By Dr. Khalid Mubashshir
New Delhi: On the occasion of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s second-centenary birth anniversary, an International Seminar was held by the Department of Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, in association with the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) during 3-4 February, 2018. The theme of the seminar was: “the Significance of Sir Syed in the Contemporary Age.”
In his presidential address, Prof. Talat Ahmad, the Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, said that Sir Syed’s significance has increased all the more in the twenty-first century, making it crucial to study Sir Syed’s thoughts on language and literature. He said that Sir Syed’s idea of religion and its relevance have assumed greater significance in today’s age—his thoughts, therefore, must be studied in the light of new research and findings. Speaking on this occasion, Prof. Wahajuddin Alvi, the Dean of the Faculty of Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia, termed Sir Syed’s multi-faceted educational and reformative movement as the “most effective religious, cultural, historical and linguistic feat” that sought to revolutionise these areas. Welcoming national and international delegates to the seminar, Prof. Shehpar Rasool, the Head of the Urdu Department at Jamia Millia Islamia, expressed hope that the papers to be presented by the experts would reflect on Sir Syed’s contemporary relevance.
The opening session also saw the release of the current issue of the Department’s annual journal ‘Armughan’ which features classical genres of poetry and the state of research and criticism on the same. Several books were also released on this occasion written by scholars of the Department.
Speaking as the chief guest in the concluding session, Prof. Shamim Hanafi, a renowned Urdu poet and litterateur, said that in Sir Syed, one can still find an ideal for his enlightening, rational and scientific thoughts as well as administrative prowess. He said that Sir Syed’s Aligarh Movement proved to be a precursor to a versatile revolution that is relevant even today.
In his presidential address, Prof. Siddiqur Rehman said that all reformative movements find convergence with the Aligarh Movement. He asserted that challenging and busting negative values of his age was Sir Syed’s greatest achievement. Prof. Shehpar Rasool said that he was sure more than 20 papers that were being presented in the seminar, when published, would open a new vista of understanding Sir Syed. Prof Ahmad Mehfooz, the convener of the seminar, while presenting the report of the seminar, underlined the significance of papers and termed them “meaningful” and “in line with the objectives” of the seminar.
On this occasion, Prof. Alain Desoulieres, Prof. Anees Ashfaq, Prof. Ali Ahmad Fatimi and Prof. Khalid Mahmood also expressed their views. This session was conducted by Dr. Khalid Mubashshir while the vote of thanks was given by Dr. Nadim Ahmad.
On the second day of the seminar, two sessions were held. The first one witnessed a paper presented by Prof. Alain Desoulieres, a renowned oriental scholar from France, on topic “the Educational Philosophy of Sir Syed and Maulana Azad’s Perspective.” In his paper, Prof. Desoulieres said that Sir Syed was a versatile personality who bore a great impact on all walks of life he touched. He underscored that Sir Syed gave the new direction to a plethora of fields ranging from religion to civilisation, to politics and journalism, and philosophical sciences to literature, education and history. Prof. Desoulieres reiterated that the eastern civilisation did not produce a greater versatile personality than Sir Syed’s in the last two centuries.
The first session was jointly presided over by Prof. Qazi Obaidur Rehman Hashmi and Prof. Quddus Javed. Prof. Altaf Ahmad Azmi presented his paper on “Sir Syed and Modern Ilm-al-Kalam”, Prof Zafar Ahmad Siddiqui on “Khutbat-e-Ahmadiyya: A Great Scholarly Work”, Prof. Khalid Mahmood on “Sir Syed’s Travelogue to London”, Prof. Mazhar Mehdi on “the Neo-colonial Aligarh”, while Prof. Kausar Mazhari read his paper on “Aasarus Sanadeed: Yesterday and Today”, and Dr. Rasheed Ashraf Khan on “Sir Syed and Deputy Nazeer Ahmad”.
The second session was jointly presided over by Prof. Altaf Ahmad Azmi and Muzaffar Husain Syed. In this session, Prof. Quddus Javed presented a paper on “Sir Syed’s Contemporary Relevance”, Prof. Shehnaz Anjum on “Sir Syed as a Journalist”, Prof. Shehzad Anjum on “Historiography by Sir Syed” and Dr. Sarvarul Huda on “The Civilisational Thoughts of Sir Syed.” Both the sessions were conducted by Dr. Muhammad Adam and Dr. Muhammad Muqim. The audience showed an overwhelming response and participation on the papers read.
On the last day, the third session of the seminar was jointly presided over by Javed Danish and Dr. Ali Javed. In this session papers presented were as follows: Prof. Anees Ashfaq on “Literary Thoughts of Sir Syed”, Prof. Aijaz Ali Arshad on “The Impact of England Journey on Sir Syed’s Thought Process”, Prof. Ali Ahmad Fatimi on “Sir Syed: In the eyes of Non-Muslim Scholars”, Dr. Umair Manzar on “Sir Syed and Shibli” and Dr. Sultana Wahidi on “Sir Syed’s Letters.”
The fourth session was presided over by Prof. Muhammad Zakir and Prof. Anees Ashfaq. In this session, Prof. Ibne-Kanwal presented paper on “Sir Syed and His Contemporary Prose”, Prof. Sagheer Afraheem on “Exposition of Sir Syed’s Thought and Tehzeebul Akhlaq”, Prof. Siraj Ajmali on “Sir Syed and Maulana Hali”, Dr. Nadim Ahmad on “Important Aspects of Sir Syed’s Personality” and Dr. Asif Zahri on “The Literary Journalism of Urdu and Sir Syed.” Both the sessions were compered by Dr. Adil Hayat and Dr. Saqib Imran.
A total of 21 papers were presented. With two foreign delegates, scholars from across the country participated in this seminar.
On this remarkable occasion—apart from the international dramatist and dastango Javed Danish (Canada)—Prof. Ishaq Ahmad, Prof. Iqtidar Muhammad Khan, Dr. Aqeel Ahmad, Dr. Waseem Rashid, Dr. Shama Afroz Zaidi, Dr. Nigar Azeem, Tasneem Kausar, Dr. Abubakar Abbad, Dr. Shaheena Tabassum, Maryam Sikandar (London), Dr. Faizan Shahid, Irfan Waheed, Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad Tajarwi, Dr. Muhammad Khalid, Dr. Muhammad Arshad, Prof Abdul Haleem Akhgar, Prof. Durga Prasad, Prof. Harun Sajjad, Dr. Muhammad Sohrab, Dr. Mushtaq Qadri, Dr. Shah Alam, Dr. Suhail Anjum, Shabbir Alvi, Dr. Rehman Musavvir, Dr. Suhail Ahmad Faruqui, Asra Jamai, Prof. Naseem Ahmad, Prof. Ali Zaheen Naqwi, Dr. Safdar Imam Qadri, Mr Mohd. Khalil, Mr Suhail Ahmad, Dr. Alam Shams, Dr. Anwarul Haq, Shoaib Raza Warsi, Dr. Uzair Israil, Hafiz Mutiur Rehman, Mr. Zain Shamsi, Dr. Muhammad Aleem, Prof. Abdur Rasheed, Dr. Khalid Jawed, Dr. Imran Ahmad Andaleeb, Dr. Musheer Ahmad, Dr. Syed Tanveer Husain, Dr. Abu Zaheer Rabbani, Dr. Abulkalam Arif, Dr. Shadab Tabassum, Dr. Javed Hassan, Dr. Sami Ahmad, Dr. Noman Qaisar, Dr. Mahzar Raza, Dr. Sajid Zaki Fehmi, Dr. Shahnawaz Fayyaz, Dr. Shahida Fatima, Dr. Muhammad Danish, Dr. Saood Alam, Dr. Wasiqul Khair, Dr. Naushad Manzar, Dr. Zahid Nadim, Dr. Nausheen Hassan several other scholars and faculty members from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia were also present.