucleus for the subsequent formation of Jammu and Kashmir Militia. This Sheikh Abdullah hoped would take over the defence of Kashmir after the Indian army was withdrawn.This was articulated in his letter to Sardar Patel dated 7 October 1948 in which he wrote, "With the taking over of the State forces by the Indian Government, it was agreed that steps would be taken to reorganise and rebuild our army so that when the present emergency is over and the Indian forces are withdrawn the State will be left with a proper organised army of its own to fall back upon."

The U. N.Security Council brokered a ceasefire among the warring parties (which came into effect before midnight 1st January 1949) having passed a resolution demanding settlement of the question of Kashmir's accession to India or Pakistan by a plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the United Nations (Resolution 47 dated 21 April 1948 and UNCIP resolution dated 13^th August 1948).

Prime Minister

Sheikh Abdullah took oath as Prime Minister of Kashmir on March 17, 1948. It was a saga that was like a Hollywood film. A poor orphan boy, set to work by his stepbrothers embroidering shawls and selling groceries, allowed to go to school only on the pleading of a kind hearted barber, nearly dying of malnutrition and overexertion, getting his applications for grant of scholarships rejected time and again by a heartless aristocracy which heeded only those who had the backing of the rich and the powerful, had been appointed to an office to which only the most powerful landlords of the Maharajah or the highest ranking mandarins of the British administration would dare to aspire Fate in one of its more munificent moods had once again replayed the drama of poor Dick Whittington.

 The government of Pakistan in 1947 viewed Abdullah and his party as agents of Nehru and did not recognise his leadership of Kashmir. . However there was a change in Pakistans viewpoint with the passage of time.When he visited Pakistan in 1964 he was awarded a tumultuous welcome by the people of Pakistan.Among the persons who received him was Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas his once colleague and later bitter political enemy who earlier in his book "Kashmakash" had denounced Sheikh Abdullah as a turncoat and traitor. Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas embraced him and in his speech described him as one of the greatest leaders of the subcontinent and a great benefactor of the Muslims of the subcontinent.,President Ayub Khan and his then Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto discussed the Kashmir problem with him.The government of Pakistan treated him as a state guest. Sheikh Abdullah had the rare distinction of having poems in his praise written by three major Pakistani Urdu poets namely Hafeez Jullundhri, Josh and Faiz Ahmed Faiz who admired his lifelong struggle against injustice and for democratic rights of the common man.

 Chief Minister

He assumed the position of Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately the Central Government and the ruling Congress Party withdrew its support so that the State Assembly had to be dissolved and mid term elections called.

The National Conference won an overwhelming majority in the subsequent elections and reelected Sheikh Abdullah as Chief Minister.He remained as Chief Minister till his death in 1982. During his brief tenure as Chief Minister he tried to develop close ties between the three regions of the State namely Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. He also attempted to promote infrastructural development in the State and built the prestigious Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and a Convention Centre (SKICC) built to international standards so as to promote Medical and Business tourism in the valley.

SYED AHMED KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur, GCSI (also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) (October 17, 1817 – March 27, 1898), commonly known as Sir Syed, was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and modernist. Sir Syed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in India by founding the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the Aligarh Muslim University. His work gave rise to a new generation of Muslim intellectuals and politicians who composed the Aligarh movement to secure the political future of Muslims in India.

Born into Mughal nobility, Sir Syed earned a reputation as a distinguished scholar while working as a jurist for the British East India Company. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 he remained loyal to the British and was noted for his actions in saving European lives. After the rebellion he penned the booklet Asbab-e-Bhaghawath-e-Hind (The Causes of the Indian Mutiny) — a daring critique, at the time, of British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt. Believing that the future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity of their orthodox outlook, Sir Syed began promoting Western-style scientific education by founding modern schools and journals and organising Muslim intellectuals. Towards this goal, Sir Syed founded the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 with the aim of promoting social and economic development of Indian Muslims.

One of the most influential Muslim politicians of his time, Sir Syed was suspicious of the Indian independence movement and called upon Muslims to loyally serve the British Raj. He denounced nationalist organisations such as the Indian National Congress, instead forming organisations to promote Muslim unity and pro-British attitudes and activities. Sir Syed promoted the adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca of all Indian Muslims, and mentored a rising generation of Muslim politicians and intellectuals. Although hailed as a great Muslim leader and social reformer, Sir Syed remains the subject of controversy for his views on Hindu-Muslim issues.

Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur was born in Delhi, then the capital of the Mughal Empire. His family is said to have migrated from Herat (now in Afghanistan) in the time of emperor Akbar, although by other accounts his family descended from Arabia. Many generations of his family had since been highly connected with the Mughal administration. His maternal grandfather Khwaja Fariduddin served as wazir in the court of Akbar Shah II. His paternal grandfather Syed Hadi held a mansab, a high-ranking administrative position and honorary name of Jawwad Ali Khan in the court of Alamgir II. Sir Syed's father Mir Muhammad Muttaqi was personally close to Akbar Shah II and served as his personal adviser. However, Sir Syed was born at a time when rebellious governors, regional insurrections and the British colonialism had diminished the extent and power of the Mughal state, reducing its monarch to a figurehead status. With his elder brother Syed Muhammad Khan, Sir Syed was raised in a large house in a wealthy area of the city. They were raised in strict accordance with Mughal noble traditions and exposed to politics. Their mother Azis-un-Nisa played a formative role in Sir Syed's life, raising him with rigid discipline with a strong emphasis on education. Sir Syed was taught to read and understand the Qur'an by a female tutor, which was unusual at the time. He received an education traditional to Muslim nobility in Delhi.Under the charge of Maulvi Hamiduddin, Sir Syed was trained in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and religious subjects. He read the works of Muslim scholars and writers such as Sahbai, Rumi and Ghalib. Other tutors instructed him in mathematics, astronomy and Islamic jurisprudence. Sir Syed was also adept at swimming, wrestling and other sports. He took an active part in the Mughal court's cultural activities. His elder brother founded the city's first printing press in the Urdu language along with the journal Sayyad-ul-Akbar. Sir Syed pursued the study of medicine for several years, but did not complete the prescribed course of study.Until the death of his father in 1838, Sir Syed had lived a life customary for an affluent young Muslim noble. Upon his father's death, he inherited the titles of his grandfather and father and was awarded the title of Arif Jung by the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. Financial difficulties put an end to Sir Syed's formal education, although he continued to study in private, using books on a variety of subjects.

Career

Sir Syed assumed editorship of his brother's journal and rejected offers of employment from the Mughal court. Having recognised the steady decline in Mughal political power, Sir Syed entered the British East India Company's civil service. He was appointed serestadar at the courts of law in Agra, responsible for record-keeping and managing court affairs. In 1840, he was promoted to the title of munshi.

While continuing to work as a jurist, Sir Syed began focusing on writing on various subjects, mainly in Urdu. His career as an author began when he published a series of treatises in Urdu on religious subjects in 1842. He published the book Athar Assanadid (Great Monuments) documenting antiquities of Delhi dating from the medieval era. This work earned him the reputation of a cultured scholar. In 1842, he completed the Jila-ul-Qulub bi Zikr il Mahbub and the Tuhfa-i-Hasan, along with the Tahsil fi jar-i-Saqil in 1844. These works focused on religious and cultural subjects. In 1852, he published the two works Namiqa dar bayan masala tasawwur-i-Shaikh and Silsilat ul-Mulk. He released the second edition of Athar Assanadid in 1854. He also penned a commentary on the Bible — the first by a Muslim — in which he argued that Islam was the closest religion to Christianity, with a common lineage from Abrahamic religions.

Acquainted with high-ranking British officials, Sir Syed obtained close knowledge about British colonial politics during his service at the courts. At the outbreak of the Indian rebellion, on May 10, 1857, Sir Syed was serving as the chief assessment officer at the court in Bijnor. Northern India became the scene of the most intense fighting. The conflict had left large numbers of civilians dead. Erstwhile centres of Muslim power such as Delhi, Agra, Lucknow and Kanpur were severely affected. Sir Syed was personally affected by the violence and the ending of the Mughal dynasty amongst many other long-standing kingdoms. Sir Syed and many other Muslims took this as a defeat of Muslim society. He lost several close relatives who died in the violence. Although he succeeded in rescuing his mother from the turmoil, she died in Meerut, owing to the privations she had experienced.

In 1858, he was appointed to a high-ranking post at the court in Muradabad, where he began working on his most famous literary work. Publishing the booklet Asbab-e-Bhaghawath-e-Hind in 1859, Sir Syed studied the causes of the revolt^{[citation needed]}. In this, his most famous work, he rejected the common notion that the conspiracy was planned by Muslim élites, who were insecure at the diminishing influence of Muslim monarchs. Sir Syed blamed the British East India Company for its aggressive expansion as well as the ignorance of British politicians regarding Indian culture. However, he gained respect for British power, which he felt would dominate India for a long period of time. Seeking to rehabilitate Muslim political influence, Sir Syed advised the British to appoint Muslims to assist in administration. His other writings such as Loyal Muhammadans of India, Tabyin-ul-Kalam and A Series of Essays on the Life of Muhammad and Subjects Subsidiary Therein helped to create cordial relations between the British authorities and the Muslim community.

Muslim reformer

Through the 1850s, Syed Ahmed Khan began developing a strong passion for education. While pursuing studies of different subjects including European jurisprudence, Sir Syed began to realise the advantages of Western-style education, which was being offered at newly-established colleges across India. Despite being a devout Muslim, Sir Syed criticised the influence of traditional dogma and religious orthodoxy, which had made most Indian Muslims suspicious of British influences. Sir Syed began feeling increasingly concerned for the future of Muslim communities. A scion of Mughal nobility, Sir Syed had been reared in the finest traditions of Muslim élite culture and was aware of the steady decline of Muslim political power across India. The animosity between the British and Muslims before and after the rebellion (Independence War) of 1857 threatened to marginalise Muslim communities across India for many generations. Sir Syed intensified his work to promote co-operation with British authorities, promoting loyalty to the Empire amongst Indian Muslims. Committed to working for the upliftment of Muslims, Sir Syed founded a modern madrassa in Muradabad in 1859; this was one of the first religious schools to impart scientific education. Sir Syed also worked on social causes, helping to organise relief for the famine-struck people of the Northwest Frontier Province in 1860. He established another modern school in Ghazipur in 1863.

Upon his transfer to Aligarh in 1864, Sir Syed began working wholeheartedly as an educator. He founded the Scientific Society of Aligarh, the first scientific association of its kind in India. Modelling it after the Royal Society and the Royal Asiatic Society, Sir Syed assembled Muslim scholars from different parts of the country. The Society held annual conferences, disbursed funds for educational causes and regularly published a journal on scientific subjects in English and Urdu. Sir Syed felt that the socio-economic future of Muslims was threatened by their orthodox aversions to modern science and technology. He published many writings promoting liberal, rational interpretations of Islamic scriptures. However, his view of Islam was rejected by Muslim clergy as contrary to traditional views on issues like jihad, polygamy and animal slaughtering.

Achievements

The onset of the Hindi-Urdu controversy of 1867 saw the emergence of Sir Syed as a political leader of the Muslim community. He became a leading Muslim voice opposing the adoption of Hindi as a second official language of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). Sir Syed perceived Urdu as the lingua franca of Muslims. Having been developed by Muslim rulers of India, Urdu was used as a secondary language to Persian, the official language of the Mughal court. Since the decline of the Mughal dynasty, Sir Syed promoted the use of Urdu through his own writings. Under Sir Syed, the Scientific Society translated Western works only into Urdu. The schools established by Sir Syed imparted education in the Urdu medium. The demand for Hindi, led largely by Hindus, was to Sir Syed an erosion of the centuries-old Muslim cultural domination of India. Testifying before the British-appointed education commission, Sir Syed controversially exclaimed that "Urdu was the language of gentry and Hindi that of the vulgar." His remarks provoked a hostile response from Hindu leaders, who unified across the nation to demand the recognition of Hindi.

The success of the Hindi movement led Sir Syed to further advocate Urdu as the symbol of Muslim heritage and as the language of all Indian Muslims. His educational and political work grew increasingly centred around and exclusively for Muslim interests. He also sought to persuade the British to give Urdu extensive official use and patronage. His colleagues and protégés such as Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Maulvi Abdul Haq developed organisations such as the Urdu Defence Association and the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, committed to the perpetuation of Urdu. Sir Syed's protégé Shibli Nomani led efforts that resulted in the adoption of Urdu as the official language of the Hyderabad State and as the medium of instruction in the Osmania University. To Muslims in northern and western India, Urdu had became an integral part of political and cultural identity. However, the division over the use of Hindi or Urdu further provoked communal conflict between Muslims and Hindus in India.

Founding Aligarh

On April 1, 1869, Sir Syed travelled to England, where he was awarded the Order of the Star of India from the British government on August 6. Travelling across England, he visited its colleges and was inspired by the culture of learning established after the Renaissance. Sir Syed returned to India in the following year determined to build a "Muslim Cambridge." Upon his return, he organised the "Committee for the Better Diffusion and Advancement of Learning among Muhammadans" (Muslims) on December 26, 1870. Sir Syed described his vision of the institution he proposed to establish in an article written sometime in 1872 and re-printed in the Aligarh Institute Gazette of April 5, 1911:

I may appear to be dreaming and talking like Shaikh Chilli, but we aim to turn this MAO College into a University similar to that of Oxford or Cambridge. Like the churches of Oxford and Cambridge, there will be mosques attached to each College… The College will have a dispensary with a Doctor and a compounder, besides a Unani Hakim. It will be mandatory on boys in residence to join the congregational prayers (namaz) at all the five times. Students of other religions will be exempted from this religious observance. Muslim students will have a uniform consisting of a black alpaca, half-sleeved chugha and a red Fez cap… Bad and abusive words which boys generally pick up and get used to, will be strictly prohibited. Even such a word as a "liar" will be treated as an abuse to be prohibited. They will have food either on tables of European style or on chaukis in the manner of the Arabs… Smoking of cigarette or huqqa and the chewing of betels shall be strictly prohibited. No corporal punishment or any such punishment as is likely to injure a student's self-respect will be permissible… It will be strictly enforced that Shia and Sunni boys shall not discuss their religious differences in the College or in the boarding house. At present it is like a day dream. I pray to God that this dream may come true."

By 1873, the committee under Sir Syed issued proposals for the construction of a college in Aligarh. He began publishing the journal Tahzib al-Akhlaq (Social Reformer) to spread awareness and knowledge on modern subjects and promote reforms in Muslim society. Sir Syed worked to promote reinterpretation of Muslim ideology in order to reconcile tradition with Western education. He argued in several books on Islam that the Qur'an rested on an appreciation of reason and natural law, making scientific inquiry important to being a good Muslim. Sir Syed established a modern school in Aligarh and, obtaining support from wealthy Muslims and the British, laid the foundation stone of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College on May 24, 1875. He retired from his career as a jurist the following year, concentrating entirely on developing the college and on religious reform. Sir Syed's pioneering work received support from the British. Although intensely criticised by orthodox religious leaders hostile to modern influences, Sir Syed's new institution attracted a large student body, mainly drawn from the Muslim gentry and middle classes. The curriculum at the college involved scientific and Western subjects, as well as Oriental subjects and religious education. The first chancellor was Sultan Shah Jahan Begum, a prominent Muslim noblewoman, and Sir Syed invited an Englishman, Theodore Beck, to serve as the first college principal. The college was originally affiliated with Calcutta University but was transferred to the Allahabad University in 1885. Near the turn of the 20th century, it began publishing its own magazine and established a law school. In 1920, the college was transformed into a university.

In 1878, Sir Syed was nominated to the Viceroy's Legislative Council. He testified before the education commission to promote the establishment of more colleges and schools across India. In the same year, Sir Syed founded the Muhammadan Association to promote political co-operation amongst Indian Muslims from different parts of the country. In 1886, he organised the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference in Aligarh, which promoted his vision of modern education and political unity for Muslims. His works made him the most prominent Muslim politician in 19th century India, often influencing the attitude of Muslims on various national issues. He supported the efforts of Indian political leaders Surendranath Banerjea and Dadabhai Naoroji to obtain representation for Indians in the government and civil services. In 1883, he founded the Muhammadan Civil Service Fund Association to encourage and support the entry of Muslim graduates into the Indian Civil Service (ICS).

However, Sir Syed's political views were shaped by a strong aversion to the emerging nationalist movement, which was composed largely of Hindus. Sir Syed opposed the Indian National Congress (created in 1885) on the grounds that it was a Hindu-majority organisation, calling on Muslims to stay away from it. While fearful of the loss of Muslim political power owing to the community's backwardness, Sir Syed was also averse to the prospect of democratic self-government, which would give control of government to the Hindu-majority population:

"At this time our nation is in a bad state in regards education and wealth, but God has given us the light of religion and the Koran is present for our guidance, which has ordained them and us to be friends. Now God has made them rulers over us. Therefore we should cultivate friendship with them, and should adopt that method by which their rule may remain permanent and firm in India, and may not pass into the hands of the Bengalis… If we join the political movement of the Bengalis our nation will reap a loss, for we do not want to become subjects of the Hindus instead of the subjects of the "people of the Book…"

His fierce criticism of the Congress and Indian nationalists created rifts between Muslims and Hindus. At the same time, Sir Syed sought to politically ally Muslims to the British government. An avowed loyalist of the British Empire, Sir Syed was nominated as a member of the Civil Service Commission in 1887 by Lord Dufferin. In 1888, he established the United Patriotic Association at Aligarh to promote political co-operation with the British and Muslim participation in the government. Syed Ahmed Khan was knighted by the British government in 1888 and in the following year he received an LL.D. honoris causa from the Edinburgh University.

YAHYA KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Yahya Khan was born in Chakwal in 1917 to an ethnic Shia Muslim Qizilbash family of Persian descent who could trace their military links to the time of Nadir Shah.

Nadir Shah was killed in a revolution and some members of his family escaped from Iran to Northern Pakistan area. The story is that after Qizilbash family escaped bare handed the family jewels and little treasure they carried were enough to buy them villages and maintain royal life style. Qizilbash family entered military profession and produced many high level government officials and generals.

He attended Punjab University and finished first in his class. He then joined the British Army, and served in World War II as an officer in the 4th Infantry Division (India). He served in Iraq, Italy, and North Africa.

Career

Though culturally Pashtun, Yahya was a Shia Qizilbash commissioned from Indian Military Academy Dehra Dun on 15 July 1939. An infantry officer from the 4/10 Baluch Regiment, Yahya saw action during WW II in North Africa where he was captured by the Axis Forces in June 1942 and interned in a prisoner of war camp in Italy from where he escaped in the third attempt.

In 1947 he was instrumental in not letting the Indian officers shift books from the famous library of the British Indian Staff College at Quetta, where Yahya was posted as the only Muslim instructor at the time of partition of India.

Yahya became a brigadier at the age of 34 and commanded the 106 Infantry Brigade, which was deployed on the ceasefire line in Kashmir in 1951-52. Later Yahya, as Deputy Chief of General Staff, was selected to head the army’s planning board set up by Ayub to modernise the Pakistan Army in 1954-57. Yahya also performed the duties of Chief of General Staff from 1958 to 1962 from where he went on to command an infantry division from 1962 to 1965.

Upon the formation of Pakistan, Khan helped set up an officer's school in Quetta, and commanded an infantry division during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Immediately after the 1965 war Major General Yahya Khan who had commanded the 7th Division in Operation Grand Slam was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, appointed Deputy Army Commander in Chief and Commander in Chief designate in March 1966.

 Yahya energetically started reorganising the Pakistan Army in 1965. The post 1965 situation saw major organisational as well as technical changes in the Pakistan Army. Till 1965 it was thought that divisions could function effectively while getting orders directly from the army’s GHQ. This idea failed miserably in the 1965 war and the need to have intermediate corps headquarters in between the GHQ and the fighting combat divisions was recognised as a foremost operational necessity after the 1965 war. In 1965 war the Pakistan Army had only one corps headquarter (i.e. the 1st Corps Headquarters).

Soon after the war had started the U.S. had imposed an embargo on military aid on both India and Pakistan. This embargo did not affect the Indian Army but produced major changes in the Pakistan Army’s technical composition. US Secretary of State Dean Rusk well summed it up when he said, "Well if you are going to fight, go ahead and fight, but we’re not going to pay for it".

Pakistan now turned to China for military aid and the Chinese tank T-59 started replacing the US M-47/48 tanks as the Pakistan Army’s MBT (Main Battle Tank) from 1966. 80 tanks, the first batch of T-59s, a low-grade version of the Russian T-54/55 series were delivered to Pakistan in 1965-66. The first batch was displayed in the Joint Services Day Parade on 23 March 1966. The 1965 War had proved that Pakistan Army’s tank infantry ratio was lopsided and more infantry was required. Three more infantry divisions (9, 16 and 17 Divisions) largely equipped with Chinese equipment and popularly referred to by the rank and file as "The China Divisions" were raised by the beginning of 1968. Two more corps headquarters i.e. 2nd Corps Headquarters (Jhelum-Ravi Corridor) and 4th Corps Headquarters (Ravi-Sutlej Corridor) were raised.

In the 1965 War India had not attacked East Pakistan which was defended by a weak two-infantry brigade division (14 Division) without any tank support. Yahya correctly appreciated that the geographical as well as operational situation demanded an entirely independent command set up in East Pakistan. 14 Division’s infantry strength was increased and a new tank regiment was raised and stationed in East Pakistan. A new Corps Headquarters was raised in East Pakistan and was designated as Headquarters Eastern Command. It was realised by the Pakistani GHQ that the next war would be different and East Pakistan badly required a new command set up.

President of Pakistan

Ayub Khan was President of Pakistan for most of the 1960s, but by the end of the decade, popular resentment had boiled over against him. Pakistan had fallen into a state of disarray, and he handed over power to Yahya Khan, who immediately imposed martial law. Once Ayub handed over power to Yahya Khan on 25 March 1969 Yahya inherited a two-decade constitutional problem of inter-provincial ethnic rivalry between the Punjabi-Pashtun-Mohajir dominated West Pakistan province and the ethnically Bengali Muslim East Pakistan province. In addition Yahya also inherited an 11 year old problem of transforming an essentially one man ruled country to a democratic country, which was the ideological basis of the anti-Ayub movement of 1968-69. Herein lies the key to Yahya’s dilemma. As an Army Chief Yahya had all the capabilities, qualifications and potential. But Yahya inherited an extremely complex problem and was forced to perform the multiple roles of caretaker head of the country, drafter of a provisional constitution, resolving the One Unit question, satisfying the frustrations and the sense of exploitation and discrimination successively created in the East Wing by a series of government policies since 1948. All these were complex problems and the seeds of Pakistan Army’s defeat and humiliation in December 1971 lay in the fact that Yahya Khan blundered unwittingly into the thankless task of fixing the problems of Pakistan’s political and administrative system which had been accumulating for 20 years and had their actual origins in the pre-1947 British policies towards the Bengali Muslims.

Yahya Khan attempted to solve Pakistan’s constitutional and inter-provincial/regional rivalry problems once he took over power from Ayub Khan in March 1969. The tragedy of the whole affair was the fact that all actions that Yahya took, although correct in principle, were too late in timing, and served only to further intensify the political polarisation between the East and West wings.

• He dissolved the one unit restoring the pre-1955 provinces of West Pakistan
• Promised free direct, one man one vote, fair elections on adult franchise, a basic human right which had been denied to the Pakistani people since the pre-independence 1946 elections by political inefficiency, double play and intrigue, by civilian governments, from 1947 to 1958 and by Ayub’s one man rule from 1958 to 1969.

However dissolution of one unit did not lead to the positive results that it might have led to in case "One Unit" was dissolved earlier. Yahya also made an attempt to accommodate the East Pakistanis by abolishing the principle of parity, thereby hoping that greater share in the assembly would redress their wounded ethnic regional pride and ensure the integrity of Pakistan. Instead of satisfying the Bengalis it intensified their separatism, since they felt that the west wing had politically suppressed them since 1958. Thus the rise of anti West Wing sentiment in the East Wing.

Yahya Khan died in August 1980, in Rawalpindi.

ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO

Birth and Early Life

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (January 5, 1928–April 4, 1979) was a Pakistani politician who served as the President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and as Prime Minister from 1973 to 1977. He was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan. His daughter Benazir Bhutto also served twice as prime minister; she was assassinated on December 27, 2007.

Educated at the University of California at Berkeley in the United States and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Bhutto was noted for his mercurial brilliance and wit. He was executed in 1979 for authorizing the murder of a political opponent.The move was done under the directives of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. His supporters add the honorific title Shaheed, the Urdu word for "martyr", before his name, thus: Shaheed-e-Azam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ("The Great Martyr"). Another respectful title commonly bestowed upon him by supporters is Quaid-e-Awam, or "Leader of the Masses" as he was indeed a populist statesman.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born to Khursheed Begum née Lakhi Bai and Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto of a prominent Shia Muslim family. Zulfikar was born in his parent's residence near Larkana in what later became the province of Sindh. He was their third child — their first one, Sikandar, died from pneumonia at age seven in 1914 and the second child, Imdad Ali, died of cirrhosis at the age of 39 in 1953. His father was a wealthy landlord, a zamindar, and a prominent politician in Sindh, who enjoyed an influential relationship with the officials of the British Raj. As a young boy, Bhutto moved to Worli Seaface in Mumbai (then Bombay) to study at the Cathedral and John Connon School. During this period, he also became a student activist in the League's Pakistan Movement. Upon completing high school, Bhutto attended Premier College Nazamabad. In 1943, his marriage was arranged with Shireen Amir Begum (died January 19, 2003 in Karachi). He later left her, however, in order to remarry. In 1947, Bhutto was admitted to the University of Southern California.

During this time, Bhutto's father, Sir Shahnawaz, played a controversial role in the affairs of the state of Junagadh (now in Gujarat). Coming to power in a palace coup as the dewan, he secured the accession of the state to Pakistan, which was ultimately negated by Indian intervention in December, 1947. In 1949, Bhutto transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an honours degree in political science. Here he would become interested in the theories of socialism, delivering a series of lectures on the feasibility of socialism in Islamic countries. In June, 1950 Bhutto travelled to England to study law at Christ Church, Oxford. Upon finishing his studies, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1953.

Bhutto married his second wife, the Iranian-Kurdish Begum Nusrat Ispahani a Shi'a Muslim, in Karachi on September 8, 1951. Their first child, his daughter Benazir, was born in 1953. She was followed by Murtaza in 1954, a second daughter, Sanam, in 1957, and the youngest child, Shahnawaz Bhutto, in 1958. He accepted the post of lecturer at the Sindh Muslim College, from where he was also awarded an honorary law degree by the then college President, Mr. Hassanally A. Rahman before establishing himself in a legal practice in Karachi. He also took over the management of his family's estate and business interests after his father's death.

Career

In 1957, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the youngest member of Pakistan's delegation to the United Nations. He would address the United Nations Sixth Committee on Aggression on October 25, 1957 and lead Pakistan's deputation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas in 1958. In the same year, Bhutto became the youngest Pakistani cabinet minister when he was given charge of the energy ministry by President Muhammad Ayub Khan, who had seized power and declared martial law. He was subsequently promoted to head the ministries of commerce, information and industries. Bhutto became a close and trusted advisor to Ayub, rising in influence and power despite his youth and relative inexperience in politics. Bhutto aided Ayub in negotiating the Indus Water Treaty with India in 1960. In 1961, Bhutto negotiated an oil exploration agreement with the Soviet Union, which also agreed to provide economic and technical aid to Pakistan.

Foreign Minister

In 1962, he was appointed Pakistan's foreign minister. His swift rise to power also brought him national prominence and popularity.

As foreign minister, Bhutto significantly transformed Pakistan's hitherto pro-Western foreign policy. While maintaining a prominent role for Pakistan within the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the Central Treaty Organization, Bhutto began asserting a foreign policy course for Pakistan that was independent of U.S. influence. Bhutto criticised the U.S. for providing military aid to India during and after the Sino-Indian War of 1962, which was seen as an abrogation of Pakistan's alliance with the U.S. Bhutto worked to establish stronger relations with the People's Republic of China. Bhutto visited Beijing and helped Ayub negotiate trade and military agreements with the Chinese regime, which agreed to help Pakistan in a large number of military and industrial projects. Bhutto also signed the Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement on March 2, 1963 that transferred 750 square kilometres of territory from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Chinese control. Bhutto asserted his belief in non-alignment, making Pakistan an influential member in non-aligned organisations. Believing in pan-Islamic unity, Bhutto developed closer relations with nations such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.

Bhutto advocated hardline and confrontational policies against India over the Kashmir conflict and other issues. A brief skirmish took place in August 1965 between Indian and Pakistani forces near the international boundary in the Rann of Kutch which was resolved by the U.N. Pakistan hoped to support an uprising by Kashmiris against India.

Bhutto joined Ayub in Tashkent to negotiate a peace treaty with the Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Ayub and Shastri agreed to exchange prisoners of war and withdraw respective forces to pre-war boundaries. This agreement was deeply unpopular in Pakistan, causing major political unrest against Ayub's regime. Bhutto's criticism of the final agreement caused a major rift between him and Ayub Khan. Initially denying the rumours, Bhutto resigned in June, 1967 and expressed strong opposition to Ayub's regime.

Pakistans Peoples Party

Following his resignation, large crowds gathered to listen to Bhutto's speech upon his arrival in Lahore on June 21, 1967. Tapping a wave of anger and opposition against Ayub, Bhutto began travelling across the country to deliver political speeches. In a speech in October, 1966 Bhutto proclaimed "Islam is our faith, democracy is our policy, socialism is our economy. All power to the people." On November 30, 1967 Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Lahore, establishing a strong base of political support in Punjab, Sindh and amongst the Muhajir communities. Bhutto's party became a part of the pro-democracy movement involving diverse political parties from all across Pakistan. PPP activists staged large protests and strikes in different parts of the country, increasing pressure on Ayub to resign. Bhutto's arrest on November 12, 1968 sparked greater political unrest. After his release, Bhutto attended the Round Table Conference called by Ayub in Rawalpindi, but refused to accept Ayub's continuation in office and the East Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Six point movement for regional autonomy.

Following Ayub's resignation, the new president Gen. Yahya Khan promised to hold parliamentary elections on December 7, 1970. Bhutto's party won a large number of seats from constituencies in West Pakistan. However, Sheikh Mujib's Awami League won an outright majority from the constituencies located in East Pakistan. Bhutto refused to accept an Awami League government and famously promised to "break the legs" of any elected PPP member who dared to attend the inaugural session of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Capitalising on West Pakistani fears of East Pakistani separatism, Bhutto demanded that Sheikh Mujib form a coalition with the PPP. Under substantial pressure from Bhutto and other West Pakistani political parties, Yahya postponed the inaugural session of the National Assembly after talks with Sheikh Mujib failed. Amidst popular outrage in East Pakistan, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the independence of "Bangladesh" on March 26, 1971 after Mujibur was arrested by the Pakistani Army, which had been ordered by Yahya to suppress political activities. .  While supportive of the army's genocide and working to rally international support, Bhutto distanced himself from the Yahya regime. He refused to accept Yahya's scheme to appoint Bengali politician Nurul Amin as prime minister, with Bhutto as deputy prime minister. Indian intervention in East Pakistan led to the defeat of Pakistani forces, who surrendered on December 16, 1971. Bhutto and others condemned Yahya for failing to protect Pakistan's unity. Isolated, Yahya resigned on December 20 and transferred power to Bhutto, who became the president, army commander-in-chief as well as the first civilian chief martial law administrator.

Leader of Pakistan

As president, Bhutto addressed the nation via radio and television, saying "My dear countrymen, my dear friends, my dear students, labourers, peasants… those who fought for Pakistan… We are facing the worst crisis in our country's life, a deadly crisis. We have to pick up the pieces, very small pieces, but we will make a new Pakistan, a prosperous and progressive Pakistan." He placed Yahya under house arrest, brokered a ceasefire and ordered the release of Sheikh Mujib, who was held prisoner by the army. To implement this, Bhutto reversed the verdict of Mujib's court trial that had taken place earlier, in which the presiding Brigadier Rahimuddin Khan (later General) had sentenced Mujib to death. Appointing a new cabinet, Bhutto appointed Gen. Gul Hasan as Chief of Army Staff. On January 2, 1972 Bhutto announced the nationalisation of all major industries, including iron and steel, heavy engineering, heavy electricals, petrochemicals, cement and public utilities. A new labour policy was announced increasing workers rights and the power of trade unions. Although he came from a feudal background himself, Bhutto announced reforms limiting land ownership and a government take-over of over a million acres (4,000 km²) to distribute to landless peasants. More than 2,000 civil servants were dismissed on charges of corruption. Bhutto also dismissed the military chiefs on March 3 after they refused orders to suppress a major police strike in Punjab. He appointed Gen. Tikka Khan as the new Chief of the Army Staff in March 1972 as he felt the General would not interfere in political matters and would concentrate on rehabilitating the Pakistan Army. Bhutto convened the National Assembly on April 14, rescinded martial law on April 21 and charged the legislators with writing a new constitution.

Bhutto visited India to meet Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and negotiated a formal peace agreement and the release of 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war. The two leaders signed the Shimla Agreement, which committed both nations to establish a Line of Control in Kashmir and obligated them to resolve disputes peacefully through bilateral talks. Bhutto also promised to hold a future summit for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and pledged to recognise Bangladesh. Although he secured the release of Pakistani soldiers held by India, Bhutto was criticised by many in Pakistan for allegedly making too many concessions to India. It is theorised that Bhutto feared his downfall if he could not secure the release of Pakistani soldiers, the return of territory occupied by Indian forces. Bhutto established an atomic power development programme and inaugurated the first Pakistani atomic reactor, built in collaboration with Canada in Karachi on November 28. In January 1973, Bhutto ordered the army to suppress a rising insurgency in the province of Balochistan and dismissed the governments in Balochistan and the Northwest Frontier Province. On March 30, 59 military officers were arrested by army troops for allegedly plotting a coup against Bhutto, who appointed then-Brigadier Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to head a military tribunal to investigate and try the suspects. The National Assembly approved the new constitution, which Bhutto signed into effect on April 12. The constitution proclaimed an "Islamic Republic" in Pakistan with a parliamentary form of government. On August 10, Bhutto turned over the post of president to Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, assuming the office of prime minister instead.

Bhutto officially recognised Bangladesh in July. Making an official visit to Bangladesh, Bhutto was criticised in Pakistan for laying flowers at a memorial for Bangladeshi "freedom fighters." Bhutto continued to develop closer relations with China as well as Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations. Bhutto hosted the Second Islamic Summit of Muslim nations in Lahore between February 22 and February 24 in 1974.

However, Bhutto faced considerable pressure from Islamic religious leaders to declare the Ahmadiya communities as non-Muslims. Failing to restrain sectarian violence and rioting, Bhutto and the National Assembly amended the constitution to that effect. Bhutto intensified his nationalisation programme, extending government control over agricultural processing and consumer industries. Bhutto also, with advice from Admiral S.M. Ahsan, inaugurated Port Qasim, designed to expand harbour facilities near Karachi. However, the performance of the Pakistani economy declined amidst increasing bureaucracy and a decline in private sector confidence. In a surprise move in 1976, Bhutto appointed Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to replace Gen. Tikka Khan, surpassing five generals senior to Zia.. Some say that Zia did not deserve this pinnacle but Bhutto appointed him so as the two of them were Arain. He erred in judging a man not on his merit by dint of effort but merit by birth. As we see later he suffered for the undue support he showed to his Biratheri (Clan).

Nuclear programme

Bhutto was the founder of Pakistan's nuclear programme. Its militarisation was initiated in January 1972 and, in its initial years, was implemented by General Tikka Khan. The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant was inaugurated by Bhutto during his role as President of Pakistan at the end of 1972. Long before, as Minister for Fuel, Power and National Resources, he has played a key role in setting up of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. The Kahuta facility was also established by the Bhutto Administration.

In his book If I am Assassinated, written from his prison cell, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto revealed how Henry Kissinger had said to him in 1976: "we can destabilize your government and make a horrible example out of you". Kissinger had warned Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that if Pakistan continued with its nuclear programe the Prime Minister would have to pay a heavy price.

Popular unrest and military coup

Bhutto began facing considerable criticism and increasing unpopularity as his term progressed. Initially targeting leader of the opposition Abdul Wali Khan and his opposition National Awami Party (NAP). Despite the ideological similarity of the two parties the clash of egos both inside and outside the National Assembly became increasingly fierce and started with the Federal governments decision to oust the NAP provincial government in Balochistan for alleged secessionist activities and culminating in the banning of the party and arrest of much of its leadership after the death of Hayat Khan Sherpao, a close lieutenant of Bhutto, in a bomb blast in the frontier town of Peshawar.

Dissidence also increased within the PPP and the murder of dissident leader Ahmed Raza Kasuri's father led to public outrage and intra-party hostility as Bhutto was accused of masterminding the crime. Powerful PPP leaders such as Ghulam Mustafa Khar openly condemned Bhutto and called for protests against his regime. The political crisis in the NWFP and Balochistan intensified as civil liberties remained suspended and an estimated 100,000 troops deployed there were accused of human rights abuses and killing large numbers of civilians.

On January 8, 1977 many opposition political parties grouped to form the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA). Bhutto called fresh elections and the PNA participated in those elections with full force and managed to contest the elections jointly even though they had grave differences in their opinions and views. The PNA faced defeat but did not accept the results, accusing their opponents of rigging the election. They first claimed rigging on 14 seats and finally on 40 seats in the national assembly and boycotted provisional elections turn out in national elections was of highest degree. Provincial elections were held amidst low voter turnout and an opposition boycott, violent PNA declare the newly-elected Bhutto government as illegitimate. Muslim leaders such as Maulana Maududi called for the overthrow of Bhutto's regime. Intensifying political and civil disorder prompted Bhutto to hold talks with PNA leaders, which culminated in an agreement for the dissolution of the assemblies and fresh elections under a form of government of national unity. However on July 5, 1977 Bhutto and members of his cabinet were arrested by troops under the order of General Zia.

General Zia announced that martial law had been imposed, the constitution suspended and all assemblies dissolved. Zia also ordered the arrest of senior PPP and PNA leaders but promised elections in October. Bhutto was released on July 29 and was received by a large crowd of supporters in his hometown of Larkana. He immediately began touring across Pakistan, delivering speeches to large crowds and planning his political comeback. Bhutto was arrested again on September 3 before being released on bail on September 13. Fearing yet another arrest, Bhutto named his wife, Nusrat, president of the Pakistan People's Party. Bhutto was imprisoned on September 17 and a large number of PPP leaders and activists arrested and disqualified from contesting in elections.

Zia upheld the death sentence. Bhutto was hanged at Adiyala Jail, Rawalpindi, on 4 April, 1979.

Achievements

• Peace-Keeping by the United Nations, Pakistan Publishing House, Karachi, 1967
• Political Situation in Pakistan, Veshasher Prakashan, New Delhi, 1968
• The Myth of Independence, Oxford University Press, Karachi and Lahore, 1969
• The Great Tragedy, Pakistan People's Party, Karachi, 1971
• Politics of the People (speeches, statements and articles), 1948-1971
• The Third World: New Directions, Quartet Books, London, 1977
• My Pakistan, Biswin Sadi Publications, New Delhi, 1979
• If I am Assassinated, Vikas, New Delhi, 1979
• My Execution, Musawaat Weekly International, London, 1980
• New Directions, Narmara Publishers, London, 1980
• Marching towards democracy

PHILOSOPHERS

FAZLUR RAHMAN MALIK

Birth and Early Life

Fazlur Rahman Malik (September 21, 1919 – July 26, 1988) was a well-known scholar of Islam; M. Yahya Birt of the Association of Islam Researchers described him as "probably the most learned of the major Muslim thinkers in the second-half of the twentieth century, in terms of both classical Islam and Western philosophical and theological discourse."

Rahman was born in the Hazara area of British India (now Pakistan). His father, Maulana Shihab al-Din, was a well-known scholar of the time who had studied at Deoband and had achieved the rank of alim, through his studies of Islamic law (fiqh, hadith, Qur'anic tafsir, logic, philosophy and other subjects).

Rahman studied Arabic at Punjab University, and went on to Oxford University where he wrote a dissertation on Ibn Sina. Afterwards, he began a teaching career, first at Durham University where he taught Persian and Islamic philosophy, and then at McGill University where he taught Islamic studies until 1961.

Career

In that year, he returned to Pakistan to head up the Central Institute of Islamic Research which was set up by the Pakistani government in order to implement Islam into the daily dealings of the nation. However, due to the political situation in Pakistan, Rahman was hindered from making any progress in this endeavour, and he resigned from the post. He then returned to teaching, moving to the United States and teaching at UCLA as a visiting professor for a few years. He moved to the University of Chicago in 1969 and established himself there becoming the Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Islamic Thought. At Chicago he was instrumental for building a strong Near Eastern Studies program that continues to be among the best in the world. Rahman also became a proponent for a reform of the Islamic polity and was an advisor to the State Department. He died in 1988.

Achievements

Since Rahman's death his writings have continued to be popular among scholars of Islam and the Near East. His contributions to the University of Chicago are still evident in its excellent programs in these areas. In his memory, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago named its common area after him, due to his many years of service the Center and the University of Chicago at large.

JAVED AHMAD GHAMIDI

Birth and Early Life

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (b. 1951) is a well-known Pakistani Islamic scholar, exegete, and educationist. A former member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, who extended the work of his tutor, Amin Ahsan Islahi. Ghamidi is the founder of Al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences and its sister organization Danish Sara. He is a member of Council of Islamic Ideology since January 28, 2006, a constitutional body responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to Pakistan Government and the Parliament. He has also taught at the Civil Services Academy from 1980 until 1991. He is running an intellectual movement similar to Wastiyya in Egypt on the popular electronic media of Pakistan.

Ghamidi's discourse is primarily with the traditionalists on the one end and Jamaat-e-Islami and its seceding groups on the other. He is frequently labeled a modernist for his insistence on the historical contextualization of Muhammad's revelation in order to grasp its true moral import. In Ghamidi’s arguments, there is no reference to the Western sources, human rights or current philosophies of crime and punishment. He comes to conclusions which are similar to those of Islamic modernists on the subject, but he never goes out of the traditional framework.

Ghamidi was born on April 18, 1951 in a peasant family of Kakazai tribe from Jiwan Shah near Sahiwal, Pakistan. His early education included a modern path (Matriculation from Islamia High School, Pakpattan in 1967), as well as a traditional path (Arabic and Persian languages, and the Qur'an with Mawlawi Nur Ahmad of Nang Pal). He later graduated from Government College, Lahore, with a BA Honours in English in 1972. Initially, he was more interested in literature and philosophy. Later on, he worked with renowned Islamic scholars like Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi and Amin Ahsan Islahi on various Islamic disciplines particularly exegesis and Islamic law.

Ghamidi's father was a follower of Sufism. In the later years of his life, Ghamidi changed his opinion about Sufism. He wrote a criticism on Sufism in his book Burhan and also didn't include it in his book Mizan, which is a comprehensive treatise on the contents of Islam.

Career

Ghamidi worked closely with Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi (alternative spelling Syed Maudoodi; often referred to as Maulana Maududi) (1903–1979) for about nine years before voicing his first differences of opinion, which led to his subsequent expulsion from Mawdudi's political party, Jamaat-e-Islami in 1977. Later, he developed his own view of religion based on hermeneutics and ijtihad under the influence of his mentor, Amin Ahsan Islahi (1904–1997), a well-known exegete of the Indian sub-continent who is author of Tadabbur-i-Qur’an, a Tafsir (exegeses of Qur'an). Ghamidi's critique of Mawdudi's thought is an extension of Wahid al-Din Khan’s criticism of Mawdudi. Khan (1925- ) was amongst the first scholars from within the ranks of Jamaat-e-Islami to present a fully-fledged critique of Mawdudi’s understanding of religion. Khan’s contention is that Mawdudi has completely inverted the Qur’anic worldview. Ghamidi, for his part, agreed with Khan that the basic obligation in Islam is not the establishment of an Islamic world order but servitude to God, and that it is to help and guide humans in their effort to fulfill that obligation for which religion is revealed. Therefore, Islam never imposed the obligation on its individual adherents or on the Islamic state to be constantly in a state of war against the non-Islamic world. In fact, according to Ghamidi, even the formation of an Islamic state is not a basic religious obligation for Muslims.

Ghamidi’s understanding of Islamic law has been presented concisely in his book Mizan. Ghamidi's inspiration from his mentor, Amin Ahsan Islahi and non-traditionalist approach to the religion has parted him from traditionalist understanding on a number of issues, but he never goes out of the traditional framework. He is frequently labeled a modernist for his insistence on the historical contextualization of Muhammad's revelation in order to grasp its true moral import. He is one of the scholars from South Asia, besides Abul Kalam Azad, Muhammad Iqbal, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, Muhammad Asad, Amin Ahsan Islahi, Khurshid Ahmad, and Israr Ahmed, who have fashioned an internally consistent and thoroughgoing Islamist worldview. Some of the notable points which he mentioned in his writings are summarized below.

Ghamidi believes that there are certain directives of the Qur’an pertaining to war which were specific only to the prophet Muhammad and certain specified peoples of his times (particularly the progeny of Abraham: the Ishmaelites, the Israelites, and the Nazarites). Thus, the prophet and his designated followers waged a war against Divinely specified peoples of their time (the polytheists and the Israelites and Nazarites of Arabia and some other Jews, Christians, et al) as a form of Divine punishment and asked the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from death punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after the prophet and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam. The only valid basis for jihad through arms is to end oppression when all other measures have failed.. According to him Jihad can only be waged by an organized Islamic state. No person, party or group can take arms into their hands (for the purpose of waging Jihad) under any circumstances. Another corollary, in his opinion, is that death punishment for apostasy was also specifically for the recipients of the same Divine punishment during the prophet's times -- for they had persistently denied the truth of the prophet's mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by God through the prophet.

The formation of an Islamic state is not a religious obligation per se upon the Muslims. However, he believes that if and when Muslims form a state of their own, Islam does impose certain religious obligations on its rulers as establishment of the institution of salah (obligatory prayer), zakah (mandatory charity), and 'amr bi'l-ma'ruf wa nahi 'ani'l-munkar (preservation and promotion of society's good conventions and customs and eradication of social vices; this, in Ghamidi's opinion, should be done in modern times through courts, police, etc. in accordance with the law of the land which, as the government itself, must be based on the opinion of the majority).

 Social laws

Head covering for women is a cherished part of Muslim social custom and tradition, but it is not a directive of the shariah (Divine law). The Qur'an states norms for male-female interaction in surah An-Nur. While in surah Al-Ahzab, there are special directives for wives of Muhammad and directives given to Muslim women to distinguish themselves when they were being harassed in Medina. The Qur'an has created a distinction between men and women only to maintain family relations and relationships.

 Penal laws

• The Islamic punishments of hudud (Islamic law) are maximum pronouncements that can be mitigated by a court of law on the basis of extenuating circumstances.
• The shariah (Divine law) does not stipulate any fixed amount for the diyya (monetary compensation for unintentional murder); the determination of the amount—for the unintentional murder of a man or a woman—has been left to the conventions of society.
• Ceteris paribus (all other things being equal), a woman's testimony is equal to that of a man's.
• Rape is hirabah and deserves severe punishments as mentioned in the Qur'an 5:33. It doesn't require four witnesses to register the case as in the case of Zina (Arabic) (consensual sex). Those who were punished by stoning (rajm) in Muhammad's time were also punished under hirabah for raping, sexually assaulting women, and spreading vulgarity in society through prostitution.

 Sources of Islam

• All that is Islam is constituted by the Qur'an and Sunnah. Nothing besides these two is Islam or can be regarded as its part.
• Just like Quran, Sunnah (the way of the prophet) is only what Muslim nation received through ijma (consensus of companions of the prophet) and tawatur (perpetual adherence of Muslim nation).
• Unlike Quran and Sunnah, ahadith only explain and elucidate what is contained in these two sources and also describe the exemplary way in which Muhammad followed Islam.
• The Sharia is distinguished from fiqh, the latter being collections of interpretations and applications of the Sharis by Muslim jurists. Fiqh is characterized as a human exercise, and therefore subject to human weakness and differences of opinion. A Muslim is not obliged to adhere to a school of fiqh.

Resignation from Council of Islamic Ideology

Javed Ahmed Ghamidi resigned in September 2006 from the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a constitutional body responsible for providing legal advice on Islamic issues to the Pakistani government. His resignation was rejected by the President of Pakistan.  Ghamidi's resignation was prompted by the Pakistani government's formation of a separate committee of ulema to review a Bill involving women's rights; the committee was formed after extensive political pressure was applied by the MMA. Ghamidi argued that this was a breach of the CII's jurisdiction, since the very purpose of the council is to ensure that Pakistan's laws do not conflict with the teachings of Islam. He also said that the amendments in the bill proposed by the Ulema committee were against the injunctions of Islam. This event occurred when the MMA threatened to resign from the provincial and national assemblies if the government amended the Hudood Ordinance, which came into being under Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization. The Hudood Ordinances have been criticised for, among other things, insisting upon an exceptionally difficult and dangerous procedure to prove allegations of rape.

MUHAMMAD HAMIDULLAH

Birth and Early Life

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah or Muhammad Hameedullah, D. Phil, D. Litt., HI, (February 9, 1908 – December 17, 2002) belonged to a family of scholars, jurists, writers and administrators. He was a world-renowned Muhaddith, Faqih and scholar of Islam and International Law from Pakistan, who was known for contributions to the research of the history of Hadith, translations of the Qur'an, the advancement of Islamic learning, and to the dissemination of Islamic teachings in the Western world.

Professor Hamidullah was born in Hyderabad Deccan. He was the youngest among the three brothers and five sisters, who were all well versed in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, as well as in Islamic learning. He received his early education at home, first from his sisters and then from his father. Later he was admitted in the Madrasah Nizamiyyah or Jamia Nizamia where he passed the examination for the degree for Mawlvi Kamil with distinction in 1924. Aware of his father’s antipathy towards English education, the young Hamidullah secretively sat for the matriculation examination and, when the results were declared, topped the list of successful candidates.

Professor Hamidullah took admission in Osmania University in 1924 and passed the B.A., LL.B., and M.A. examinations in the first division. He was awarded a fellowship by the Osmania University to pursue doctoral studies in Islamic International Law. He traveled to several Islamic as well as European countries for the purpose of collecting information for his research. He was awarded D. Phil by Bonn University, Germany in 1932. He was appointed a lecturer in Arabic and Urdu at Bonn University. After spending some time in Germany, he came to Paris where he registered at the Sorbonne University for another doctoral degree. In a short period of eleven months, Sorbonne University conferred on him the degree of D. Litt.

Career

From 1936-46 he served on the faculty of Osmania University teaching International Law. In 1946, he was appointed as member of the delegation sent by the Nizam of Hyderabad at the League of the Nations. After the 1948 invasion of Hyderabad by the Indian army, Hamidullah chose to live in exile in France. In 1948, he founded the Hyderabad Liberation Society to get Hyderabad recognized as an independent state. He decided to stay as a stateless person as long as the question of Hyderabad was still open in the United Nations.

In 1985, he was awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award of Pakistan that includes a substantial monetary amount. He donated the award money to Islamic Research Academy, Islamabad. He stayed in France till 1996, when he was forced to move to the USA because of illness. The professor never married. During the last few years of his life, he was being taken care of by the grand daughter of his brother, sister Sadida who left her job to devote herself to his care.

Professor Hamidullah's scholarship is unparalleled in the last century. He was fluent in 22 languages including Urdu, Arabic, French, English, etc. He learned Thai at the age of 84. He translated the Qur'an in French and many other languages. He also translated a number of other important Islamic books in many European languages. He gave lectures in various universities around the world, some of which have been published. His works on Islamic science, history and culture number more than 250. His books have been translated in many languages.

Some of his most famous books include "Introduction to Islam", "Muhammad Rasulullah", "The Battlefields of Prophet Muhammad", "The Muslim Conduct of State", and "The First Written Constitution." One of his great contributions to the hadith literature was the discovery of Sahifa Hammam bin Munabbah, the earliest hadith manuscript still extant today. Two copies of it were discovered; one in a Damascus library and the other in a library in Berlin. Dr. Hamidullah published it after carefully comparing the two manuscripts. This was an important discovery for the hadith scholars. It also proved, as has always been held, that the earliest manuscripts had been absorbed in the much bigger later compilations. Hammam bin Munabbah was a disciple of Syedna Abu Huraira, Radi-Allahu unhu. It was generally known that Sahifah Hammam bin Munabah had been completely included in the Musnad Ahmed. After the publication of the Sahifah by Dr. Hamidullah, hadith scholars searched Musnad Ahmed for the presence of the ahadith from the Sahifah. They found all 138 ahadith of the Sahifah in the Musnad. There was not the slightest discrepancy in any of them!

He wrote several researched treatise on the early life of Muslims. Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah was well known for the great quality and high caliber of his research in Islamic Law and history. He was recognized as one of the most authoritative scholars in Islamic International Law and Islamic Constitutional aw. At its initial stages, he was invited by the government of Pakistan to help draft the constitution of Pakistan.

Achievements

In 1985, he was awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award of Pakistan that includes a substantial monetary amount. He donated the award money to Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad.

This great scholar led a life of simplicity, patience and humility. He passed away in his sleep on December 17, 2002 at the age of 95 in Jacksonville, Florida.

RIAZ AHMED GOHAR SHAHI

Birth and Early Life

Shahi was born on 25 November 1941, in Dhok Gohar Shah. Shahi was born on the Indian subcontinent, in the village of Dhok Gohar Shah in the district of Rawalpindi. He is the fifth generation of the Sufi and spiritualist Baba Gohar Ali Shah.

At the age of twenty, when Shahi was the owner of F. Q. Steel Industries, he started to search for spiritualism amongst the saints and dervishes of the time. Eventually, upon becoming disillusioned with the saints and dervishes he encountered, and being disappointed in not receiving spiritual benevolence, he returned to his work. Gohar Shahi then married and had three children.

According to Shahi, at about the age of thirty four Bari Imam appeared before him and said: "My son your time has come, you must go to the shrine of Sultan Bahu to receive the Sacred Inner Dimensions of Spiritual Knowledge." Gohar Shahi then left his work, family and parents and went to Shorkot, where he read the book Nurul Huda (Light of Guidance), written by Sultan Bahu. He then went to Sehwan Sharif for self-mortification and peace of heart, and spent a period of three years in the mountains of Sehwan Sharif and the forest of Laal Bagh in self-purification.

Career

Gohar Shahi authored a number of books and treatises, including one based on Sufi Poetry known as Turyaaq-e-Qulb, meaning "cure for hearts". Works by Gohar Shahi include:

• Ruhani Safar (Spiritual Journey)
• Menara-e-Noor (Minart of Light)
• Roshnash (An Induction)
• Tuhfa-tul-Majalis (Gift of Congregations)
• Deen-e-Illahi (The Religion of God)

A number of orthodox theological scholars condemned the teachings of Gohar Shahi and criticized him heavily not just in Pakistan but throughout the world. However, some Sufis, including Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Nazim al-Qubrusi, and Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri praised Shahi. Kabbani always used to sit beneath the feet of Gohar Shahi to give him respect and show fervor for him.

Achievements

Gohar Shahi was in favor of divine love and considers it most important for an approach to God and no discrimination of caste, creed, nation or religion is accepted for Divine Love of God as every human has been gifted with an ability to develop spiritual power to approach to the essence of God.

Gohar Shahi claimed to have met with Jesus in America Shahi's supporters claim that his likeness appeared in the moon, sun, nebula star and the black stone of Makkah, and that these alleged images induced greater legal and religious opposition.

Opposition towards Gohar Shahi and his followers stemmed from claims made by Shahi and his followers that were strongly opposed by orthodox theologians in Pakistan and abroad. Shahi was accused of claiming the status of prophet and Imam Mehdi, but Shahi denied such accusations.

Shahi faced strong opposition from different religious leaders and orthodox theological scholars, and his teachings have been condemned by Muslim religious leaders and the Pakistani government.

Many attempts were made on Shahi's life including a petrol bomb attack, thrown into his Manchester residence, and an attack with a hand grenade during the discourse at his home in Kotri, Pakistan. A high price tag was put on his head in Pakistan.

Shahi's books were banned by the Government of Pakistan, public meetings are not allowed to his followers and no press coverage is allowed to either Gohar Shahi or to his followers due to charges of blasphemy law violations. Several cases were filed against Gohar Shahi and his followers.

Gohar Shahi was booked in 1997 on alleged charges of murdering a woman who had come to him for spiritual treatment; Gohar Shahi, and many of his followers, were later convicted under Islamic blasphemy laws by an antiterrorist court in Sindh. Gohar Shahi was convicted in absentia—as he had previously fled to England—resulting in sentences that totaled approximately 59 years. Gohar Shahi died abroad, prior to any decision on appeals filed with the High Court of Sindh.

Death

Gohar Shahi died on 25 November 2001, in Manchester, UK, of pneumonia. Shahi's body was brought back to Pakistan from England and buried in Markazi Aastana at Kotri, where the International Secretariat of Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam is located. His devotees perform pilgrimage to his mausoleum. The term for the demise of Gohar Shahi is used as "occultation", instead of death, and no urs celebration is held, which is a common tradition of all Sufis. Gohar Shahi's family still resides in Kotri, including his widow, five sons and a daughter.

ABUL ALA MAUDUDI

Birth and Early Life

Abul Ala Maududi was born on September 25, 1903 (Rajab 3, 1321 AH) in Aurangabad, then part of the princely state of Hyderabad (presently Maharashtra), India. Maududi was born to Ahmad Hasan, a lawyer by profession, and was the youngest of the three sons. His father was "descended from the Chishti line of saints; in fact his very name, Abul Ala, derives from the first member of the Chishti silsiah" (a Sufi `Order`)

At an early age, Maududi was given home education, he "received religious nurture at the hands of his father and from a variety of teachers employed by him." He soon moved on to formal education, however, and completed his secondary education from Madrasah Furqaniyah. For his undergraduate studies he joined Darul Uloom, Hyderabad. His undergraduate studies, however, were disrupted by the illness and death of his father, and he completed his studies outside of the regular educational institutions. His instruction included very little of the subject matter of a modern school, such as European languages, like English.

Career

After the interruption of his formal education, Maududi turned to journalism in order to make his living. In 1918, he was already contributing to a leading Urdu newspaper, and in 1920, at the age of 17, he was appointed editor of Taj, which was being published from Jabalpore (now Madhya Pradesh). Late in 1920, Maududi went to Delhi and first assumed the editorship of the newspaper Muslim (1921-23), and later of al-Jam’iyat (1925-28), both of which were the organs of the Jam’iyat-i Ulama-i Hind, an organization of Muslim religious scholars.

Achievements

Founding the Jamaat-e-Islami

In 1941, Maududi founded Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in British India as a religious political movement to promote Islamic values and practices. After the Partition of India, JI was redefined in 1947 to support an Islamic State in Pakistan. JI is currently the oldest religious party in Pakistan.

With the Partition of India, JI split into several groups. The organisation headed by Maududi is now known as Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. Also existing are Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, and autonomous groups in Indian Kashmir, also in Sri Lanka.

Maududi was elected Jamaat’s first Ameer (President) and remained so until 1972 when he withdrew from the responsibility for reasons of health.

Political Struggle

In the beginning of struggle for Pakistan Maudidi and his party were against the idea of creation of Pakistan. He used very insulting language about Muhammad Ali Jinah, founder of Pakistan and other leaders of Muslim league. But when he saw that struggle for Pakistan is going to succeed he took a U-turn and saw some opportunities in the new state and started to support the idea to gain different adavantages.Maududi moved to Pakistan in 1947 and tried to turn it into an Islamic state, resulting in frequent arrests and long prison spells. In 1953, He was sentenced to death on the charge of writing a seditious pamphlet about the Ahmadiyya issue. He turned down the opportunity to file a petition for mercy, expressing a preference for death rather than seeking clemency. Strong public pressure ultimately convinced the government to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. Eventually, his sentence was annulled.

In April 1979, Maududi's long-time kidney ailment worsened and by then he also had heart problems. He went to the United States for treatment and was hospitalized in Buffalo, New York, where his second son worked as a physician. During his hospitalization, he remained intellectually active.

Following a few surgical operations, he died on September 22, 1979, at the age of 76. His funeral was held in Buffalo, but he was buried in an unmarked grave at his residence in Lahore after a very large funeral procession through the city.

ABDUL KALAM

Birth and Early Life

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007. Due to his unconventional working style, he is also popularly known as the People's President. Before his term as India's president, he distinguished himself as engineering visionary and was awarded India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with DRDO and his role as scientific advisor to the Indian government. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. In India he is considered a progressive mentor, innovator and visionary. Kalam played a pivotal organizational, technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.

APJ Abdul Kalam was born in 1931 in a middle-class family in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, a town well-known for its Hindu shrines. His mother tongue is Tamil. His father, a devout Muslim, owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen and was a good friend of Hindu religious leaders and the school teachers at Rameshwaram. APJ Abdul Kalam mentions in his biography that to support his studies, he started his career as a newspaper vendor. This was also told in the book, A Boy and His Dream: Three Stories from the Childhood of Abdul Kalam by Vinita Krishna. The house Kalam was born in can still be found on the Mosque street at Rameswaram, and his brother's curio shop abuts it. This has become a point-of-call for tourists who seek out the place. Kalam grew up in an intimate relationship with nature, and he says in Wings of Fire that he never could imagine that water could be so powerful a destroying force as that he witnessed when he was six. That was in 1934 when a cyclonic storm swept away the Pamban bridge and a trainload of passengers with it and also Kalam's native village, Dhanushkodi.

In 1962, Kalam joined the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In 1982, he rejoined DRDO as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). Dr. Kalam is credited with the development and operationalisation of India's Agni and Prithvi missiles. He worked as the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from 1992 to 1999. During this period , the Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted. Dr. Kalam held the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India from November 1999 to November 2001.

Careers

Abdul Kalam graduated from Madras Institute of Technology majoring in Aeronautical Engineering. As the Project Director, he made significant contributions to the development of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). As Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), he also played major part in developing many missiles of India including Agni and Prithvi. He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period, led by him.

Achievements

He has received honorary doctorates from as many as thirty universities. The Government of India has honoured him with the nation's highest civilian honours: the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997.

Kalam is the Fourth President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other three being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan ,V. V. Giri and Zakir Hussain. He is also the first scientist and first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Referred to as the "People's President", Kalam is often considered amongst India's greatest presidents, going on to win a poll conducted by news channel CNN-IBN for India's Best President.

Dr. Kalam received an honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University.

ABDUS SALAM

Birth and Early Life

Abdus Salam (January 29, 1926; Jhang Punjab – November 21, 1996; Oxford, England) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work in Electro-Weak Theory. Salam, Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg shared the prize for this discovery. Salam holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani Nobel Laureate, and is the first Muslim Nobel Laureate in science. The validity of the theory was ascertained through experiments carried out at the Super Proton Synchrotron facility at CERN in Geneva, particularly, through the discovery of the W and Z Bosons.

Salam's father was an official in the Department of Education in a poor farming district. His family has a long tradition of piety and learning.

At the age of just fourteen, Salam scored the highest marks ever recorded for the Matriculation Examination at the University of the Punjab. He won a scholarship to the Government College, University of the Punjab, in Lahore. As a fourth-year student there, he published his work on Srinivasa Ramanujan. He took his master's degree at the Government College in 1946. That same year, he was awarded a scholarship to St. John's College, Cambridge University, where he took a BA degree with Double First-Class Honours in Mathematics and Physics in 1949. In 1950, he received the Smith's Prize from Cambridge University for the most outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to Physics.

He obtained a PhD degree in Theoretical Physics at Cambridge. His doctoral thesis contained fundamental work in Quantum Electrodynamics. By the time it was published in 1951, it had already gained him an international reputation and the Adams Prize.

Career

Abdus Salam was a devout Muslim, and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, who saw his religion as integral to his scientific work. He once wrote: "The Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah's created laws of nature; however, that our generation has been privileged to glimpse a part of His design is a bounty and a grace for which I render thanks with a humble heart."

During his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Physics, Salam quoted the following verses from the Quran:

“Thou seest not, in the creation of the All-merciful any imperfection, Return thy gaze, seest thou any fissure. Then Return thy gaze, again and again. Thy gaze, Comes back to thee dazzled, aweary.”

He then said:

“This, in effect, is the faith of all physicists; the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement for our gaze.”

In 1974, when the Pakistan National Assembly declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims, he left Pakistan for London in protest.

He returned to the Government College, Lahore as a Professor of Mathematics from 1951 to 1954 and then went back to Cambridge as a lecturer in mathematics.

During the early 1960s Salam played a very significant role in establishing the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) - the atomic research agency of Pakistan - and Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) - the space research agency of Pakistan, of which he was the founding director. He was also instrumental in setting up five Superior Science colleges throughout Pakistan to further the progress in science in the country. He was founder and Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy from 1964 to December 1993. (The Centre has since been renamed, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics). Salam was a firm believer that "scientific thought is the common heritage of mankind," and that developing nations needed to help themselves and invest into their own scientists to boost development and reduce the gap between the Global South and the Global North, thus contributing to a more peaceful world. Salam also founded the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and was a leading figure in the creation of a number of international centres dedicated to the advancement of science and technology.

In 1956 he was invited to take a chair at Imperial College, London, where he and Paul Matthews created a lively theoretical physics group. He remained a professor at Imperial until his retirement. In 1964, he founded the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste in the North-East of Italy. In 1959, he became the youngest Fellow of the Royal Society (at that time) at the age of 33. In 1998, the Government of Pakistan issued a stamp carrying his portrait as part of a series of stamps entitled "Scientists of Pakistan."

Salam returned to Pakistan in 1951 to teach Mathematics at the Government College, Lahore. In 1952, he became the Head of the Mathematics Department of the Punjab University. In 1954, Salam went for a lectureship at Cambridge, although he visited Pakistan from time to time as an adviser on science policy to the Government of Pakistan. His work for Pakistan was far-reaching and influential. He was a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan, Founder Chairman of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of Pakistan from 1961 to 1974.

From 1957 onwards, he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London. From 1964 onwards, has combined this position with that of Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, a research institution in Trieste, Italy.

Salam had a prolific research career in theoretical elementary particle physics. He either pioneered or was associated with all the important developments in this field. He also served on a number of United Nations committees concerning science and technology in developing countries.

 Achievements

Salam's primary focus was research on the physics of elementary particles. His particular contributions included:

• two-component neutrino theory and the prediction of the inevitable parity violation in weak interaction;
• gauge unification of weak and electromagnetic interactions, the unified force is called the "Electroweak" force, a name given to it by Salam, and which forms the basis of the Standard Model in particle physics;
• predicted existence of weak neutral currents and W particles and Z particles before their experimental discovery;
• symmetry properties of elementary particles; unitary symmetry;
• renormalization of meson theories;
• gravity theory and its role in particle physics; two tensor theory of gravity and strong interaction physics;
• unification of electroweak with strong nuclear forces, grand unification theory;
• related prediction of proton-decay;
• Pati-Salam model, a grand unification theory;
• Supersymmetry theory, in particular formulation of Superspace and formalism of superfields in 1974;
• the theory of supermanifolds, as a geometrical framework for understanding supersymmetry, in 1974;
• Supergeometry, the geometric basis for supersymmetry, in 1974;
• application of the Higgs mechanism to the electroweak symmetry breaking;
• prediction of the magnetic photon in 1966;

Salam died at the age of 70 on 21st November 1996 in Oxford, England after a long illness. His body was brought to Pakistan and was taken to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community headquarters of the city of Rabwah. His body was kept in Darul Ziafat, where 13,000 men and women took a last glimpse of his face. Some 30,000 people attended the funeral prayers of the scientist.

Salam was buried without official protocol in the graveyard Bahishti Maqbara in Rabwah next to his parents' graves. The epitaph on his tomb initially read "First Muslim Nobel Laureate" but, because of Salam's adherence to the Ahmadiyya sect, the word "Muslim" was later erased on the orders of a local magistrate, leaving the non-sensical "First Nobel Laureate".

FAZLUR KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Fazlur Rahman Khan hails from the village of Bhandarikandi in Shibchar Upazila, Madaripur District, Dhaka Division. He was born on 3 April 1929, in Dhaka. His father, Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan, was a renowned educationist and high government official in the education department.

Khan completed his undergraduate coursework at the Bengal Engineering College, University of Calcutta (Now Bengal Engineering & Science University, Shibpur). He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dhaka in 1951 while placing first in his class. A Fulbright Scholarship and a Pakistani government scholarship enabled him to travel to the United States in 1952 where he pursued advanced studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In three years Khan earned two Master's degrees — one in structural engineering and one in theoretical and applied mechanics — and a PhD in structural engineering.

In 1955, employed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, he began working in Chicago, Illinois.

One of the foremost structural engineers of the 20th century, Fazlur Khan epitomized both structural engineering achievement and creative collaborative effort between architect and engineer. He believed that "only when architectural design is grounded in structural realities — thus celebrating architecture's nature as a constructive art, rooted in the earth — can the resulting aesthetics … have a transcendental value and quality."

As a boy, Khan's father instilled in him the importance of an education, not only early education but a continued education. For this reason, Khan went to undergraduate school and then graduate school. Although Khan was finished with school and now in the workforce, he still continued to learn. He taught himself how to program the new computer system which SOM purchased in 1961. He then taught his colleagues how to use the new programs.

Khan realized the value of his education and encouraged his daughter Yasmin along a similar path. However, he did not push her into structural engineering, she found her passion for this on her own. Her experiences with her father influenced her education and her work. Yasmin later wrote many articles and books including Engineering Architecture: The Vision of Fazlur R. Khan, a tribute to her father.

Career

Dr. Fazlur Khan's design innovations improved the construction of high-rise buildings, enabling them to withstand enormous forces generated on these super structures. These new designs opened an economic door for contractors, engineers, architects, and investors, providing vast amounts of real estate space on minimal plots of land.

He is noted for his efficient designs for Chicago’s 100-story John Hancock Center and 110-story Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world in its time and still the tallest in the United States since its completion in 1974. He is also responsible for designing notable buildings in Bangladesh.

Khan's central innovation in skyscraper design and construction was the idea of the "tube" and "bundled tube" structural systems for tall buildings. Afteer 1965, this new structural system of framed tubes was influential in skyscraper design and construction. Khan defined the framed tube structure as "a three dimensional space structure composed of three, four, or possibly more frames, braced frames, or shear walls, joined at or near their edges to form a vertical tube-like structural system capable of resisting lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation." Closely spaced interconnected exterior columns form the tube. Horizontal loads, for example wind, are supported by the structure as a whole. About half the exterior surface is available for windows. Framed tubes allow fewer interior columns, and so create more usable floor space. Where larger openings like garage doors are required, the tube frame must be interrupted, with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity. The first building to apply the tube-frame construction was in the DeWitt-Chestnut apartment building which Khan designed in Chicago. This laid the foundations for the tube structures used in most later skyscrapers, as can been seen in the construction of the World Trade Center.

Another innovation that Khan developed was the concept of X-bracing. This concept reduced the lateral load on the building by transferring the load into the exterior columns. This allows for a reduced need for interior columns thus creating more floor space. This concept can be seen in the John Hancock Center, built in 1969 One of the most famous buildings of the structural expressionist style, the skyscraper's distinctive X-bracing exterior is actually a hint that the structure's skin is indeed part of its 'tubular system'. This idea is one of the architectural techniques the building used to climb to record heights (the tubular system is essentially the spine that helps the building stand upright during wind and earthquake loads). This X-bracing allows for both higher performance from tall structures and the ability to open up the inside floorplan (and usable floor space) if the architect desires. Original features such as the skin, pioneered by Fazlur Khan, have made the John Hancock Center an architectural icon.

The first sky lobby was also designed by Khan for the John Hancock Center. Later buildings with sky lobbies include the World Trade Center, Petronas Twin Towers and Taipei 101. The 44th-floor sky lobby of the John Hancock Center also features the first high-rise indoor swimming pool, which remains the highest in America.

Achievements

• In 1961, was made a Participating Associate in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; in 1966 he became an Associate Partner and in 1970 a General Partner - the only engineer partner at the time.
• Received an Alumni Honor Dada from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1972), an Honorary Doctor of Science from Northwestern University (1973), and an Honorary Doctor of Engineering from Lehigh University (1980).
• In 1973, elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
• He was cited five times among 'Men Who Served the Best Interests of the Construction Industry' by Engineering News-Record (for 1965, 1968, 1970, 1971, and 1979); and in 1972 he was named 'Construction's Man of the Year'. He was posthumously honored with the International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering and a Distinguished Service Award from the AIA Chicago Chapter (both in 1982).
• In 1983 the American Institute of Architects recognized Fazlur Khan's contributions with an AIA Institute Honor for Distinguished Achievement. The same year he was honored with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture "for the Structure of the Hajj Terminal, An Outstanding Contribution to Architecture for Muslims," which was completed over the last years of his life.
• He was honored posthumously by the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois with the John Parmer Award in 1987 and with the commissioning of a sculpture by the Spanish artist Carlos Marinas, which is located in the lobby of the Sears Tower.
• In 1998 the city of Chicago named the intersection of Jackson and Franklin Streets (at the foot of the Sears Tower) “Fazlur R. Khan Way.”
• Made contributions in creating public opinion and amassing emergency fund for the people of Bangladesh during its War of Liberation. The Government of Bangladesh posthumously awarded him Independence Day Medal 1999 in recognition of his contributions, and a commemorative postal stamp was published in his memory.
• He was honored posthumously by The Bangladeshi-American Foundation, Inc. (BAFI) in May 2005 as the most famous Bangladeshi-American of 20th Century.

• Among Khan's other accomplishments, he received the Wason Medal (1971) and Alfred Lindau Award (1973) from the American Concrete Institute (ACI); the Thomas Middlebrooks Award (1972) and the Ernest Howard Award (1977) from ASCE; the Kimbrough Medal (1973) from the American Institute of Steel Construction; the Oscar Faber medal (1973) from the Institution of Structural Engineers, London; the AIA Institute Honor for Distinguished Achievement (1983) from the American Institute of Architects; and the John Parmer Award (1987) from Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (Engineering Legends, Richard Weingardt).

SALIMUZZAMAN SIDDIQUI

Birth and Early Life

Prof Dr Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (19 October 1897 - 14 April 1994) was a leading Pakistani scientist in natural products chemistry. He is credited for pioneering the isolation of unique chemical compounds from the Neem (Azadirachta indica), Rauwolfia, and various other flora. As the founder director of H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, he revolutionised the research on pharmacology of various domestic plants found in South Asia to extract novel chemical substances of medicinal importance. In addition to his scientific talents, Siddiqui was also a painter, a poet, and a great connoisseur of music. His paintings were exhibited in Germany, India, and Pakistan.

Siddiqui was born in Subeha (Barabanki District) near Lucknow on 19 October 1897. He received his early education from Lucknow, both in the Urdu and Persian languages, and soon developed interest in literature, poetry, and calligraphy from his father Sheikh Muhammad Zaman. After completing his matriculation, he joined the Calcutta School of Arts, and became a pupil of Rabindranath Tagore, the founder of the famous Bengal School of painting. He graduated in Philosophy and Persian language, from M.A.O College (that would later become Aligarh University) in 1919.

In 1920, Siddiqui proceeded to University College London to read medicine. However, after one year of pre-medical studies, he moved to Frankfurt University in 1921 to read chemistry. In 1924, he married his German classmate, Ethel Wilhelmina Schneeman. He received Doctor of Philosophy under the supervision of Prof Julius Von Bram in 1927.

On his return, he established the Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbi Research Institute at the Tibbia College Delhi, under the guidance of Hakim Ajmal Khan. He was appointed its first Director. However, soon after the death of Hakim Ajmal Khan, Siddiqui left the post. In 1940, he joined Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research where he worked until 1951 when he migrated to Pakistan on the request of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan.

Career

Siddiqui's first breakthrough in research came when he successfully isolated an antiarrhythmic agent in 1931 from the roots of Rauwolfia serpentina. He named the newly discovered chemical compound as Ajmaline, after his mentor Hakim Ajmal Khan who was one of the illustrious practitioners of Unani system of medicine in South Asia. Later on, Siddiqui also extracted other alkaloids from Rauwolfia serpentina that included Ajmalinine, Ajmalicine (C₂₁H₂₄N₂O₃), Isoajmaline, Neoajmaline, Serpentine and Serpentinine. Many of these are still used worldwide for treatment of mental disorders and cardiovascular ailments, especially as antiarrhythmic agents in Brugada syndrome.

Discoveries from Neem

Siddiqui was the first scientist to bring the anthelmintic, antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral constituents of the Neem tree to the attention of natural products chemists. In 1942, he extracted three bitter compounds from neem oil, which he named as nimbin, nimbinin, and nimbidin respectively. The process involved extracting the water insoluble components with ether, petrol ether, ethyl acetate and dilute alcohol. The provisional naming was nimbin (sulphur-free crystalline product with melting point at 205 °C, empirical composition C₇H₁₀O₂), nimbinin (with similar principle, melting at 192 °C), and nimbidin (cream-coloured containing amorphous sulphur, melting at 90–100 °C). Siddiqui identified nimbidin as the main active anti-bacterial ingredient, and the highest yielding bitter component in the neem oil. These compounds are stable and found in substantial quantities in the Neem. They also serve as natural insecticides.

In acknowledgement of these revolutionary discoveries, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1946.

In his later career, Siddiqui continued to discover and isolate numerous unique anti-bacterial compounds from various parts (leaves, bark, etc.) of the Neem and other plants. He had more than 50 chemical compounds patented in his name in addition to those discovered as a result of his joint research with other colleagues and students. Most of these discoveries still remain vital natural ingredients of various medicines as well as biopesticides.

Research leadership

After the emergence of Pakistan in 1947, Siddiqui was entrusted by the Government of Pakistan in 1951 to organise scientific research activities. In 1953, he founded the Pakistan Academy of Sciences as a non-political think tank of distinguished scientists in the country. During the same year, he also established the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) in Karachi. The aim of PCSIR was to support the industrial infrastructure through research and development. The regional laboratories of the institution were located in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chittagong (East Pakistan), and in Lahore and Peshawar (West Pakistan). In recognition of his scientific leadership, Frankfurt University granted him the degree of D.Med. Honoris causa in 1958. Also in 1958, the Government of Pakistan awarded him with Tamgha-e-Pakistan. In 1960, he became the President of Pan-Indian Ocean Science Association. The next year, in 1961, Siddiqui was made Fellow of the Royal Society, following which he was given the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for distinguished merit in the fields of science and medicine, in 1962. Siddiqui remained the director and chairman of PCSIR until the time of his retirement in 1966. In that year, the President of Pakistan awarded him the Pride of Performance Medal for the respectable completion of his service.

In 1967, Siddiqui was invited by University of Karachi to set up a Postgraduate Institute of Chemistry in affiliation with the Department of Chemistry. He was designated as the institute's Founder Director, whereas the additional research staff was provided by PCSIR. In 1976, the institute was offered a generous donation from Hussain Jamal Foundation, as a result of which it was renamed as Hussain Ebrahim Jamal Research Institute of Chemistry. In due time, Siddiqui transformed the institute into a distinguished centre of international excellence in the field of chemistry and natural products. In March 1975, he headed the National Commission for Indigenous Medicines His tireless efforts for the promotion of science and technology earned him Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan in 1980. In 1983, he played a major role in the establishment of the Third World Academy of Sciences and became its Founding Fellow. He remained the director of the Hussain Ebrahim Jamal Research Institute of Chemistry until 1990. Later on, he continued research in his personal laboratory.

Siddiqui died on 14 April 1994 due to cardiac arrest after a brief illness in Karachi. He was buried in the Karachi University Graveyard. Despite his death, the academic and research institutes that he founded during more than 65 years of his research career are still contributing to the international level research in natural products chemistry.

Achievements

Siddiqui was a founder-member of the Indian and Pakistan Academies of Sciences, and later a founder member of the international body the Third World Academy of Sciences. The following are the honours he received, in reverse chronological order:

• Gold medal of the Soviet Academy of Sciences
• Hilal-e-Imtiaz, 1980
• President of Pakistan's Pride of Performance Medal, 1966
• Sitara-e-Imtiaz, 1962
• Fellow of the Royal Society, 1961
• President, Pan-Indian Ocean Science Association, 1960
• Tamgha-e-Pakistan, 1958
• D. Med. Honoris causa from the Frankfurt University, 1958
• Foundation Fellow, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, 1953
• MBE in 1946.

SCHOLARS

AZIZUL HAQUE

Birth and Early Life

Azizul Haque (also Azizul Hacque, Khan Bahadur Qazi Azizul Huq) was a Kolkata (Calcutta) police officer of British India who worked with Edward Henry to develop the Henry Classification System of fingerprints. Haque, reportedly, provided the mathematical basis for the system. His parents reportedly died in a boat accident when he was young. According to family history, Haque left his family home at age 12, as a result of "altercation" with his older brother, and went to Kolkata, where he befriended a family who became "impressed" with his mathematical skills and arranged for him to get a formal education. According to Dr. Colin Beavan, "Haque studied math and science at Presidency College in Calcutta. Edward Henry wrote to the college principal asking for the recommendation of a strong statistics student, and the principal nominated Haque." Henry subsequently recruited Haque as a police sub-inspector to work on the fingerprint project, and thus Haque began his career in Bengal Police Service, and he subsequently opted to join the Bihar Police Service, when Bihar was separated from the Bengal Presidency. Upon retirement from service, he settled in Motihari in Bihar province of India, where he died and was buried there. He had eight surviving children. His wife, and the children and their families migrated to Pakistan during partition of India, and presently their descendants are settled in Bangladesh, Pakistan, England, and North America.

Career

Haque was recruited by Edward Henry to work on the fingerprint project as part of the Calcutta Police service of British India. According to Colin Beavan , Haque studied math and science at Presidency College, Kolkata. "In 1892, Edward Henry wrote to the college principal asking for the recommendation of a strong statistics student, and the principal nominated Haque. Henry recruited Haque as a police sub-inspector, and initially gave him the responsibility for instituting the anthropometric system in Bengal.”

 Haque, in his attempt to apply the anthropometric system originally proposed by Francis Galton, got frustrated in terms of its practical application. He soon, according to Bevan, “began to work on a classification system of his own borrowing elements of Galton’s.” He devised a mathematical formula of sorting slips in 1024 pigeonholes in thirty-two columns and thirty-two rows based on fingerprint patterns. "Its use required no math and no measurements." Beavan further writes, "By 1897, Haque had collected 7000 fingerprint sets in his cabinet. His simple methods of further subclassification, which were easier to learn and less prone to error than Galton’s, meant that even a collection numbering in the hundreds of thousands could be divided into small groups of slips. As he predicted, his fingerprint sets, compared with anthropometric cards, were far less prone to error and could be classified and searched with much greater confidence. The registration of a convict or a search for his existing card took an hour under the anthropometric system, but only five minutes using Haque's classification of fingerprints." Bevan goes on to say, "Haque’s boss, Edward Henry, was overjoyed with Haque’s results, and Henry saw that they would reflect well on him and career. He asked the colonial government to convene a committee to evaluate the system for widespread use. The committee reported that fingerprints were superior to anthropometry”1. In simplicity of working; 2. In the cost of apparatus; 3. In the fact that all skilled work is transferred to a central or classification office; 4. In the rapidity with which the process can be worked; and 5. In the certainty or results." Fingerprints, in other words, were the new hero in criminal identification."

Years later, when Haque requested recognition and compensation from the British government for his contribution to fingerprint classification work, Henry did acknowledge publicly Haque’s contribution. He also did the same, when the issue of compensation for Bose came up later on. Recently, Sodhi and Kaur published an extensive research paper on the issue of the two Indian police officers' contributions to fingerprint development.

MAULANA TARIQ JAMIL

Birth and Early Life

Maulana Tariq Jamil (born 1953) is a well known Islamic scholar of the Hanafi school of thought from Pakistan. His native town is Tulambah near Mian Channu. His father was an agriculturist and was a respected person in his field and the local area.

Maulana Tariq Jamil was born and raised in Main Channu and is the son of a Feudal agriculturist, also referred to as Lord in Pakistan. In his childhood he lived a relatively modest life but religion was not a major part of his life and his family in particular. It wasn't until he persuaded his M.B.B.S in Lahore that his focus shifted towards Islam. After going through F.Sc in pre-medical (A-level equivalent) from Government College University Lahore, he took admission in King Edward Medical College in Lahore. He intended to do the M.B.B.S degree, but spiritual thought provoked him to gain Islamic education. Then he received his Islamic education from Jamia Arabia, Raiwind (near Lahore), Pakistan. He studied Quran, Hadith, Sharia, Tasawwuf, logic and Fiqh there.

Career

His leniency towards Islam grew during hostel life in Lahore and can mainly be credited to the group members of Tablighi Jamaat who he became friends with during his College life. During his stay at the King Edward Medical College in Lahore, he intensively studied Islam and soon after became a full time student in the studies of Islam. After graduating he devoted his life to the propagation of Islam.

He regularly delivers lectures and speeches encouraging people to follow Islamic values, principles & practices. He emphasizes non-political, non-violent, non-sectarian Islam. He has traveled extensively for this cause and has delivered thousands of lectures all over the world. In his Hunger for knowledge, he traveled intensively to numerous Islamic Countries and mastered his ability to fluently speak and understand Arabic. His charming appearance combined with a strong voice and ability to deliver religious lectures soon saw his rise to fame and within a matter of years he became one of the most profound speakers of Islam in Urdu language.

Since early 1990s he has repeatedly traveled to countries all around the world and almost every single lecture delivered by him would attract huge a number of crowd. In fact, in February Maulana Tariq Jamil was a speaker at an event that took place in Tongi, Bangladesh which attracted an estimate 3,000,000 people and is listed on the List of largest gatherings in history. "

Condemnation of terrorism & the war on Terror

Maulana Tariq Jamil has denounced the killing of innocent civilians and any act of terrorism and has on numerous occasions called for, upon all sides, to stop the violence and killing taking place in numerous Muslim Countries. He has been a fierce critic of the War on Terrorism and has warned that the effects of this war have been devastating for average citizens of their respected countries such as Iraq & Afghanistan.

In February 2008, an "Anti-terrorism Conference" organized by the seminary Darul Uloom in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, denounced all forms of terrorism, saying "Islam prohibits killing of innocent people," and "Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism." The conference also denounced widespread attempts to blame religious Muslims for terrorist incidents.

Due to his sermons and simple and modest lifestyle, Maulana Tariq Jamil commands respect from Muslims all over the world. He has a simple, eloquent and a distinctive style of explaining the purpose of human life and its creation and often uses scientific example to further strengthen his lectures. He has delivered his lectures in all types of the communities of the society with the attendees being doctors, engineers, professors, businessmen, landlords, government officials, TV/film artists, ministers and sport's celebrities. His untiring efforts brought real Islamic values in the lives of some of the greatest Pakistani Cricketing legends such as Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Salim Malik and Hammad Ahmed Abbassi. He has also been the main paradigm for Junaid Jamshed since his reversion towards Islam.

Tariq Jamil is the Khalifah (representative) of the late Mufti Yousuf Ludhianvi, who was was martyred in Karachi on Thursday (18 May 2000) while he was on his way back from the Fajr Salat.

Maulana Tariq Jamil has traveled extensively around the globe for the propagation of Islam. He has been to numerous Muslim and non-Muslim countries in the past two decades. He First visited the USA took place in the year 1993 and delivered a famous Lecture titled as "Dawt'a Tablig". In 1998 Maulana Tariq Jamil again came to USA and traveled to numerous states to deliver Sermons and meet with local Muslims. His most recent Visit to the USA was in January of 2001. He has also made multiple visits to many Western countries such as United Kingdom, South Africa, Denmark & etc.

GRAND AYATOLLAH MUHAMMAD HUSSAIN NAJAFI

Birth and Early Life

Muhammad Hussain was born in Jahanian Shah in district Sargodha (Punjab, Pakistan), in April 1932. He belongs to the Dhakku branch of Jat people. He had two paternal uncles, both of whom were Shia ulema: Maulana Imam Bakhsh was a religious teacher in Jahanian Shah, while Maulana Sohrab Ali Khan was a reputed alim of Uch Sharif. His father Rana Tajuddin was not an alim, but he had the wish of making his son a great alim. However, he died in 1944 when Muhammad Hussain was 12 years old, after which the family members persuaded the widow that Muhammad Hussain should look after the family lands, but she kept up the wish of her dead husband.

After secondary school education, he got admission in Madrasah Muhammadia in Jalalpur Nankiana, Sargodha, where one of his prominent teachers was Maulana Hussain Bakhsh Jarra. In 1947, he studied the courses of Dars-i-Nizami from Allama Muhammad Baqir Naqvi in Jhang. Allama Baqir had migrated from Iraq to spread Shia formal education in Pakistan. Since Allama Yar Shah, the most prominent disciple of Allama Muhammad Baqir, had moved from his ancestral city Alipur to Jalalpur, Muhammad Hussain moved to Jalalpur to complete Dars-i-Nizami for the next five years. In 1953, he passed the examination of Molvi Fazil from Punjab University, and moved to Najaf in 1954 for higher education.

Before going to Najaf for higher religious education, he was married to his maternal cousin in 1952. His teacher Allama Yar Shah had links with ulema of Najaf, and he wanted Muhammad Hussain to get married in a scholarly family of Najaf, but Muhammad Hussain declined this proposal due to cultural differences.  In 1954, his only son Muhammad Sibtain was born. At the age of five, he got seriously ill and died, as Muhammad Hussain did not have enough money for his treatment. (Muhammad Hussain used to spend his stipend money on household and buying books.)  After Sibtain's death, Ayatollah Najafi did not have children for next eleven years. He married the daughter of Haji Muhammad Shafi (Faisalabad) in 1970. He had three daughters from this marriage. His first wife died in 1996.

Career

After returning to Pakistan in 1960, Pir Fazal Shah (Parhezgar) asked him to become the principal of Dar-ul-Uloom Muhammadia, Sargodha, which he eagerly accepted.
In 1971, due to increased involvement in majalis and Shia political movements it became impossible for him to run the affairs of Dar-ul-Uloom Muhammadia, therefore he stepped down from this post.

In 1963, the principals of Shia madrasahs from all over Pakistan gathered in Karbala Gamey Shah, Lahore, and founded Tanzeeme Madarise Arabia Shia Pakistan (Organization of Shia Madrasahs of Pakistan). Ayatollah Najafi was elected its president.
In 1965, a high-level organization of Shia ulema Mautamar Ulemae Shia Pakistan (Conference of Shia Ulema of Pakistan) was formed with Ayatollah Najafi as its president and Mufti Jafar Hussain as its patron. Other members included Allama Gulab Ali Shah, Allama Akhtar Abbas, Allama Hussain Bakhsh Jarra, Hafiz Saifullah Jafari, Allama Safdar Hussain Najafi, Mufti Inayat Ali Shah, Allama Muhib Hussain, Allama Riaz Hussain Najafi and Allama Ghulam Hassan Jarra.

Participation in Shia Politics

In 1964, Ayatollah Muhammad Hussain Najafi played a pivotal role in gathering about 250 Shia ulema and leaders in Imam Bargah Rizvia, Karachi, where "Shia Mutalbat Committee" was formed with Syed Muhammad Dehlavi as its president.
In 1978, after Zia ul Haq's announcement of promulgating Hanafi fiqh, Shia ulema and leaders gathered in Bhakkar and founded Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafaria (later called Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan) with Mufti Jafar Hussain as its president. Ayatollah Najafi was a part of this organization's supreme council. After Mufti Jafar's demise, it was upon Ayatollah Najafi's recommendation that Allama Arif Hussain Hussaini was elected the new president of the organization.

MUHAMMAD ZAKARIYA AL-KANDAHLAWI

Birth and Early Life

Muhammad Zakariyya ibn Muhammad Yahya ibn Muhammad Ismail Kandhlawi was born in the town of Kandhla, in the district of Muzaffarnagar on Thursday, 11th of Ramadan, 1315 AH at eleven o'clock. His lineage stretches back over several centuries to Abu Bakr. Seven days after Hadhrat's birth, his father, Hadhrat Shaykh Maulana Muhammad Yahya Kandhlawi, came to Kandhla. Standing at the door of the house, he expressed his wish to have a look at the newborn baby. The baby was sent to him. He had brought along a barber, who shaved off the baby's hair. He sent the hair inside with the message:

"I have attended to the hair. You can slaughter goats and give silver equal to the weight of the hair in sadaqah."

Hadhrat lived in Kandhla until he was two and a half years old. In around 1318 AH, he moved to Gangoh, where his father lived.

After reaching Gangoh, Hadhrat commenced his primary education under a pious doctor, Hakim Abdur Rahman. Qaidah Baghdadi was learnt under him. Thereafter, he commenced Hifz of the Qur'an under his father. Hadhrat was instructed to recite his daily Hifz lesson 100 times. After completing Hifz of the Qur'an, he studied various other kitabs viz. Bahishti Zewar and Persian and Urdu kitabs. Persian kitabs and preliminary Arabic kitabs were taught to him by his paternal uncle, Hadhrat Shaykh Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi. Only the primary textbooks of Nahw (Arabic grammar) were taught to him by his father.

In Rajab of 1328 AH, Hadhrat moved to Saharanpur, where his father had settled. In Saharanpur, he was taught a few primary Arabic textbooks by his father and advanced his study of Arabic, studying various classical texts on Arabic morphology, grammar, literature, and logic. His Ustads in the philosophical sciences were Maulana Abdul Lateef and Maulana Abdul Wahid Sambhali. In Saharanpur, hadith became the main focus of Hadhrat's studies.

By 1333 AH, Hadhrat was completing his final (Daura-e-Hadith) year. Besides Sunan ibn Maja, he studied all the hadith kitabs under his father. Since Sunan ibn Maja was being taught by Maulana Thabit Ali, Hadhrat studied it under him. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sunan at-Tirmidhi were pursued a second time under Hadhrat Shaykh Maulana Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri on his return from Hijaaz. Hadhrat expended great effort and concentration in his study of hadith. He observed two things rigidly: Never would he miss a lesson and never would he study without wudhu.

Career

On the 10th of Dhul Qa'da, 1334 AH, when Hadhrat was merely nineteen, his father died. After completing his academic studies, on the 1st of Muharram, 1335 Hijri, Hadhrat was appointed as a teacher at the primary level in Mazahirul Uloom. His monthly salary was fifteen rupees. Kitabs such as Usulush Shashi and Ilmus Sigha were assigned to him. These two kitabs were transferred to Hadhrat from senior teachers. Besides these, he taught another five kitabs: Miat-e-Aamil Manzoom, Sharh-e-Miak, Khulasah Nohmir, Nafhatul Yaman and Munyatul Musalli.

In the following year, he taught the following kitabs: Mirqaat, Quduri, Sharah Tahzib, Kaafiyah, Nurul Idah, Usulush Shashi, Sharah Jami, and Beheth fil Beheth Ism. In the same year, there was further promotion. Higher kitabs such as Maqaamat, Sab'ah Muallaqah, Mir Qutbu, and Kanzud Daqaaiq were assigned to Hadhrat.

In view of the commencement of writing the kitab, Bazlul Majhood, most lessons during 1337 AH were taught after hours. Thus, Hamaasah was taught after Isha and some other lessons after Asr.

In 1338 AH, Hadhrat accompanied his Shaikh, Hadhrat Shaykh Maulana Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri to Hijaaz. They returned in Muharram of 1339 AH. The search for the subject matter for Bazlul Majhood and recording it were the sole responsibility of Hadhrat. In consequence thereof, it became difficult to accomplish the prescribed syllabus assigned to him. Therefore, from Muharram of 1340 AH, he was released during the mornings from his teaching in order to devote this time to the writing of Bazlul Majhood.

In Rajab of 1341 AH, three paras of Sahih al-Bukhari were transferred from Maulana Abdul Lateef to Hadhrat. From Shawwaal of 1341 AH to Sha'baan of 1344 AH, teaching Mishkat al-Masabih was his responsibility.

In Shawwaal of 1344 AH, Hadhrat accompanied his Shaikh for Hajj. In Madina, he taught Sunan Abi Da'ud at Madrasatul Uloom Shari'ah for a year. While in Madina, he began working on Awjaz ul-Masalik ila Mu'atta Imam Malik. He was twenty-nine at the time. After spending a year in Hijaaz, he returned on the 18th of Safar, 1346 AH. On the very same day, Sunan Abi Da'ud was transferred from Maulana Abdul Lateef to Hadhrat. In this year, he also taught Sunan an-Nasa'i, Mu'atta Imam Muhammad, and from the twelfth to sixteenth para of Sahih al-Bukhari.

In 1346 AH, the authorities of the Madrasa resolved to assign Sahih al-Bukhari to Hadhrat because the administrative duties of the Madrasah's Nazim, Maulana Abdul Lateef, had multiplied considerably. This plan greatly saddened the Nazim because of the loss of his occupation of teaching hadith. Hadhrat's sensitive and honourable disposition perceived the adverse effect this plan had on Maulana Abdul Lateef. He therefore submitted an alternative plan to the Madrasa authorities. His plan envisaged that the beginning of Sahih al-Bukhari should be taught by the Nazim and, after Eid, the first volume of Sahih al-Bukhari should be taught by him (Hadhrat). The second volume should be taught by the Nazim after Maghrib. This plan was gladly accepted and the Nazim's displeasure dissipated.

The Madrasa had also assigned Sunan Abu Da'ud to Hadhrat. This remained until 1375 AH, on account of the Nazim's journey to Rangoon in 1373 AH. In 1374 AH, on account of the Nazim's prolonged indisposition, Sunan Abu Da'ud and both volumes of Sahih al-Bukhari were assigned to Hadhrat. When the Nazim passed away, Sunan Abu Da'ud was transferred to Maulana Muhammad Asadullah while Sahih al-Bukhari was assigned to Hadhrat. During this period, a very large number of students and others attended Hadhrat's classes in order to acquire the knowledge of hadith.

In all, Hadhrat taught the first volume of Sahih al-Bukhari twenty-five times, the complete Sahih al-Bukhari sixteen times, and Sunan Abu Da'ud thirty times. He did not simply teach hadith as a matter of routine. The work of hadith became his passion. Hadhrat taught until 1388 Hijri, when he started developing eye cataracts. As a result, he was compelled to terminate the auspicious occupation of his life.

Achievements

Hadhrat wrote works both in Arabic and Urdu. A number of them treat specialized subjects intended for scholars and the rest have been written for the general public. His works demonstrate his deep knowledge and intelligence, his ability to understand the issue at hand, research it thoroughly, and present a complete, clear, and comprehensive discussion, and his moderation, humility, patience, and attention to detail. His respect and awe for his pious predecessors are evident in his works, even when he disagrees with their opinions on any particular aspect.

His first written work was a three-volume commentary of the Alfiyya Ibn Malik on Arabic grammar, which he wrote as a student when he was only thirteen. His written works amount to over one hundred. He did not hold any rights to his works and made it publicly known that he only published his works for the sake of Allah's pleasure. Whoever wished to publish them was permitted to, on the condition that they were left unaltered and their accuracy maintained.

Hence, his works have gained overwhelming acceptance throughout the world, so much so that his work, Fadha'il-e-Qur'an has been translated into eleven languages, Fadha'il-e-Ramadan into twelve languages, and Fadha'il-e-Salaah into fifteen languages. He wrote four books on tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis) and tajwid (proper recitation), forty-four books on hadith and its related sciences, six books on fiqh and its related sciences, twenty-four historical and biographical books, four books on aqida] (Islamic creed), twelve books on zuhd (abstinence) and riqaq (heart-softening accounts), three books on Arabic grammar and logic, and six books on modern-day groups and movements.

Some of his most famous works are:

• Awjāz-ul-Masālik ilá' Mu'attā Imām Mālik: One of the most comprehensive commentaries on the Mu'atta of Imam Malik in terms of the science of hadith, jurisprudence, and hadith explication. Hadhrat provides the summaries of many other commentaries in a clear, intellectual, and scholarly way, dealing with the various opinions on each issue, mentioning the differences of opinions among the various scholars, and comparing their evidences. This commentary, written in Arabic, has won great acclaim from a number of Maliki scholars.
• Fadha'il-e-A'maal
• Lami' al-Dirari ala Jami' al-Bukhari: Written in Arabic, a collection of the unique remarks and observations on Sahih al-Bukhari presented by Hadhrat Shaykh Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. These life-long acquired wisdoms were recorded by his student, Hadhrat Shaykh Maulana Muhammad Yahya Kandhlawi (Hadhrat's father) during their lessons. Hadhrat edited, arranged, and commented on his father's compilation, clarifying the text and adding a comprehensive introduction at the beginning.
• Al-Abwab wal Tarajim lil Bukhari: An explanation of the chapter headings of Sahih al-Bukhari. Assigning chapter headings in a hadith collection is a science in itself, known among the scholars as Al-Abwab wal Tarajim (chapters and explanations). In it, the compiler explains the reasons for the chapter heading and the connections between the chapter headings and the hadiths quoted therein. It is well known that the commentators of Sahih al-Bukhari have paid special attention to the titles therein, in tune with the Arabic saying: "The fiqh of Sahih al-Bukhari is in the chapter headings" (Fiqh al-Bukhari fi tarajimihi). Hadhrat not only quotes and compiles what has been mentioned by other scholars, but also correlates and clarifies these opinions and presents findings from his own research in many instances.
• Juz Hajjat al-Wida wa Umrat al-Nabi: A comprehensive Arabic commentary on the detailed accounts of the Hajj of Prophet Muhammad. It includes the details of any juridical discussions on the various aspects of pilgrimage, stating the locations, modern-day names, and other details of the places the Messenger of Allah passed by or stayed at.
• Khasa'il Nabawi Sharh Shama'il al-Tirmidhi: Composed in Urdu, a commentary on Tirmidhi's renowned work, Al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya, a collection of ahadeeth detailing the characteristics of the Messenger of Allah. This commentary explains the various aspects related to the different characteristics and practices of Allah's Messenger. It has been translated into English and is widely available.

WAHEED AKHTAR

Birth and Early Life

Syed Waheed Akhtar a poet, literary critic and scholar was born on 12th of August, 1934, in the city of Aurangabad (Deccan) of erstwhile Hyderabad State of Nizam (present day Maharashtra), in a family which migrated from [Nasirabad]-Jais (Jais-birth place of poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi), boroughs of Sa'adat inhabitants in Raebareily (or Raebareli) district of Uttar Pradesh. His father's name was Syed Nazr-e Abbas, and mother's name was Syeda Aliya Begum. They had seven children. Waheed Akhtar was the second child, among six sons and one daughter. After spending his childhood in Aurangabad, and completing high school and intermediate, he went to Hyderabad, to enroll at Osmania University as a bachelor of art student. He was in Hyderabad for eight years until he completed his Ph. D. and got appointment as lecturer at Aligarh Muslim University. Years in Hyderabad were crucial for moulding his personality as a poet and writer. Although, after Police Action Hyderabad acceded to the Dominion of India, it was still a very strong feudal society, dominated by rich and elite. At the same time, lot of muslims who held positions of importance had become defeatist, thinking they had lost their voice and authority in the conditions prevalent at that time. Hyderabad was still, the only University in subcontinent to teach modern sciences including medicine and engineering in Urdu, which was the fruit of Allamah Shibli Nomani's hardwork. Waheed Akhtar was not the one to resign to defeat, nor overwhelmed by the times and existing system. He was a born fighter and he made his ideas and voice heard in his writings. He was independent minded, freedom loving man who was well aware of Political and Literary Movements of his times around the world. He wrote prolifically in Urdu from very early age. During his initial years he adopted the pen name "Barq".

He got married to Indo-Iranian lady Syeda Mahliqa Qarai in Hyderabad in the year 1962 and had four sons: Hasan, Husain, Haider (who died due to polio in the fifth month of his birth) and Mohsin. Mrs Mahliqa Qarai was killed in the USS Vincennes attack on Iran Air Flight 655 - an Iranian civilian airliner on Sunday, July 3, 1988, in the Persian Gulf during the 8-year Iraq-Iran war. After his wife's death he suffered 5 heart attacks and 3 cardiac arrests. Finally passed away on 13th of December in 1996 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi one year after his retirement at the age of 61.

His early education took place at Chelipura High School, a government school in Aurangabad. He was educated at Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and received his bachelor's degree in arts, and master's and Ph. D degrees in Philosophy. He was appointed lecturer of philosophy at Aligarh Muslim University and went on to settle in Aligarh for the rest of his life, where he retired in 1995.

He passed all examinations from Osmania University, Hyderabad in first division with distinction. He completed High Schoolin 1950; B.A. in 1954; M.A. (Philosophy) in 1956; Ph.D. in 1960 in Philosophy, on the thesis titled "Khwaja Mir Dard’s Contribution to Sufism."

Career

He was appointed Lecturer in General Education in 1960 at Aligarh Muslim University and Lecturer in Philosophy in 1962; became Reader in Humanities in 1970; Reader in Philosophy in 1975 and became Professor in 1979. He headed the Department of Philosophy at AMU from April 1987-1990 & 1992 till 1995 untill his retirement and also served the University as Dean Faculty of Arts from 1990-92.

Academic and Scholarly Contributions

(a) He specialized in Sufism, Existentialism, Aesthetics, Literary Criticism and Muslim Philosophy and Shi’ite Thought. More than two hundred articles, besides eight books in Urdu and English published.

(b) His research and creative work has been quoted and referred to by an number of scholars in Philosophy, Islamic Studies and Literature, such as Annemarie Schimmel, Dr. Abid Husain, Prof. Aale Ahmad Suroor, Prof. Ehtisham Husain, Prof. Majnoon Gorakhpuri, Ali Sardar Jafari, Prof. Muhi-al-din Qadri Zor, Prof. A.Q. Sarwari, Dr.Wazir Agha, Khalil-al-Rehman Azmi, Prof. Mumtaz Husain, Prof. Qamar Raees, Prof. Mohd. Hasan, Prof. G.C. Narang and many eminent literary critics.

(c) Large number researchers got Ph.D and M.Phil. degrees under his supervision, in the fields of Muslim Philosophy, Existentialism, Aesthetics and Social Philosophy.

Works

His published collections of poetry comprise mainly ghazals (Ghazal) and nazms (Nazm), but his mastery on other forms of poetry, like Marsia- elegy in the musaddas format; Qasida (Panegyric), [Hajv] (lampoon), Manqibat, Salaam, Rubai (quatrain)- is exemplary. He was one of the few to tread his own path independent of "tarraqipasand tehreek" (Progressive Writers' Movement) and questioned revolutionary ideals of the progressive movement, when most of the writers of subcontinent were looking towards communist Soviet Union for inspiration and guidance. He argued and predicted that a system which is devoid of individual, political and creative freedom is bound to fail. These ideas were penned down in late 1950s in 'Saba'- a literary Urdu journal edited and published by Sulaiman Areeb from Hyderabad. This article evoked a harsh criticism from none other than founder of the Progressive Writers' Movement, Sajjad Zaheer. Impact of the article was such that controversy raged for years in the literary journals of the sub-continent. His following verses from one of his ghazal is a satire on that era.

Achievements

1960: Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy Award

1967: Ghalib Award of the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy – for the best Urdu Book

1972: Uttar Pradesh & Andhra Pradesh Urdu Academy Awards on Khwaja Mir Dard’s Sufi Doctrines and Poetry.

1973: Uttar Pradesh & Andhra Pradesh Urdu Academy Awards, on Philosophy and Literary Criticism

1974: Uttar Pradesh & Andhra Pradesh Urdu Academy Awards

1983: 'Makhdoom Award'-the Highest National Award in India for Literary Criticism in Urdu by Andhra Pradesh Urdu Academy Hyderabad

SOCIAL REFORMERS

AKHTAR HAMEED KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Khan was born on 15 July 1914 in Agra. He was among the four sons (Akhtar Hameed, Akhtar Ahmed, Akhtar Mahmud and Akhtar Hamid Khan) and three daughters of Khan Sahib Amir Ahmed Khan and Mehmoodah Begum. His father, a police inspector, was inspired by the reformist thinking of Syed Ahmed Khan. In his early age, Khan's mother introduced him to the poetry of Maulana Hali and Muhammad Iqbal, the sermons of Abul Kalam Azad, and the Sufist philosophy of Rumi. This upbringing influenced his interest in historical as well as contemporary social, economic, and political affairs.

Khan attended Government High School at Jalam (Uttar Pradesh), and completed his education in 1930 at Agra College where he studied English literature and history. He read English literature, history, and philosophy for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Meerut College in 1932. At that point, his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She died in the same year at the age of 36. Khan continued his studies and was awarded a Master of Arts in English Literature from Agra University in 1934.

Career

He worked as a lecturer at Meerut College before joining the Indian Civil Service (ICS) in 1936. As part of the ICS training, he was sent to read literature and history at Magdalene College, Cambridge, England. During the stay, he developed close friendship with Choudhary Rahmat Ali.

Khan married Hameedah Begum (the eldest daughter of Allama Mashriqi) in 1940. Together, they had three daughters (Mariam, Amina, and Rasheeda) and a son (Akbar). After Hameedah Begum's death in 1966, he married Shafiq Khan and had one daughter, Ayesha. During his ICS career, Khan worked as collector of revenue, a position that brought him into regular contact with living conditions in rural areas of East Bengal. The Bengal famine of 1943 and subsequent inadequate handling of the situation by the colonial rulers led him to resign from the Indian Civil Service in 1945. He wrote, "I realised that if I did not escape while I was young and vigorous, I will forever remain in the trap, and terminate as a bureaucratic big wig." During this period, he was influenced by the philosophy of Nietzche and Mashriqi, and joined the Khaksar Movement. This attachment was brief. He quit the movement and turned to Sufism. According to Khan, "I had a profound personal concern; I wanted to live a life free from fear and anxiety, a calm and serene life, without turmoil and conflict. [...] when I followed the advice of old Sufis and sages, and tried to curb my greed, my pride and aggression, fears, anxieties and conflict diminished."

For the next two years, Khan worked in Mamoola village near Aligarh as a labourer and locksmith, an experience that provided him with firsthand knowledge of the problems and issues of rural communities. In 1947, he took up a teaching position at the Jamia Millia, Delhi, where he worked for three years. In 1950, Khan migrated from India to West Pakistan to teach at Islamia College, Karachi. In the same year, he was invited by the Government of Pakistan to take charge as Principal of Comilla Victoria College in East Pakistan, a position he held until 1958. During this time (1950–58) he also served as President of the East Pakistan Non-Government Teachers' Association.

Rural development initiatives

During his tenure as principal of Comilla Victoria College, Khan developed a special interest in grassroots actions. Between 1954 and 1955, he took a break to work as director of the Village Agricultural and Industrial (V-AID) Programme. However, he was not satisfied with the development approach adopted in the programme that was limited to the training of villagers. In 1958, he went to Michigan State University to acquire education and training in rural development. Returning in 1959, he established the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (PARD) at Comilla on 27 May 1959 and was appointed as its founding director. He also laid foundations for the Comilla Cooperative Pilot Project in 1959. In 1963, he received a Ramon Magsaysay Award from the Government of the Philippines for his services in rural development. Khan became Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of PARD in 1964, and in the same year, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law by Michigan State University. In 1969, he delivered a series of lectures at Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, based on his experience with rural cooperatives. During the visit, he established collaborative links with Arthur Lewis.

On his return to East Pakistan, Khan remained attached to the Comilla Project until the Partition of Pakistan, when East Pakistan became Bangladesh. Eventually, Khan moved to West Pakistan. PARD was renamed as Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD).

Advisory roles

Following his move to Pakistan, Khan was asked to implement the Comilla Model in rural settlements of NWFP, Punjab, and Sindh. He declined the offer on the grounds that the proposals were predominantly motivated by political interests rather than the common well-being. However, he continued to advise the authorities on various aspects of rural development, such as participatory irrigation management. He worked as a research fellow at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad from 1971 to 1972, and as Director of Rural Economics Research Project at Karachi University from 1972 to 1973. Khan went to Michigan State University as a visiting professor in 1973 and remained there until 1979. During this time, he carried on advising the Rural Development Academy at Bogra in northern Bangladesh, and the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, Peshawar, on the Daudzai Integrated Rural Development Programme. He also travelled extensively during this period in the capacities of speaker, advisor, or consultant on rural development programmes across the world. In 1974, he was appointed as a World Bank consultant to survey rural development situations in Java, Indonesia. He also briefly worked as a visiting professor at Lund University, Harvard University, and Oxford University.

In 1980, Khan moved to Karachi and started working on the improvement of sanitary conditions in Karachi suburbs. He laid the foundations of the Orangi Pilot Project for the largest squatter community of Orangi in the city. He remained associated with this project until his death in 1999. Meanwhile, he maintained his support for rural communities around Karachi, and also helped to develop the Aga Khan Rural Support programme. OPP became a model for participatory bottom-up development initiatives.

Major development projects

The Comilla Model (1959) was Khan's initiative in response to the failure of a Village Agricultural and Industrial Development (V-AID) programme that was launched in 1953 in East and West Pakistan with technical assistance from the US government. V-AID remained a government-level attempt to promote citizen participation in the sphere of rural development. Khan launched the project in 1959 on his return from Michigan, and developed a methodology of implementation in the areas of agricultural and rural development on the principle of grassroots-level participation. Initially, the aim was to provide a development model of programmes and institutions that could be replicated across the country. Advisory support in this respect was provided by experts from Harvard and Michigan State Universities, the Ford Foundation, and USAID. Practical help was also sought from Japan to improve the local farming techniques.

Comilla Model simultaneously addressed the problems that were caused by the inadequacy of both local infrastructure and institutions through a range of integrated programmes.  The initiatives included the establishment of: a training and development centre; a road-drainage embankment works programme; a decentralised, small scale irrigation programme; and, a two-tiered cooperative system with primary cooperatives operating in the villages, and federations operating at sub-district level.

After Khan's departure from Comilla, the cooperative's model failed in independent Bangladesh because only a few occupational groups managed to achieve the desired success. By 1979, only 61 of the 400 cooperatives were functioning. The model actually fell prey to the ineffective internal and external controls, stagnation, and diversion of funds. This prompted the subsequent scholars and practitioners in microfinance, such as Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank and Fazle Hasan Abed of BRAC, to abandon the cooperative approach in favour of more centralised control and service delivery structures. The new strategy targeted the poorest villagers, while excluding the 'less poor'.  However, Khan's leadership skills during the course of his association with the project remained a source of inspiration for these leaders.

Orangi Pilot Project

The Orangi poverty alleviation project (known as the Orangi Pilot Project, or OPP) was initiated by Khan as an NGO in 1980. Orangi is located on the northwest periphery of Karachi. At that time, it was the largest of the city's approximately 650 low-income squatter settlements (known as katchi abadi). The locality was first developed in 1963 as a government township of 5 square kilometres (1,236 acres). The influx of migrants after the creation of Bangladesh, swelled the settlement to about one million people crowded over an area of more than 32 square kilometres (7,907 acres). The working class multi-ethnic population was predominantly composed of day labourers, skilled workers, artisans, small shopkeepers, peddlers and low-income white collar workers. The project proved an impetus to the socio-economic development of the population of the area. As the project director, Khan proved to be a dynamic and innovative leader. The project initially focused on creating a system of underground sewers, using local materials and labour, and succeeded in laying hundreds of kilometres of drainage pipes along with auxiliary facilities. Within a decade of the initiative, local residents had established schools, health clinics, women’s work centres, cooperative stores and a credit organisation to finance enterprise projects. By 1993, OPP had managed to provide low-cost sewers to more than 72,000 houses. The project subsequently diversified into a number of programmes, including a people's financed and managed low-cost sanitation programme; a housing programme; a basic health and family planning programme; a programme of supervised credit for small family enterprise units; an education programme; and a rural development programme in the nearby villages.

Comparing the OPP with Comilla project, Akhtar Hameed Khan once commented:

The Orangi Pilot Project was very different from the Comilla Academy. OPP was a private body, dependent for its small fixed budget on another NGO. The vast resources and support of the government, Harvard advisors, MSU, and Ford Foundation was missing. OPP possessed no authority, no sanctions. It may observe and investigate but it could only advise, not enforce.

The successful OPP model became an inspiration for other municipalities around the country. In 1999, Khan helped to create Lodhran Pilot Project (LPP) to collaborate with Lodhran municipal committee. Learning from past experiences, the project extended its scope to the whole town instead of concentrating on low-income settlements only. The municipal partnership was itself a new initiative that ensured wider civic cooperation.

Achievements

Khan received the following civil awards:

• Jinnah Award (Posthumous, 2004) for services to people as founder of the Orangi Pilot Project.
• Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Posthumous, 2001) for services to the community.
• Ramon Magsaysay Award (31 August 1963, Manila, Philippines) for services to rural development.
• Sitara-e-Pakistan (1961) for pioneering work in rural development.

ALLAMA MASHRIQI

Birth and Early Life

Allama Mashriqi (Inayatullah Khan) (born in Amritsar, 25 August 1888; died in Lahore, 27 August 1963) was an Islamic scholar and founder of the Khaksar movement.

Mashriqi was a noted intellectual who became a college Principal at the age of 25, and then became an Under Secretary, at the age of 29, in the Education Department of the Government of India. He wrote an exegesis of the Qur'an which was nominated for the 1925 Nobel Prize. He was offered an Ambassadorship to Afghanistan at age 32 and Knighthood at the age of 33 years, but he declined all honours.

He subsequently resigned government service and in 1930 founded the Khaksar Movement, aiming to advance the condition of the masses irrespective of any faith, sect, or religion. As its leader, he was imprisoned several times. Through his philosophical writings, he asserted that the Science of Religions was essentially the science of collective evolution of mankind.

Mashriqi was born into an eminent Muslim Rajput family in Amritsar on 25 August 1888. His father, Khan Ata Mohammad Khan, had inherited a large property from his father. His ancestors had held prominent positions during the Mughal Empire. Khan Ata was also well-connected with the Muslim luminaries of the time such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Jamal Ud Din Afgahani, Shibli Nomani, and Mirza Ghalib.

Khan Ata owned a bi-weekly publication, Vakil ("Lawyer"), published from Amritsar. Vakil discussed political issues with a Muslim focus. Shibli Nomani requested that Khan Ata let Abul Kalam Azad work at Vakil. Azad went on to work as an editor of Vakil. Mashriqi was thus raised in an intellectual Muslim environment. Khan Ata Mohammad Khan noticed the genius in his son and he guided him accordingly.

Mashriqi had a passion for mathematics from his childhood. He completed his Master's degree in Mathematics from the University of the Punjab at the age of 19 and broke all previous records. In October 1907 he went to Britain and matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, to read for the mathematics tripos. He was awarded a college foundation scholarship in May 1908. In June 1909 he was awarded first class honours in Mathematics Part I, being placed joint 27th out of 31 on the list of wranglers. For the next two years, he read for the oriental languages tripos in parallel to the natural sciences tripos, gaining first class honours in the former and third class in the latter.

After three years' residence at Cambridge he had qualified for his Bachelor of Arts degree, which he took in 1910. In 1912 he completed a fourth tripos in mechanical sciences, and was placed in the second class. He left Cambridge and returned to India in December 1912.. During his stay in Cambridge his religious and scientific conviction was inspired by the works and concepts of the professor Sir James Jeans.

Career

On his return to India, Mashriqi was offered the premiership of Alwar, a princely state, by the Raja. He declined owing to his interest in education. At the age of 25 he was appointed Vice Principal of Islamia College, Peshawar, by Chief Commissioner Sir George Roos-Keppel. He was made Principal of the same college in 1917. In Oct 1917 he was appointed Under Secretary to the Government of India in the Education Department in succession to Sir George Anderson (1876-1943). He became headmaster of the High School, Peshawar on 21 October 1919.

Aged 32, he was offered an ambassadorship to Afghanistan, which he decline. The following year, he was offered a British knighthood, which he also turned down. Mashriqi was among the youngest Indians to have been offered such positions.

In 1930 he was passed over for a promotion in the government service, following which he went on medical leave. In 1932 he resigned, taking his pension, and settled down in Ichhra, Lahore.

In 1924, at the age of 36, Mashriqi completed the first volume of his book, Tazkirah. It is a commentary on the Qur'an in the light of science. It was nominated by the Nobel Prize Committee in 1925, subject to the condition it was translated into one of the European languages. Mashriqi, however, declined the suggestion of translation.

Fellowships

Mashriqi's fellowships included:

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, 1923
• Fellow of the Geographical Society (F.G.S), Paris
• Fellow of Society of Arts (F.S.A), Paris
• Member of the Board at Delhi University
• President of the Mathematical Society, Islamia College, Peshawar
• Member of the International Congress of Orientalists (Leiden), 1930
• President of the All World's Faiths Conference, 1937

Mashriqi's philosophy

Mashriqi was interested in the conflict within various religions. Instead of getting disgusted with the conflict and discarding Religion, he tried to fathom the fallacy. To him, messengers from the same Creator could not have brought different and conflicting messages to the same creation. He could not conceive of a contradictory and conflicting state of affairs in the Universe, nor could he accept the conflict within various religions as real. Either Religion was a fraud and the prophets were impostors who misguided and disrupted mankind, or they were misprojected by their followers and misunderstood by the mankind.

He delved into the religious scriptures and arrived at the conclusion that all the prophets had brought the same message to man. He analysed the fundamentals of the Message and established that the teachings of all the prophets were closely linked with evolution of mankind as a single and united species in contrast to other ignorant and stagnant species of animals.

It was on this basis that he declared that the Science of Religions was essentially the science of collective evolution of mankind; all prophets came to unite mankind, not to disrupt it; the basic law of all faiths is the law of unification and consolidation of the entire humanity. According to Markus Daeschel, the philosophical ruminations of Mashriqi offer an opportunity to re-evaluate the meaning of colonial modernity and notion of post-colonial nation-building in modern times.

Mashriqi is often portrayed as a controversial figure, a religious activist, a revolutionary, and an anarchist; while at the same time he is described as a visionary, a reformer, a leader, and a scientist-philosopher who was born ahead of his time.

After Mashriqi resigned from government service, he laid the foundation of the Khaksar Tehreek (also known as Khaksar Movement) in 1930. He played a role in directing the Muslims towards the independence of British India. Mashriqi was repeatedly imprisoned, along with his family, and a large number of Khaksars. Mashriqi was opposed to the partition of India which he believed played into the hands of the British.

Imprisonments and allegations

Mashriqi was first imprisoned in 1939, by the Congress Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (now Uttar Pradesh) during his efforts in resolving the sectarian conflicts between Sunnis and Shias. In 1940, he was arrested during a clash between the police and the Khaksars. The newspapers reported it as the "battle of spades and guns". He was only freed from solitary confinement in 1942 after he fasted for 80 days.

On 20 July 1943, an assassination attempt was made on Muhammad Ali Jinnah by Rafiq Sabir who was assumed to be a Khaksar worker The attack was deplored by Mashriqi, who denied any involvement. Later, Justice Blagden of Bombay High Court, in his ruling on 4 November 1943 dismissed any association of Khaksars.

In Pakistan, Mashriqi was imprisoned at least five times: in 1950 prior to election; in 1958 for alleged complicity in the murder of republican leader Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan; and, in 1962 for suspicion on attempt to overthrow President Ayub's government. However, none of the charges were proved, and he was acquitted in each case.

In 1957 Mashriqi allegedly led 300,000 of his followers to the borders of Kashmir, intending, it is said, to launch a fight for its liberation. However, the Pakistan government persuaded the group to withdraw and the organisation was later disbanded.

Mashriqi became ill with cancer of the rectum  and died on August 27, 1963 in Lahore (Pakistan). Well over 100,000 people attended his funeral. Condolences were received from, among others, Ayub Khan and Khwaja Nazimuddin. Ayub Khan wrote that Mashriqi was “a great scholar and organiser who had given up a brilliant academic future to serve the people, as he thought right.”

Nazimuddin wrote that Mashriqi had been “a very interesting figure who took prominent part in the politics of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent”.

Mashriqi's works

Mashriqi's prominent works include:

• Armughan-i-Hakeem, a poetical work
• Dahulbab, a poetical work
• Isha’arat, the "Bible" of the Khaksar movement
• Khitab-e-Misr (The Egypt Address), based on his 1925 speech in Cairo as a delegate to the Motmar-e-Khilafat
• Maulvi Ka Ghalat Mazhab
• Tazkirah Volume I, 1924, discussions on conflicts between religions, between religion and science, and the need to resolve these conflicts
• Tazkirah Volume II. Posthumously published in 1964
• Tazkirah Volume III.

GHULAM AHMED PERVEZ

Birth and Early Life

Ghulam Ahmed Pervez was born in a Sunni (Hanafi) family of Batala, Dist. Gurdaspur, on the 9 July 1903. Batala, a town now in the Indian part of Punjab, was at that time a very prominent seat of Islamic learning, philosophy and culture where his grandfather Hakim Maulvi Raheem Bakhsh enjoyed the status of a celebrated scholar and eminent Sufi of the Chishtia Nizamia discipline of mysticism.

According to his own writings, from a very early age he possessed an inquisitive nature and never let any thought pass unquestioned. As he grew, he often questioned that if the Islamic beliefs and practices are true and correct, then why do these not produce the results the Qur'an promises?

Career

He joined the Central Secretariat of the Government of India in 1927 and worked in the Home Dept, Establishment Division. He is also supposed to have come in contact with Allama Muhammad Iqbal whom he became inspired of. In 1938 Parwez started publishing monthly Tolu-e-Islam where he propagated his interpretation of the Qur'an. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947 he worked the Central Government and was also a counselor to Muhammed Ali Jinnah. Pervez took pre-mature retirement as assistant secretary in 1955 to focus more on the religious work.

His work and research produced many books on Qur'anic teachings, the most well known of them being Lughat-ul-Qur'an in four volumes, Mafhoom-ul-Qur'an in three volumes, Tabweeb-ul-Qur'an in three volumes, Nizam-e-Rabubiyyat, Islam A Challenge to Religion, Insaan Ne Kiya Socha (History of Human Thought), Tasawwaf Ki Haqiqat, Saleem Ke Naam in three volumes, Tahira Ke Naam, Qur'ani Faislay in five volumes and Shahkar-e-Risalat (the biography of the second Caliph Hazrat Omar). He delivered many lectures on Iqbal’s viewpoint of implementing the Qur'anic injunctions, which were later compiled and published as a presentation on Iqbal’s philosophy under the title "Iqbal aur Qur'an".

He also gave weekly lectures on exposition of the Qur'an at Karachi which he continued (even after shifting to Lahore in 1958) till October 1984 when he was taken ill and expired subsequently on 24 February 1986. This was in addition to his lectures on the Qur'anic teachings to college and university students, scholars and general public at various occasions.

He organized a country-wide network of spreading his ideas of the Qur'anic teachings called Bazm-e-Tolu-e-Islam. Such organizations have now been formed in a number of foreign countries as well.

He left behind a widow and a brother (both now deceased) and a sister. He had no children. His works are being continued through Idara-Tolu-e-Islam, The Tolu-e-Islam Trust, The Qur'anic Research Centre, the Qur'anic Education Society, the Parwez Memorial Library and his audio and video recordings.

Parwez's legacy

Allama Ghulam Ahmed Parwez was one of the most controversial religious figures of the sub-continent in the last century. He alongside Sir Syed Ahmad Khan are accused by an overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars for bringing in heterodoxical freethinking in to the fold of Islam in the sub-continent. He had a critical view of the hadiths and for example denied the existence of jinns and angels in the traditional context and also had different views on the miracles described in the Qur'an.

For his openness towards full re-interpretation of all Qur'anic verses and his controverisal ideas many traditional Muslim ulema declared him a kafir (infidel).

The mainstream ulema argue that Islam has always been present in the world in the the form of the pious Muslims and that the Perwezi school of thought borders on the idea that the real spirit of Isalm got vanished and that it was rediscovered by the Allama.

He was very close to President General Ayub Khan the military ruler of Pakistan and was instrumental in the formulation of the Muslim Family Laws framed during the time. Some of his critics also accused him for not giving the credit to the research scholars he engaged to work on some of his publications.

Achievements

• Matalibul Furqaan (7 vol)
• Lughat-ul-Quran (4 vols.)
• Mafhoom-ul-Quran (3 vols)
• Tabweeb-ul-Quran (3 vols.)
• Nizam-e-Rabubiyyat
• Islam A Challenge to Religion (English version)
• Insaan Ne Kiya Socha (History of human thought)
• Islam kia he (second part of Insan ne kia socha)
• Tasawwaf Ki Haqiqat
• Saleem Ke Naam (3 vols.)
• Tahira Ke Naam
• Qurani Faislay (5 vols.)
• Meraj-e-Insaaniat (about Muhammad S.A.S)
• Barke toor (about Mosa)
• Joe noor (about Ibrahim)
• Shola e mastoor (about Esa)
• man(o) yazdan (about ALLAH in light of Holy Quran)
• Shahkar-e-Risalat (about Khalifa Omar)
• Iblis o Adam
• Jahane farda
• Mazahebe Alam ke Asmani kitaben

MUHAMMAD YUNUS

Birth and Early Life

Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. The third oldest of nine children, Yunus was born on 28 June 1940 to a Muslim family in the village of Bathua, by the Boxirhat Road in Hathazari, Chittagong, then in British India (now in Bangladesh). His father was Hazi Dula Mia Shoudagar, a jeweler, and his mother was Sofia Khatun. His early childhood years were spent in the village. In 1944, his family moved to the city of Chittagong, and he was shifted to Lamabazar Primary School from his village school. By 1949, his mother was afflicted with psychological illness. Later, he passed the matriculation examination from Chittagong Collegiate School securing the 16th position among 39,000 students in East Pakistan. During his school years, he was an active Boy Scout, and traveled to West Pakistan and India in 1952, and to Canada in 1955 to attend Jamborees. Later when Yunus was studying at Chittagong College, he became active in cultural activities and won awards for drama acting. In 1957, he enrolled in the department of economics at Dhaka University and completed his BA in 1960 and MA in 1961.

He previously was a professor of economics and is famous for his successful application of microcredit - the extension of small loans. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." Yunus himself has received several other national and international honors. He is the author of Banker to the Poor and a founding board member of Grameen Foundation. In early 2007 Yunus showed interest in launching a political party in Bangladesh named Nagorik Shakti (Citizen Power), but later discarded the plan. He is one of the founding members of Global Elders. Yunus also serves on the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation, a public charity created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes. The UN Foundation builds and implements public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and broadens support for the UN.

Career

Following his graduation, Yunus joined the Bureau of Economics as a research assistant to the economical researches of Professor Nurul Islam and Rehman Sobhan. Later he was appointed as a lecturer in economics in Chittagong College in 1961. During that time he also set up a profitable packaging factory on the side. He was offered a Fulbright scholarship in 1965 to study in the United States. He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States through the graduate program in Economic Development (GPED) in 1971. From 1969 to 1972, Yunus was an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN.

During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, Yunus founded a citizen's committee and ran the Bangladesh Information Center, with other Bangladeshis living in the United States, to raise support for liberation. He also published the Bangladesh Newsletter from his home in Nashville. After the War, Yunus returned to Bangladesh and was appointed to the government's Planning Commission headed by Nurul Islam. He found the job boring and resigned to join Chittagong University as head of the Economics department. He became involved with poverty reduction after observing the famine of 1974, and established a rural economic program as a research project. In 1975, he developed a Nabajug (New Era) Tebhaga Khamar (three share farm) which the government adopted as the Packaged Input Programme. In order to make the project more effective, Yunus and his associates proposed the Gram Sarkar (the village government) programme. Introduced by then president Ziaur Rahman in late 1970s, the Government formed 40,392 village governments (gram sarkar) as a fourth layer of government in 2003. On 2 August 2005, in response to a petition filed by Bangladesh Legal Aids and Services Trust (BLAST) the High Court had declared Gram Sarkar illegal and unconstitutional.

Grameen Bank

In 1976, during visits to the poorest households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that very small loans could make a disproportionate difference to a poor person. Jobra women who made bamboo furniture had to take out usurious loans for buying bamboo, to pay their profits to the moneylenders. His first loan, consisting of USD 27.00 from his own pocket, was made to 42 women in the village, who made a net profit of BDT 0.50 (USD 0.02) each on the loan. Thus, vastly improving Bangladesh's ability to export and import as it did in the past, resulting in a greater form of globalization and economic status.

The concept of providing credit to the poor as a tool of poverty reduction was not unique. Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan, founder of Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (now Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development), is credited for pioneering the idea. From his experience at Jobra, Yunus, an admirer of Dr. Hameed, realized that the creation of an institution was needed to lend to those who had nothing. While traditional banks were not interested in making tiny loans at reasonable interest rates to the poor due to high repayment risks, Yunus believed that given the chance the poor will repay the borrowed money and hence microcredit could be a viable business model.

Yunus finally succeeded in securing a loan from the government Janata Bank to lend it to the poor in Jobra in December 1976. The institution continued to operate by securing loans from other banks for its projects. By 1982, the bank had 28,000 members. On 1 October 1983 the pilot project began operations as a full-fledged bank and was renamed the Grameen Bank (Village Bank) to make loans to poor Bangladeshis. Yunus and his colleagues encountered everything from violent radical leftists to the conservative clergy who told women that they would be denied a Muslim burial if they borrowed money from the Grameen Bank. As of July 2007, Grameen Bank has issued US$ 6.38 billion to 7.4 million borrowers. To ensure repayment, the bank uses a system of "solidarity groups". These small informal groups apply together for loans and its members act as co-guarantors of repayment and support one another's efforts at economic self-advancement.

The Grameen Bank started to diversify in the late 1980s when it started attending to unutilized or underutilized fishing ponds, as well as irrigation pumps like deep tubewells. In 1989, these diversified interests started growing into separate organizations, as the fisheries project became Grameen Motsho (Grameen Fisheries Foundation) and the irrigation project became Grameen Krishi (Grameen Agriculture Foundation). Over time, the Grameen initiative has grown into a multi-faceted group of profitable and non-profit ventures, including major projects like Grameen Trust and Grameen Fund, which runs equity projects like Grameen Software Limited, Grameen CyberNet Limited, and Grameen Knitwear Limited, as well as Grameen Telecom, which has a stake in Grameenphone (GP), biggest private sector phone company in Bangladesh.. The Village Phone (Polli Phone) project of GP has brought cell-phone ownership to 260,000 rural poor in over 50,000 villages since the beginning of the project in March 1997.

The success of the Grameen model of microfinancing has inspired similar efforts in a hundred countries throughout the developing world and even in industrialized nations, including the United States. Many, but not all, microcredit projects also retain its emphasis on lending specifically to women. More than 94% of Grameen loans have gone to women, who suffer disproportionately from poverty and who are more likely than men to devote their earnings to their families. For his work with the Grameen Bank, Yunus was named an Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Global Academy Member in 2001.

Recognitions

Muhammad Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank, for their efforts to create economic and social development. In the prize announcement The Norwegian Nobel Committee mentioned:

Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty.

Muhammad Yunus was the first Bangladeshi and third Bengali to ever get a Nobel Prize. After receiving the news of the important award, Yunus announced that he would use part of his share of the $1.4 million award money to create a company to make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor; while the rest would go toward setting up an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was a vocal advocate for the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Muhammed Yunus. He expressed this in Rolling Stone magazine as well as in his autobiography My Life. In a speech given at University of California, Berkeley in 2002, President Clinton described Dr. Yunus as "a man who long ago should have won the Nobel Prize [and] I’ll keep saying that until they finally give it to him."

Conversely, The Economist stated explicitly that Yunus was a poor choice for the award. In their words "...the Nobel committee could have made a braver, more difficult, choice by declaring that there would be no recipient at all."

He has won a number of other awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the World Food Prize the Sydney Peace Prize, and in December 2007 the Ecuadorian Peace Prize. Additionally, Dr. Yunus has been awarded 26 honorary doctorate degrees, and 15 special awards. Bangladesh government brought out a commemorative stamp to honor his Nobel Award. In January 2008, Houston, Texas declared 14 January as "Muhammad Yunus Day".

He was invited and gave the MIT commencement address delivered on 6 June 2008.

Political Activity

In early 2006 Yunus, along with other members of the civil society including Prof Rehman Sobhan, Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Dr Kamal Hossain, Matiur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam and Debapriya Bhattchariya, participated in a campaign for honest and clean candidates in national elections. He considered entering politics in the later part of that year. On 11 February 2007, Yunus wrote an open letter, published in the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star, where he asked citizens for views on his plan to float a political party to establish political goodwill, proper leadership and good governance. In the letter, he called on everyone to briefly outline how he should go about the task and how they can contribute to it. Yunus finally announced the foundation of a new party tentatively called Citizens' Power (Nagorik Shakti) on 18 February 2007. There was speculation that the army supported a move by Yunus into politics. On 3 May, however, Yunus declared that he had decided to abandon his political plans following a meeting with the head of the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed.

On 18 July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity together to the world. Nelson Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Global Elders, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday. Archbishop Tutu is to serve as the Chair of The Elders. The founding members of this group include Machel, Yunus, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, and Mary Robinson. The Elders are to be independently funded by a group of Founders, including Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Ray Chambers; Michael Chambers; Bridgeway Foundation; Pam Omidyar, Humanity United; Amy Robbins; Shashi Ruia, Dick Tarlow; and The United Nations Foundation.

Family

In 1967 while Yunus attended Vanderbilt University, he met Vera Forostenko, a student of Russian literature at Vanderbilt University and daughter of Russian immigrants to Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. They were married in 1970. Yunus's marriage with Vera ended within months of the birth of their baby girl, Monica Yunus (b. 1979 Chittagong), as Vera returned to New Jersey claiming that Bangladesh was not a good place to raise a baby. Yunus later married Afrozi Yunus, who was then a researcher in physics at Manchester University. She was later appointed as a professor of physics at Jahangirnagar University. Their daughter Deena Afroz Yunus was born in 1986.

His brothers are also active in academia. His brother Muhammad Ibrahim is a professor of physics at Dhaka University and the founder of The Center for Mass Education in Science (CMES), which brings science education to adolescent girls in villages. His younger brother Muhammad Jahangir is a popular television presenter. Monica, the eldest daughter of Yunus, is a Bangladeshi-Russian American soprano singer, working in New York City.

Achievements

Yunus is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), an independent authority on Africa launched in April 2007 to focus world leaders’ attention on delivering their commitments to the continent. The Panel launched a major report in London on Monday 16 June 2008 entitled Africa's Development: Promises and Prospects.

• A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism; Public Affairs; 2008
• Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty; Public Affairs; 2003
• Grameen Bank, as I See it; Grameen Bank; 1994
• Jorimon and Others: Faces of Poverty (co-authors: Saiyada Manajurula Isalama, Arifa Rahman); Grameen Bank; 1991
• Planning in Bangladesh: Format, Technique, and Priority, and Other Essays; Rural Studies Project, Department of Economics, Chittagong University; 1976
• Three Farmers of Jobra; Department of Economics, Chittagong University; 1974

SYED AHMED KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur, GCSI (October 17, 1817 – March 27, 1898), commonly known as Sir Syed, was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and modernist. Sir Syed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in India by founding the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the Aligarh Muslim University. His work gave rise to a new generation of Muslim intellectuals and politicians who composed the Aligarh movement to secure the political future of Muslims in India.

Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur was born in Delhi, then the capital of the Mughal Empire. His family is said to have migrated from Herat (now in Afghanistan) in the time of Emperor Akbar, although by other accounts his family descended from Arabia. Many generations of his family had since been highly connected with the Mughal administration. His maternal grandfather Khwaja Fariduddin served as wazir in the court of Akbar Shah II. His paternal grandfather Syed Hadi held a mansab, a high-ranking administrative position and honorary name of Jawwad Ali Khan in the court of Alamgir II. Sir Syed's father Mir Muhammad Muttaqi was personally close to Akbar Shah II and served as his personal adviser. However, Sir Syed was born at a time when rebellious governors, regional insurrections and the British colonialism had diminished the extent and power of the Mughal state, reducing its monarch to a figurehead status. With his elder brother Syed Muhammad Khan, Sir Syed was raised in a large house in a wealthy area of the city. They were raised in strict accordance with Mughal noble traditions and exposed to politics. Their mother Azis-un-Nisa played a formative role in Sir Syed's life, raising him with rigid discipline with a strong emphasis on education. Sir Syed was taught to read and understand the Qur'an by a female tutor, which was unusual at the time. He received an education traditional to Muslim nobility in Delhi.Under the charge of Maulvi Hamiduddin, Sir Syed was trained in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and religious subjects. He read the works of Muslim scholars and writers such as Sahbai, Rumi and Ghalib. Other tutors instructed him in mathematics, astronomy and Islamic jurisprudence. Sir Syed was also adept at swimming, wrestling and other sports. He took an active part in the Mughal court's cultural activities. His elder brother founded the city's first printing press in the Urdu language along with the journal Sayyad-ul-Akbar. Sir Syed pursued the study of medicine for several years, but did not complete the prescribed course of study.Until the death of his father in 1838; Sir Syed had lived a life customary for an affluent young Muslim noble. Upon his father's death, he inherited the titles of his grandfather and father and was awarded the title of Arif Jung by the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. Financial difficulties put an end to Sir Syed's formal education, although he continued to study in private, using books on a variety of subjects. Sir Syed assumed editorship of his brother's journal and rejected offers of employment from the Mughal court. Having recognised the steady decline in Mughal political power, Sir Syed entered the British East India Company's civil service. He was appointed serestadar at the courts of law in Agra, responsible for record-keeping and managing court affairs. In 1840, he was promoted to the title of munshi.

Career

While continuing to work as a jurist, Sir Syed began focusing on writing on various subjects, mainly in Urdu. His career as an author began when he published a series of treatises in Urdu on religious subjects in 1842. He published the book Athar Assanadid (Great Monuments) documenting antiquities of Delhi dating from the medieval era. This work earned him the reputation of a cultured scholar. In 1842, he completed the Jila-ul-Qulub bi Zikr il Mahbub and the Tuhfa-i-Hasan, along with the Tahsil fi jar-i-Saqil in 1844. These works focused on religious and cultural subjects. In 1852, he published the two works Namiqa dar bayan masala tasawwur-i-Shaikh and Silsilat ul-Mulk. He released the second edition of Athar Assanadid in 1854. He also penned a commentary on the Bible — the first by a Muslim — in which he argued that Islam was the closest religion to Christianity, with a common lineage from Abrahamic religions.

Acquainted with high-ranking British officials, Sir Syed obtained close knowledge about British colonial politics during his service at the courts. At the outbreak of the Indian rebellion, on May 10, 1857, Sir Syed was serving as the chief assessment officer at the court in Bijnor. Northern India became the scene of the most intense fighting. The conflict had left large numbers of civilians dead. Erstwhile centres of Muslim power such as Delhi, Agra, Lucknow and Kanpur were severely affected. Sir Syed was personally affected by the violence and the ending of the Mughal dynasty amongst many other long-standing kingdoms. Sir Syed and many other Muslims took this as a defeat of Muslim society. He lost several close relatives who died in the violence. Although he succeeded in rescuing his mother from the turmoil, she died in Meerut, owing to the privations she had experienced.

In 1858, he was appointed to a high-ranking post at the court in Muradabad, where he began working on his most famous literary work. Publishing the booklet Asbab-e-Bhaghawath-e-Hind in 1859, Sir Syed studied the causes of the revolt. In this, his most famous work, he rejected the common notion that the conspiracy was planned by Muslim élites, who were insecure at the diminishing influence of Muslim monarchs. Sir Syed blamed the British East India Company for its aggressive expansion as well as the ignorance of British politicians regarding Indian culture. However, he gained respect for British power, which he felt would dominate India for a long period of time. Seeking to rehabilitate Muslim political influence, Sir Syed advised the British to appoint Muslims to assist in administration. His other writings such as Loyal Muhammadans of India, Tabyin-ul-Kalam and A Series of Essays on the Life of Muhammad and Subjects Subsidiary Therein helped to create cordial relations between the British authorities and the Muslim community.

Muslim reformer

Through the 1850s, Syed Ahmed Khan began developing a strong passion for education. While pursuing studies of different subjects including European jurisprudence, Sir Syed began to realise the advantages of Western-style education, which was being offered at newly-established colleges across India. Despite being a devout Muslim, Sir Syed criticised the influence of traditional dogma and religious orthodoxy, which had made most Indian Muslims suspicious of British influences. Sir Syed began feeling increasingly concerned for the future of Muslim communities. A scion of Mughal nobility, Sir Syed had been reared in the finest traditions of Muslim élite culture and was aware of the steady decline of Muslim political power across India. The animosity between the British and Muslims before and after the rebellion (Independence War) of 1857 threatened to marginalise Muslim communities across India for many generations. Sir Syed intensified his work to promote co-operation with British authorities, promoting loyalty to the Empire amongst Indian Muslims. Committed to working for the upliftment of Muslims, Sir Syed founded a modern madrassa in Muradabad in 1859; this was one of the first religious schools to impart scientific education. Sir Syed also worked on social causes, helping to organise relief for the famine-struck people of the Northwest Frontier Province in 1860. He established another modern school in Ghazipur in 1863.

Upon his transfer to Aligarh in 1864, Sir Syed began working wholeheartedly as an educator. He founded the Scientific Society of Aligarh, the first scientific association of its kind in India. Modelling it after the Royal Society and the Royal Asiatic Society, Sir Syed assembled Muslim scholars from different parts of the country. The Society held annual conferences, disbursed funds for educational causes and regularly published a journal on scientific subjects in English and Urdu. Sir Syed felt that the socio-economic future of Muslims was threatened by their orthodox aversions to modern science and technology. He published many writings promoting liberal, rational interpretations of Islamic scriptures. However, his view of Islam was rejected by Muslim clergy as contrary to traditional views on issues like jihad, polygamy and animal slaughtering.

In 1878, Sir Syed was nominated to the Viceroy's Legislative Council. He testified before the education commission to promote the establishment of more colleges and schools across India. In the same year, Sir Syed founded the Muhammadan Association to promote political co-operation amongst Indian Muslims from different parts of the country. In 1886, he organised the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference in Aligarh, which promoted his vision of modern education and political unity for Muslims. His works made him the most prominent Muslim politician in 19th century India, often influencing the attitude of Muslims on various national issues. He supported the efforts of Indian political leaders Surendranath Banerjea and Dadabhai Naoroji to obtain representation for Indians in the government and civil services. In 1883, he founded the Muhammadan Civil Service Fund Association to encourage and support the entry of Muslim graduates into the Indian Civil Service (ICS).

However, Sir Syed's political views were shaped by a strong aversion to the emerging nationalist movement, which was composed largely of Hindus. Sir Syed opposed the Indian National Congress (created in 1885) on the grounds that it was a Hindu-majority organisation, calling on Muslims to stay away from it. While fearful of the loss of Muslim political power owing to the community's backwardness, Sir Syed was also averse to the prospect of democratic self-government, which would give control of government to the Hindu-majority population:

"At this time our nation is in a bad state in regards education and wealth, but God has given us the light of religion and the Koran is present for our guidance, which has ordained them and us to be friends. Now God has made them rulers over us. Therefore we should cultivate friendship with them, and should adopt that method by which their rule may remain permanent and firm in India, and may not pass into the hands of the Bengalis… If we join the political movement of the Bengalis our nation will reap a loss, for we do not want to become subjects of the Hindus instead of the subjects of the "people of the Book…"

The onset of the Hindi-Urdu controversy of 1867 saw the emergence of Sir Syed as a political leader of the Muslim community. He became a leading Muslim voice opposing the adoption of Hindi as a second official language of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). Sir Syed perceived Urdu as the lingua franca of Muslims. Having been developed by Muslim rulers of India, Urdu was used as a secondary language to Persian, the official language of the Mughal court. Since the decline of the Mughal dynasty, Sir Syed promoted the use of Urdu through his own writings. Under Sir Syed, the Scientific Society translated Western works only into Urdu. The schools established by Sir Syed imparted education in the Urdu medium. The demand for Hindi, led largely by Hindus, was to Sir Syed an erosion of the centuries-old Muslim cultural domination of India. Testifying before the British-appointed education commission, Sir Syed controversially exclaimed that "Urdu was the language of gentry and Hindi that of the vulgar." His remarks provoked a hostile response from Hindu leaders, who unified across the nation to demand the recognition of Hindi.

The success of the Hindi movement led Sir Syed to further advocate Urdu as the symbol of Muslim heritage and as the language of all Indian Muslims. His educational and political work grew increasingly centred around and exclusively for Muslim interests. He also sought to persuade the British to give Urdu extensive official use and patronage. His colleagues and protégés such as Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Maulvi Abdul Haq developed organisations such as the Urdu Defence Association and the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, committed to the perpetuation of Urdu. Sir Syed's protégé Shibli Nomani led efforts that resulted in the adoption of Urdu as the official language of the Hyderabad State and as the medium of instruction in the Osmania University. To Muslims in northern and western India, Urdu had became an integral part of political and cultural identity. However, the division over the use of Hindi or Urdu further provoked communal conflict between Muslims and Hindus in India.

Founding Aligarh

On April 1, 1869, Sir Syed travelled to England, where he was awarded the Order of the Star of India from the British government on August 6. Travelling across England, he visited its colleges and was inspired by the culture of learning established after the Renaissance. Sir Syed returned to India in the following year determined to build a "Muslim Cambridge." Upon his return, he organised the "Committee for the Better Diffusion and Advancement of Learning among Muhammadans" (Muslims) on December 26, 1870. Sir Syed described his vision of the institution he proposed to establish in an article written sometime in 1872 and re-printed in the Aligarh Institute Gazette of April 5, 1911:

I may appear to be dreaming and talking like Shaikh Chilli, but we aim to turn this MAO College into a University similar to that of Oxford or Cambridge. Like the churches of Oxford and Cambridge, there will be mosques attached to each College… The College will have a dispensary with a Doctor and a compounder, besides a Unani Hakim. It will be mandatory on boys in residence to join the congregational prayers (namaz) at all the five times. Students of other religions will be exempted from this religious observance. Muslim students will have a uniform consisting of a black alpaca, half-sleeved chugha and a red Fez cap… Bad and abusive words which boys generally pick up and get used to, will be strictly prohibited. Even such a word as a "liar" will be treated as an abuse to be prohibited. They will have food either on tables of European style or on chaukis in the manner of the Arabs… Smoking of cigarette or huqqa and the chewing of betels shall be strictly prohibited. No corporal punishment or any such punishment as is likely to injure a student's self-respect will be permissible… It will be strictly enforced that Shia and Sunni boys shall not discuss their religious differences in the College or in the boarding house. At present it is like a day dream. I pray to God that this dream may come true."

By 1873, the committee under Sir Syed issued proposals for the construction of a college in Aligarh. He began publishing the journal Tahzib al-Akhlaq (Social Reformer) to spread awareness and knowledge on modern subjects and promote reforms in Muslim society. Sir Syed worked to promote reinterpretation of Muslim ideology in order to reconcile tradition with Western education. He argued in several books on Islam that the Qur'an rested on an appreciation of reason and natural law, making scientific inquiry important to being a good Muslim. Sir Syed established a modern school in Aligarh and, obtaining support from wealthy Muslims and the British, laid the foundation stone of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College on May 24, 1875. He retired from his career as a jurist the following year, concentrating entirely on developing the college and on religious reform. Sir Syed's pioneering work received support from the British. Although intensely criticised by orthodox religious leaders hostile to modern influences, Sir Syed's new institution attracted a large student body, mainly drawn from the Muslim gentry and middle classes. The curriculum at the college involved scientific and Western subjects, as well as Oriental subjects and religious education. The first chancellor was Sultan Shah Jahan Begum, a prominent Muslim noblewoman, and Sir Syed invited an Englishman, Theodore Beck, to serve as the first college principal. The college was originally affiliated with Calcutta University but was transferred to the Allahabad University in 1885. Near the turn of the 20th century, it began publishing its own magazine and established a law school. In 1920, the college was transformed into a university.

Achievements

·         An avowed loyalist of the British Empire, Sir Syed was nominated as a member of the Civil Service Commission in 1887 by Lord Dufferin.

·         In 1888, he established the United Patriotic Association at Aligarh to promote political co-operation with the British and Muslim participation in the government.

·         Syed Ahmed Khan was knighted by the British government in 1888 and in the following year he received an LL.D. honoris causa from the Edinburgh University.

SPORTS PERSONS

ASLAM SHER KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Aslam Sher Khan was born on 15th July 1953 to father Late Shri Ahmed Sher Khan and mother Ahmedi in Bhopal. His father Ahmed Sher Khan has represented India in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics. As he said in his autobiography about his grandfather's saying, "Your father had a streak of madness in him, Like you, he had a great obsession for hockey. He made your mother promise that if they had a son, she would bring him up to be a hockey player." Ahmed Sher Khan was the Hockey coach of Aslam's school but never selected Aslam to play for the school team. When he asked his father about this thing he replied back with the words "you still have a lot to learn." Aslam has done his B.Sc. from Saifia College, Bhopal. On 25th October 1981, Aslam married to Smt. Rehana Sher Khan, with whom he has two sons.

Career

Aslam Sher Khan, a former Indian hockey player, was a member of the Indian team. In the 1975 World Cup held at Kuala Lumpur, Aslam Sher Khan helped Indian Hockey Team to win the gold medal. He as a member of Indian team also participated in Munich Olympics held in the 1972. Aslam Sher Khan has also been a Congress Member of Parliament and a Union Minister as well. In December 1997, Aslam Sher Khan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has also authored an autobiography, `To Hell with Hockey`.

Aslam Sher Khan In the year 1966 was called up for the All India schools hockey camp at Bhopal. But his father fell ill at that time. He did not want to join the camp but his father moralized him by saying "The more you play, and the better you play, the more I`ll know you love me." That reverberated like an order to him and he went to join the camp. He was selected in the All-India schools hockey team as a forward under the famous hockey player Roop Singh, who played with his father in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Hearing this selection news, his father went on crying. At the age of 13, Ahmed Sher died. Aslam Sher Khan's ambition was to represent his own country in hockey in the Olympics like his father. Aslam Sher Khan played hockey as a full back. He later joined politics and was elected to Lok Sabha.

After the Indian Hockey Federation was suspended in April, 2008, Khan was selected to head a new committee created by the Indian Olympic Association to organize hockey in India. This panel will work in conjunction with the International Field Hockey Federation.  The panel also includes Ashok Kumar, Ajit Pal Singh, Zafar Iqbal, and Dhanraj Pillay. 

Achievements

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1982 - Did not enter; was part of British Empire until 1947 and then part of Pakistan between 1947-1971
• 1986 to 2010 - Did not qualify

Asian Cup record

• 1956 to 1976 - Did not enter
• 1980 - Round 1
• 1984 to 1992 - Did not qualify
• 1996 - Did not qualify
• 2000 to 2007 - Did not qualify

AFC Challenge Cup record

• 2006 - Quarter Finals
• 2008 - Did not qualify , 3rd in Qualifying Stage

South Asian Football Federation Cup record

• 1993 - Did not place
• 1995 - Third Place
• 1997 - Did not place
• 1999 - Runner up
• 2003 - Champions
• 2005 - Runner Up
• 2008 - Group Stage

National Coaches

• Abu Yusuf Mohammad (March 2008-June 2008)
• Shafiqul Islam Manik (August 2008 - Present)

HAROON YOUSAF

Birth and Early Life

Haroon Yousaf was born on November 10th 1973 in Mandi Bahauddin. He has 5 brothers and 7 Sisters and he is the 2nd oldest of his brothers; one of his brothers, IQBAL YOUSAF, plays in Punjab Football as left Defender. His shirt number is 15. He was from 1996 till 1999 vice Captain of Pakistan National Football Team after Qazi Ashfaq and since 24th April 1999 (SAFF Cup in Goa) Captain of Pakistan National Football Team. He is Captain of Allied Bank Limited since 1997. He got an offer to play for Indian side “MAHINDRA UNITED” but the PFF don’t accept this so he can’t play for “MAHINDRA UNITED.” He was the former Pakistan national football team Captain and was capped 53 times and scored 3 goals in his international career. The versatile footballer played as a defender or midfielder.

Career

Yousaf started his career at Pakistan Railways FC in 1990. He transferred to WAPDA FC the following season and stayed there for five years. In 1995, he moved to ABL FC where he became captain. He retired in 2003.

He has been a winner of the national football championship 4 times and runner up on 4 occasions. He also won the PFF Cup 4 times and was runner up once. Yousaf also played a short while for Afghan FC where he is still highly praised as a solid player and leader.

Yousaf is the current captain of PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad.

On 19th March it was announced by the PFF that Haroon Yousuf has been named member of the selection Commitee for the National Football Team.

Achievements

With WAPDA FC

• Pakistan Premier League 1991

With ABL FC

• Pakistan Premier League 1997(1), 1999, 2000

With ABL FC

• Pakistan National Football Challenge Cup 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002
• He was man of the match in 11th Asian Cup Qualifying round in Iraq when Pakistan lost 0-3 against Iraq but he was so good in defending his team so he was declared MVP.

HASHIM KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Hashim Khan is a former squash player from Pakistan. He won the British Open seven times between 1951 and 1958. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest squash players of all time, and was the first great player to emerge from a Pakistani dynasty of squash players which dominated the international game for decades.

Hashim Khan was born in Nawakille (sometimes spelled "Noakili"), a small village near Peshawar, in British India. The year of his birth is usually reported as 1916, though this has been disputed (some believe that he may have been born as much as five years before this). Hashim's father, Abdullah Khan, was the Head Steward at club in Peshwar where British army officers stationed in the area played squash. As a youngster, Hashim served as an unpaid ballboy at the club, retrieving balls that were hit out of court by the officers. When the officers had finished playing, Hashim and the other ballboys would take over the courts.

Career

In 1942, Hashim became a squash coach at a British Air Force officers' mess. In 1944, he won the first All-of-India squash championship in Bombay, and successfully defended this title for the next two years. When Pakistan became an independent state, Hashim was appointed a squash professional at the Pakistan Air Force, and won the first Pakistani squash championship in 1949.

In 1950, Abdul Bari, a distant relative of Hashim's who had chosen to remain in Bombay after the partition of India and Pakistan, and who Hashim had beaten in several tournaments in India before partition, was sponsored by the Indian Government to play at the British Open where he finished runner-up to the great Egyptian player Mahmoud Karim. (The British Open was considered to be the effective world championship of the sport at the time.) This spurred Hashim to seek backing to compete in the British Open the following year.

Achievements

In 1951, Hashim travelled to the United Kingdom to play in the British Open, and won the title beating Karim in the final 9-5, 9-0, 9-0. He again beat Karim in the final in 1952 9-5, 9-7, 9-0. He won again for the next four consecutive years, beating R.B.R. Wilson of England in the 1953 final; his younger brother Azam Khan in two tight five-set finals in 1954 and 1955; and Roshan Khan (another Pakistani who was a distant relative of Hashim and Azam's) in the final of 1956. Hashim was runner-up to Roshan in 1957, and won his seventh and final British Open title in 1958, when he beat Azam in the final.

Hashim also won five British Professional Championship titles, three US Open titles, and three Canadian Open titles.

In his later years, Hashim has settled in Denver, Colorado, and has continued to appear in veterans' matches at the British Open.

Hashim had a total of 12 children. His eldest son Sharif Khan became the dominant player on the North American hardball squash circuit in the 1970s, winning a record 12 North American Open titles. Four other sons – Aziz, Gulmast, Liaqat Ali ("Charlie"), and Salim ("Sam") – also became top-level hardball squash players.

IMRAN KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Imran Khan Niazi (born November 25, 1952) is a Pakistani cricketer and politician. Khan played for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992, and led them as captain to his country's first and only World Cup victory in 1992. With a record of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, Khan is known as one of the finest all-rounders in the modern history of the game. In April 1996, he founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice), a small and marginal political party, of which he is chairman as well as sole ever-elected member of Parliament. He represented Mianwali as a member of the National Assembly from October 2002 to October 2007.

Khan was born to Shaukat Khanum and Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, in Lahore. He grew up as the only son in a family with four sisters. Settled in the province of Punjab, Khan's family descended from the Pashtun, Niazi Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali. His maternal lineage consists of numerous professional cricketers, including Javed Burki and Majid Khan, both of whom captained Pakistan's national team.

Khan started his education at Aitchison College and the Cathedral School in Lahore. After middle school, he left Pakistan to study at the Royal Grammar School in Worcester, United Kingdom, where he excelled at cricket. He then went on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics as an undergraduate at Keble College, Oxford in 1972, graduating with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics.

Career

Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969-70), Lahore B (1969-70), Lahore Greens (1970-71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970-71). Khan was part of Oxford's Blues Cricket team during the 1973-75 seasons, and captained the University XI in 1974. At Worcestershire, where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975-76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975-76 to 1980-81). From 1983 to 1988, he moved on to play for Sussex.

In 1971, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England at Birmingham. Three years later, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Nottingham for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976-77 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia.

Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to establish when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.

Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham's 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order. He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. His last ODI was the historic 1992 World Cup final against England at Melbourne, Australia, which culminated in the crowning glory of Khan's career.

Khan ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136 runs. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so. In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score remains 102 not out. His best ODI bowling is documented at 6 wickets for 14 runs. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after the 1992 World Cup, in September.

 Captaincy

At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistani cricket team from Javed Miandad. In the team's second match under his leadership, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord's.

Khan's first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981-82. He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982-83, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain.

This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984-85 season.

In 1987, Khan led Pakistan to its first Test series win in India, which was followed by Pakistan's first series victory in England the same year. During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President Of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on January 18, he announced his decision to rejoin the team.

Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as his proudest moment in cricket. He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 tests. He later recalled, "I was 35 and not very fit, we had quite a weak team and then I got 11 wickets in the first Test. That was the last time I really bowled well." As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, out of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the rest of 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie.

Achievements

Khan's career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting lineup, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to provide stability in the top order together with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. In the final match, at the age of 39, Khan scored the highest runs of all the Pakistani batsmen and took the winning last wicket himself.

In 1992, Khan was honoured with Pakistan's most prestigious civil award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz. Before that, he had received the President’s Pride of Performance Award in 1983. Khan is featured in the University of Oxford's Hall of Fame and has been an honorary fellow of Oxford's Keble College. In 1976 as well as 1980, Khan was awarded The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class cricket.

Khan has also been named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1983, Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year in 1985, and the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1990. On July 8, 2004, Khan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Asian Jewel Awards in London, UK. He was recognized for continuing "to devote his time between Pakistan and his adopted Britain, acting as a figurehead for many international charities and working passionately and extensively in fund-raising activities.

On December 7, 2005, Khan was appointed the fifth Chancellor of the University of Bradford, where he is also a patron of the Born in Bradford research project. On December 13, 2007, Khan received the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in Kuala Lumpur for his efforts in setting up the first cancer hospital in Pakistan.

Khan is placed at Number 8 on the all-time list of the ESPN Legends of Cricket.

JAVED MIANDAD

Birth and Early Life

Mohammad Javed Miandad Khan (born June 12, 1957 in Karachi, Pakistan), popularly known as Javed Miandad is a former Pakistani cricketer who played between 1975 and 1996. He is generally regarded as Pakistan's greatest ever batsman, and among the top tier in cricket history. He also had three successful albeit controversial coaching stints with the Pakistan national team.

Career

Miandad made his Test debut against New Zealand at Lahore on 9 October 1976. He scored a century in this match, thus becoming the youngest player to do so on debut. In the same series he scored a double century, and on his way broke George Headley's 47 year record, to become the youngest player to achieve the feat. Miandad made his One Day International debut against the West Indies at Edgbaston, Birmingham in the Cricket World Cup 1975.

Javed Miandad played 124 Tests and appeared in 189 innings. His aggregate of 8,832 Test runs is still a Pakistani record (although Inzamam-ul-Haq came 3 runs shy with 8830), while his 23 centuries and 43 fifties were national records until they were broken by Inzamam-ul-Haq. Javed's Test career batting average of 52.57 puts him among the list of greatest batsmen to have played international cricket, and he is one of only two batsmen in cricket history, the other being Herbert Sutcliffe, to maintain an average of above 50 throughout a career of more than 20 innings. He scored six double centuries which is the most by a Pakistani and 5th overall. His made his highest score of 280 not out against India.

Javed learned his craft as a youngster on the tough, blue-collar streets of Karachi, and not surprisingly his technique flew in the face of most cricket coaching textbooks. In spite of this, his unorthodox but distinctive square-on batting stance and equally unconventional split-handed grip never hindered him.

Javed sits amongst the elite cricket club of batsmen of his era to maintain an average of above 50. His legacy is shared by the most accomplished batsmen of his era, which is also known as the era of deadly fast bowling. Batsmen who sit in the club are Vivian Richards, Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar, and Gary Sobers.

Javed Miandad was instrumental in Pakistan's victory in the 1992 World Cup in Australia. He played his part to perfection and the team, especially the batting department lobbied around him. He played with maturity and patience as was required of him. He kept his wicket intact till the last and guided Pakistan to home in the Semi Final against New Zealand, and in the final scored a critical 50 after the openers had fallen cheaply.

One of the highlights of Javed's career came during the Australasia Cup in 1986. The Pakistanis had managed to make it to the final, and were up against India. India batted first and scored 245 runs, leaving Pakistan with a required run rate of 4.92 per over. Miandad came in to bat at number 4, with the score at 39 for 2 wickets, and the required run rate had risen to 7 an over. With four runs required off the last ball, Javed struck a famous six that sealed the victory for Pakistan.

Viv Richards, was once quoted saying, "If there was any batsman whom I could choose to bat for my life, it would be Javed Miandad." Javed, who refused to concede easy victory to India, was complimented by commentator and former New Zealand captain John Wright, who noted "As long as Javed is there, anything can happen". Javed referred to this in his autobiography as one of the best compliments he had received in all his cricketing years.

As a coach, Javed Miandad guided Pakistan to famous test victories in the Asian Cup and in India during 1998-99 season, when Wasim Akram was captain. His second coaching duration, when in first year Pakistan has the highest victory ratio in One-Day, slightly above than Australia. Bob Woolmer, who was the coach of South Africa before taking on the job of Pakistan Cricket Coach, once called on Miandad to assist him with coaching batsmen.

Javed Miandad was nicknamed "Prince of Wales" when he played county cricket in England. More so, he was the King of Sharjah. His six in the last ball of a One-Day match changed One day cricket, India - Pakistan competitions and cricket in Sharjah. He maintained close ties with Abdur Rahman Bukhatir, the man who started cricket in Sharjah.

He was also invited to live at the Royal Palace of the King of Brunei for three years in late 1996, who is one of the richest people of the world, the only other cricketer was Viv Richards which also included Jahangir Khan (Squash).

Achievements

Javed was amongst the three Pakistani players to have his name at the hall of fame at Lords others included Hanif Muhammnad & Imran Khan.

Javed Miandad has some unique records in cricket. In the 100th Test match ever to be played, between Pakistan and New Zealand in 1982-83, he scored centuries in both innings. He is the youngest cricketer to make a triple hundred in first class cricket. He scored nine back to back 50s in 1987-88 an ODI world record. He was never dismissed for a duck at home, in both forms of cricket.

Miandad is the only cricketer to appear in six World Cup competitions; the first six. In 1982, Wisden named him as one of the cricketers of the year.

Miandad was the first cricketer to score 1000 runs in World Cup competitions. He achieved this feat in the 1992 World Cup final against England.

JAHANGIR KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Jahangir Khan, HI (born December 10, 1963, in Karachi, Pakistan) (sometimes spelled "Jehangir Khan") is a former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan, who is considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the game. During his career he won the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times. Between 1981 and 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play for five years. During that time he won 555 matches consecutively. This was not only the longest winning streak in squash history, but also one of the longest unbeaten runs by any athlete in top-level professional sports. He retired as a player in 1993, and has served as President of the World Squash Federation since 2002.

Career

Jahangir was coached initially by his father, Roshan Khan, the 1957 British Open champion, and then by his cousin Rehmat Khan, who guided Jahangir through most of his career. Ironically, during his earlier years, Jahangir was a sickly child and physically very weak. Though the doctors had advised him not to take part in any sort physical activity, after undergoing a couple of hernia operations his father let him play and try out their family game.

In 1979, the Pakistan selectors decided not to select Jahangir to play in the world championships in Australia, judging him too weak from a recent illness. So Jahangir decided instead to enter himself in the World Amateur Individual Championship and, at the age of 15, became the youngest-ever winner of that event.

In November 1979, Jahangir's older brother Torsam Khan, who had been one of the leading international squash players in the 1970s, died suddenly of a heart attack during a tournament match in Australia. Torsam's death affected Jahangir profoundly. He considered quitting the game, but decided to pursue a career in the sport as a tribute to his brother.

In 1981, when he was 17, Jahangir became the youngest winner of the World Open, beating Australia's Geoff Hunt (the game's dominant player in the late-1970s) in the final. That tournament marked the start of an unbeaten run which lasted for five years and over 500 matches. The hallmark of his play was his incredible fitness and stamina, which Rehmat Khan helped him build-up through a punishing training and conditioning regime. Jahangir was quite simply the fittest player in the game, and would wear his opponents down through long rallies played at a furious pace.

In 1982, Jahangir astonished everyone by winning the International Squash Players Association Championship without losing a single point.

The unbeaten run finally came to end in the final of the World Open in 1986 in Toulouse, France, when Jahangir lost to New Zealand's Ross Norman. Norman had been in pursuit of Jahangir's unbeaten streak, being beaten time and time again. "One day Jahangir will be slightly off his game and I will get him," he vowed for five years.

Speaking about his unbeaten streak, Jahangir said: "It wasn't my plan to create such a record. All I did was put in the effort to win every match I played and it went on for weeks, months and years until my defeat to Ross Norman in Toulouse in 1986."

"The pressure began to mount as I kept winning every time and people were anxious to see if I could be beaten. In that World Open final, Ross got me. It was exactly five years and eight months. I was unbeaten for another nine months after that defeat."

With his dominance over the international squash game in the first half of the 1980s secure, Jahangir decided to test his ability on the North American hardball squash circuit in 1983-1986. (Hardball squash is a North American variant of the game, played on smaller courts with a faster-moving ball.) Jahangir played in 13 top-level hardball tournaments during this period, winning 12 of them. He faced the leading American player on the circuit at the time, Mark Talbott, on 11 occasions (all in tournament finals), and won 10 of their encounters. With his domination of both the softball and hardball versions of the game, Jahangir truly cemented his reputation as the world's greatest squash player. His success in North America is considered by some observers to be among the factors which led to growing intertest in the international "softball" version of squash in the continent, and the demise of the hardball game in the late-1980s and 1990s.

Achievements

Jahangir retired as a player in 1993 after helping Pakistan win the World Team Championship in Karachi. The Government of Pakistan honored Jahangir with the awards of Pride of Performance and civil award of Hilal-e-Imtiaz for his achievements in squash. They also awarded him the title of Sportsman of the Millennium.

In 1990, Jahangir was elected Chairman of the Professional Squash Association, and in 1997, Vice-President of the Pakistan Squash Federation. He was elected as Vice-President of the World Squash Federation in November 1998, and in October 2002 was elected WSF President. In 2004, he was again unanimously re-elected as President of the World Squash Federation at the International Federation's 33rd Annual General Meeting in Casa Noyale, Mauritius.

Jahangir is listed in Guinness Book of World Records as having the most world championship squash titles.

Time Magazine has named Jahangir as one of Asia's Heroes in the last 60 years.

Jahangir Khan was conferred with a Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy by London Metropolitan University for his contributions to the sport.

Due to his immense and absolute dominance in squash he was nicknamed "The Conqueror" (a loose translation of his first name).

JAHANGIR KHAN (CRICKETER)

Birth and Early Life

Dr. Mohammad Jahangir Khan pronunciation (born on February 1, 1910, Jalandhar, Punjab - died on July 23, 1988, Lahore) played cricket for India during British rule and after the partition of India served as a cricket administrator in Pakistan afterwards.

Jahangir was a big man who stood six feet and bowled medium pace. He came from a famous cricketing family that produced Pakistan captains Imran Khan, Javed Burki and Majid Khan, the last being his son. Majid's son Bazid Khan also represented Pakistan for the first time in 2005, making the family the second, after the Headleys, to have three consecutive generations of test cricketers.

Career

Jahangir scored 108 on his first class debut and took seven wickets in the second innings of the match. He represented India in her first ever Test against England at Lord's in 1932. After the tour, he stayed back in England and took a doctorate from Cambridge University. He passed the final Bar from Middle Temple. In that time he was Cambridge blue in cricket for four years. He also made two appearances in Gentlemen v Players matches. In 1935 playing for Indian Gymkhana, he also scored 1380 runs in two months, at an average of 70.

When India toured England in 1936 he joined the team and appeared in all three Tests. His best bowling during his time at Cambridge was a 7 for 58 against the champion county Yorkshire. Back in India, he played in the Bombay Pentangular in 1939. While playing against Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's in 1936, he bowled a ball to Tom Pearce that hit a sparrow on the way. The sparrow fell dead against the stumps and is preserved in the MCC museum at Lord's.

Jahangir was a selector between 1939-40 and 1941-42. After moving to Pakistan after 1947, he served a selector in Pakistan and managed the team that toured India in 1960-1961. He was a college principal and then served as the Director of Education in Pakistan before retiring. When Jalandhar hosted its first Test match in 1983, Jahangir was specially invited to attend the match. In his younger days, he was also a champion javelin thrower of India. He represented India in AAA in 1932 and British Empire Games 1934 in London.

At the time of his death, he was the last survivor from the team that played for India in her first Test.

MANSOOR ALI KHAN PATAUDI

Birth and Early Life

Mansoor (Mansur) Ali Khan, the 9th Nawab of Pataudi (Jr.) (born 5 January 1941 in Bhopal), nicknamed Tiger, is a former Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team.

Personal life & Education

Mansoor was born to Iftikhar Ali Khan, eighth Nawab of Pataudi and his wife Sajida Sultan, second daughter of the last ruling nawab of Bhopal. He was educated at Welham Boys' School in Dehra Doon, Lockers Park Prep School in Hertfordshire, Winchester College, and Balliol College, Oxford. His father died on Mansoor's 11th birthday in 1952, whereupon Mansoor succeeded as the ninth Nawab of Pataudi. While the princely state of Pataudi had been merged with India after the end of the British Raj in 1947, Mansoor inherited the titular dignity of Nawab of Pataudi.

On 27 December 1969, Mansoor married the noted film actress Sharmila Tagore, who is a distant relative (not a direct descendant, as often believed) of Rabindranath Tagore, the nobel laureate. They are the parents of three children:

• Saif Ali Khan, a bollywood actor;
• Soha Ali Khan, a bollywood actress;
• Saba Ali Khan a jewellery designer.

By a turn of fate, Mansoor's mother Sajida sultan came to inherit her father's princely titles and privileges upon his demise, and was recognised as "Begum of Bhopal" by the government of India in 1961. From her demise in 1995, Mansoor has been regarded by many as being Nawab of Bhopal as well as Nawab of Pataudi. However, such "personal unions" are unknown to Indian custom, and others regard Mansoor's eldest sister, Begum Saleha Sultan, as being head of the Nawabi family of Bhopal.

Career

Pataudi Jr., as Mansoor came to be known in the cricket world, was a right-hand batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler. He played in 46 Test matches for India between 1961 and 1975.

In March 1962, at the relatively young age of 21, Pataudi Jr. was elevated to the captaincy of the Indian cricket team. This was a few months after a car accident permanently damaged vision in his right eye. He also captained Sussex in 1966.

Pataudi Jr. was captain of the Indian cricket team in 40 matches, only 9 of which resulted in victory for his team. He was however captain when the Indian team recorded its first ever overseas Test victory, against New Zealand in 1967. He contested in 1971 elections to the Lok Sabha to protest the abolition of Privy Purse in India. He contested from Gurgaon as a candidate of the Vishal Haryana Party.

Achievements

• Arjuna award (1964)

MOHAMMAD AZHARUDDIN

Birth and Early Life

Mohammad Azharuddin pronunciation (born 8 February 1963, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) is a former captain of the Indian cricket team. He was an elegant right-handed batsman and usually batted at five in Test cricket. He was caught in a match-fixing scandal.

In his prime, he had a graceful, fluid batting style, comparable to that of his English contemporary, David Gower. The wrist flick was his most characteristic shot and he fared best against spinners. The grace and fluidity of his wrist once prompted John Woodcock, a noted cricket writer, to say, "It's no use asking an Englishman to bat like Mohammad Azharuddin. For, it would be like expecting a greyhound to win the London Derby!"

Azhar, as he is popularly known, grew up in Hyderabad and attended a catholic convent boys school All Saints High School. Incidentally, a lot of other cricketers from Hyderabad - Venkatpathy Raju, Noel David - also attended the same school.

Career

Azhar scored a total of 22 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 45, and 7 in ODIs at an average of 37. He scored a century in each of his first three Tests which is a record. An excellent fielder, he took a world record 156 catches in ODI cricket.

He was given LBW out for 199 in a test match against Sri Lanka and it was his highest Test Score.

In 1991 he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year and was for many years an inspirational figure in the Indian team with his athletic fielding and leadership.

Azhar was captain of the Indian team for most of the 1990s. Statistically he is one of India's most successful captains. He won a record 103 ODI matches as the captain of the Indian team. His 14 Test Match wins as captain, was a record until it was bettered by Sourav Ganguly.

Towards the end of his career Azharuddin was accused of match-fixing ; South African captain Hansie Cronje in his confession for match-fixing had indicated that Azharuddin was the one to introduce him to the bookies. . This led the BCCI to ban him from the game of cricket for life in 2000.

The BCCI lifted the ban on Azharuddin in 2006 and even honoured him along with other Indian Test captains in a ceremony in Mumbai during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. The ICC, however, claimed that it alone had the right to revoke the ban despite playing no role in handing out the original ban.

In one of his interviews, he claimed that he was being targeted because he was from a minority community. However, this statement backfired badly and invited severe criticism from all parts of the country and even from prominent minority community organisations in India. Ultimately, Azharuddin had to apologise publicly and retract his statements. The ban cost him a chance of joining the 100 Test club, in the end finishing stranded on 99 Test matches.

Since 2004 Azhar has run a Physical Education Centre in Hyderabad. He is married to Sangeeta Bijlani, a Bollywood actress after divorcing his previous wife.

Achievements

By opponent

Australia

• 780 runs at 39.00 with 2 hundreds

England

• 1278 runs at 58.09 with 6 hundreds

New Zealand

• 796 runs at 61.23 with 2 hundreds

Pakistan

• 769 runs at 40.47 with 3 hundreds

South Africa

• 779 runs at 41.00 with 4 hundreds

Sri Lanka

• 1215 runs at 55.23 with 5 hundreds

West Indies

• 539 runs at 28.37 with 0 hundreds

Zimbabwe

• 59 runs at 14.75 with 0 hundreds

Total

• 6215 runs at 45.04 with 22 hundreds

MUHAMMAD ESSA

Birth and Early Life

Muhammad Essa (born on November 20, 1983) is a Pakistani footballer playing currently for KRL FC. The striker is also the captain of Pakistan national football team and is one of the most talented football players Pakistan has seen in recent times. He can be used as a playmaker particularly in support of a striker, or a genuine centre forward because of his ball holding and passing skills. He is also a left-footed free-kick specialist. Essa has become one the most well known faces in Pakistani football, due to his regular goal scoring at international level.

 Career

Born in the football-mad city of Chaman in Pakistan's Balochistan province, he took up the game with great interest and passion. He played in the Afghan Club Chaman youth team before signing for PTCL FC.

He was discovered by then Pakistan youth team and Under 23 manager John Layton back in early 1999 and found his way into the Pakistan national football team soon enough, receiving his first cap in 2000.

He won the old 2003 PFF President's Cup with PTCL FC. In 2004, Essa was called up to the Pakistan U23 squad for the SAF Games. He ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win Gold.

Essa most famous moment came when he scored from a free-kick against India in the first match of the 2005 Pakistan-India friendly series, at the Ayub National Stadium, Quetta to tie the game 1-1 with minutes to go before the final whistle. With a 3-0 victory in the final game in which Essa scored, he was offered a playing contract from major Indian football team East Bengal Club, but the PFF seemingly turned it down to the disappointment of many Pakistani football fans.

In the inaugural 2004 PPL season he returned to his home town club Afghan Club Chaman with his goals helping them to survive relegation. The following season, the striker transferring to WAPDA FC but couldn't help them retain their PPL title; finishing second to Pakistan Army FC. In 2006 he captained Pakistan to another SAF Games gold medal. Returning from the Games, he moved to KRL and helping them finish 3rd in the 2006-07 season.

There had been talk of a few Iranian clubs, notably Foolad F.C. as well as Homa F.C. inviting Essa over for a trial during the previous season but it couldn't be finalised due to Essa's commitments with KRL. A proposed move to prominent Bangladesh Pro League side Mohammedan Sporting Club also failed to materialise.

Achievements

Essa played in the Geo Super Football League for Quetta Zorawar as captain with the club coming second in the league round and losing semi-finalists in the knock-out round of the tournament, although he was awarded the SFL 2007 Player of the Tournament trophy. The striker was awarded the 'Salaam Pakistan Award' alongside tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and female squash player Maria Toor Pakay for their contributions to sport by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf on August 13, 2007. He captained Pakistan to a surprise nil-nil draw against Iraq in Syria in the second leg of the World Cup 2010 qualifiers, but were knocked out due to a 7-0 aggregate loss.

In the 2007/08 season of the PPL, Essa struggled to score goals, only scoring 9 goals in 21 appearances. He retained his Captaincy for the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualifying campaign. Despite a 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei in the first match, they lost 7-1 to Sri Lanka which made Pakistan's 9-2 demolition of Guam meaningless as they finished behind on points to Sri Lanka, thus failing to qualify for the main round. Because of injury, Essa had to miss the SAFF Cup 2008.

Mohammad Essa can be described as a very capable player whose performances for Quetta Zorawar in Geo Super Football League were very delightful to watch.

SAEED ANWAR

Birth and Early Life

Saeed Anwar born. September 6, 1968) in Karachi, Pakistan, is a former Pakistani opening batsman. A stylish left-hander, Anwar is most notable for scoring 194 runs against India in Chennai, the highest individual score in a One Day International. Anwar graduated from NED University, Karachi in 1990 and is an engineer by profession. He was planning to go to the United States for his master's studies before becoming a professional test cricketer.

Career

An opening batsman capable of dismantling even the best bowling attacks, Anwar was an attacking batsman in one-day matches and once settled in Test matches, scored quickly and all over the field. His success came from good timing and wristy flicks rather than physical power, being famous for his trademark flick, and he could lift a ball that had pitched outside off stump for six over midwicket. His timing and ability to score quick runs made him a crowd favourite. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.

He was the first Pakistani batsman to score a century against India on Indian soil in a One-day match. He has the highest Test batting average (59.06) of any Pakistani against Australia, and once scored three consecutive centuries against them. He scored a classic century against South Africa in Durban, which allowed Pakistan to win a Test match for the first time in South Africa.

On May 21, 1997 in Chennai, he scored 194 against India in an ODI match. This is the highest individual score by any batsman in the world and his record stands, almost a decade after he achieved it, although batsmen have come close to his score in recent years (most recently, Matthew Hayden of Australia made 181 not out against New Zealand).

He is a member of the exclusive club of batsmen who have scored three successive hundreds in ODIs, with hundreds against Sri Lanka, West Indies and Sri Lanka during the 1993–94 Champions Trophy in Sharjah. He scored 2 successive hundreds on three other occasions in his career, and was the first batsman to complete this feat in ODIs.

Achievements

• The highest individual score in an ODI match (194).
• He scored 2 or more successive hundreds on four occasions.
• He holds the highest Test batting average (59.06) of any Pakistani against Australia in Test matches.
• 20 hundreds in one day internationals.

Anwar's loss of form coincided with a great personal tragedy in 2001, when his three year-old daughter died. After this, Anwar became a born-again Muslim. He made his return to cricket after a long hiatus and was one of the most consistent Pakistani batsmen in the 2003 World Cup, with a century against India in his penultimate inning and an unbeaten 40 in his last inning, against Zimbabwe. The PCB axed most of the senior players in light of Pakistan's inability to make the second round of the 2003 CWC and Anwar was not selected again.

SANIA MIRZA

Birth and Early Life

Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986) is an Indian tennis player. She was born in Mumbai, brought up in Hyderabad. Coached by her father, Imran Mirza, (as well as her other family members) she began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. She was ranked 91st in the singles category and 44th in the doubles category in the WTA rankings of Sept 8, 2008.

Career

Sania Mirza holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament when she was seeded 26th in the 2007 U.S. Open. Earlier in 2005, she had become the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 U.S. Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. In 2004, she finished runner up at the Asian Tennis Championship. In 2005, Mirza reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams. On February 12, 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title, defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals.

Mirza won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. Mirza does not enjoy playing on clay. Her best performance in French Open singles was a second round appearance in 2007.

As of September 2006, Mirza has notched up three top 10 wins against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis.

At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Mirza won the silver in the women's singles category and the gold in the mixed doubles partnering Leander Paes. She was also part of the Indian women's team that won the silver in the team event.

Mirza had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings. She reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic and won the doubles event with Shahar Pe'er, and reached the quarterfinals of the Tier 1 Acura Classic.

At the 2007 U.S. Open, she reached the third round before losing to Anna Chakvetadze for the third time in recent weeks. She fared much better in the doubles, reaching the quarterfinals in mixed with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi and the quarterfinals in the women's doubles with Bethanie Mattek, including an impressive win over number two seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.

She represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, in the women's singles and doubles events. In singles, she retired in the round of 64, while she was trailing 1-6, 1-2 against Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic. She teamed up with Sunitha Rao for the doubles event. They got a walk-over in the round of 32, but lost to Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina by 4-6, 4-6, in the round of 16.

She has stated that two of her best friends are fellow WTA tour players, Anna Chakvetadze and Bethanie Mattek.

 Achievements

• 2008 Australian Open, lost in the final of Australian Open mixed doubles with partner Mahesh Bhupati.
• 2008 Australian Open, seeded 31st in the tournament, loses to Venus Williams in the third round 7–6(0), 6–4. Reached Finals of mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupati.
• 2007 U.S. Open, seeded 26th in the tournament, reaches the third round defeating US veteran Laura Granville 6–3, 7–5, before losing to Anna Chakvetadze 2–6, 3–6.
• 2007 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, won the doubles title partnering Italian Mara Santangelo, beating the top seeds Liezel Huber and Cara Black 6–1, 6–2.
• 2007 East West Bank Classic, beats Martina Hingis for the second time in a row in the second round 6–2, 2–6, 6–4.
• 2007 Acura Classic, reaches quarter-finals after defeating two Top 20 players Shahar Pe'er and Dinara Safina. However, she lost to top-seed Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–1.
• 2007 Bank of the West Classic, reached third career final after defeating Akiko Morigami, Tatiana Golovin, Patty Schnyder and Sybille Bammer, but lost to Anna Chakvetadze 6–2 6–3. Claimed the Doubles title with partner Shahar Pe'er, beating Anna Chakvetadze and Victoria Azarenka 6–4, 7–6.
• 2007 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, won the doubles title with Bethanie Mattek as the 1st seeds. In the final they defeated Alina Jidkova and Tatiana Poutchek 7–6 7–5.
• 2007 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, reached the semifinals as the 3rd seed, finally losing to 1st seeded, and eventual champion, Anna Chakvetadze 2–6, 7–5, 3–6.
• 2006 15^th Asian games, Doha, Qatar: Mixed doubles - won gold medal for India partnering Leander Paes. They beat Japan's Satoshi Iwabuchi and Akiko Morigami 7–5, 5–7, 6–2
• 2006 15^th Asian games, Doha, Qatar: Singles - won silver medal losing to China's Jie Zheng 4–6, 6–1, 1–6
• 2006 15^th Asian games, Doha, Qatar: Team Tennis - won Silver medal for India pairing Shikha Uberoi. They lost to Chinese Taipei team.
• 2006 Sunfeast Kolkata Open singles: reached semi-finals, losing to eventual champion, Martina Hingis 6–1 6–0
• 2006 Sunfeast Kolkata Open]] doubles: Won the tournament partnering Liezel Huber. They beat Yulia Fedak and Yuliana Beygelzeimer 6–4 6–0
• 2006 Bangalore Open (Hyderabad Open in the previous years) doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber)
• 2006 Won Silver medal in Qatar Asian Games 2006 Women's singles final and Gold medal in mixed doubles (partnering with Leander Paes)
• 2005 Japan Open: reaches the semi-finals of women's singles and doubles (partnering Shahar Peer of Israel); reaches her highest doubles ranking of 114.
• 2005 U.S. Open: reaches 4th round by defeating Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets (7–6(4), 6–4) before losing to top seed Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–1. Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day for winning her 2nd round match despite bleeding toes.
• 2005 Forest Hills Tennis Classic, New York: reaches her second WTA final but fails to win.
• 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd round but loses in the third round to Akiko Morigami of Japan (2–6,6–4,4–6). By beating the 8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in world rankings for the first time ever.
• 2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: Upset reigning US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 6–2 in 2nd round to reach the quarter-finals
• 2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6–4, 5–7, 6–3 in the final and became the first Indian woman to capture a WTA singles title.
• 2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament.
• 2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber) to become the youngest Indian to win a WTA or ATP tour title and the first Indian woman to capture a WTA tour title. entered the singles as wild card but lost in the first round to the eventual winner Nicole Pratt.
• 2003 Wimbledon Championships Juniors doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.
• 2003 Afro-Asian Games: won four gold medals - Women's singles, Mixed doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi), Women's doubles and Women's team events (the last two golds in partnership with Rushmi Chakravarthy).

 Career finals

Singles

 Wins (1 WTA/12 ITF)

Doubles

 Wins (7 WTA/4 ITF)

Legend (Doubles)

Grand Slam Title (0)

WTA Tour Championship (0)

Tier I (0)

Tier II (2)

Tier III (3)

Tier IV (2)

ITF Circuit (4)

SOHAIL ABBAS

Birth and Early Life

Sohail Abbas (born June 9, 1977 in Karachi) is a field hockey defender and penalty corner specialist from Pakistan. He is the holder of the world record for the most goals scored in international competition.

Born at Karachi's Holy Family Hospital, Soldier Bazaar on 9 June 1977, Sohail is a former pupil of Karachi's Habib Public School, the school of many other hockey stars. In fact, it has been rightly remarked that hockey is taught as a subject in this school.

Educated at Nazimabad No.1 (Liaquatabad Town), he came from a sporting family; his father, Syed Iftikhar Hussain, was a former first-class cricketer. He represented Karachi as well as Pak Crescent Club, famous for producing Zaheer Abbas. Sohail is eldest of three brothers. Raheel Abbas his younger one is a Professional First Class Cricketer and involve in Media Doings as Well. Sohail has often said that his inspiration came from his uncle, Safdar Abbas,a left-winger who scored against Argentina during the 1973 World Cup as 16-year-old boy. Sohail is keen to emphasize the part played by Safdar, who, Sohail says, inspired him as a youngster.

Career

As a young hockey player, his potential was not realized for some time. He had difficulty making an impact on the professional hockey leagues 1995-98. Like many Pakistani hockey players, he is a product of the Pakistan Junior Squad. An impressive performance in the 18th Junior National Hockey U18 Championship at Quetta 1995 gained him a place in Pakistan Junior squad which drew their home series 2-2 against Germany Juniors. He was not selected for the tour of Netherlands, Germany and Poland, playing next for Pakistan in the 3rd Junior Asia Cup at Singapore in 1996. He staged a comeback in the Pakistan Junior side in 1997, a side which beat Germany Junior in four consecutive test matches.

Four months later, he was dropped from the Pakistan Junior squad. Pakistan Junior team manager Samiullah Khan, now the manager of the national team, and coach Ayaz Mahmood were not convinced to include him for the 1997 World Cup staged in Milton Keynes - an underwhelming squad that failed to making it to the Junior World Cup semi-finals for the first time in the cup's 25-year history. Finally, he made his debut the following year on the national team and has since become arguably hockey's most prolific goalscorer of all time.

Sohail, who struck 20 goals in 1998, was in terrific form in 1999 when Pakistan won the Azlan Shah Cup for the first time and got silver in Asia Cup. He was leading scorer in 8th Pakistan-India Series (10 goals), 9th Azlan Shah Cup (12 goals) and 5th Asia Cup (16 goals). Of 16 Asia Cup's goals, seven were against Sri Lanka which allowed him a place in a select band of nine players who registered double hat-tricks in international circuits for Pakistan. His 60 goals in 1999 beat the world record of Litjens (58 goals) and national record of Sardar (50 goals) in one calendar year.

When he made his international debut during the 7th Pak-India series 1998, his role was only to come from the bench for penalty corner drills. His debut was at Peshawar's Lala S.M. Ayub Hockey Stadium on Saturday, 28 February 1998. Pakistan manager Islahuddin Siddiqui effected a substitution midway through the tie, but failed to make an impact. He failed to score in three penalty corners as Pakistan won 4-1. The following day, on 1 March 1998, in the second test at Rawalpindi's Army Hockey Stadium, Abbas announced his arrival on the international scene in dramatic fashion, scoring a drag flick from a penalty corner which proved to be the match-winner in Pakistan's 2-1 victory.

When the rule was changed after the 1998 World Cup, he was not considered for the 16th Commonwealth Games by coach Shahnaz Sheikh. But he staged a comeback to win silver in Lahore's 20th CT and bronze in Bangkok's 13th Asian Games in the same year.

Abbas has scored 274 international goals, surpassing the 22-year-old record of Dutch penalty corner specialist Paul Litjens. He retired in December 2004, just after the Champions Trophy in Lahore along with another Pakistani great Waseem Ahmad, when he was only 27 years of age but on July 04, 2006, he has decided to return to the international hockey. Since the summer of 2005 he and Waseem have both played for Dutch club Rotterdam. He struck his 33rd goal to break Mark Hager's 9-year old record. His 33rd goal emerged from penalty-mark when he converted 66th minute penalty-stroke against India in Pakistan's 2-1 win on fourth day of 26th Champions Trophy. The Australian striker had registered 32 goals from 1985 to 1995. He took 11 editions for his 32 goals while Sohail did the needful in his 6th CT and added another on 12 December tie to make his final Champions' Trophy total 34 .

Sohail was also leading scorer at the 2000 Olympic Games, Athens, with 11 goals, and of the 9th Indo-Pakistan series, with seven goals. Mixing his impressive hitting abilities with drag-flicks, Abbas has proved himself to be the world's most consistent drag-flick converter, his success rate over 65% mark. Sohail was the key figure when Pakistan won a place at the Athens Olympic Hockey Tournament by finishing third at Madrid's Olympic Qualifier on 13 March 2004. Three times Olympic Champion Pakistan also qualified for Sydney Olympics four years ago by taking part in Osaka 's Olympic Qualifier in March 2000. Pakistan finished second on the Japanese soil, with Sohail scoring 13 goals to finish as leading marksman. Sohail was also leading marksman at Madrid with nine goals. Four of these nine goals were against India in league encounter when he converted four out of four penalty corners. At Athens, he became the record Pakistani goalscorer in a single Olympiad, beating the 10-goal record of centre-forward Hassan Sardar, created at the Los Angeles Olympiad twenty years beforehand. Only Sohail, Sardar and Abdul Rashid Jr. have topped the goal scoring-chart in Olympics hockey. Rashid did it in 1968 when he was joint leader with Brian Glencross (Australia) and Prithipal Singh (India).

Sohail matched the world record on 4 October 2000 during the fifth test of the current series at the stadium named after Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand ; part of three gold medal-winning Indian teams in the Olympics - Amsterdam 1928, Los Angeles 1932 and Berlin 1936, where he was the captain. Sohail scored his 267th international goal at this historic venue from the 65th minute penalty-stroke. Sohail was already the holder of three world records in his six-year international career, before Amritsar's landmark. He is the scorer of the highest number of goals (60) in a calendar year as well as the holder of the title of fastest century and double century of goals in international hockey. He reached double century of goals on 17 August 2003 at Wagener stadium when he struck twice in 6-5 thrilling win over Argentina during 25th CT.

Sohail is among the seven Pakistanis who completed 200-plus caps in the international hockey circuit. Others are Shahbaz Ahmed, Tahir Zaman, Mansoor Ahmed, Muhammad Usman, Wasim Ahmed and Muhammad Nadeem. He played his 200th international hockey match on 1 July 2004 when Pakistan clashed with the Netherlands in 4-Nation Rabobank Trophy 2004 at Amstelveen's Wagener Stadium.

It was fifth CT for Sohail, and, in the process, he became the all-time leading scorer of Pakistan in this prestigious annual event, topping Hanif Khan's 21-goal record by converting the PC against Argentina in the 7th minute. It was his 22nd goal of CT history.

Sohail can easily be regarded as the best short corner expert in world hockey. Argentina's Jorge Lombi and Netherlands's Taeke Taekema are second in line. He is a natural short corner expert with a very strong wrist, a powerful drag flick and a perfected dummy "body dodge" action. He was Pakistani candidate for the FIH Player of the Year award in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004 but failed to outpoint Jay Stacy (Australia), Stephan Veen (Netherlands), Florian Kunz (Germany), Teun de Nooijer (Netherlands) and Jamie Dwyer (Australia) respectively.

Sohail, who struck 20 goals in 1998, was in terrific form in 1999 when Pakistan won the Azlan Shah Cup for the first time and got silver in Asia Cup. He was leading scorer in 8th Pakistan-India Series (10 goals), 9th Azlan Shah Cup (12 goals) and 5th Asia Cup (16 goals). Of 16 Asia Cup's goals, seven were against Sri Lanka which allowed him a spot in a select band of nine players who registered double hat-trick in international circus for Pakistan. His 60 goals in 1999 shattered the world record of Litjens (58 goals) and national record of Sardar (50 goals) in one calendar year.

Sohail's extraordinary talent and goal scoring prowess mean that he is a target of hockey clubs all over the world. He gets offers from clubs of numerous countries and represented Dutch club Amsterdam in 1999. In Netherlands, the hockey league, like soccer, runs for as long as six months with a winter break in between. Due to his commitments with the Pakistan team, Sohail only played for nine weeks and that too in two spells. He was provided with free lodging and boarding, offered a car and paid as much as 700 dollars per match.

Time spent in Netherlands him tone his skills and he pays warm tribute to the club boss Jons Hanset, who helped make his stay enjoyable. Twelve goals in 5 matches and helped his team qualify for the play-offs was no mean feat and he has no hesitation in stating that Netherlands remains his favorite country to visit. Close to his mother, he describes her as "my greatest supporter. I credit her with all I have achieved." His heroes of different sports are Shahbaz Ahmed Sr (hockey), Diego Maradona (soccer) and Andre Agasssi (tennis).

Sohail is quickest to complete the century of goals, reaching the three figures, when Pakistan thrashed Britain 8-1 in Sydney Olympics on 18 September 2000 (His 50th goal was recorded on 12 August 1999 when he got hat-trick against Spain during Rabobank Challenge at Amstelveen). Thus he completed his century in world record timing of two years, six months and 18 days. He was the sixth Pakistani to reach three figures in international arena after Hassan Sardar (150 goals), Tahir Zaman (134 goals), Kamran Ashraf (129 goals), Hanif Khan (127 goals) and Manzoorul Hassan Sr (101 goals).

He got eight goals at Sydney after handsome display at Osaka's Olympic qualifiers. His achievement at Japan was all the more remarkable considering he had only just returned to the fray after spending four months on the sidelines with a groin injury. His total goals in 2000 were 26, followed by 37 in 2001.

Sohail attracted worldwide attention in 2002 when he emerged as the joint highest scorer along with Argentina's Jorge Lombi in the 10th World Cup at Kuala Lumpur. And all 10 goals that Sohail scored at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in the Malaysian capital were off PCs.

He managed 44 goals in 2002 and added yet another feather to his cap in that year. Hasan Sardar was Pakistan's top scorer with 150 goals before Abbas unveiled his goal-scoring prowess. During the Six-Nation Invitational tournament at Kuala Lumpur, a month before World Cup 2002, Sohail scored his 151st international goal, becoming Pakistan's all-time highest scorer in international hockey. He struck nine goals as Pakistan managed bronze medals in 17th Commonwealth Games hockey tournament at Belle Vue Regional Hockey Center at Manchester. He struck hat-trick when Pakistan routed South Africa 10-2 in bronze-decider on 4 August 2002. Later, in the 24th CT in Cologne, Germany, Sohail played a major role and Pakistan finished third ahead of India.

The full-back, who joined Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on 27 July 2004, had scored 274 goals in 224 matches.

He was back bone of his previous organization Pakistan WAPDA in domestic hockey. WAPDA is currently national champion of Pakistan and their back-to-back triumphs, thanks to Sohail, recorded during 50th and 51st National Championship at Karachi 2003 and Peshawar 2004 respectively. Sohail also helped his previous domestic team HBL to reach the final of the National Championship in 2001.

Sohail managed 28 goals in 2003 and for the sixth time running, he finished as annual leading scorer for Pakistan. He struck five goals as Pakistan met success in Ipoh's 12th Azlan Shah Cup in March 2003 but later on Pakistan went to Australia without him, Nadeem Ahmed and Wasim Ahmed as the trio had defied the PHF by skipping the national training camp to play professional league in Germany. Sohail and Wasim represented German club Harvestehuder THC of Hamburg while Nadeem played for Gladbacher HTC. It was Sohail's third spell as pro hockey player after Dutch league 1999 and Malaysian League 2002 (he represented Bank Simpanan Nasional BSN along with Kashif Jawwad).

Nadeem did return in time for the trials for the Australia-bound squad, but he was not considered for selection and Pakistan suffered embarrassment, finishing last in both twin 4-Nation tournaments at Perth and Sydney.

Nadeem, later on, was reprimanded for his act while Sohail and Wasim were not allowed to appear in Pakistan-China series in July. They faced an inquiry committee on 14 July 2003 during which they regretted the mistake. Both were allowed to join the camp and seven days later were included in the team for the 25th CT. But their inclusion only came after hefty fines of Rs. 100,000 each on the players. PHF inquiry committee had also recommended a one-year ban on the duo. But PHF President Gen. Muhammad Aziz Khan brought an amicable end to the controversy when he said that the under-fire players will compete in the CT in better national interest.

Sohail also started 2004 in whirlwind fashion and won the top scorer award in 13th Azlan Shah Cup at Bukit Jalil Complex. He struck ten goals with the help of two hat tricks against India and Germany. He managed one double hat trick and 21 hat tricks in international hockey so far: a record unmatched in international field hockey. Sohail recorded 59 goals in 2004 and was well poised to break his own world record of most goals in calendar year (60 in 1999) before retirement.

Achievements

Sohail won bronze in Amstelveen's CT, followed by silver in KL's 6th Asia Cup. The PHF sent under-strength team at the First Afro Asian Games hockey event at Hyderabad Deccan 2003 by resting Sohail saying he needed rest after the CT and Asia Cup.

Despite such tremendous show, Sohail failed to win gold in a major event. He represented Pakistan in Olympics 2000, 2004 and World Cup 1998 and 2002, but Pakistan failed to win any medal. He was silver medalist in CT of 1998 and bronze medalist in CT 2002, 2003 and 2004. He also appeared in CT of 1999 and 2001.

SYED KIRMANI

Birth and Early Life

Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani pronunciation (born December 29, 1949 in Madras) played cricket for the India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper.

Popularly known as 'Kiri', Syed Kirmani is generally regarded as the finest wicket keeper to play for India. He started off as an understudy to Farokh Engineer in the tours of England in 1971 and 1974 and to the 1975 Cricket World Cup.

Career

Kirmani made his debut against New Zealand and in his second Test, equalled the world record of six victims in an innings. He followed this with an atrocious series in West Indies where he missed numerous chances and considerably contributed to Vivian Richards scoring hundreds in three consecutive Tests.

When New Zealand toured India the next year, he topped the batting averages with 65.33, and scored 305 runs in the tour of Australia. He did not have a very good time behind the stumps against Pakistan and West Indies in 1978–79. He was dropped in favour of Bharath Reddy, who was considered an inferior 'keeper, for the 1979 Cricket World Cup and the tour of England that followed. Sunil Gavaskar was also sacked as the captain. Though Kirmani was dropped ostensibly for performance, there was a rumour that the real reason was that both he and Gavaskar had been approached by the organisers of the Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.

Back in the team for the series against Australia in 1979–80, he scored a hundred as a nightwatchman in Bombay. His innings of 101* in five hours nearly lasted out the day. He had 17 catches and two stumpings against Pakistan in the same season and it equalled Naren Tamhane's Indian record for a single series. Against England in 1981–82, he did not concede a single bye in three consecutive Tests while 1964 runs were scored.

In the Madras Test in the same series, he missed some crucial catches which contributed to an Indian defeat. He was dropped at the end of that series in favour of Sadanand Viswanath.

Kirmani made a comeback in the Australian tour of 1985–86, where he fared reasonably well. He had just taken an outstanding catch to dismiss Allan Border in a World Series Cup match, when he hurt his leg badly. He was forced to sit out of the remaining matches of the tournament and that effectively ended his international career. India went for younger keepers like Kiran More and Chandrakant Pandit and despite trying hard; Kirmani was never able to regain his place. Later in his career he played for Railways in domestic cricket for a season, after which he returned to his former team, Karnataka.

Kirmani played the role of an underworld character in the movie Kabhi Ajnabhi The, which also featured two other cricketers, one was Sandip Patil. One of his distinguishing characteristics was his clean shaven head. He served as the chairman of the selection committee for India in the early 2000s.

Achievements

Kirmani won the award for the best wicket keeper in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, his highlight of which was the catch of Faoud Bacchus that he took in the final against the West Indies. In the first round match against Zimbabwe, he equalled the then record by effecting three catches and two stumpings. Against West Indies at home, he partnered Sunil Gavaskar - who scored 236* - in a record stand of 143* for the ninth wicket in the Madras Test.

At Bombay the next year, he scored his second hundred in Tests making 102 and adding 235 with Ravi Shastri, still an Indian record for the seventh wicket.

WASEEM AHMAD

Birth and Early Life

Waseem Ahmad (born 10 April 1977, Vehari) is a Pakistan field hockey player and ex- captain of Pakistan hockey team. He is regarded as one of the best left halfs in the world, and became the most capped midfielder and most capped player for Pakistan. After announcing his retirement from International hockey during Press Conference held after Pakistan-India third-place match of 26th Champions Trophy in Lahore, former Pakistan captain Waseem Ahmed later staged a comeback to international hockey in 2006 for World Cup.

Career

Pakistan's most-capped player and midfielder became the 34th National hockey Captain of Pakistan when Pakistan clashed with India in the opener of 9th Indo-Pak Series (Friday 24 September) at Karachi's HCP. He was the 17th captain to lead Pakistan in Champions Trophy. Apart from Shahbaz Ahmed, who captained Pakistan 6 times (1990-95) in Champion Trophys, only three players have captained Pakistan on two occasions. They are Hanif Khan (1983, 1985), Mansoor Ahmed (1996, 97) and Muhammad Sarwar (2001-02). Islahuddin, Munawwaruz Zaman, Akhtar Rasool, Samiullah Khan, Manzoor Hussain Jr., Hassan Sardar, Rashidul Hassan, Nasir Ali, Qazi Mohib, Muhammad Usman, Atif Bashir and Muhammad Nadeem ND captained once only.

The influential left-half is first in the list of most-capped Pakistanis. Shahbaz Ahmed Sr. (303 caps) is the second one. Third-placed Tahir Zaman earned 252 caps in a career spanning from 1987 to 1998. Other Pakistanis with 200+ caps in international hockey circuit are Mansoor Ahmed, Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Nadeem and Sohail Abbas.

Waseem Ahmad was the seventh midfielder to lead Pakistan. Hamidullah Burki was the first one when he led Pakistan in 1950 World Championship at Barcelona. Burki was followed by midfielders Ghulam Rasool, Anwar Ahmed Khan, Akhtar Rasool, Rashidul Hassan and Muhammad Usman.

He replaced former skipper Mohammad Nadeem alias ND, who quit international hockey after Pakistan finished 5th at the 28th Olympic Games.

The little fellow, with a perpetual grin on his face, is one of the few universally acclaimed stars of modern era Pakistan hockey. The position of left-half is generally regarded as a defensive one in Asian style hockey but, like Fazalur Rahman (1965-72) and Naeem Akhtar (1982-88), Waseem proved this perception wrong. He is not only a dynamo in defence but also in attack. He displays an extremely high work-rate. Waseem, also known as Muhammad Waseem in media, struck 6 goals in 303 international outings. He is an ex-student of Government College Lahore now known as GC University (Ravian) which in itself is a rare distinction for a hockey player.

Born in Vehari,located near Multan, a district of Punjab Province, on April 10, 1977, Waseem made his international debut during 16th Champions Trophy 1996 at Chennai (formerly Madras), India. He possesses excellent tackling and positioning sense in defence. Similarly, he has great ball-control to move up-front, creating gaps in the opponents' defence and supplying superb passes to the strikers.

Achievements

Waseem played his 200th international hockey match on 24 September 2003 when Pakistan inflicted a 4-2 win over India in the Group-B encounter of 6th Asia Cup Hockey Championship at National Hockey Stadium of Bukit Jalil Sports Complex at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Waseem also struck a precious goal in that match when he converted Pakistan's first penalty corner by beating Indian keeper Devesh Chauhan. He scored that crucial goal when the match was evenly poised at 2-2.

Being captain of Pakistan Hockey team for the 1st time, team won the 9th Indo-Pak Test Hockey Series and returned back to Pakistan with a victory under his captaincy.

Waseem won silver medals in Champions Trophy at Chennai 1996 and Lahore 1998 besides bronze medals in 2002,2003 and 2004 editions. He also appeared in CTs of 1997, 1999, and 2001. Waseem also represented Pakistan in Olympics 2000, 2004, World Cup 1998, 2002 and Junior World Cup 1997. He has also won silver medal in 5th and 6th Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur 1999 and 2003 respectively, and bronze medal in 13th Asian Games at Bangkok 1998. Pakistani team won Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 3 times and Waseem Ahmad was in the side everytime.

Along with Sohail Abbas, he was the only Pakistani to be included in the World XI which played against the Netherlands in Alexandria on October 27, 1999, as part of FIH's 75th Anniversary Celebrations. Waseem used to play for current national champions of Pakistan, WAPDA and he was the vice-captain of Pakistani team that won the third Junior Asia Cup at Singapore 1996. He also won the gold medal in FIH World Youth U18 Festival at Rawalpindi/Wah 1995-96.

He captained Pakistani team in two events before he announced his retirement. First was India-Pak Hockey Test Series 2004 which Pakistan won easily. Second was Champions Trophy in December at Lahore in which Pakistani team got bronze medal under his captaincy.

He became Pakistan's second most-capped player when he earned his 253rd cap on December 4, 2004 in a match against Germany and he became Pakistan's most-capped (304) December 12, 2004 in his last match before retirement against India which was for Bronze medal and Pakistan won it. He was declared man of the match in this match for his excellent captaincy and midfield work. He also became the most-capped midfielder of Pakistan's hockey history by edging out Muhammad Usman's record of 210 caps. Former national skipper Usman played as a right-half from 1994 to 2002. He came back in the side for playing Champion's Trophy and World Cup in 2006 for Pakistan Hockey Team after taking his retirement back.

WASIM AKRAM

Birth and Early Life

Wasim Akram (born June 3, 1966 in Lahore, Punjab) is a former Pakistani cricketer. He was a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman, who represented the Pakistani cricket team in Tests and One Day Internationals. Widely regarded as one of the finest fast bowlers ever, Akram holds world records for the most wickets taken in both ODIs (502) and List A cricket (881), and was one of the pioneers of reverse swing bowling. The revolutionary nature of reverse swing initially resulted in accusations of ball tampering, although reverse swing has now been accepted as a legitimate feature of the game. Akram's later career was also tarnished with accusations of match fixing, although these remain unproven.

Career

Wasim signed for Lancashire in 1988 and went on to become one of their most successful overseas players. From 1988 to 1998, he spearheaded their attack in their NatWest Trophy, Benson & Hedges Cup and Sunday League winning sides. He was a favourite of the local fans who used to sing a song called "Wasim for England" at Lancashire's matches.

Wasim made his Test debut for Pakistani cricket team against New Zealand in early 1985 and in only his second Test he made his presence felt with a ten-wicket haul. Like a few other Pakistani cricketers of his time, he was identified at club level and bypassed first-class domestic competition, entering international cricket directly. A few weeks prior to his selection into the Pakistani team, he was an unknown club cricketer who had failed to even make it to his college team. He was spotted by Javed Miandad, and as a result of his insisting was it that Wasim was given an opportunity to play for Pakistan. Later that season he paired with Imran, who became his mentor, at the World Championship of Cricket in Australia.

Wasim's rise in international cricket was rapid during the initial years. When Pakistan toured the West Indies in 1988, he looked to be the quickest bowler between the two sides. However, a serious groin injury impeded his career in the late 1980s. Following two surgeries, he re-emerged in 1990 as a bowler who focused more on swing and control than speed.

 One-Day success

Wasim was instrumental in Pakistan's famous World Cup victory in 1992 in Australia. In the final against England his late flurry of an innings, 33 off 19 balls, pushed Pakistan to a respectable 249 for 6. Wasim then took the all-important wicket of Ian Botham early on, and when brought back into the attack later on, with the ball reverse swinging, he produced a devastating spell which led to Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis being clean-bowled in successive deliveries. His excellent performances earned him the Man of the Match award for the final.

He also captained Pakistan with some success. The high points of his captaincy were the 1996-97 victory in the World Series in Australia, two Test match wins in India in 1998-99 and in 1999, when Pakistan reached the World Cup final for the second time. The low point was the 1996 World Cup in Pakistan and India, when he had to pull out of the crucial quarter final match against India. After Pakistan's defeat, there were angry protests outside his homes, and a government inquiry was launched into the failure.

In 1999, he led Pakistan to the brink of victory in the World Cup before they rolled over and gave the final to Australia. This was the start of the match-fixing controversies, as people believed Wasim had set up the match for Australia. He was pardoned by Justice Qayyum.

He was Pakistan's top bowler in the 2003 World Cup taking 19 wickets in 7 matches. However, Pakistan failed to reach the "Super Six" phase of the tournament, and Wasim was one of the eight players to be sacked by the Pakistan Cricket Board as a result.

Wasim was diagnosed with diabetes at the peak of his career, but despite the initial psychological blow, he managed to regain his form and went on to produce fine cricketing displays. Since then he has actively sought to be involved in various awareness-raising campaigns for diabetes. .

Achievements

• In his Test career, Wasim took 414 wickets in 104 matches, a Pakistani record, at an average of 23.62, and scored 2,898 runs, at an average of 22.64.

• In One Day Internationals, Wasim took a world record 502 wickets in 356 appearances, at an average of 23.52, and scored 3,717 runs, at an average of 16.52.

• Wasim was the first bowler in international cricket to take more than 400 wickets in both forms of the game, and only Muttiah Muralitharan has since achieved this.

• Wasim also held the record for the most wickets in Cricket World Cups — a total of 55 in 38 matches. Australia's Glenn McGrath broke the record during the 2007 World Cup, ending with a final tally of 71 from 39 matches. On passing Wasim's record, McGrath said, "Wasim Akram, to me, is one of the greatest bowlers of all time. Left-armer, swung it both ways with the new ball and he was so dangerous with the old ball. To go past him is something I will always remember. Probably the other side of the coin is that if you play long enough, you're going to break records here and there."

• Uniquely, Wasim took four hat-tricks in international cricket, two each in Tests and ODIs. He is one of only three bowlers to have taken two Test hat-tricks (the others being Hugh Trumble and Jimmy Matthews), and also one of only three bowlers to have taken two ODI hat-tricks (the others being fellow Pakistani Saqlain Mushtaq and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka). Wasim's Test hat-tricks are unique, since they were taken in consecutive Test matches in the same series, both against Sri Lanka in the 1998-99 Asian Test Championship. Wasim is also one of only two bowlers to have taken both a Test and ODI hat-trick (the other being fellow Pakistani Mohammad Sami).

• Playing in a Test against the West Indies at Lahore in 1990-91, he became one of only six players to have taken four wickets in an over during a Test match. In Wasim's case, the feat was not part of a hat-trick, the third ball of the series being a dropped catch, which allowed a single.

• Wasim has also achieved the highest score by a number eight batsman in Test cricket — 257 not out from 363 balls against Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura. The innings contained 12 sixes which is also a world record for Test cricket.

• He also has the third highest number of Man of the Match awards in Test cricket, seventeen.

Wasim retired in 2003, after a brief spell with Hampshire in England. Since then, Wasim has taken up commentary and can currently be seen as a sportscaster for the ESPN Star network, and is also running shows on ARY Digital. He is married to Huma Mufti, daughter of Mr. Humayaun Mufti. Wasim and Huma have two sons from their marriage of fourteen years.

ZESH REHMAN

Birth and Early Life

Zeshan "Zesh" Rehman (born 14 October 1983 in Birmingham, England) is a British Pakistani football defender currently playing for Blackpool on loan from Queens Park Rangers. He also plays for the Pakistan national football team. He is the first Pakistani international footballer to play professional football in England.

Career

A product of the FA Youth setup and Fulham Academy, Rehman was also an England youth international at Under-17 and Under-20 levels. He was with Fulham Academy when he was 20 years old and the Premier League club from London was able to garner some media attention from British Asian groups by being perhaps the first Asian player to ply his trade in the top division of English football. Although a centre-back by trade, Rehman had been used as a holding midfielder as well as right-back in his career there, which also involved a brief loan stint at Brighton & Hove Albion where he impressed with his dedication towards the game as well as good strong character at such a young age.

Having made thirty appearances in all competitions for Fulham, 26 from the starting line up and four as a substitute, Rehman had to consider his options if he was to get regular football. Although he had two years remaining on his Fulham contract his hunger for regular first team football was too strong and he decided to spend the next two seasons getting as much experience as possible.

Rehman was loaned out to Championship club Norwich City for the rest of the season, as a defensive cover to the injury-hit Canaries. He made five starts for the Canaries. Before the 2006-07 season, Rehman completed a transfer to Queens Park Rangers from Fulham on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee in August 2006. Rehman was quoted as saying "All I want to do is play; the money doesn't interest me anymore". He further added "I could have sat at Fulham and just been happy to pick up my wages but that's not what I am all about".

In his first season at QPR Rehman made 27 appearances (25 from the start and two as a substitute). It was not easy joining a team that had just avoided relegation the previous season, had very little budget and had an inexperienced manager in charge. Rehman struggled, but gained valuable experience of how tough life can be at other clubs. Towards the end of the season he accepted a loan offer to former club Brighton for a month and gained some more first team football experience.

This was his second loan stint with the club after a previous loan deal during the 2003-04 season while at Fulham. He made his return to Brighton & Hove Albion on 24 March 2007 in a 0-0 draw against visitors Huddersfield Town. In an interview, Rehman advised fellow British Asian football players to "stick with their roots" as he feels, given his own experience, that Asians will not get opportunities to represent England if they're not good enough, and should instead at least make their mark at the international stage by playing for their countries of origin. Rehman ended his loan stint by playing the full 90 minutes and earning a yellow card in the process for the final game of the Football League One season in a 1-1 draw for Brighton & Hove at Cheltenham Town on 5 May 2007, claiming an assist for the opening goal. He featured in eight full games during his loan stint. The final game was his 35th appearance of the season. (33 from the start and two as a substitute).

Returning to QPR at the start of the new season, chances were limited. However, hard work, good attitude plus njuries and suspension problems in the squad allowed him to get his opportunity in the club during the packed Christmas period of the season which helped him gain the confidence of the fans and the manager with some solid and consistent displays with QPR who picked up four wins and two draws out of eight games when he got back into the team. He helped to lift the team off the foot of the table and into a more respectable league position. The 3-1 victory over Leicester City on New Years Day 2008 was Rehman's 50th game in all competitions since leaving Fulham in 2006.

Rehman finished the 2007-08 season in the starting line for QPR against the Championship champions West Bromwich Albion. During this season he reached another milestone - playing over 100 professional games both in league and cup competitions.

Rehman joined Blackpool in a six-month loan deal along with Daniel Nardiello who joined the club on a permanent basis, with Blackpool defender Kaspars Gorkss moving to QPR. Rehman made his debut for Blackpool as a second half substitute in a shock 2-0 defeat at Football League Two club Macclesfield Town in the first round of the Football League Cup 2008-09 on 12 August 2008. He was though used as a striker due to injuries to three of the clubs strikers. Rehman made his league debut the following Saturday, 16 August in a 1-1 draw at Norwich City, coming on early in the second half to replace defender Danny Coid.

Rehman always wanted to represent England, but becoming the first British Asian to don an England senior football shirt seemed too far away, due to lack of first team opportunities at Fulham. Because of his Pakistani parentage and possessing dual Pakistani and British nationality, he also qualified to represent Pakistan. At first he was reluctant to become a Pakistani international, but eventually opted for the Asian country, although a lot of British Asian groups were against this and wanted him to fight for an England place more to set a standard for British Asian youth. It was, however, an unrealistic aspiration. With that in mind, and with the blessings of his father, Rehman made his international debut for Pakistan, on 7 December 2005 at Karachi against Sri Lanka in the 2005 SAFF Cup, receiving decent attention from the Pakistani media circles and fans. Pakistan ultimately reached the semi-finals before losing out to Bangladesh 1-0.

In that short space of time Rehman helped to raise the profile of the game in Pakistan, encouraging youngsters to play the game and also help to raise the profile of Pakistan in the United Kingdom and on a global stage. Since then, worries of little first team action for club have made him ignore the AFC Challenge Cup 2006 and the AFC Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers for Pakistan, and consider his next move very carefully recognising that club football is the bread and butter but international football is also important.

Rehman was named in the Pakistan squad for the World Cup 2010 qualifiers against Iraq in October 2007, and played the match in Lahore but couldn't help contain the current Asian champions Iraq from winning 7-0. In the second leg, he put in a commanding display in the reverted 4-4-2 formation, leading Pakistan to a very credible 0-0 draw.

Due to club commitments and injury he had to miss out on the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers for Pakistan, a situation that proved costly for the national team as defensive blunders cost them the chance of qualifying despite a promising start to the campaign. He also had to miss SAFF Cup 2008 due to illness.

WRITERS

AKBAR S. AHMED

Birth and Early Life

Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, SI, commonly referred to as Akbar S. Ahmed is an anthropologist, filmmaker, administrator, diplomat and a Muslim scholar on Islam, International Relations and Politics, and Contemporary Islamic philosophy from Pakistan. According to the BBC, he is “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam”.

Ahmed earned a bachelor's degree of social sciences from the University of Birmingham, a master of arts degree in education from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of London. He also received an honorary doctor of laws from the University of Liverpool.

Career

He is Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University in Washington, DC and a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. He was previously the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom and has taught at Princeton University, Harvard University, and the University of Cambridge. He has advised Prince Charles and met with President George W. Bush on Islam. His numerous books, films, and documentaries have won awards.

Ahmed is regularly interviewed on CNN, CNBC Pakistan, the BBC, and ARY TV, and has appeared several times on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Nightline. Ahmed appeared on the Sir David Frost Show (along with Lord Owen) on Al Jazeera and also Newsnight for the Annual Review 2007.

Achievements

 Books

1. Pieces of Green, the Sociology of Change in Pakistan, 1964-1974; Royal Book Co., 1977
2. Social and economic change in the Tribal Areas, 1972-1976; Oxford University Press, 1977
3. Religion and Politics in Muslim Society: Order and Conflict in Pakistan; Royal Book Co., 1987
4. Toward Islamic Anthropology: Definition, Dogma, and Directions; Vanguard Books, 1987
5. Pakistan: The Social Sciences' Perspective; Oxford University Press, 1990
6. Resistance and Control in Pakistan; Routledge, 1991
7. Postmodernism and Islam: Predicament and Promise; Routledge, 1992
8. Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society; Routledge, 1993
9. Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity; Routledge, 1994
10. Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity; Routledge, 1997
11. Islam Today: A Short Introduction to The Muslim World; I.B. Tauris, 1998
12. The Future of Anthropology: Its Relevance to the Contemporary World; Co-Edited by Chris Shore, Athlone Press, 1999
13. Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World; Polity Press, 2003
14. After Terror: Promoting Dialogue Among Civilizations; Co-Edited by Brian Forst, Polity Press, 2005
15. Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization; Brookings Institution Press, 2007

 Films and Documentaries

1. Executive producer and co-writer, Jinnah, 1998
2. Host, The Glories of Islam by Channel 4 UK
3. Executive producer, The Quaid: Mr. Jinnah and the Making of Pakistan: A Documentary Film
4. Host, Living Islam, six part series by BBC
5. Journey Through the Muslim World with Akbar Ahmed, by Raj TV, UK

AKHTERUZZAMAN ELIAS

Birth and Early Life

Akhteruzzaman Elias (February 16, 1943 - January 4, 1997), born in Gaibandha District, Bangladesh, is a famous novelist and short story writer.Though he wrote only two novels, critics place Elias in the pantheon of great Bengali novelists. In the context of the novels of Bangladesh, he is possibly the second person highest acclaimed after Syed Waliullah.

He was born at his maternal uncle's home in the village of Gotia in Gaibandha District. His paternal home was in Chelopara, near Bogra town. His father, Badiuzzaman Muhammad Elias, was a member of the East Bengal Provincial Assembly (1947-1953) and Parliamentary Secretary of the Muslim League. He completed his Matriculation from Bogra Zilla School in 1958, Intermediate from Dhaka College in 1960, and BA (Hons) and MA from the University of Dhaka in 1964.

Career

Though he has not written many literary works he is considered to be one of the foremost fiction writers of Bangladesh. He has written only two novels and twenty-two short stories.

Novels

• Chilekothar Sepai(The Soldier in an Attic) (1987) - details the psychological journey of a man during the turbulent period just prior to Bangladeshi independence in 1971. This novel also contains what is arguably the most authentic description of life in Puran Dhaka, the old and distinctive part of Dhaka.

• Khoabnama (Tale of Dreams) (1996) - Khoabnama depicts the socio-political scene in rural pre-partition Bangladesh.

 Short story collections

• Dojokher Om (The Warmth of Hell)
• Dudhbhate Utpat (No Peace in Milk and Rice)

 Essay collections

• Shongskritir bhanga shetu (Broken Bridge of Culture)

Achievements

Akhtaruzzaman Elias has received several awards.

• Humayun Kabir Smrti Puraskar (1977),
• Bangla Academy Sahitya Puraskar (1983),
• Alaol Sahitya Puraskar (1987),
• Ananda Puraskar (1996),
• Saadat Ali Akhand Puraskar (1996),
• Kazi Mahbubullah Gold Medal (1996), and
• Ekushey Padak (1999, posthumous).

FAREED ZAKARIA

Birth and Early Life

Fareed Zakaria (born January 20, 1964) is an India-born American journalist, author, and television host specializing in international relations.

Zakaria was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. His father, Rafiq Zakaria, was a politician associated with the Indian National Congress and an Islamic scholar. His mother, Fatima Zakaria, was for a time the editor of the Sunday Times of India.

Zakaria attended Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, Yale University and subsequently received a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University, where he studied under Samuel P. Huntington and Stanley Hoffmann.

Career

Zakaria is generally regarded as a political moderate or centrist. In foreign policy terms, he is a "realist" (i.e., someone who believes that American foreign policy should be guided by a conception of its national interest). His first book, From Wealth to Power, argues that countries that grow rich and powerful inevitably expand their sphere of interests abroad. He sees America as a reluctant great power in the late 19th century because it was a strange creature — a strong nation with a very weak central state.

Zakaria is an advocate of free markets, both at home and abroad. He believes that America should embrace globalization and free trade. He is an internationalist, writing consistently in favor of American engagement with the world, multilateralism, and efforts to help alleviate global poverty and disease. He has often argued that helping countries to modernize their economies and societies is a more secure path to development and liberty than pushing for elections and democracy.

His second book, The Future of Freedom, develops this latter theme more fully. Zakaria argues that democracy works best in societies when it is preceded by "constitutional liberalism," which he defines as the rule of law, rights of property, contract, and individual freedoms. He has written that historically liberty has preceded democracy, not the other way around. He has argued that countries that simply hold elections without broad-based modernization—including economic liberalization and the rule of law—end up becoming "illiberal democracies". For this reason, he has been critical of the manner in which the Bush administration has pushed its democracy agenda forward, relying on elections in Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon as the solution to those countries' problems and minimizing the building of the institutions of law, governance, and liberty.

After the 9/11 attacks, Zakaria wrote a seminal cover-story essay for Newsweek entitled "The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us?". In it, he argued that Islamic terrorism has its roots in the stagnation and dysfunctions of the Arab world. Decades of failure under tyrannical regimes, all claiming to be Western-style secular modernizers, has produced an opposition that is religious, violent, and increasingly globalized. Because the Mosque is the one place where people can gather in an Arab country, that is where the opposition to these regimes grew. Because Islam was the one language that could not be censored, it became the language of opposition. He argued for a generational effort to create more open and dynamic societies in the Arab world, thereby helping "Islam enter the modern world".

In a June 11, 2007 cover essay, Zakaria criticizes "fear-based" policies on terrorism, immigration, and trade, and argues that beyond George W. Bush the world needs an open and confident United States.

While Zakaria initially supported using military force against Iraq, he argued for a United Nations-sanctioned operation and occupation with a much larger force (approximately 400,000 troops, similar to what General Eric Shinseki had argued for). He also called for a Bosnia- or Kosovo-style occupation that was international, rather than American, in nature. He wrote a Newsweek cover essay the week the Iraq war began entitled "The Arrogant Empire," which detailed the failures of the Bush foreign policy in the run-up to the war.

He was an early and aggressive critic of the occupation, arguing against the disbanding of the Iraqi army and bureaucracy, which the administration accomplished under the guise of "de-Baathification." He predicted that accelerating the build-up of the Iraqi military would create a Shia and Kurdish army that would exacerbate the sectarian tensions in the country. Four months into the occupation, his columns bore such titles as "Iraq Policy Is Broken," and in September 2003 he wrote a cover story for Newsweek entitled "So What's Plan B?" In a February 2005 issue, the week before Iraq's elections, he wrote, "no matter how the voting turns out, the prospects for genuine democracy in Iraq are increasingly grim." In his March 5, 2007 Newsweek cover essay, Zakaria called for a reduction in American troops in Iraq to 60,000 by the end of 2007.

In his 2006 book State of Denial, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward wrote that, on November 29, 2001, a meeting of Middle East experts and analysts was convened at the request of then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. The outcome of the meeting was a report for President George W. Bush concerning American policy toward Afghanistan and the Middle East in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a report that supported the subsequent invasion of Iraq. Zakaria told The New York Times that he attended the meeting for a few hours but that he "thought it was a brainstorming session" and did not recall being told that a report for the President would be produced.

On October 21, 2006, after verification, the Times published a correction that stated:

An article in Business Day on Oct. 9 about journalists who attended a secret meeting in November 2001 called by Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense, referred incorrectly to the participation of Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International and a Newsweek columnist. Mr. Zakaria was not told that the meeting would produce a report for the Bush administration, nor did his name appear on the report.

Wisconsin Citizen Action member Roger Bybee, in a piece entitled "Fareed Zakaria, Spokesperson for the Global Elite" for the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting organization, writes that Zakaria's "fervent embrace of the perspectives of the powerful keeps him in a state of denial regarding fundamental realities of the global economy."

Zakaria is a naturalized citizen of the United States. He currently resides in New York City with his wife, Paula Throckmorton Zakaria, son Omar, and daughters Lila and Sofia. Zakaria has weighed in on his Muslim background on only one occasion, telling the Village Voice, "I occasionally find myself reluctant to be pulled into a world that's not mine, in the sense that I'm not a religious guy."

Achievements

After directing a research project on American foreign policy at Harvard, Zakaria became editor of the magazine Foreign Affairs, and, in 2000, an editor of Newsweek International. He writes a weekly foreign affairs column that appears in both the domestic and international editions of Newsweek. His book The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad (Norton) was published in 2003.

He is the author of From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role (1998) (Princeton University Press), The Future of Freedom (2003), The Post-American World (2008) and co-editor of The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World (Basic Books).

Zakaria hosted the weekly TV news show, Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria, for PBS, and, from 2002 to 2007 a news analyst with ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. His new weekly show, Fareed Zakaria GPS premiered on CNN in June 2008.

In 1999, he was named "one of the 21 most important people of the 21st Century" by Esquire and in 2005, he won the World Affairs Councils of America's International Journalist Award. He serves on the boards of Yale University, the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, New America Foundation and Columbia University's International House.

Zakaria has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart a record eleven times.

GHULAM MUSTAFA KHAN

Birth and Early Life

Prof. Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Ph.D., D.Litt, SI, was a researcher, critic, linguist, author, scholar of Urdu literature & linguistics, educationist and religious & spiritual leader of Pakistan.

In 1928 he passed ninth grade from Anjuman Islamia High School, Jabalpur and went to Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for the rest education. He received his higher education at the Aligarh Muslim University. He held LLB and M.A. in Urdu literature & Persian and in 1947 completed his Ph.D on Hassan Ghaznavi. In 1959 he was awarded D.Litt by Nagpur University, India.

Career

He was born in the Jabalpur city of India on September 23, 1912. During his Service life he was appointed as a lecturer at the King Edward College, Amrawati and after migration to Pakistan from India he was appointed in Urdu College, Karachi. Later in his life he also performed the duties of head of the department of Urdu in Sindh University. For his academic services he was honoured with various level of awards like the Presidential award Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Naqoosh award, Iqbal award and Nishan-i-Sipas.

He has published a large number of Research Papers and still large number of books, translations, compilations, numbering about ninety three. His book on |Iqbal & Quran" was awarded as the best book ever written on this subject and was awarded gold medal by Idara e Adbiat Pakistan.

Dr Ghulam Mustafa was also a famous religious and spiritual leader. His students in number include scholar of fame like Ibn-e-Insha, Jameel Jalibi, Abul Lais Siddiqui, Aslam Farrukhi, Farman Fatehpuri, Moinuddin Aqeel, Syed Waqar Ahmed Rizvi and Abul Khair Kashfi etc.

Prof. Masroor Ahmed Zai wrote his PhD dissertation on life and services Prof. Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Khan under suprevision of Dr.Aslam Farrukhi.

At least one third of the population of Pakistan lives below the poverty line and cannot afford even basic medical treatment. Slam-ul-Momineen Trusthas taken up the task of opening a number of Free Medical Clinics in high poverty areas in the suburbs of Karachi.

In October 2006, The Salam-ul-Momineen Trust has launched its first Free Medical Clinic at Block 11, Gulshan-e-Iqbal near the slum area of Juma Goath, in the name of a great educationist, scholar and spiritual individual Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Khan Saheb.

We are providing OPD medicines along with services of qualified Gynecologist and pediatrician every day in the morning from 9:30 to 13:30 and a GP and Surgeon in the evening from 5:30 to 10 pm. Since the opening of Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Khan Free Medical Clinic in October 2006, more than Ten Thousand patients have been treated free of cost.

The Trust has also been donated land for opening of Free Medical Clinics in other areas of Karachi. The Trust is opening Free Medical Clinics in Mehmood Abad and in Quetta Town Near Suhrab Goth shortly.

Salam-ul-Momineen Trust has also launched a campaign to educate and create awareness amongst the people of Pakistan to take initiative to work for the betterment of people living below the poverty line. We would like people to join us in this noble project by donating medicines or funds or supporting us in any other way.

HUMAYUN AHMED

Birth and Early Life

Humayun Ahmed (born 1948) is the most famous contemporary Bengali fictionist and playwright who has been writing for over thirty five years. He, formerly a professor of Applied Chemistry at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh is now a full-time author and movie-maker.

Towards the end of 20th century, Humayun Ahmed emerged as the most popular novelist and story-writer of Bengali literature since Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay. At least for the last two decades, Humayun Ahmed's books are topping the best sellers list by a big margin . He has also achieved unparallel success as a playwright since he started writing screenplays for television in late 1980s. In early 1990s, he entered the movie-world and proved to be a successful filmmaker in spite of clear departure from traditional Bangladeshi movies. Although his novels and stories frequently build around urban middle-class life, his focus on rural Bangladesh is not negligible at all.
Humayun Ahmed often shows a fascination for creating stories around supernatural events. Also, he is considered the father of modern Bengali science fiction having to his credit a number of science fiction books that he has published since 1980s. As an author, he essentially belongs to the genre whose style is characterized by magic realism In a popular survey conducted by the BBC, Humayun Ahmed was elected as one of the ten great living Bengalis.

Humayun Ahmed was born in 1948 in Kutubpur of Mymensingh district in the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. It is through him that the colloquial language of rural Mymensingh found a permanent seat in Bengali literature. His father Foyzur Rahman, a police officer and literature aficionado, was killed by the Pakistani army during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Small wonder that the behaviour and attitude of police officers of Bangladesh often feature in his stories and novels. Ahmed's younger brother Muhammad Zafar Iqbal who is a university professor is also a writer of children's books and science fiction . Recently Iqbal has also earned reputation as a newspaper columnist and a human rights activist.
Their brother, Ahsan Habib, is the editor of Unmad and a cartoonist as well as popular writer. Humayun Ahmed married Gultekin in 1973 who gave him five children. They divorced in 2005 as Humayun Ahmed decided to marry Shaon, a young actress who was a friend of his daughter. The affair with Shaon since mid-1990s, eventually culminating in wedlock, fetched Humayun Ahmed a huge criticism from the people, specially the womenfolk of the country. His first wife, Gultekin described Humayun Ahmed having a loose character who always hots for girls in their teens, including his friends' daughters. One of his closest friends, Waliul Islam, took away his daughter Deepa, a brilliant student and a very accomplished young actress, from the showbiz world, when scandals began to spread.

Humayun Ahmed attended Chittagong Collegiate School and Bogra Zilla School for his secondary education. For his higher secondary education, he attended the Dhaka College. He received excellent scores in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and then he obtained second position in combined merit list of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination of the Dhaka Board.

Career

After graduating from the University of Dhaka with excellent grades, Humayun Ahmed joined the department of chemistry in the same university as a lecturer. He obtained his PhD. in polymer chemistry from the North Dakota State University under the guidence of professor Joseph Edward Glass. Professor Dr. Humayun Ahmed retired from the Department of Chemistry of the University of Dhaka for the sake of writing and film-making(according to his novel Chobi Bananor Galpo). Notably he is an honorary fellow in writing at the University of Iowa.

Humayun Ahmed had a meteoric rise in Bangla literature. His first novel, Nondito Noroke (tr: In blissful Hell by Mohammad Nurul Huda), written while he was still a student of University of Dhaka, gained immediate popularity and critical acclaim. Equally successful was his second novel, Shankhanil Karagar (tr: The Conch-blue Prison), later made into a successful film by Nasiruddin Yusuf. Humayun Ahmed went on to become one of the most prolific writers in Bengali literature, having published around one hundred and fifty novels to date.

Along with his more traditional novels and short stories, Humayun Ahmed is often credited with creating or maturing many literary genres in Bangladesh. The rise of Bengali science fiction can almost solely be attributed to Humayun Ahmed and Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, his younger brother.

His contribution to the comic genre is also considerable. His televised drama Bohubrihi was one of the most successful productions of the national TV of the country called Bangladesh Television. Its characters are still household names twenty years later. The drama combined a subtle comic wit with a social message, as did his successful comic essay collection Elebele. Humayun Ahmed later developed Bohubrihi into a novel.

Though set in the realities of middle class life, Humayun Ahmed's works display a particular penchant for the mysterious and unexplained. He himself and his literature are often referred to as "moon-struck", and references to the full moon in his prose are numerous. In almost every one of Ahmed's novels, there is at least one character who possesses an extraordinary milk of kindness—a characteristic of Humayun Ahmed’s writing. Also, he is prone to create funny characters through which he reveals social realities and passes on his message.

Another recurring theme in Ahmed's literature is the liberation war, which affected him deeply. His father was executed by the Pakistan Army during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. He, along with his mother and siblings, had to hide to survive. Humayun Ahmed has made a play titled 1971, several novels like Aguner Parashmoni (The Touchstone of Fire), Shyamal Chhaya (Green Shadows) and a recent novel named Jochhna O Jananir Galpo (The Tale of Moonlight and the Mother) based on the Liberation War. The novel Jochhna O Jananir Galpo has already received huge popularity and critical acclaim. His comic novel Bahubrihi ends with the character named Farid training parrots to say Tui Rajakar (tr. you are a traitor), with the goal of sending these parrots to Bangladeshi collaborators during the war, and this gained a huge popularity among the people of Bangladesh.

Dr. Humayun Ahmed wrote a notable book on 'Quantum Chemistry'. This book contains a brief but excellent introduction on Quantum chemistry.

Humayun Ahmed has transformed himself into a prominent film and television personality. His first television drama, "Ei Shob Din Ratri" (Story of our daily life), gained unparallel popularity in the mid-eighties. He followed this with the comedy series "Bohubrihi", the historical drama series "Ayomoy", and the urban drama series "Kothao Keu Nei" (Nobody Anywhere). The last one featured an idealistic gang leader named 'Baker Bhai', who is wrongly convicted, and executed. Baker Bhai became such a popular character that before the last episode was aired, people across the country brought out processions protesting his death sentence. Funnily enough, public prayers and death anniversaries have been observed for this fictional character by Humayun-fans. Last but not the least, "Nakshetrer Raat" (tr. The night of stars, a long serialized televised drama was another hit that explored many facets of modern human life and relationship.

Ahmed explored the film industry both as an author and director. He directs films based on his own stories. His first film, "Aguner Parashmoni", based on the Bangladesh Liberation War, received critical acclaim and won the National Film Award in eight categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. The theme of the Liberation War often comes across in his stories, often drawing upon Ahmed's in-depth memories of that war.

Ahmed's film Shyamal Chhaya received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film. It was an entertaining moview with a storyline around the war of liberaiton war of 1971. The movie portrayed a realistic picture of the liberation war without malice and prejudice. Shaymol Chhaya has proved to be a captivating movie. In our polarised world where portraying practising Muslims negatively can bring international accolade very easily, Humayun Ahmed didn't take advantage of the situation. Instead of exploiting that sick anti-Muslim sentiment, he preferred to illustrate a story that is unarguably very close to reality

Achievements

• Bangla Academy Award 1981
• Shishu Academy Award
• Ekushe Podok 1994
• National Film Award (Best Story 1993, Best Film 1994, Best Dialogue 1994)
• Lekhak Shibir Prize (1973)
• Michael Madhusudan Medal (1987)
• Bacsas Prize (1988)
• Humayun Qadir Memorial Prize (1990)
• Jainul Abedin Gold Medal
• ShellTec Award (2007)

It may be noted that the Japanese TV channel NHK made a program Who is who in asia about the life of Humayun Ahamed

Selected novels

• Lilaboti (2006)
• Kobi (Poet)
• Nondito Noroke (In A Blissful Hell)
• Shongkhoneel Karagar
• Mondroshoptok
• Durey Kothay (Far Away)
• Sourav (Fragrance)
• Nee
• Phera(Return)
• Krishno Paksha (Dark Moon)
• Saajghar(Dressing Room)
• Bashor
• Gouripur Junction (Gouripur Junction)
• Nripoti (Emperor)(Drama)
• Omanush (Inhuman)(Adaptation of Man on Fire (novel) by A. J. Quinnell)
• Bohubrihi
• Eishob Din Ratri
• Ashabori
• Daruchini Dwip(Daruchini Island)
• Shuvro
• Nokhkhotrer Raat (Starry Night)
• Nishithini
• Amar Achhey Jol (I Have Tears)
• Kothao Kew Nei (No One No where)
• Aguner Parashmony
• Srabon Megher Din
• Akash Jora Megh
• Mohapurush (Great Man)
• Rupali Dwip(Silver Island)
• Kalo Manus
• Ke Kotha Koy (Who's Talking)
• Maddhanya (2007) (Noon)
• Maddhanya 2 (2008) (Noon)
• Eshtishon(Station)
• Maddhanya Part 1 and 2
• The Exorcist (Adaptation of The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, published from Sheba Prokashoni)

 Books on liberation war

• 1971
• Aguner Parashmoni
• Shyamal Chhaya
• Anil Bagchir Ekdin
• Jostnya O Jononeer Golpo (tr. The story of Mother and moonlit night)

 Misir Ali books

Misir Ali, the character of Humayun Ahmed, a very intelligent lonely professor of Psychology of the University of Dhaka unveils secrets.

• Misir Ali'r Choshma (2008)
• Debi
• Nishithini
• Nishad
• Onish
• Brihonnola
• Bipod
• Misir Alir Omimangshito Rohoshso
• Ami Ebong Amra
• Tandra Bilash
• Ami e Misir Ali
• Kohen Kobi Kalidash
• Voy (Story collection)
• Bagh-Bondi Misir Ali

 Himu Series

• Moyurakkhi-(1990)
• Darojar Opashe-(1992)
• Himu-1993
• Parapar-(1993)
• Ebong Himu-(1995)
• Himur Hatay Koyekti Nill Poddo-(1996)
• Himur Ditiyo Prohor-(1997)
• Himur Rupali Ratri-(1998)
• Ekjon Himu Koekti Jhijhi Poka-(1999)
• Tomader Ei Nogore-(2000)
• Chole Jay Bosonter Din-(2002)
• Shey Ashe Dhire-(2003)
• Himu Mama-(2004)
• Angool Kata Joglu-(2005)
• Halud Himu Kalo RAB-(2006)
• Aj Himur Biye -(2007)
• Himu rimande (Himu in Rimand)-(2008)
• Himur ekanto shakkhatkar-(2008)

 Comedy

• Tara tin jon
• Abaro tin jon

 Science Fiction

• Tomader Jonno Valobasa (Love For You All)
• Anonto Nakhatrobithi
• Fiha Sameekaran (Equation Fiha)
• Erina
• Kuhok (Enchantment)
• Ema
• Omega Point
• Shunyo (Zero)
• Onno Bhuban (The Other World)
• Ditio Manob
• Ahok (Collection)

 Supernatural

• Advut Sob Golpo
• Kalo Jadukar
• Pipli Begum
• Kani Daini
• Kutu Miah
• Poka (Insect)
• Parul o tinti kukur

 Satire

• Elebele (1990)
• Elebele 2 (1990)

 Scientific writings

• Quantum Rosayon

 Poems

• Grehothagi Josna (Kakoli Prokasoni)

 Collections

• Five Novels of Nineteenseventies
• Five Novels of Nineteeneighties
• Five Novels of Nineteenninties
• Best Novels
• Premer Golpo Somogro
• Odvut Sob Uponnas
• Nirbachito Kishor Uponnas
• Bhoot Samogro
• Nirbachito Golpo
• Golpo Samogro
• Moktijoddher Uponnas Samogro
• Chhotoder Sera Golpo

 Filmography (as Director)

• Aguner Parashmony: 1995
• Srabon Megher Din: 2000
• Dui Duari: 2001
• Chondra Kotha: 2003
• Shyamol Chhaya: 2004
• Noy Nombor Bipod Sonket: 2006
• Nondito Noroke
• Amar Ase Jol

 Television drama

• Amra Tin Jon
• Aj Robybar
• Ayomoy
• Bohubrihi
• Eishob Dinratri (Story of Our Days)
• Kala Koitor
• Kothao Keu Nei
• Nokhkhotrer Raat
• Project Himalay
• Shedin Choitromash
• Tara Tin Jon
• Ure Jai Bokpongkhi
• Brikkhomanob

Books in English translation

• 1971
• Gouripur Junction (2008)

HUMAYUN KABIR

Birth and Early Life

Humayun Zahiruddin Amir-i Kabir or Humayun Kabir (1906-1969) was an Indian educationist, politician, writer, philosopher. Kabir was born in Faridpur, currently in Bangladesh.

His father, Khan Bahadur Kabiruddin Ahmed, was a Deputy Magistrate in Bengal and a forward looking man. His grandfather was earlier awarded the title of Khan Bahadur by the British government. He came first, with star marks, in his matriculation examination in 1922. He was educated at Presidency College, Calcutta, completing his Intermediate in Arts (I.A.) in English with first class third, and Calcutta University, where he completed his B.A. (Honours) and M.A. in English with first class first. He won a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford where he completed his degree in 'Modern Greats', i.e. Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics with a first class in 1931.

Career

In 1932, he was invited by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan to join as a lecturer at the newly established Andhra University. Later, he was a Joint Education Adviser, Education Secretary and then Chairman of the University Grants Commission in Delhi. He was the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Education Minister of India twice, under the Prime Ministerships of Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri. He was also Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs Minister. In 1965, Indira Gandhi offered him the Madras Governor's post, which he declined. In 1956 he was elected as a Member of the Rajya Sabha, and from 1957-1969 he was a Member of the Lok Sabha. He was instrumental in dislodging the Congress government in West Bengal and forming the United Front government in 1969.

He was one of the co-drafter of the UNESCO 1950 statement titled The Race Question.

His daughter Leila Kabir was married to Indian politician George Fernandes. His nephew Altamas Kabir is presently a Judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Achievements

• Imanuel Kant (1936)
• Sharat Sahityer Multattva (The main theory of the literature of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay) (1942)
• Banglar Kavya (The poetry of Bengal) (1945)
• Marxbad (Marxism) (1951)
• Mirza Abu Talib Khan (1961)
• Poetry, Monads and Society (1941)
• Muslim Politics in Bengal (1943)
• Rabindranath Tagore (1945)
• Men and Rivers

JAVED AKHTAR

Birth and Early Life

Javed Akhta, born January 17, 1945, is an Urdu and Hindi (Hindustani) poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Some of his most successful work was done in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed. Akhtar continues to be prominent in Bollywood and is a sought-after lyricist.

Javed Akhtar was born on January 17, 1945 in Gwalior State (now Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh) to Jan Nisar Akhtar, a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, and Singer Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer. His lineage can be traced back to seven generations of writers. The highly respected Urdu poet Majaz was his maternal uncle and the works of his grandfather, Muzter Khairabadi, are looked upon as a milestone in Urdu poetry. Akhtar has one sibling; his younger brother is renowned psychoanalyst Salman Akhtar. After his birth, his parents moved to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and later to Aligarh. Young Javed Akhtar lost his mother at a tender age and his father frequently moved back and forth between Lucknow and Bombay, so he and his brother spent most of their time with relatives. At the age of eight, he was admitted to the sixth class in a well-known school of Lucknow, the Colvin Taluqdars' College. From Lucknow he moved to Aligarh to live with his maternal aunt. He took admission in a well known school of Aligarh, the Minto Circle. The school is part of famous Aligarh Muslim University. He completed his matriculation from Aligarh Muslim University. After completing his matriculation, Akhtar entered and began attending Saifiya College in Bhopal where he earned a B.A.. He was a keen debater in college and won the Rotary Club Prize frequently. He arrived in Mumbai on October 4, 1964. In his early years living in Mumbai, he managed to write the dialogue for a minor film for Rs. 100. Occasionally, he used to work as an assistant.

Javed Akhtar is the father of the film director Farhan Akhtar, the father and son duo have recently worked together in movies such as Dil Chahta Hai, Lakhshya, Rock On!! etc. the latter script was written by Javed. Javed Akhtar has not worked with his old associate Salim Khan, the father of Salman, Arbaaz, and Sohail Khan since their split up.

Career

Javed used to write his scripts in Urdu, which were then written out in Hindi by his assistant. Another assistant would type out a one line summary in English. His association with Salim lasted until 1980. After this Javed wrote some scripts on his own but mostly moved into writing lyrics for films, in which he achieved remarkable success.

Javed Akhtar's songs are rhythmic, reflective on life and very melodic and catchy. Javed has also attempted more serious Urdu poetry aside from writing lyrics for movies. A major set of his works were compiled in Tarkash, which was also rendered into audio in his voice. Singers such as Jagjit Singh and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan have sung some of his non-movie poetry.

Currently Javed Akhtar is also a judge alongside Anu Malik, Kailash Kher & Sonali Bendre on india's famous singer hunt Indian Idol 4. He is also on the advisory board of Asian Academy Of Film And Television.

His father Jan Nisar Akhtar was also a famous Urdu poet. Javed's original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a poem written by his father - "Lamba, lamba kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga". He was given an official name of Javed since it was the closest to the word jadoo.

Javed Akhtar was married to Honey Irani, a script-writer for Hindi films, with whom he had two children Farhan Akhtar, a film director, and Zoya Akhtar. He is also the uncle of director Kabir Akhtar. His marriage proposal to Honey Irani was made on his behalf by Salim to her mother Perin Irani. Salim gave an unflattering description of Javed to her and portrayed him as a drunkard who visited prostitutes.^{[citation needed]} This incident was later parodied in one of Salim-Javed's most famous films Sholay, with the character of Jai proposing to Basanti's aunt(mausi) on behalf of his friend Veeru (played by Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini and Dharmendra respectively). Another view is that this scene was inspired by an old poem by an Urdu poet from Hyderabad, India.^{[citation needed]}

After Javed's divorce with Irani, he married actress Shabana Azmi, the daughter of another famous Urdu poet, Kaifi Azmi.

 Achievements

Javed Akhtar has won 5 National Film Award for Best Lyrics and 7 Filmfare Best Lyricist Awards for his Hindi lyrics. In the year 2004–2005, all the nominated songs were written by him.

He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999 and received the Padma Bhushan in 2007. In 2007 he even received Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and journey is going on.

 Script

Movies written as part of the Salim-Javed team are marked as such.

• Don - The Chase Begins Again (Javed Akhtar)
• Lakshya, 2004
• Kabhi Na Kabhi, 1998

• Prem, 1987

• Roop ki Rani, Choron ka Raja
• Kaala Patthar, 1979 (Salim-Javed)
• Shaan, 1980 (Salim-Javed)
• Kranti, (Salim-Javed)
• Saagar
• Zamana (Salim-Javed)
• Shakti, (Salim-Javed)
• Don, 1978 (Salim-Javed)
• Trishul, 1978 (Salim-Javed)
• Chacha Bhatija, 1977 (Salim-Javed)
• Immaan Dharam, 1977 (Salim-Javed)
• Sholay, 1975 (Salim-Javed)
• Aakhri Daao, 1975 (Salim-Javed)
• Deewaar, 1975 (Salim-Javed)
• Majboor, 1974 (Salim-Javed)
• Haath Ki Safai, 1974 (Salim-Javed)
• Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973 (Salim-Javed)
• Zanjeer, 1973 (Salim-Javed)
• Seeta Aur Geeta, 1972 (Salim-Javed)
• Andaz, 1971 (Salim-Javed)
• Haathi Mere Saathi, 1971 (Salim-Javed)

KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM

Birth and Early Life

Kazi Nazrul Islam (25 May 1899–29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet, musician, revolutionary, and philosopher who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against orthodoxy and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi (Rebel Poet). Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life, Nazrul is officially recognised as the national poet of Bangladesh and commemorated in India.

Born into a poor Muslim family, Nazrul received religious education and worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned of poetry, drama, and literature while working with theatrical groups. After serving in the British Indian Army, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Kolkata (then Calcutta). He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as "Bidrohi" ("The Rebel") and "Bhangar Gaan" ("The Song of Destruction"), as well as his publication "Dhumketu" ("The Comet"). His impassioned activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the "Rajbandir Jabanbandi" ("Deposition of a Political Prisoner"). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of India, Nazrul worked for their emancipation.

Nazrul's writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religious and gender. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best-known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (including gramophone records) , collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Nazrul songs), which are widely popular today. At the age of 43 (in 1942) he began suffering from an unknown disease, losing his voice and memory. What was later diagnosed as Pick's Disease, caused Nazrul's health to decline steadily and forced him to live in isolation for many years. Invited by the Government of Bangladesh, Nazrul and his family moved to Dhaka in 1972, where he died four years later.

Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in the village of Churulia in the Burdwan District of Bengal (now located in the Indian state of West Bengal). He was born in a Muslim family who is second of three sons and a daughter, Nazrul's father was the imam and caretaker of the local mosque and mausoleum. Nazrul's mother was Zaheda Khatun. Nazrul had two brothers, Kazi Shahebjan and Kazi Ali Hussain, and a sister, Umme Kulsum. Nicknamed Dukhu Mia (Sad Man), Nazrul began attending the maktab — the local religious school run by the mosque — where he studied the Qur'an and other scriptures, Islamic philosophy and theology. His family was devastated with the death of his father in 1908. At the young age of ten, Nazrul began working in his father's place as a caretaker to support his family, as well as assisting teachers in school. He later became the muezzin at the mosque, leading the community prayers.

Career

Attracted to folk theatre, Nazrul joined a leto (travelling theatrical group) run by his uncle Bazle Karim. Working and travelling with them, learning acting, as well as writing songs and poems for the plays and musicals. Through his work and experiences, Nazrul began learning Bengali and Sanskrit literature, as well as Hindu scriptures such as the Puranas. The young poet composed a number of folk plays for his group, which included "Chasar San" ("The story of a Farmer"), "Shakunibadh" ("The Killing of a Vulture"), "Raja Yudhisthirer San" ("The story of King Yudhisthir"), "Data Karna" ("Philanthropic Karna"), "Akbar Badshah" ("Emperor Akbar"), "Kavi Kalidas" ("Poet Kalidas"), "Vidyabhutum" ("The Learned Owl"), "Rajputrer San" ("The story of a Prince"), "Buda Saliker Ghade Ron" ("Battered Old Bird") and "Meghnad Badh" ("The Killing of Meghnad").

In 1910, Nazrul left the troupe and enrolled at the Raniganj Searsole Raj School, and later transferred to the Mathrun High English School, studying under the headmaster and poet Kumudranjan Mallik. Unable to continue paying his school fees, Nazrul left the school and joined a group of “kaviyals”. Later he took jobs as a cook at the house of a Christian railway guard and at a bakery and tea stall in the town of Asansol. In 1914, Nazrul joined the Darirampur School (now Nazrul University) in Trishal, Mymensingh District. Amongst other subjects, Nazrul studied Bengali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian literature and classical music under teachers who were impressed by his dedication and skill.

Studying up to Class X, Nazrul did not appear for the matriculation pre-test examination, enlisting instead in the Indian Army in 1917 at the age of eighteen. He joined the British army mainly for two reasons: first, his youthful romantic inclination to respond to the unknown and, secondly, the call of politics. Attached to the 49th Bengal Regiment, he was posted to the cantonment in Karachi, where he wrote his first prose and poetry. Although he never saw active fighting, he rose in rank from corporal to havildar, and served as quartermaster for his battalion. During this period, Nazrul read extensively, and was deeply influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, as well as the Persian poets Hafez, Rumi and Omar Khayyam. He learnt Persian poetry from the regiment's Punjabi moulvi, practiced music and pursued his literary interests. His first prose work, "Baunduler Atmakahini" ("Life of a Vagabond") was published in May, 1919. His poem "Mukti" ("Freedom") was published by the "Bangla Mussalman Sahitya Patrika" ("Bengali Muslim Literary Journal") in July 1919.

Nazrul left the army in 1920 and settled in Calcutta, which was then the Cultural capital of India (it had ceased to be the political capital in 1911). He joined the staff of the “Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Samiti” ("Bengali Muslim Literary Society") and roomed at 32 College Street with colleagues. He published his first novel "Bandhan-hara" ("Freedom from bondage") in 1920, which he kept working on over the next seven years. His first collection of poems included "Bodhan", "Shat-il-Arab", "Kheya-parer Tarani" and "Badal Prater Sharab" and received critical acclaim.

Working at the literary society, Nazrul grew close to other young Muslim writers including Mohammad Mozammel Haq, Afzalul Haq, Kazi Abdul Wadud and Muhammad Shahidullah. He was a regular at clubs for Calcutta's writers, poets and intellectuals like the Gajendar Adda and the Bharatiya Adda. In October 1921, Nazrul went to Santiniketan with Muhammad Shahidullah and met Rabindranath Tagore. Despite many differences, Nazrul looked to Tagore as a mentor and the two remained in close association. In 1921, Nazrul was engaged to be married to Nargis, the niece of a well-known Muslim publisher Ali Akbar Khan, in Daulatpur, Comilla. But on June 18, 1921—the day of the wedding—upon public insistence by Ali Akbar Khan that the term "Nazrul must reside in Daulatpur after marriage" be included in the marriage contract, Nazrul walked away from the ceremony.

Nazrul reached the peak of fame with the publication of "Bidrohi" in 1922, which remains his most famous work, winning admiration of India's literary classes by his description of the rebel whose impact is fierce and ruthless even as its spirit is deep:.

I am the unutterable grief,
I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,
I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.
I am the fleeting glance of the veiled beloved,
I am her constant surreptitious gaze...
...
I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,
I am the wild fire of the woods,
I am Hell's mad terrific sea of wrath!
I ride on the wings of lightning with joy and profundity,
I scatter misery and fear all around,
I bring earth-quakes on this world! “(8th stanza)” I am the rebel eternal,
I raise my head beyond this world,
High, ever erect and alone! “(Last stanza)” (English translation by Kabir Choudhary)

Published in the "Bijli" magazine, the rebellious language and theme was popularly received, coinciding with the Non-cooperation movement — the first, mass nationalist campaign of civil disobedience against British rule.

Nazrul explores a synthesis of different forces in a rebel, destroyer and preserver, expressing rage as well as beauty and sensitivity. Nazrul followed up by writing "Pralayollas" ("Destructive Euphoria"), and his first anthology of poems, the "Agniveena" ("Lyre of Fire") in 1922, which enjoyed astounding and far-reaching success. He also published his first volume of short stories, the "Byather Dan" ("Gift of Sorrow") and "Yugbani", an anthology of essays.

Nazrul with his first son Bulbul; his wife Pramila seated right and his mother-in-law Giribala Devi seated left, behind whom stands Bulbul's nanny

Nazrul started a bi-weekly magazine, publishing the first "Dhumketu" on August 12, 1922. Earning the moniker of the "rebel poet”, Nazrul also aroused the suspicion of British authorities. A political poem published in "Dhumketu" in September 1922 led to a police raid on the magazine's office. Arrested, Nazrul entered a lengthy plea before the judge in the court.

I have been accused of sedition. That is why I am now confined in the prison. On the one side is the crown, on the other the flames of the comet. One is the king, sceptre in hand; the other Truth worth the mace of justice. To plead for me, the king of all kings, the judge of all judges, the eternal truth the living God... His laws emerged out of the realization of a universal truth about mankind. They are for and by a sovereign God. The king is supported by an infinitesimal creature; I by its eternal and indivisible Creator. I am a poet; I have been sent by God to express the unexpressed, to portray the unportrayed. It is God who is heard through the voice of the poet... My voice is but a medium for Truth, the message of God... I am the instrument of that eternal self-evident truth, an instrument that voices forth the message of the ever-true. I am an instrument of God. The instrument is not unbreakable, but who is there to break God?

On April 14, 1923 he was transferred from the jail in Alipore to Hooghly in Kolkata, he began a 40-day fast to protest mistreatment by the British jail superintendent. Nazrul broke his fast more than a month later and was eventually released from prison in December 1923. Nazrul composed a large number of poems and songs during the period of imprisonment and many his works were banned in the 1920s by the British authorities.

Kazi Nazrul Islam became a critic of the Khilafat struggle, condemning it as hollow, religious fundamentalism. Nazrul's rebellious expression extended to rigid orthodoxy in the name of religion and politics. Nazrul also criticised the Indian National Congress for not embracing outright political independence from the British Empire. He became active in encouraging people to agitate against British rule, and joined the Bengal state unit of the Congress party. Nazrul also helped organise the Sramik Praja Swaraj Dal, a political party committed to national independence and the service of the peasant masses. On December 16, 1925 Nazrul started publishing the weekly "Langal”, with himself as chief editor. The "Langal" was the mouthpiece of the Sramik Praja Swaraj Dal.

During his visit to Comilla in 1921, Nazrul met a young Hindu woman, Pramila Devi, with whom he fell in love and they married on April 25, 1924. Pramila belonged to the Brahmo Samaj, which criticised her marriage to a Muslim. Nazrul in turn was condemned by Muslim religious leaders and continued to face criticism for his personal life and professional works, which attacked social and religious dogma and intolerance. Despite controversy, Nazrul's popularity and reputation as the "rebel poet" rose significantly.

Weary of struggles, I, the great rebel,
Shall rest in quiet only when I find
The sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed.
Only when the battle fields are cleared of jingling bloody sabres
Shall I, weary of struggles, rest in quiet,
I the great rebel.

Mass music

With his wife and young son Bulbul, Nazrul settled in Krishnanagar in 1926. His work began to transform as he wrote poetry and songs that articulated the aspirations of the downtrodden classes, a sphere of his work known as "mass music." Nazrul assailed the socio-economic norms and political system that had brought upon misery. From his poem Daridro (Pain or Poverty):

O poverty, thou hast made me great.
Thou hast made me honoured like Christ
With his crown of thorns. Thou hast given me
Courage to reveal all. To thee I owe
My insolent, naked eyes and sharp tongue.
Thy curse has turned my violin to a sword...
O proud saint, thy terrible fire
Has rendered my heaven barren.
O my child, my darling one
I could not give thee even a drop of milk
No right have I to rejoice.
Poverty weeps within my doors forever
As my spouse and my child.
Who will play the flute?

In what his contemporaries regarded as one of his greatest flairs of creativity, Nazrul began composing the very first ghazals in Bengali, transforming a form of poetry written mainly in Persian and Urdu. Nazrul for the first introduced Islam into the larger mainstream tradition of Bengali music. The first record of Islamic songs by Nazrul Islam was a commercial success and many gramophone companies showed interest in producing these. A significant impact of Nazrul's "Islamisation" of Bengali music was that it drew an audience amongst conservative Muslims, traditionally averse to music. Nazrul also composed a number of notable Shamasangeet, Bhajan and Kirtan, combining Hindu devotional music. Arousing controversy and passions in his readers, Nazrul's ideas attained great popularity across India. In 1928, Nazrul began working as a lyricist, composer and music director for His Master's Voice Gramophone Company. The songs written and music composed by him were broadcast on radio stations across the country. He was also enlisted/attached with the Indian Broadcasting Company .

Nazrul professed faith in the belief in the equality of women — a view his contemporaries considered revolutionary. From his poet Nari (Woman):

I don't see any difference
Between a man and woman
Whatever great or benevolent achievements
That are in this world
Half of that was by woman,
The other half by man. (Translated by Sajed Kamal)

His poetry retains long-standing notions of men and women in binary opposition to one another and does not affirm gender similarities and flexibility in the social structure:

Man has brought the burning, scorching heat of the sunny day;
Woman has brought peaceful night, soothing breeze and cloud.
Man comes with desert-thirst; woman provides the drink of honey.
Man ploughs the fertile land; woman sows crops in it turning it green.
Man ploughs, woman waters; that earth and water mixed together, brings about a harvest of golden paddy.

However, Nazrul's poems strongly emphasise the confluence of the roles of both sexes and their equal importance to life. He stunned society with his poem "Barangana" ("Prostitute"), in which he addresses a prostitute as "mother". Nazrul accepts the prostitute as a human being, reasoning that this person was breast-fed by a noble woman and belonging to the race of "mothers and sisters"; he assails society's negative notions of prostitutes.

Who calls you a prostitute, mother?
Who spits at you?
Perhaps you were suckled by someone
as chaste as Seeta.
....
And if the son of an unchaste mother is 'illegitimate',
so is the son of an unchaste father.
("Barangana" ("Prostitute") Translated by Sajed Kamal)

Nazrul was an advocate of the emancipation of women; both traditional and non-traditional women were portrayed by him with utmost sincerity. Nazrul's songs are collectively called as Nazrul geeti.

Nazrul's mother died in 1928, and his second son Bulbul died of smallpox the following year. His first son, Krishna Mohammad had died prematurely. His wife gave birth to two more sons — Savyasachi in 1928 and Aniruddha in 1931 — but Nazrul remained shaken and aggrieved for a long time. His works changed significantly from rebellious expositions of society to deeper examination of religious themes. His works in these years led Islamic devotional songs into the mainstream of Bengali folk music, exploring the Islamic practices of namaz (prayer), roza (fasting), hajj (pilgrimage) and zakat (charity). This was regarded by his contemporaries as a significant achievement as Bengali Muslims had been strongly averse to devotional music. Nazrul's creativity diversified as he explored Hindu devotional music by composing Shama Sangeet, bhajans and kirtans, often merging Islamic and Hindu values. Nazrul's poetry and songs explored the philosophy of Islam and Hinduism .

Let people of all countries and all times come together. At one great union of humanity. Let them listen to the flute music of one great unity. Should a single person be hurt, all hearts should feel it equally. If one person is insulted; it is a shame to all mankind, an insult to all! Today is the grand uprising of the agony of universal man.

Nazrul's poetry imbibed the passion and creativity of Shakti, which is identified as the Brahman, the personification of primordial energy. He wrote and composed many bhajans, shyamasangeet, agamanis and kirtans. He also composed large number of songs on invocation to Lord Shiva, Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati and on the theme of love of Radha and Krishna.

Nazrul assailed fanaticism in religion, denouncing it as evil and inherently irreligious. He devoted many works to expound upon the principle of human equality, exploring the Qur'an and the life of Islam's prophet Muhammad. Nazrul has been compared to William Butler Yeats for being the first Muslim poet to create imagery and symbolism of Muslim historical figures such as Qasim, Ali, Umar, Kamal Pasha, Anwar Pasha and the prophet Muhammad. His vigorous assault on extremism and mistreatment of women provoked condemnation from fundamentalist Muslims, many of whom denounced him as a kaffir (heretic).

In 1920, Nazrul expressed his vision of religious harmony in an editorial in Yuga Bani,

“Come brother Hindu! Come Musalman! Come Buddhist! Come Christian! Let us transcend all barriers, let us foresake forever all smallness, all lies, all selfishness and let us call brothers as brothers. We shall quarrel no more”.

In another article entitled Hindu Mussalman published in Ganabani on September 2, 192 he wrote -

‘’I can tolerate Hinduism and Muslims but I cannot tolerate the Tikism (Tiki is a tuft of never cut hair kept on the head by certain Hindus to maitain personal Holiness) and beardism. Tiki is not Hinduism. It may be the sign of the pundit. Similarly beards is not Islam, it may be the sign of the pundit. Similarly beard is not Islam, it may be the sign of the mollah. All the hair-pulling have originated from those two tufts of hair. Todays fighting is alos between the Pundit and the Mollah: It is not between the Hindus and the Muslims. No prophet has said, ‘’I have come for Hindus I have come for Muslims I have come for Christians.” They have said, “I have come for the humanity for everyone, like light’’. But the devotees of Krishna says, “Krishna is for Hindus”. The followers of Muhammad (Sm) says, “Muhammad (Sm) is for the Muslims”. The Disciple of Christ is for Christian”. Krishna-Muhammad-Christ have become national property. This property is the root of all trouble. Men do not quarrel for light but they quarrel over cattles.”

Nazrul was an exponent of humanism. Although a Muslim, he named his sons with both Hindu and Muslim names: Krishna Mohammad, Arindam Khaled(bulbul), Kazi Sazbyasachi and Kazi Aniruddha.

In 1933, Nazrul published a collection of essays titled "Modern World Literature", in which he analyses different styles and themes of literature. Between 1928 and 1935 he published 10 volumes containing 800 songs of which more than 600 were based on classical ragas. Almost 100 were folk tunes after kirtans and some 30 were patriotic songs. From the time of his return to Kolkata until he fell ill in 1941, Nazrul composed more than 2,600 songs, many of which have been lost. His songs based on baul, jhumur, Santhali folksongs, jhanpan or the folk songs of snake charmers, bhatiali and bhaoaia consist of tunes of folk-songs on the one hand and a refined lyric with poetic beauty on the other. Nazrul also wrote and published poems for children.

Nazrul's success soon brought him into Indian theatre and the then-nascent film industry. The first picture for which he worked was based on Girish Chandra Ghosh's story "Bhakta Dhruva" in 1934. Nazrul acted in the role of Narada and directed the film. He also composed songs for it, directed the music and served as a playback singer. The film "Vidyapati" ("Master of Knowledge") was produced based on his recorded play in 1936, and Nazrul served as the music director for the film adaptation of Tagore's novel Gora. Nazrul wrote songs and directed music for Sachin Sengupta's bioepic play "Siraj-ud-Daula". In 1939, Nazrul began working for Calcutta Radio, supervising the production and broadcasting of the station's musical programmes. He produced critical and analytic documentaries on music, such as "Haramoni" and "Navaraga-malika". Nazrul also wrote a large variety of songs inspired by the raga Bhairav. Nazrul sought to preserve his artistic integrity by condemning the adaptation of his songs to music composed by others and insisting on the use of tunes he composed himself.

Nazrul's wife Pramila Devi fell seriously ill in 1939 and was paralysed from waist down. To provide for his wife's medical treatment, he resorted to mortgaging the royalties of his gramophone records and literary works for 400 rupees. He returned to journalism in 1940 by working as chief editor for the daily newspaper "Nabayug" ("New Age"), founded by the eminent Bengali politician A. K. Fazlul Huq.

Nazrul also was shaken by the death of Rabindranath Tagore on August 8, 1941. He spontaneously composed two poems in Tagore's memory, one of which, "Rabihara" (loss of Rabi or without Rabi) was broadcast on the All India Radio. Within months, Nazrul himself fell seriously ill and gradually began losing his power of speech. His behaviour became erratic, and spending recklessly, he fell into financial difficulties. In spite of her own illness, his wife constantly cared for her husband. However, Nazrul's health seriously deteriorated and he grew increasingly depressed. He underwent medical treatment under homeopathy as well as Ayurveda, but little progress was achieved before mental dysfunction intensified and he was admitted to a mental asylum in 1942. Spending four months there without making progress, Nazrul and his family began living a silent life in India. In 1952, he was transferred to a mental hospital in Ranchi. With the efforts of a large group of admirers who called themselves the "Nazrul Treatment Society" as well as prominent supporters such as the Indian politician Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the treatment society sent Nazrul and Promila to London, then to Vienna for treatment. Examining doctors said he had received poor care, and Dr. Hans Hoff, a leading neurosurgeon in Vienna, diagnosed that Nazrul was suffering from Pick's Disease. His condition judged to be incurable, Nazrul returned to Calcutta on 15 December 1953. On June 30, 1962 his wife Pramila died and Nazrul remained in intensive medical care. In 1972, the newly independent nation of Bangladesh obtained permission from the Government of India to bring Nazrul to live in Dhaka and accorded him honorary citizenship. Despite receiving treatment and attention, Nazrul's physical and mental health did not improve. In 1974, his youngest son, Kazi Aniruddha, an eminent guitarist died, and Nazrul soon succumbed to his long-standing ailments on August 29, 1976. In accordance with a wish he had expressed in one of his poems, he was buried beside a mosque on the campus of the University of Dhaka. Tens of thousands of people attended his funeral; Bangladesh observed two days of national mourning and the Indian Parliament observed a minute of silence in his honour.

Achievements

Nazrul's poetry is characterised by an abundant use of rhetorical devices, which he employed to convey conviction and sensuousness. He often wrote without care for organisation or polish. His works have often been criticized for egotism, but his admirers counter that they carry more a sense of self-confidence than ego. They cite his ability to defy God yet maintain an inner, humble devotion to Him. Nazrul's poetry is regarded as rugged but unique in comparison to Tagore's sophisticated style. Nazrul's use of Persian vocabulary was controversial but it widened the scope of his work. Nazrul's works for children have won acclaim for his use of rich language, imagination, enthusiasm and an ability to fascinate young readers.

Nazrul pioneered new styles and expressed radical ideas and emotions in a large body of work. Scholars credit him for spearheading a cultural renaissance in Muslim-majority Bengal, "liberating" poetry and literature in Bengali from its medieval mould. Nazrul was awarded the Jagattarini Gold Medal in 1945 — the highest honour for work in Bengali literature by the University of Calcutta — and awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours in 1960. The Government of Bangladesh conferred upon him the status of being the "national poet". He was awarded the Ekushey Padak by the Government of Bangladesh. He was awarded Honorary D.Litt. by the University of Dhaka . Many centres of learning and culture in India and Bangladesh have been founded and dedicated to his memory. The Nazrul Endowment is one of several scholarly institutions established to preserve and expound upon his thoughts and philosophy, as well as the preservation and analysis of the large and diverse collection of his works. The Bangladesh Nazrul Sena is a large public organization working for the education of children throughout the country.

KHURSHID AHMAD

Birth and Early Life

Khurshīd Ahmad (also known as Professor Khurshid) (March 23, 1932 in Delhi - ) is a scholar, economist, writer, and Islamic activist. He holds Bachelors degrees in Law and Jurisprudence, Masters degrees in Economics and Islamic Studies, and an Honorary Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Education, and an Honorary Doctorate (Ph.D) in Islamic Economics conferred by the International Islamic University Malaysia IIUM.

Khurshid Ahmad is a prolific writer with numerous books, articles, seminar papers and translations to his name.

Career

Khurshid Ahmad became a member of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) in 1949 and was elected as the Nazim-e-A‘la (President) of the same organization in 1953. He formally joined Jama’at-e-Islami Pakistan in 1956 and is at present Naib Ameer (Vice President) of the organization. Besides several other responsibilities, he is presently also the editor of the seminal Tarjuman al-Quran, a monthly publication launched by Sayyid Mawdudi in May 1933.

Prof Ahmad has been editing a number of ideologically oriented magazines and periodicals. He has authored and edited about 70 books in English and Urdu combined and contributed to a large number of magazines. He has so far participated in over 100 international conferences and seminars in personal as well as representative capacities.

His in-depth comparative study of the oriental as well as occidental philosophies in religion, academics, economics, constitutional matters and commitment for Islam has led him to be entrusted with key positions in the national as well as international organizations on these socio-economic and other multi-dimensional disciplines. Throughout his life, he has held the following positions:

• Member of Senate of Pakistan (2003 to date).
• Vice President Jama'at e islami Pakistan.

• Federal Minister of Planning and Development and has been Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Govt of Pakistan (1978-79).

• Professor at the Karachi University (1955-68).

• Research scholar at the University of Leicester, UK.

• Chairman, International Institute of Islamic Economics, International Islamic University, Islamabad (1983-87).

• President, International Association of Islamic Economics, Leicester, UK (1984-92).

• Member, Supreme Advisory Council, International Center for Research and Islamic Economics, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah (1979-83).

• Vice President, Standing Conference on Jews, Christians and Muslims in Europe, Berlin and London (1974-78).

• Member, Advisory Council, Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, UK (1976-78).

• Member, National Hijra Committee, Govt of Pakistan (1978-83).

• Member, Committee of Jurists to Evaluate Islamic Laws in Sudan (1986-87).

• Member, International Review Committee, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah(1988-89).

• Member of Senate of Pakistan for two terms (1985-l997) and Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning.

• Founder and Chairman of both the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad and The Islamic Foundation, Leicester (UK).

• Member, Boards of Trustees of Islamic Centre, Zaria (Nigeria); International Islamic University, Islamabad; Foundation Council, Royal Academy for Islamic Civilization, Amman (Jordan).

• Vice President of Islamic Research Academy, Karachi and Lahore.

Achievements

In view of his pioneering work and contributions towards the development of Islamic Economics as an academic discipline, he was awarded the First Islamic Development Bank Award for Economics in 1988.

His contributions to the Islamic cause were also recognized in the form of King Faisal International Prize,1990, which is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the Muslim World.

In recognition of his services in Islamic Economics & Finance, he was given 5th Annual Prize of American Finance House, LaRiba, USA in July 1998.

He has given lectures and speeches at several renowned universities around the world like Warwick(UK), Harvard(USA), Washington St. Louis(UK), UofT(Canada), and IIUM(Malaysia).

SALMAN RUSHDIE

Birth and Early Life

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie Kt. (born June 19, 1947) is an Indian-British novelist and essayist. He first achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), which won the Booker Prize in 1994. Much of his early fiction is set at least partly on the Indian subcontinent. His style is often classified as magical realism, while a dominant theme of his work is the story of the many connections, disruptions and migrations between the Eastern and Western world.

His fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), led to protests from Muslims in several countries, some of which were violent. Faced with death threats and a fatwā (religious edict) issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, which called for him to be killed, he spent nearly a decade largely underground, appearing in public only sporadically. In June 2007, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor for "services to literature", which "thrilled and humbled" him. He also holds, in France, the highest rank — Commandeur — in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2007, he began a five-year term as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University. In May 2008 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His latest novel is The Enchantress of Florence, published in June 2008. In July 2008 Midnight's Children won a public vote to be named the Best of the Booker, the best novel to win the Booker Prize in the award's 40-year history.

The only son of Anis Ahmed Rushdie, a Cambridge University-educated lawyer turned businessman, and Negin Butt, a teacher; Rushdie was born in Bombay, India. He was educated at Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, Rugby School, and King's College, Cambridge, where he studied history. He worked for two advertising agencies (Ogilvy & Mather and Ayer Barker) before becoming a full-time writer.

Rushdie has been married four times. His first wife was Clarissa Luard, to whom he was married from 1976 to 1987 and with whom he has a son, Zafar. His second wife was the American novelist Marianne Wiggins; they were married in 1988 and divorced in 1993. His third wife, from 1997 to 2004, was Elizabeth West; they have a son, Milan. In 2004, he married the Indian actress and model Padma Lakshmi, the host of the American reality-television show Top Chef and that marriage ended on 2 July 2007 with Rushdie indicating that it was her desire to end the marriage. Recent reports have surfaced allegedly linking Rushdie to Indian actress Riya Sen though it has not been fully confirmed.

In 1999, Rushdie had an operation to correct a "tendon condition" that, according to him, was making it increasingly difficult for him to open his eyes. "If I hadn't had an operation, in a couple of years from now I wouldn't have been able to open my eyes at all," he said.

Career

His first novel, Grimus (1975), a part-science fiction tale, was generally ignored by the public and literary critics. His next novel, Midnight's Children (1981), however, catapulted him to literary fame. It also significantly shaped the course that Indian writing in English would follow over the next decade. This work won the 1981 Booker Prize and, in 1993 and 2008, was awarded the Best of the Bookers as the best novel to have received the prize during its first 25 and 40 years respectively. It still receives accolades for being Rushdie's best, most flowing and inspiring work.

After the success of Midnight's Children, about the birth of the modern nation of India, Rushdie wrote Shame (1983), in which he depicts the political turmoil in Pakistan, basing his characters on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Shame won France's Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book) and was a close runner-up for the Booker Prize. Both these works of postcolonial literature are characterised by a style of magic realism and the immigrant outlook of which Rushdie is very conscious, as a member of the Indian diaspora.

In his later works, Rushdie turned towards the Western world. In the 1980s, he visited Nicaragua, the scene of Sandinista political experiments, and this experience was the basis for his next book, The Jaguar Smile (1987). Ironically, in an interview at San Francisco University promoting The Jaguar Smile, he advocated that students not write what they wanted to write, but what they couldn't help but writing. He referenced a work in progress, that came out the following year...

In 1988, his most controversial work, The Satanic Verses was published. He followed this with The Moor's Last Sigh (1995), a family epic ranging over some 100 years of India's history. The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999) presents an alternative history of modern rock music. The song of the same name by U2 is a setting of lyrics in the book, hence Rushdie is credited as the lyricist.

Many of Rushdie's post-1989 works have been critically acclaimed and commercially successful. His 2005 novel Shalimar the Clown received, in India, the prestigious Crossword Fiction Award, and was, in Britain, a finalist for the Whitbread Book Awards. It was shortlisted for the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

In his 2002 nonfiction collection Step Across This Line, he professes his admiration for the Italian writer Italo Calvino and the American writer Thomas Pynchon, among others. His early influences included James Joyce, Günter Grass, Jorge Luis Borges, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Lewis Carroll. Rushdie was also a personal friend of Angela Carter and praised her highly in the foreword for her collection "Burning your Boats."

Rushdie has quietly mentored younger Indian (and ethnic-Indian) writers, influenced an entire generation of Indo-Anglian writers, and is an influential writer in postcolonial literature in general. He has received many plaudits for his writings, including the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature, the Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy), and the Writer of the Year Award in Germany. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. Rushdie was the President of PEN American Center from 2004 to 2006.

He opposes the British government's introduction of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act, something he writes about in his contribution to Free Expression Is No Offence, a collection of essays by several writers, published by Penguin in November 2005. Rushdie is a self-described atheist, and a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association.

In 2006, Rushdie joined the Emory University faculty as Distinguished Writer in Residence for one month a year for the next five years. Though he enjoys writing, Salman Rushdie says that he would have become an actor if his writing career had not been successful. Even from early childhood, he dreamed of appearing in Hollywood movies (which he would later realize in his frequent cameo appearances).

Rushdie also engages in more popular forms of public discourse. For example, he had a cameo appearance in the film Bridget Jones's Diary based on the book of the same name, which is itself full of literary in-jokes. On 12 May 2006, Rushdie was a guest host on The Charlie Rose Show, where he interviewed Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, whose work has also faced violent protests, about her 2005 film, Water. He also appears in the role of Helen Hunt's obstetrician-gynecologist in the film adaptation (Hunt's directorial debut) of Elinor Lipman's novel Then She Found Me Additionally, in September 2008, he appeared as a panelest on the HBO program "Real Time With Bill Maher".

A former bodyguard of the author when he was in hiding named Ron Evans planned to publish a book recounting the behaviour of the author during the time. Evans claimed that Rushdie tried to profit financially from the fatwa and was suicidal, but Rushdie dismissed the book as a "bunch of lies" and took legal action against Ron Evans, his co-author and their publisher. . On 26 August 2008 Rushdie received an apology at the High Court in London from all three parties.

The Satanic Verses, the fatwā and other critiques

The publication of The Satanic Verses in September 1988 caused immediate controversy in the Islamic world because of what was perceived as an irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. The title refers to a disputed Muslim tradition that is related in the book. According to this tradition, Muhammad (Mahound in the book) added verses (sura) to the Qur'an accepting three goddesses that used to be worshipped in Mecca as divine beings. According to the legend, Muhammad later revoked the verses, saying the devil tempted him to utter these lines to appease the Meccans (hence the "Satanic" verses). However, the narrator reveals to the reader that these disputed verses were actually from the mouth of the Archangel Gibreel. The book was banned in many countries with large Muslim communities.

On 14 February 1989, a fatwā requiring Rushdie's execution was proclaimed on Radio Tehran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of Iran at the time, calling the book "blasphemous against Islam" (chapter IV of the book depicts the character of an Imam in exile who returns to incite revolt from the people of his country with no regard for their safety). A bounty was offered for Rushdie's death, and he was thus forced to live under police protection for years afterward. On 7 March 1989, the United Kingdom and Iran broke diplomatic relations over the Rushdie controversy.

The publication of the book and the fatwā sparked violence around the world, with bookstores being firebombed. Muslim communities in several nations in the West held public rallies in which copies of the book were burned. Several people associated with translating or publishing the book were attacked, seriously injured, and even killed. Many more people died in riots in Third World countries.

On 24 September 1998, as a precondition to the restoration of diplomatic relations with Britain, the Iranian government, then headed by Mohammad Khatami, gave a public commitment that it would "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie."

Hardliners in Iran have, however, continued to reaffirm the death sentence. In early 2005, Khomeini's fatwā was reaffirmed by Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message to Muslim pilgrims making the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Additionally, the Revolutionary Guards have declared that the death sentence on him is still valid. Iran has rejected requests to withdraw the fatwā on the basis that only the person who issued it may withdraw it, and the person who issued it is dead.

Salman Rushdie has reported that he still receives a "sort of Valentine's card" from Iran each year on 14 February letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him.

He was also quoted as saying, "It's reached the point where it's a piece of rhetoric rather than a real threat." Despite the threats on Rushdie, he has publicly said that his family has never been threatened and that his mother (who lived in Pakistan during the later years of her life) even received outpourings of support.

International Guerrillas

In 1990, a Pakistani film was released in which Rushdie was depicted as plotting, soon after his publication of The Satanic Verses, to cause the downfall of Pakistan by opening a chain of casinos and discos in the country. The film was popular with Pakistani audiences, and it "presents Rushdie as a Rambo-like figure pursued by four Pakistani guerrillas". The British Board of Film Classification refused to allow it a certificate, as "it was felt that the portrayal of Rushdie might qualify as criminal libel, causing a breach of the peace as opposed to merely tarnishing his reputation." This move effectively banned the film in Britain outright. However, two months later, Rushdie himself wrote to the board, saying that while he thought the film "a distorted, incompetent piece of trash", he would not sue if it was released. He later said, "If that film had been banned, it would have become the hottest video in town: everyone would have seen it". While the film was a massive hit in Pakistan, it went virtually unnoticed in the West. He has said that there was one legitimately funny part of the movie, his character torturing a Pakistani fighter by reading from his book The Satanic Verses.

Knighthood

Rushdie was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 16 June 2007. He remarked, "I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way." In response to his knighthood, many nations with Muslim majorities protested. Parliamentarians of several of these countries condemned the action, and Iran and Pakistan called in their British envoys to protest formally. Mass demonstrations against Rushdie's knighthood took place in Pakistan and Malaysia. Several called publicly for his death. Many non-muslims were also angered by Rushdie's knighthood, believing that the writer did not merit such an honour.

According to a July 2007 report by the BBC, Al-Qaeda have also condemned the Rushdie honour. The Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri is quoted as saying in an audio recording that Britain's award for Indian-born Rushdie was "an insult to Islam", and it was planning "a very precise response."

 Religious and political beliefs

Rushdie came from a Sunni Muslim family but says that he was never really religious. In 1990, in the "hope that it would reduce the threat of Muslims acting on the fatwa to kill him," he issued a statement in which he claimed "he had renewed his Muslim faith, had repudiated the attacks on Islam in his novel and was committed to working for better understanding of the religion across the world."

His books often focus on the role of religion in society and conflicts between faiths and between the religious and those of no faith.

Rushdie advocates the application of higher criticism, pioneered during the late 19th century. Rushdie calls for a reform in Islam in a guest opinion piece printed in The Washington Post and The Times in mid-August 2005. Excerpts from his speech:

“What is needed is a move beyond tradition, nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadist ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows to let in much-needed fresh air. (...) It is high time, for starters, that Muslims were able to study the revelation of their religion as an event inside history, not supernaturally above it. (...) Broad-mindedness is related to tolerance; open-mindedness is the sibling of peace.”

Rushdie supported the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, leading the leftist Tariq Ali to label Rushdie and other "warrior writers" as "the belligerati'". He was supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan which began in 2001, but was a vocal critic of the 2003 war in Iraq. He has stated that while there was a "case to be made for the removal of Saddam Hussein", US unilateral military intervention was unjustifiable.

In the wake of the 'Danish Cartoons Affair' in March 2006 - which many considered to be an echo of the death threats and fatwā which had followed the publication of Rushdie's Satanic Verses in 1989 - Rushdie signed the manifesto 'Together Facing the New Totalitarianism' Manifesto, a statement warning of the dangers of religious extremism. The Manifesto was published in the left-leaning French weekly Charlie Hebdo in March 2006.

In 2006, Rushdie stated that he supported comments by the then-Leader of the House of Commons, Jack Straw, criticising the wearing of the niqab (a veil that covers all of the face except the eyes). Rushdie stated that his three sisters would never wear the veil. He said, "I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I'm completely on [Straw's] side."

Rushdie continues to come under fire from much of the British academic establishment for his political views. The Marxist critic Terry Eagleton, a former admirer of Rushdie's work, attacked him for his positions, saying he "cheered on the Pentagon's criminal ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan". However, he subsequently apologized for having misrepresented Rushdie's views.

Achievements

• Aristeion Prize (European Union)
• Arts Council Writers' Award
• Author of the Year (British Book Awards)
• Author of the Year (Germany)
• Booker of Bookers or the best novel among the Booker Prize winners for Fiction awarded in 1993
• The Best of the Booker awarded in 2008 to commemorate 40 years of Booker Prize
• Booker Prize for Fiction
• Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)
• English-Speaking Union Award
• Hutch Crossword Fiction Prize (India)
• India Abroad Lifetime Achievement Award (USA)
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Fiction)
• Kurt Tucholsky Prize (Sweden)
• Mantua Prize (Italy)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology Honorary Professorship
• Chapman University Honorary Doctorate - Doctor of Humane Letters
• Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Cultural Humanism (Harvard University)
• Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy)
• Prix Colette (Switzerland)
• Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
• State Prize for Literature (Austria)
• The Best of the Booker Winner by public vote, awarded in commemoration of the Booker Prize's 40th anniversary.
• Whitbread Novel Award (twice)
• Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Children's Fiction

TASLIMA NASRIN

Birth and Early Life

Born Nasrin Jahan Taslima to Rajab Ali and Idul Ara, Taslima Nasrin, also spelled Taslima Nasreen and popularly referred to as 'Taslima', her first name, rather than 'Nasreen' (born 25 August 1962 in Mymensingh, East Pakistan) is a Bengali Bangladeshi ex-physician turned feminist author who describes herself as a secular humanist. From a modest literary profile in the late 1980s, she achieved a meteoric rise to global fame by the end of the twentieth century, for her criticism of Islam and of religion in general. As return to Bangladesh was not possible, Taslima settled in Calcutta, India after long stay in Paris and Stockholm. In 2007, in the teeth of social protest, the government of India kept her in confinement in an undisclosed location for several months under tight security cover. Suffocated, she decided to quit India and eventually relocated to Sweden once again. Nevertheless, she continued to urge upon the Indian government for return to India. Finally, on 08 August 2008, she again landed in India.  She is reported to be staying with an ex-Swedish diplomat in the suburbs of Delhi at an undisclosed location.

Career

She studied medicine at the Mymensingh Medical College and after graduating in 1986, she worked as a government physician until 1994.

She began writing poetry while she was still at high school and published a poetry leaflet titled Snejuti from Mymensingh in early 1980s. She published her first anthology of poems titled Shikore Bipul Khudha (tr. Hunger in the Roots) in 1986. It was an anthology of 38 poems composed between 1980 and 1984. She specialized in writing short lyrics based on personal experience.

She succeeded in drawing attention of a wider readership when she started writing columns in the weekly magazine Khabarer Kagoj, encouraged by her second husband Naimul Islam Khan. She married him after divorcing poet Rudra Muhammad Shahidullah. Her alleged anti-Islam writings caused controversy throughout Bangladesh, and her feminist stance began to crystallize during the course of these articles. Her own experience of sexual abuse during adolescence and her work as a gynaecologist where she routinely examined young girls who had been raped, influenced her a great deal in writing about the treatment of women in Islam.

Her literary debut in the genre of fiction began with the publication of a 76 page novella titled Lajja, (a Bangla word meaning shame) where she, through graphic description of the rape of a Hindu girl by a Muslim man, purported to symbolize marginalization of the Hindu community in Bangladesh. Taslima subsequently revised the novella, restructuring and substantiating with more information. It is now more than 200 pages long.

The Government banned the book and, allegedly an Islamic fundamentalist group declared a death sentence. In 1993, she was charged with blasphemy. An arrest warrant was issued and Taslima went into hiding. After two months she surrendered to the High Court and immediately left Bangladesh after receiving bail. Since 1994 she has lived in many countries in exile including France, Sweden and India. In the meanwhile, she has published a number of fictional and autobiographical accounts, in addition to poetry. Her autobiographical writings have also proved to be provocative and have faced governmental sanctions in India as well as Bangladesh. Taslima was penning her sixth autobiographical book, Nei Kichu Nei (There is nothing), but the continued movement against her through 2007 and expulsion from Calcutta disrupted further writing.

The author's other autobiographical works are Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood), Utal Hawa (Wild Wind), Dwikhandito (Split up into Two). Sei Sob Andhakar (Those Dark Days) and Ami Bhalo Nei, Tumi Bhalo Theko Desh (I am not well, stay well my homeland).

While Taslima enjoys support of some liberal thinkers and scholars , she has been accused of writing "heinous and false facts about the most revered figure of Islam", Muhammad. She has been criticised as "an attention-seeker who is compulsively provocative and over-simplistic in her formulations on Islam and women." Many of her pro-Islamist critics condemned her for seeking trouble in India. Renowned Bengali novelist and short story writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, commented that Taslima used her pen recklessly and hurt the sentiments of people. Also, Nasrin is an atheist.

Autobiographical books of Taslima raised controversy not only because of her criticisms of Islam but also for narratives involving the private lives of people. Taslima candidly described her sexual relationship with a number of named persons. She also touched upon her relationship with her four Bangladeshi husbands. Published in 2003, Ka, her third autobiographical book, was the first to raise such issues.

Taslima received criticism by several progressive writers and intellectuals who described Ka as a book written with the "business aspect in mind". The 400-page book was described as nothing but pornography or "autobiographical Kama Sutra" by commentator and writer Masuda Bhatti. On 9 November 2003, poet Syed Shamsul Haque filed a suit against Taslima Nasreen and six others, claiming compensation for what he claimed were defamatory remarks against him in her book Ka. His complaint is that Taslima mentioned in the book that the plaintiff had taken her and her sister to Comilla Shalban Bihar and stayed in the guesthouse of Comilla Bonunnayan Daftar. He also complained that Taslima Nasreen, then living in the United States, wrote that during their stay in a guesthouse in Kaptai, he had visited the bathroom many times and she had found him throwing up in the toilet, as he was drunk. Taslima asserted that she was too scared to stay with him in the same room. According to the complaint, Taslima wrote in her novel that he had an illicit relationship with his sister-in-law and had suffered heartbreak, when she married another person. The plaintiff, described such remarks as defamatory and appealed to the court for seizure of all copies of the book and measures to halt its further sale. Barrister Ziaur Rahman Khan and advocate Monwar Hossain moved the suit on behalf of Syed Shamsul Haque.

Ka, published in Bangladesh, is a self-censored version of Dwikhonditp published in India. Dwikhonditp is said to contain critical comments on the prophet Muhammad. The latter was also banned in India by the Calcutta High Court in the state of West Bengal on 18 November 2004.

Apart from Lajja, Taslima's first four autobiographical volumes have been banned in Bangladesh. Police were told to confiscate all copies of Wild Wind. The Home Ministry in Bangladesh claimed that they "contain anti-Islamic sentiments and statements that could destroy the religious harmony of Bangladesh." While talking to the BBC Bengali service, Taslima claimed that there was no freedom of expression in the country. "It is a democratic country but there is no real democracy in Bangladesh". Wild Wind is the sequel to My Girlhood, published in 1999, which was also banned in Bangladesh for blasphemy. In November of 2003, the West Bengal government in India banned the sale, distribution and collection of Taslima's Dwikhandito, the third part of her autobiography. However, the ban was lifted by the High Court in September 2005.

Since 1993 Taslima has faced several death threats from Islamic fundamentalists for her criticism of Islam. In 2004, Syed Noorur Rehaman Barkati, the Imam of Kolkata's Tipu Sultan Mosque, admitted offering money to anyone who "blackened" Taslima's face. He also accused her of being a "Jewish spy." In 2005, her attempt to read an anti-war poem titled "America" to a large Bengali crowd attending the North American Bengali Conference at Madison Square Garden resulted in her being booed off the stage.

In March 2007, the "All India Ittehad Millat Council" of Bareilly U.P. offered 500,000 rupees for her beheading. The group's president, Tauqir Raza Khan, said the only way the bounty would be lifted was if Nasreen "apologises, burns her books and leaves."

On August 9, 2007, Taslima was attacked at the Hyderabad Press Club in the state of Andhra Pradesh. She was there for the launch of her novel Shodh in the Telugu language. Three MLAs of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party were among the 100 male protesters who physically attacked her for what they claim her repeated criticism of Islam Akbaruddin Owaisi, also an MLA and MIM floor leader in the Assembly, justified the attacks by saying, "We are not bothered about our MLA status. We are Muslims first. And it's our responsibility to test those who have said anything against Islam in whichever way possible." Ahmad Pasha Quadri, one of the lawmakers, said: "Our protest is against Taslima Nasreen because of her writings ridiculing Islam."

Taslima, who was backed into a corner, said the attack was barbaric but pledged she would not be cowed.

Until November 22, 2007, Taslima lived in the city of Kolkata, India, but was forced to leave the city in a rush, following security concerns raised by a violent agitation by several Muslim groups in the city that were demanding a stay on further extension of her Indian visa. Possibly urged on by the Bengal government, she flew to Rajasthan where she stayed in a hotel in Jaipur for one night. Due to threats by Islamic groups in Rajasthan, she was moved to New Delhi from where she was allegedly moved again to an undisclosed location.

India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee assured Nasreen a "shelter" in India, but urged her to "refrain from activities and expressions" that may hurt the sentiments of Muslims in India and harm relations with friendly countries. Recognizing the mounting social pressure, Taslima apparently agreed to a compromise formula. On November 30, 2007 Taslima agreed to remove three pages from her book Dwikhondito (Split up into Two). The book has been criticized by Muslims as "anti-Islamic". Taslima made a statement saying: It had not been her intention to "hurt anybody's religious sentiments...Now that some people in India have said they are upset with what I have said, I have decided to drop the controversial portions of the book and have told the publisher to take necessary action...After these portions are removed, I think there will be no more scope for controversy and all the tension so far caused should die down." Leading writers of India welcomed the move.

Taslima's life in exile commenced when she left Bangladesh in 1994 to avoid arrest. As of 2008, Taslima has been living in exile for more than 14 years. Though she is still a citizen of Bangladesh, she has in the meanwhile been awarded Swedish citizenship. She enjoyed living in developed countries like France and Sweden where she had the freedom of speech and could choose a life style that she preferred. But as time passed by she became eager to return home. But she could not return to Bangladesh since she did not have a valid Bangladeshi passport anymore. In 1993, when she appeared at the airport for traveling to India, her passport was confiscated by the Bangladeshi immigration department on a charge of attempting to hide her real profession. However, when after she left Bangladesh in 1994, Bangladesh Embassies abroad declined to renew her passport and at once stage the validity of her passport expired. In this circumstances she decided to move to Calcutta, a city in India very close to Bangladesh. She enjoyed living in Calcutta where she could speak in her mother tongue. The government of India extended her visa to stay in India on a periodic basis. visa given by the Indian government although Taslima requested the Indian government to grant her Indian citizenship. After a huge agitation in spread over October and November, she was forced to leave Calcutta and the government of India kept her in an undisclosed location near New Delhi. In March 2008, Taslima decided to leave India and returned to Sweden. Incidents in India during 2007 prompted Taslima to begin writing a new book to be titled Narir kono desh nei” (tr. A woman has no country).

The latest blow came in September 2007 when a movement was initiated in West Bengal by Islamic extremists and communist sympathizers demanding expulsion of Taslima from India. As a consequence, she has been forced to leave Calcutta and seek refuge in New Delhi.

A protest, called by the militant Islamist "All India Minority Forum", against granting of Indian visa to Bangladeshi origin writer Taslim Nasreen turned Kolkata into a scene of flaming vehicles and scampering school children on 21 November 2007, forcing the deployment of army in the city after nearly 15 years. A call for a road-blockade went out of control as thousands of frenzied people from central Kolkata's Muslim-inhabited areas unleashed a free-for-all for hours. Taslima was first moved from Kolkata to Jaipur, a day after violent protests rocked Kolkata over her stay in India. She was then shifted to New Delhi the following day. The Intelligence Bureau kept her in a 'safe house' within a National Security Guards complex in Delhi.

The author's defenders, including some Muslim figures such as Dr. Mansoor claim she is being used by the West Bengal government as a way of diverting attention from the dispute between the state and Muslim farmers in the rural district of Nandigram. Fourteen people were killed and reports of further violence have continued to shock India. Taslima said: "I'm writing a lot, but not about Islam, It's not my subject now. This is about politics. In the last three months I have been put under severe pressure to leave Bengal by the police.".

Since the last week of November 2007 Taslima was kept in 'safe custody' somewhere in New Delhi by the government of India. On 9 January 2008 she was selected for the Simone de Beauvoir feminist award in recognition of her writing on women's rights . However she declined to go to Paris to receive the award, fearing that she would not be allowed to re-enter India. She explained that 'I don’t want to leave India at this stage and would rather fight for my freedom here.’  She had to be hospitalized for three days with several complaints. In a letter to London-based human rights organisation Amnesty International India’s former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey urged to exert pressure on government of India so that the Bangladeshi author’s current predicament gets over and she can return to her home in Calcutta.
In an email interview from the undisclosed location of safe custody, Taslima said that she was unable to bear the “deathly silence” on what is to be her fate in India. She is under serious mental pressure and cancelled the publication of the sixth part of her autobiography ‘’Nei Kichu Nei’’ (There is Nothing). Taslima informed, “I get food and necessities, but I don’t have freedom even to step out of where I am being confined. I have no freedom to receive friends. If it is urgently necessary to meet someone, and if after requesting I am allowed this, I am transported in a vehicle from which I cannot see clearly outside, to a third and secret place controlled by the government. The person I have asked to meet will also be brought to the third place in a similar car with blackened windows. There I will be able to talk with my friend for a specified period of time,” On 20 January 2008 she wrote a poem which was published in the daily The Statesman published from Calcutta  :

Nasreen, secluded in secret government custody in Calcutta, India since November 2007, announced on 17 March 2008 that she was planning to leave India due to failing health. In an email to supporters she revealed that she was suffering from very high blood pressure and as a consequence had developed cardiac distress.  Her Indian visa was extended in February 2008 on condition that she would "respect the sentiment of Indian citizens in writing and speech". According to a statement posted on her official website, she conceded defeat to popular pressure and alleged that Indian Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee had exerted "great mental pressure" on her to leave the country. Taslima, who had not been allowed to see any visitors for nearly four months, described her confinement as living in "a chamber of death". Taslima, who holds a Swedish passport, arrived in Sweden on 18 March 2008 and was admitted to a cardiac clinic. Earlier, while transiting through Heathrow Airport, London, she declined to divulge any details, saying, "If I disclose my destination my security will be compromised. My face has now become recognisable and I could be target of religious fundamentalists". Nasreen has been awarded a free furnished apartment in Uppsala, Sweden. She does not have to pay rent and she also receives 5.000 SEK/month from the Uppsala community.

In December 2007, Taslima Nasreen wrote a piece that was circulated through internet groups. It was titled The Vanishing. The post began; "Where am I? I am certain no one will believe me if I say I have no answer to this apparently straightforward question, but the truth is I just do not know". In this post, Taslima alleged safe custody in India was "a conspiracy to murder my essence, my being, once so courageous, so brave, so dynamic, so playful." With reference to her living in India she said, "I am a guest in this land, I must be careful of what I say. I must do nothing that violates the code of hospitality. I did not come here to hurt anyone’s sentiments or feelings." "...It is like a slow and lingering death, like sipping delicately from a cupful of slow acting poison that is gradually killing all my faculties." It remains unascertained who wrote or translated this piece on behalf of Taslima. On 18 March 2008, prior to leaving India, in a piece titled Need to escape from death chamber published in a Calcutta daily, Taslima complained that, finding it pointless trying to destroy her mind, the Indian government attempted to destroy her physically. From Delhi she flew to London and while transiting through Heathrow Airport, she declined to disclose her destination. She told the press that since her face was now recognisable, she could easily become a target of fundamentalists. Disclosing the destination would affect her security. On 20 March 2008, she was reported to have landed in somewhere in Europe. Eventually, Taslima, who holds a Swedish passport arrived in Sweden on 19 March 2008, Wednesday, and was admitted to a cardiac clinic in Uppsala. The Swedish media has been silent about her and it is alleged that they are not allowed to communicate with her. She under the care of the Svenska Pen (Swedish Pen Club). When inquired about her well being, from the hospital bed Taslima said, "Just that I am fine... I feel fine... and, I am really enjoying myself."

Taslima Nasreen returned to India on 08 August 2008. Immediately after arrival at the Indira Gandhi International airport, she was whisked away by security agencies to an undisclosed destination. Taslima has been requesting for permanent Indian residentship, but the government has not obliged yet.

Achievements

Taslima has received a number of international awards in recognition of her uncompromising demand for freedom of expression. However, the Ananda Purashkar was awarded in 1992 to her as a recognition of her literary achievement. Awards and Honours given to her include the following:

• Ananda Award, India, 1992
• Natyasava Award, Bangladesh, 1992
• Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thoughts from the European Parliament, 1994
• Human Rights Award from the Government of France, 1994
• Kurt Tucholsky Prize, Swedish PEN, Sweden, 1994
• Hellman-Hammett Grant from Human Rights Watch, USA, 1994
• Humanist Award from Human-Etisk Forbund, Norway, 1994
• Feminist of the Year from Feminist Majority Foundation, USA, 1994
• Honorary Doctorate from Ghent University, Belgium, 1995
• Scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service, Germany, 1995
• Monismanien Prize from Uppsala University, Sweden, 1995
• Distinguished Humanist Award from International Humanist and Ethical Union, Great Britain, 1996
• Humanist Laureate from International Academy for Humanism, USA, 1996
• Ananda Award, India, 2000
• Global Leader for Tomorrow, World Economic Forum, 2000
• Erwin Fischer Award, International League of non-religious and atheists (IBKA), Germany, 2002
• Freethought Heroine Award, Freedom From Religion Foundation, USA, 2002
• Fellowship at Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA, 2003
• UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence, 2004
• Honorary Doctorate from American University of Paris, France, 2005
• Grand Prix International Condorcet-Aron 2005, from the French-Parliament in Belgium, 2005
• Simone de Beauvoir Feminist Award, 2008

Books by Taslima Nasrin

 Poetry

• Shikore Bipul Khudha (Hunger in the Roots), 1986
• The Game in Reverse: Poems and Essays by Taslima Nasrin 1995
• Nirbashito Bahire Ontore (Banished Without and Within), 1989
• Amar Kichu Jay Ashe Ne (I Couldn’t Care Less), 1990
• Atole Ontorin (Captive In the Abyss), 1991
• Balikar Gollachut (Game of the Girls), 1992
• Behula Eka Bhashiyechilo Bhela (Behula Floated the Raft Alone), 1993
• Ay Kosto Jhepe, Jibon Debo Mepe (Pain Come Roaring Down, I’ll Measure Out My Life for You), 1994
• Nirbashito Narir Kobita (Poems From Exile), 1996
• Jolopodyo (Waterlilies), 2000
• Khali Khali Lage (Feeling Empty), 2004
• Kicchukhan Thako (Stay For A While), 2005
• Bhalobaso? Cchai baso (It's your love! or a heap of trash!), 2007
• Bondini (Prisoner), 2008

Essay collections

• Nirbachito column (Selected Columns), 1990
• Jabo na Keno jabo (I will not go; why should I?), 1991
• Noshto meyer noshto goddo (Corrupt prose of a corrupt girl), 1992
• ChoTo choTo dukkho kotha (Tale of trivial sorrows), 1994
• Narir Kono Desh Nei (Women have no country), 2007

Novels

• Oporpokkho (The Opponent) 1992
• Shodh (Revenge), 1992
• Nimontron (Invitation) 1993
• Phera (Return) 1993
• Bhromor Koio Gia (Tell Him The Secret) 1994
• Forashi Premik (French Lover) 2002
• Lajja (Shame), 1993

Autobiography

• Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood), 1999
• Utal Hawa (Wild Wind), 2002
• Ka (Speak Up), 2003
• Dwikhondito (Split-up in Two), 2003
• Sei Sob Andhokar (All those darkness), 2004
• Meyebela, My Bengali Girlhood - A Memoir of Growing Up Female in a Muslim World, 2002
• Ami Bhalo Nei, Tumi Bhalo Theko Priyo Desh (I am not okay, but you stay well my beloved homeland), 2006.