Life should be significant, not merely long. While some people make their lives significant by amassing wealth, others contribute to society and future generations. Hakim Abdul Hameed was one such rare individual. He is the founder of Jamia Hamdard, a deemed-to-be University located in South Delhi, which is celebrating its Foundation Day on September 14.
Abdul Hameed was born in Delhi on September 14, 1908. His life story is not merely that of a physician but of a man who transformed a family legacy of medicine into a vast movement encompassing education, research, healthcare, and public service.
His family was deeply involved in medicine and social service; his father, Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed, had established ‘Hamdard Dawakhana’ in 1906. ‘Hamdard’ in Urdu means one who empathises with others’ pain. This very sentiment became the guiding principle of Hakim Abdul Hameed’s entire life. He inherited not just a business from his father, but a responsibility. He strived to build Hamdard into an institution that would benefit every stratum of society.
Hakim Abdul Hameed was a practitioner of Unani medicine, yet his vision extended far beyond the treatment of the human body. He understood that for Unani medicine to be passed on to the coming generations, it required systematic teaching, rigorous research, and incorporating modern scientific methods.
He believed that tradition and modern science were not at odds; rather, by preserving the valuable aspects of ancient medical systems, they could be further fortified through scientific inquiry and research. This vision changed him into a pivotal pillar of Unani medicine.
The year 1947 was exceptionally difficult for the country. Partition had impacted millions and created an atmosphere rife with mistrust, violence, and uncertainty. Yet, even amidst such turmoil, Hakim Abdul Hameed was contemplating the establishment of institutions for the India of the future. It was during this period that he founded the Hamdard Charitable Trust and resolved to dedicate Hamdard’s earnings to the service of society. This decision speaks volumes about his character; he viewed wealth not as something to be hoarded for personal gain, but as a trust held for the benefit of society.
Subsequently, he established more institutions — the Hamdard Tibbi College and the Indian Institute of Islamic Studies in 1963; the Hamdard National Foundation in 1964, and the Hamdard College of Pharmacy in 1972.
Gradually, other institutions such as the Hamdard Education Society, Hamdard Public School, Ghalib Academy, and the Hamdard Institute of Historical Research were also added to this fold. He sought to create a comprehensive system where pharmacy, education, history, culture, and research could flourish alongside medical treatment.
The culmination of Hakim Abdul Hameed’s long-standing efforts came in 1989, when the institutions he had established were amalgamated into one to grant ‘Jamia Hamdard’ the status of a to-be Deemed University. This marked a significant achievement, realising a dream and the hard work of decades. He became its founding Chancellor. Hamdard’s own funds and his personal resources played a major role in establishing this university.
Today, it is important to remember that Jamia Hamdard was not backed by government machinery or a corporate conglomerate. Behind it lay the conviction of a single individual who believed that education could be the greatest service to society.
To remember Hakim Abdul Hameed merely as a builder of institutions would be to diminish his true stature. He was, first and foremost, a physician; understanding others’ pain was intrinsic to his nature. In his view, treating a sick person and providing a poor child with the opportunity to study were acts stemming from the same spirit of compassion, and he strove throughout his life to improve the human condition.
The body is healed through medicine, while the mind is nurtured through education. Hakim Sahib regarded both as integral parts of a singular mission of social service. Perhaps this is why the institutions he founded accorded equal importance to the humanities, history, and culture alongside hospitals and medical education.
Hakim Abdul Hameed’s contributions were recognised both within the country and across the globe. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1965 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992. In 1983, the then Soviet Union honoured him with the Avicenna Award. During the final years of his life, he also served as the Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University.
However, considering his personality, it seems likely that he derived greater satisfaction from helping a needy person receive medical treatment or enabling a poor student’s education than from these accolades. For him, achievement was not merely about receiving awards but about making a difference in someone else’s life.
Hakim Abdul Hameed passed away in 1999, yet his work did not end with his departure. Even today, thousands of students study in the institutions he established, patients receive treatment in his hospitals, and the work of research and education continues to flourish.
The Jamia Hamdard campus is more than just a cluster of buildings; it stands as a testament to the idea that if an individual rises above personal interests to think about society, they can achieve a great deal for future generations. Hakim Sahib established these institutions much like a wise person plants a tree—knowing full well that while he might not live to sit in its shade, others certainly will. This was the most beautiful aspect of his life.
Today, the greatest challenge facing everyone associated with his institutions is ensuring that his legacy is not confined merely to names and monuments. The very meaning of ‘Hamdard’ is to understand the pain of others and strive to alleviate it. Hakim Abdul Hameed’s life teaches us that a person’s true legacy lies in the institutions and ideas that others carry forward long after they are gone. This is the legacy Hakim Abdul Hameed left behind. Carrying it forward is not just a matter of honour; it is our responsibility.
Author Prof. (Dr) M. Afshar Alam, is a Former Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Personality-News / by M Afshar Alam / September 13th, 2026
Dr.Roshan Shaikh’s extraordinary journey from double amputation,a financially struggling family to becoming an MBBS doctor, MD Pathologist, motivational speaker, award-winning personality.
Dr. Roshan Sheikh is now the eminent name of the field of education and source of inspiration for thousands of students.She specially invited to Moulana Ajmal’s education institute,Assam, Shaheen group of Institutions, Bidar, Karnataka, Anjuman E Islam Mumbai ,and other dozens of prestigious institutes of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Born in Mumbai to a family where her father worked as a vegetable vendor, Roshan Jahan dreamed of becoming a doctor. Her life changed dramatically when she was in XIth grade a tragic train accident resulted in the amputation of both her legs. She remained bedridden for more than three months, but the tragedy could not break her determination.
Her mother, who had studied only up to the fourth standard, became her strongest pillar of support. She took Roshan to school in a wheelchair whenever practical classes and examinations required her presence. Despite severe physical and financial difficulties, Roshan completed Class 12 with impressive marks and secured third rank in the handicapped category in the state medical entrance examination.
However, her struggle continued when she was denied medical admission because her disability was assessed at 96 percent, while prevailing regulations restricted admission for candidates considered more than 70 per cent disabled. Determined to realise her dream, she approached the Bombay High Court in 2011 with the support of orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Sanjay Kotharia and advocate P.B. Patil, who fought her case without charging a fee. The court recognised her capabilities and allowed her to pursue medical education.
Roshan subsequently secured admission to KEM Medical College, Mumbai. Medical education was challenging, involving practical work, emergencies, movement between buildings and long working hours. Yet she completed her MBBS in 2016 and later earned her MD in Pathology in 2021 from Mumbai.
Several people also supported her during this journey. Congress MLA Amin Patel helped finance her medical education, while BJP MP Kirit Somaiya supported her when she faced difficulties in pursuing postgraduate studies. Her case also contributed to changes that enabled her to continue her higher medical education.
After completing her MD, Roshan worked as a Consultant Pathologist and Cytopathologist. On 28 October 2022 she married to Mumbai based Buisnessman Salman Abdul Latif and became mother in 2026.
She also became a motivational speaker, travelling to educational institutions in Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states and inspiring thousands of students with her life story. She is currently at home, taking care of her three-month-old baby girl, while remaining socially active and sharing her old and new posts and videos.
Her achievements have earned her several prestigious honours, including the Hindustan Times Women of the Year Award (2018) at the national level. Other recognitions include the Shoorveer Award, Bharat Prerna Award, Award for Bravery and Courage from the Bombay High Court, Inqulab Award, Galli News Griffin Award for Women Impact, Cavinkare Ability Award, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award, Sahas Ability Award, Microsoft Bravery Award and SABAL Award from Tata, among others.
Her personal life has also entered a new chapter. Around three years ago, she married Mumbai-based handsome businessman Salman Abdul Latif. Despite her high level of disability, she successfully went through pregnancy and became a mother to a baby girl three months ago.
Dr. Roshan Jahan Sheikh has transformed adversity into purpose. Her life stands as a powerful message that physical limitations need not limit human dreams, and that courage, education and determination can turn seemingly impossible goals into reality.
Speaking to Muslim Mirror Roshan says, “Life may knock you down and may even try to break you, but getting back on your feet is in your hands. If I can overcome such a great storm and become an MD doctor, then you too can fulfil every dream you have. Keep faith in Allah and move forward,” Dr. Roshan Jahan Jawwad Sheikh said.
She further advised people not to dwell on what they have lost or what they do not have. “Do not focus on what is gone or what you do not have. Instead, put all your strength into what remains and into what you can become,” she said.
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Positive Story / by Imran Inamdar / September 08th, 2026
It is a commonly held notion that the states of India are natural units, each a homeland of a particular language and culture that existed long before 1947. The formal recognition of these states after India became a Republic was nothing but natural.
A Slice of History
History shows that the political boundaries most Indians live inside today were drawn by a three-member commission that submitted its report on 30 September 1955. This means that the line that separates a Kannadiga from a Malayali or a Bihari from a Bengali was an innovation.
Till then, India had simply carried forward former British provinces, princely states and centrally administered territories, classified under a four-tier system of Part A, B, C, and D states inherited from the Government of India Act of 1935. It was Sir Syed Fazl Ali, a judge from Benares (Varanasi), who led the work to define the boundaries of Indian states,
Born on 19 September 1886 in Varanasi to Saiyid Nazir Ali, Fazl Ali belonged to a family of lawyers, with roots in Bihar. He studied at Muir Central College, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), and at the Middle Temple, London.
Oner his return to India, in 1912, set up practice in the district courts of Chapra, Bihar, arguing criminal cases before subordinate judges. This apprenticeship carried him to the Patna High Court in April 1928, with a deputation to settle labour disputes at the Tata steel works in Jamshedpur.
He was knighted in the New Year Honours of 1941, became acting Chief Justice of Patna in 1938 and permanent Chief Justice in January 1943.
Fazl Ali also chaired the inquiry into the Royal Indian Naval Mutiny of February 1946, one of the last rebellions against the British Empire in India. Later he sat on the Calcutta Disturbances Enquiry Commission, investigating the killings during the partition.
Fazl Ali was elevated to the Federal Court in June 1947. In three months and an Independent India, he went as India’s delegate to the second session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he was elected chairman of its Fifth Committee. In 1950, he became one of the eight judges of the Supreme Court of India. He was also the first Muslim to sit on that bench.
One of his dissenting notes as a Supreme Court judge made history. Indian Parliament had passed the Preventive Detention Act of 1950, allowing the state to jail a person without trial. In A.K. Gopalan versus State of Madras, decided on 19 May 1950, Chief Justice Harilal Kania led the majority in holding that a citizen could be stripped of his liberty by any procedure Parliament chose to enact, however unfair, so long as it was called law.
Two of the six judges who disagreed were Fazl Ali. Fazl Ali held that the procedure established by law had to rest on four elementary principles, which he summed up in a single line: “the right to be heard before one is condemned.” It took twenty-eight years and the government’s arbitrary seizure of a young woman’s passport, without explanation, for the Supreme Court to agree with him.
In Maneka Gandhi versus Union of India in 1978, the Court finally read fairness back into Article 21, and nearly every later right to dignity, privacy and due process in India has been built on that foundation. In fact, less than two years after Gopalan, Fazl Ali had already sat with the majority in the State of West Bengal versus Anwar Ali Sarkar, striking down a law that let the government to select certain cases for trial in Special Courts, bypassing ordinary procedures.
The Court held that such discretionary power violated Article 14 of the Constitution, as it allowed arbitrary and unequal treatment of similar offences. Indian courts still apply the test of reasonable classification under Article 14 that this judgment helped establish.
In 1952, Potti Sreeramulu fasted for a separate Telugu state. He died in the process, and there was unrest in the region. This forced Jawaharlal Nehru’s government to concede to reorganisation of India along linguistic lines.
In December 1953, Ali Fazl Ali, then Governor of Odisha, was asked to head a commission with the historian-diplomat K.M. Panikkar and the veteran liberal parliamentarian H.N. Kunzru as members for the purpose. For almost two years they toured the country, took evidence region by region and read memoranda from parties, princes and peasants. They weighed every demand against four tests – national unity and security, linguistic and cultural homogeneity, financial and administrative viability, and the welfare of the people in each proposed state.
The Commission submitted its report on 30 September 1955. The report said that it was guided by the principle that “the unity of India must be regarded as the paramount consideration,” and refused to accept one language, one state as an absolute rule.
Not every line the commission drew was viable. For example, it kept Maharashtra and Gujarat together as a bilingual Bombay state. The plan was not acceptable to both Marathi and Gujarati speakers, and the state was split into Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1960.
The commission had recommended 16 states and three union territories as against the final Reorganisation Act of November 1956 going for 14 states and six UTs. However, the template was intact. Punjab and Haryana followed it in 1966. Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand followed it in 2000. Telangana followed it in 2014. Every one of these reorganisations has worked within the same administrative and legal vocabulary that Fazl Ali’s commission wrote, that a community’s claim to its own language and government must be weighed against, never simply surrendered to, the unity and coherence of the nation.
Fazl Ali spent his last years as Governor of Assam, working to bring the Naga hills into the administrative mainstream. He opened a college at Mokokchung, Nagaland that still bears his name.
Fazl Ali’s son, Syed Murtaza Fazl Ali, became Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and, in 1975, a judge of the very Supreme Court his father had helped inaugurate. Sir Syed Fazl Ali was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1956. He died in office on 22 August 1959.
Sir Syed Fazl Ali led no mass movement. But every time an Indian under arrest demands to know the grounds, every time a citizen calls a law arbitrary before a court, and every time someone crosses from one state into another without a thought for how that border came to sit exactly there, they are repeating an argument first made by a Varanasi-born Bihari judge.
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Stories / by Saquib Salim / September 11th, 2026
A young man from a remote village in West Bengal has scripted an extraordinary success story, becoming the all-India topper in Arabic in the 2026 UGC-NET examination. Abdul Hamid, a resident of village Kukhura in Birbhum district, scored 266 out of 300 marks, topping a list of 1,649 candidates.
The University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test determines eligibility for Junior Research Fellowship, appointment as Assistant Professor, and admission to PhD programmes in Indian universities.
What makes Abdul Hamid’s achievement remarkable is the circumstances in which he achieved it. He worked alongside his father in agricultural fields, herded cows and goats, and navigated persistent financial difficulties, all while keeping his academic ambitions alive.
His father, Abdut Toab, is a respected scholar in the village who taught at a secondary education centre for nearly two decades on a modest salary, while also tilling land to feed the family. Abdul Hamid received his earliest lessons in Bengali, English, and Arabic from his mother.
He later cleared the Alim examination in 2017 and the Fazil examination in 2019, graduated from Alia University in Kolkata, and completed his post-graduation from Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi with a CGPA of 8.75. He also sharpened his English skills at the Ramakrishna Mission.
Financial hardship temporarily interrupted his studies. After his marriage in 2025, Abdul Hamid found renewed purpose, driven by the encouragement of his wife and father-in-law. He prepared for the UGC-NET at the Siuri centre without any formal coaching, relying on YouTube, a handful of books, personal notes, and discipline built around leading prayers at a local mosque.
When results were declared on August 28, Abdul Hamid stood first in the country.
He now aims to pursue a PhD in Arabic from Delhi University or Jawaharlal Nehru University. He credits his success to mental preparation, consistent hard work, and complete honesty toward his goal, and believes coaching is not a prerequisite for achievement.
Many academicians have noted that scoring such high marks in a foreign language is a particularly demanding accomplishment, making Abdul Hamid’s performance all the more noteworthy.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Latest News> Pride of the Nation> Markers of Excellence> Report / by Radiance News Bureau / September 10th,2026
A young scientist from a small village in Bihar has become part of India’s growing space legacy. Imtiaz Ahmed, hailing from Rewda village in Darbhanga district, has earned recognition across the country for his role in one of ISRO’s most important recent missions.
Ahmed was a key contributor to ISRO’s GISAT-1 geostationary imaging satellite mission, which successfully placed the GISAT-1 satellite into orbit. The satellite holds a special distinction. It is India’s first geostationary earth observation satellite designed to provide continuous imaging of the Indian subcontinent.
The satellite is expected to play a critical role in monitoring weather patterns, agricultural conditions, and natural disasters. Scientists and observers say Ahmed’s contribution to the mission was both substantial and well-executed.
Ahmed comes from a family with a strong tradition of serving the nation. His father is a retired soldier who served in the Indian Army. The family’s story now carries a new chapter. Where the father wore a uniform to guard the country’s borders, the son now works in the space sector to advance its frontiers.
His journey from Rewda, a small and relatively unknown village, to the corridors of India’s premier space agency reflects both personal dedication and academic discipline. Those who know Ahmed describe him as focused and committed from an early stage in his education.
The Muslim community across Bihar and beyond has expressed pride in Ahmed’s achievement. His success has drawn attention to the potential that exists in smaller towns and rural areas, where talent often goes unrecognised without the right opportunities and determination.
Ahmed’s work on the GISAT-1 mission stands as a reminder that scientific contribution to national progress comes from every corner of the country. The team at Imtiaz Ahmed’s community extends its sincere salute to a scientist who has honoured both his roots and his nation through hard work and excellence in space research.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News> Pride of the Nation> Markers of Excellence> Report/ by Radiance News Bureau / September 07th, 2026
Dr. Syed Abdullah (extreme right) and his team of heroes of the Asian Hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
As devotees across the country were celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna in the early hours of Friday, nine newborn babies at a private hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar faced a terrifying fight for survival.
At around 2:30 a.m., a fire broke out in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Asian Hospital in the Akashwani area on Jalna Road after an apparent short circuit in an air-conditioner. Within minutes, thick smoke filled the NICU and flames began spreading rapidly, trapping nine newborns inside.
Among them was a premature baby on a ventilator.
In those critical moments, Resident Medical Officer Dr Syed Abdullah and a team of nurses sprang into action. Risking their own lives, they carried the babies out of the smoke-filled NICU, one by one, and ensured that the critically ill infant continued receiving artificial ventilation during the rescue.
“The situation was very difficult. Initially, we thought there was a minor gas leak. But the moment a spark fell from the AC, we immediately tried to move the warmer aside, because the baby on the ventilator was right underneath it. That baby was very serious; it was a preterm baby,” Dr Abdullah recalled.
He said the situation deteriorated within seconds.
“We had just gone to move the warmer when the fire spread very rapidly. After that, the sisters immediately started picking up the babies and evacuating them. The baby on the ventilator had to be given artificial respiration through an Ambu bag. A nurse held one baby in her hand and also managed the other baby from the ventilator, while I was Ambu-bagging it. In this way, we safely evacuated all the babies.”
At one point, Dr Abdullah also attempted to pull the ventilator out of the danger zone. But the equipment was locked in place, while the flames continued to spread.
“After evacuating all the babies, I also wanted to save the ventilator, because a ventilator is a very expensive machine. So, I tried to pull the ventilator, but it was locked. The fire was continuously growing, and because of that, I had to leave the ventilator and rush to save another baby,” he said.
For the medical team, however, saving the babies was the only priority.
“I am happy that we succeeded in saving those babies. I never thought I would face such a situation in so few years of my service. By the grace and mercy of Allah, everything concluded safely and the condition of all the patients is now excellent and stable. All the babies have been safely shifted to Ghati and other hospitals,” Dr Abdullah said.
Nurses Turned Rescuers
The rescue was a collective effort. Nurses Kalpana Nalawade, Surekha Chavan (Mavshi), Rekha Ragade, Sandhya Jadhav and Archana Bhalerao joined Dr Abdullah in evacuating the newborns as smoke and flames spread through the NICU.
The warmer carrying the critically ill baby could not be moved because it was locked. With the fire intensifying, there was no time to wait. The nurses began lifting the babies in their arms and carrying them to safety.
For nurse Rekha Ragade, the incident remains etched in her memory.
“I was on duty as usual. I was checking what each baby needed; all this work was going on. Suddenly, I saw some colleagues running towards a corner of the NICU. What do I see? Smoke was coming out from there. By the time I saw it, a spark fell and the AC instantly caught fire,” she recalled.
For a moment, fear overwhelmed her. But the instinct to protect the newborns quickly took over.
“Seeing that sight, I too was scared for a moment, but I quickly composed myself and with the help of my colleagues, brought the children out. There was fear in my heart. My hands and legs had gone numb from panic. But we risked our lives and saved the lives of the babies,” she said.
Then came a deeply personal thought.
“I also have three children. As a mother, I only knew one thing: all those nine children are mine, and I have to get them out.”
58 Patients on the Floor
The fire broke out on a floor where 58 patients were present, including the nine newborns in the NICU, 36 patients in the general ward and 13 patients in special rooms.
The hospital alerted the fire brigade and police immediately. However, before emergency personnel arrived, doctors and nurses had already managed to bring the fire largely under control using fire extinguishers.
The nine newborns were subsequently shifted by ambulance to other hospitals for continued medical care. Four were admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital (Ghati), three to MGM Hospital, one to Muskaan Children’s Clinic in Azad Chowk and one to Day Care Hospital.
All nine babies are reported to be safe and in stable condition.
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Stories / by Fazal Pathan / September 07th, 2026
Started as a local bi-weekly newspaper, Madinah soon commanded a massive subcontinent-wide circulation. While most newspapers at the time focused on major colonial urban centres such as Lahore, Delhi or Calcutta, Madinah instrumentalised its place of inception—Bijnor—as a political shield.
‘Madinah,’ a bi-weekly newspaper founded in 1912 by Mohammad Majeed Hasan, began in his courtyard in the small qasbah of Bijnor in the Northwest United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh). Its inception is later recounted in a dream narrative published in Madinah’s silver jubilee edition in 1939, which describes how Hasan dreamt of “a bright moon shining in the sky, being eclipsed by another moon appearing from behind and drifting away from it, becoming brighter as the dream continued.”
Hasan had been working as a journalist in Lahore while also preparing for a career as a judge. He is said to have had the dream shortly after abandoning his training and returning to Bijnor to continue working for the family newspaper Sahifa, whose modest readership had already begun to dwindle. Hasan later interpreted the dream as a sign that he should start his own newspaper, symbolised by a new shining moon.
Hasan’s first wife, Muhtarma Kaneez Fatimah, whose altruistic nature and firm belief in his venture compelled her to help him start the paper, sold her jewellery to support it. She later proved to be an intelligent and capable assistant in the newspaper’s production, despite being unable to read or write.
It was she who inspired the newspaper to include a separate women’s section named Akhbar-i-Nisvan on one of its last pages. The section frequently appeared during the newspaper’s first three years, from 1912 to 1915, and was intended to serve the interests of Muslim women by including editorials and creative pieces written by both men and women.
Soon, the paper had distinctly identified itself among its audience by creating a space for Muslim women, with a special focus on mothers, to discuss their issues through genres such as poetry and fiction.
The unlikely epicentre: importance of the Qasbah
Started as a local bi-weekly newspaper, Madinah soon commanded a massive subcontinent-wide circulation. While most newspapers at the time focused on major colonial urban centres such as Lahore, Delhi or Calcutta, Madinah instrumentalised its place of inception—Bijnor—as a political shield. In the same year as Madinah’s inception, Maulana Azad, at the age of 23, started the paper Al-Hilal in Calcutta, which was lauded among the Muslim elite and others for its publishing style and genre, soon reaching a pinnacle of readership.
In contrast, Madinah’s unique approach, which embraced the values of the gentry while also appealing to a broad readership beyond the traditional urban elite, distinguished the paper from the incessant urban cynicism that was becoming a prevalent theme throughout the landscape of production. Due to better readership and the greater availability of resources in urban areas, similar endeavours to Madinah redirected themselves to these spaces.
In its founding years, Madinah also addressed British officials, adopting varying strategic and bargaining stances against surveillance and strict government policies through explicit deference to colonial authorities. For instance, Hasan, the proprietor of the newspaper, cited the Ijazat (permission) of the Magistrate and Collector of Bijnor in its inaugural issue. This attentiveness to British intelligence provided the necessary immunity required for the functioning of the newspaper, unlike Azad’s Al-Hilal, which came under heavy scrutiny from the colonial government and had to cease publication by the end of 1914.
Newspapers in urban centres, such as Awadh Akhbar, persisted in their efforts to speak to a broad audience delineated more by language and culture than by religion, while papers such as Madinah reinforced an already rich discursive tradition surrounding religion and identity in the social crevices known as qasbahs (small towns). They also engaged with contested political themes debated by scholars and leaders, including the shaping of early narratives of separatism and communalism among Indian Muslims.
The success of Madinah can be attributed to the spatio-temporal advantages of the qasbah, which can be defined as a place of bureaucratic and market significance where a Muslim minority or majority lived alongside populations from other communities, alongside an influential enclave of intellectual vivacity and economic and political importance for Muslims. Scholar M. Raisur Rahman described qasbahs as “an alternative site for contestation with strong autonomous networks of culture, literature and religion”, while simultaneously defining them as a ‘unique space’ and a ‘microcosm of larger idealized national life’.
These spaces have been significantly important sites in the history of South Asian culture, shaping identities and literary traditions while remaining distinct from the typologies of urban environments, where modernity had already seeped through the sutures of cultural exchanges with the outside world.
Madinah and its role in politics
The political trajectory of Madinah transformed profoundly during the period of World War I, following the Balkan Wars. The paper broadened its purview by juxtaposing the localised ethos and culture of the qasbah with larger international crises, particularly the imminent dismantling of the Ottoman Empire.
Navigating the intricacies of a contested political landscape, Madinah supposedly guarded a global Islamic consciousness through its promotion of the Khilafat Movement and its shared affiliation with Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. Consequently, its support for the Indian National Congress and its anti-separatist stance against Jinnah became apparent, aligning with Jamiat’s idea of Composite Nationalism, as Madinah continued to anchor itself in the secular, anti-colonial bedrock of Urdu journalism.
According to scholar Gyanendra Pandey, Madinah served as a vital barometer of Muslim public opinion across this shifting timescape. Driven by the ideological synergy of Hindu-Muslim unity during the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements, the publication commanded an astounding peak circulation of 12,500 copies by 1922. However, this radical nationalism invited severe repercussions from the colonial state, notably resulting in the paper being banned in Punjab following its courageous and explicit reporting on the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Following the ban, the paper was relaunched in August 1919 under a new name—Yasrab (Madinah in Arabic)—as an act of strategic defiance against the colonial government, with a couplet from Iqbal:
Khāk-i Yasrab az do ‘ālam khūshtar ast, Ā’e khunak shahre ke ānjā dilbar ast
(The dust of Madinah is better than both worlds, How wonderful is the city where the beloved is.)
As the landscape of production became increasingly fragmented by communal cynicism and the mass political momentum of the early 1920s waned, the paper witnessed a decline in readership, with circulation dipping to 6,500 in 1927 and further to 6,000 by 1931.
Despite this dwindling circulation, Madinah remained a formidable and persistent critic of communal separatism throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Engaging with the contested political themes of the era, the paper sought to dismantle the early narratives of the All-India Muslim League. Pandey highlights a remarkably bold editorial from the 1930s that dismissed the League as being “neither dead nor alive”, asserting that its existence was confined merely to “the brain and mind of Mr. Jinnah”.
By 1942, the newspaper had effectively transformed into an open town hall, enabling ordinary citizens to debate and largely resist the looming Pakistan movement from within the landscape of the qasbah.
The script and scripture
The prevalent Urdu script, Nastaliq, which had been used throughout South Asia for centuries and was imported from Persia, featured intricate details, ornamentation and a complex structural form forged through the meticulous amalgamation of the Naskh and Ta’liq calligraphic traditions. It became the most recognisable Urdu script and developed strong cultural and ideological ties with the Urdu language. However, due to the rise of globalisation and the growing demand to produce literature for the public, it became increasingly difficult to produce works in the script lithographically on a mass scale. By the end of the 1970s, Nastaliq began to advance with the help of Mirza Jamil Ahmad, who created more than 20,000 combinations to bring the script into the digital world under the name Noori Nastaliq.
By the time the digitisation process began, Madinah was already out of business, shutting down its press with its last issue in 1976. During the seven decades that the paper survived, its editors had no keys to the press and no screens to reflect upon. Instead, the issues of Madinah were produced solely by hand, by calligraphers and artists alike.
The Urdu script Nastaliq had been established as the standard for almost every copy of the holy book Quran in South Asia since the Mughal period. By the time Madinah began using the same script as its standard, it already carried connotations of purity, holiness and divinity within the cultural landscape. Combined with the organic practice of producing it by hand rather than by machine, the paper was considered by its readers to embody a deliberate resistance against illegitimate mechanisation and the rising industrialisation of the subcontinent, curating a new political discourse based on the cultural symbolism of the script.
By using and retaining lithographic practices in an era when other papers were increasingly relying on mechanical typography for efficiency, Nastaliq was perceived as a tactile and handcrafted discipline that preserved the inherent spirit of prose, shielding the paper’s contributions from the mechanical and indifferent processes of Western print capitalism.
The inevitable descent
By the 1940s, Madinah had begun engaging in intense print debates with the supporters and proponents of pro-Muslim League newspapers and writers, arguing in a polemical fashion that religion could not be the sole determinant of a nation’s survival. Despite the paper’s persistent efforts to resist the pro-League and separatist stance, it witnessed the partition of the Indian subcontinent into two parts. The social capital of Madinah was on the verge of collapse, as the paper saw affluent members of the Muslim community, who had constantly contributed to its production and editorials, leave for the other side of the border.
The Language Act of 1951 became a huge blow to the publishing house of Madinah, as Hindi was soon adopted as the state language in Uttar Pradesh, mandating officials and government offices to maintain all data in Hindi and extensively replacing Urdu in institutions under the newly formed Indian government. Although the apparent marginalisation of the paper’s foundational language and the loss of its social capital were significant blows in the paper’s history, they were unable to overshadow its continuing legacy.
Madinah, managing to survive, remained a prominent, albeit ageing, symbol of pre-Partition nationalist Muslim political identity, advocating for the preservation of Urdu heritage amid the growing socio-political shifts in Uttar Pradesh. At the same time, it continued to struggle against declining circulation as newer, faster-printed typographic dailies overtook the market. Its reports on the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh vindicated the paper’s historical assertion that religion alone could not hold a nation together, while it also continued reporting on rising communal tensions in the country.
The prodigious endeavour was about to culminate in the years following the Indo-Pakistani War. Near the end of its operational life, the paper’s traditional lithographic format and qasbah roots struggled to attract younger, urbanised readers. The deteriorating health of Hasan finally caught up with him, leading to his death in 1972. The handling of the newspaper remained in the hands of Hasan’s family until its last editor, Syed Hasan, finally ceased publication, quietly closing the press in 1975.
References
Jones, J. (2023). Megan Eaton Robb: Print and the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers, and Urban Life in Colonial India. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021; pp. xi + 247. Journal of Religious History, 47, 151–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12917
Abduhu, G. R. (1973). The Educational Ideas of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Sterling Publishers.
Rahman, M. Raisur. (2014). “Beyond Centre-Periphery: Qasbahs and Muslim Life in South Asia.” South Asian History and Culture, 5, 163–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2014.883762.
Prestige International School & Pre-University College, Mangaluru, has been honoured with the Best Innovative and Creative Institution of the Year award at the Karnataka Educational Awards 2026.
The award recognises the institution’s efforts in promoting innovation, creativity and excellence in education.
The institution described the recognition as a proud milestone in its journey of providing quality education and shaping the future of students.
source: http://www.english.varthabharati.in / Vartha Bharati / Home> Karavali / by Vartha Bharati / August 25th, 2026
At 80, revisiting the Muslim lives, movements and sacrifices that shaped India’s struggle for freedom, and the politics of forgetting them.
Stroll through the pages of India’s history, because academia has failed to acknowledge some names and contributions in the Indian freedom struggle. From the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, Gol Gumbaz, Charminar, to Fatehpur Sikri and the bustling lanes of Chandni Chowk, they all speak volumes louder. But the cultural pattern of ‘selectively remembering’ and ‘selectively forgetting’ has downplayed nation’s history into one-dimensional narratives , while external sources of learning like cinemas, textbooks, public places re-branding, etc, are getting colored with contemporary political dynamics, to legitimize their plans and policies.
To fathom India’s past sincerely, we must be willing not only to learn but also to unlearn. Learning involves discovering forgotten contributions, while unlearning requires shedding inherited biases, political narratives, and simplified versions of history. Because, as eminent historians have speculated, the past is constantly reinterpreted in the light of new evidence and new questions. Consequently, the framing of our past will affect the present, which will further be read as a past in the future, thus entrusting us with sheer responsibility of weaving a lineage of conscience, not insidious storytelling.
The lost dots of the Indian freedom movements
Revisit in Indian history afresh because erasure never happens all at once, it happens slowly and systematically.
Independence Movements did not count from the very battles fought, but from the conditions laid down before and after to formulate and fixate Indian society and culture altogether. Resistance to the economization, politicisation, and, ultimately, colonization by the Britishers was confronted by the collective plurality which our country possessed with pride. Testifying that resistance was not always born on the battlefield, often it began with communities refusing to harbor animosity for one another.
Hindu sanyasis and Muslim fakirs whom the British Company wanted to fragmentalise, chose each other instead. Naga ascetics of the Dashnami order like Pandit Bhabani Charan Pathak stood beside Muslim fakirs of the Madari and Burhana sects, Majnu Shah Fakir, Chirag Ali, Musa Shah, and together resisted the oppressive taxation and economic exploitation the Company had imposed. It was one of the earliest organized rebellions against British rule in India, and yet how many of us have even heard these names?
Tipu Sultan
That same defiance carried into Mysore, Tipu Sultan, a name antagonized in recent years that people even slipped away from the fact that he is the man who invented Missiles in India, a ruler who terrified the British. He built iron-cased rockets before most of the world imagined such a weapon, and fought the British across four wars, refusing again and again to let his kingdom bow. And what do we do with that legacy today?
Islamic gallantry didn’t halt there. Moulvi Ahmadullah Shah, one of the key leaders of the First War of Indian Independence in 1857 was called the lighthouse of rebellion in Awadh, an epitome of the Ganga-Jamuna culture of Faizabad. The rebel army of Awadh was led by Barkat Ahmad and Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah, with Barkat Ahmad declared Chief Army Officer of the rebels after the Battle of Chinhat.
Moulvi Ahmadullah Shah
At the head of that same uprising stood Bahadur Shah Zafar, lending his name and his throne to the rebellion we call the Sepoy Mutiny. He gave everything a king could give, and the British broke him in the cruelest way. After his surrender, his sons Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan, and his grandson Mirza Abu Bakr, were stripped and shot in cold blood by Major William Hodson at what is now called Khooni Darwaza, and their severed heads were brought before their own father as a trophy. So many lives were lost in that struggle, so many families broken, and it is widely said that nearly 5 lakh Muslims were martyred, close to 50,000 of them ullema who chose the battlefield over silence. After rotating around 79 years of India’s independence, we are still cynical over the contributions carved by Indian Muslims.
Bahadur Shah Zafar
Another buried name is of, Ashfaquallah Khan, was hanged on 19th December 1927, at just 27 years old, along with other Kakori comrades who were sent to the gallows. This Kakori robbery was to pull back the wealth of Indian soil to channelize it for the national struggle. Khan revolutionized nationalist movement with his participation in Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), founded by Ram Prasad Bismil along with two others. Like Kakori robbery, many other raids were rolled out to confront with required force rather than abstracting the notion of peace towards the gruesome tortures. Have we ever lent an ear to these lines of Khan’s ‘Hasrat’ poem- “Kuch aarzoo naheen hai, hai aarzoo to yeh hai, Rakh de koi zara si Khaak-e-watan kafan men” who as his last whim, recited this poem soaked in patriotism. Are we made to remember these lines by a Muslim freedom fighter when we are reminded about the terrified misapplication of the divine slogan “Allah-u-Akbar” to polarize the Islam?
Ashfaqullah Khan
Walking further, Abdul Habeeb Yusuf Marfani, gave away his entire estate for a freedom he’d never see honoured. His courage was never separate from the cause, it was central to it, and it’s long overdue we remember it that way.
Abdul Habeeb Yusuf Marfani
Muslim participation in India’s freedom struggle was not boxed in a specific time or way, it encompassed armed resistance, societal reforms, mass mobilization, revolutionary events, and non-violent protests. The hurls on the invasions done by Muslims are widely made, but onlookers of the contributions by very same people, are tactfully airbrushed.
Sacrifices for the Indian motherland were proven on silent or loud battlefields, not by the mere recital of ‘Patriotic Songs’ such as Vande Mataram as a contemporary reference. That is turned down by Indian Muslims lyrically, not soulfully, because of the religiosity which the Indian Constitution guarantees them. When did the recital of patriotic songs begin to outweigh the very acts of sacrifice they were meant to spring up?
Freedom fighters such as Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (clarified the Jihad term through his war against the British), and Azimullah Khan were also important in the 1857 uprising. Barely, we learn or are made to learn about them? While vilifying other names of this very same community.
The Ali brothers, Shaukat Ali (1873-1938) and Mohamed Ali Jauhar (1878-1931)
Even the popular moments like the non-cooperation movement and the Khilafat Movement were helmed by some unheeded names: Mohammad Ali Jauhar and Shaukat Ali. Erected on the former’s name, there stands a university in Rampur, U.P. which recently has fallen prey to the communal politics, staking Indian youth’s future at darker stage, thus disregarding the blood of these freedom fighters.
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan who spent three decades in prison and headed the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar Movement among Pashtuns against British rule, wherein he combined social reform, service, and discipline. His demise took place during his house arrest in Peshawar.
Abid Hasan Safrani
Without a single community-led leader, ideologies often find a loose hand to wrestle for their individual existence rather than collective results. Abid Hasan Safrani, prominent INA member, mobilized the Muslim youth and committed to Subhas Chandra Bose’s movement (Azad Hind Fauj), which underpinned armed resistance in the Indian Freedom Struggle rather than non-violent means, brewing the unity for winning back the motherland.
Having said that, the famous Ghadar Party, founded in 1913, was pioneered by one more buried name- Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali. He was the first Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of India (Government-in-Exile), which was established in Kabul in 1915. He traversed across Europe, Asia, and North America to usher in the momentum for the Indian freedom struggle. His death took place in the US, leaving him deprived of bidding adieu to his motherland one last time.
Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali
Then, “Inquilab Zindabad”, the popular hymn echoed at Jantar Mantar very recently, was originally coined by Urdu poet-politician Hasrat Mohani at the Congress’ Ahmedabad session, while Bhagat Singh solely made it popularized. Mohani had been a soulful Krishna Bhakt, leaving him writing eulogies for ‘Hazrat Krishna’ (Hazrat is not a religious tag; it is an honorary title). He, being the co-prisoner of Gandhi ji, presented him with the USSR idea of federalism for empowering the localized and regional pockets of the agglomerate India. His courage and values proved his patriotism in the debates of the Constituent Assembly and confrontations with the Britishers.
Hasrat Mohani
We remember Mahatma Gandhi more than any other freedom fighter, but are we mindful of the fact that the man who saved him was Batak Mian Ansari during the Champaran Satyagraha in 1917? He was the cook deployed by the Britishers, who then ordered Batak Mian Ansari to serve venomous milk to Gandhi ji. His integrity made him stake his life to save Gandhi ji. He sneakily warned Gandhi ji, and, as anticipated, he was kicked out of his job by the Britishers, further leaving him battered by the villagers and ousting him and his family from his residence. To date, his family couldn’t receive what was promised for his courage by India’s first president, Rajendra Prasad. Questioning how much we have honoured the honorable personalities on the ground?
Batak Mian Ansari
The last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, is also in this queue of the buried names. Independence movement is not merely the swing between direct confrontation with colonial regime, it too laps over the pre and post period that either nudged the movements or repaired the damages caused to India. He has reportedly granted mammoth donations across educational and religious institutions. From BHU, AMU, IISc, publication of critical editions of Mahabharata, Golden Temple, Amritsar and many more places . We rewind through cruel rulers who demolished Indian structures, to attack their community and make them accountable in the present, but are we awakened with these submerged realities as well? One-sided history or evolving history, rationality comes with the choices citizens make to discern their roots.
Mir Osman Ali Khan
The history of Muslim resistance to British colonial rule also travelled deep into Malabar in Kerala, where Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji, Ali Musliyar , and Sayyid Fazal Pookoya Thangal emerged as formidable names in a long tradition of anti-colonial mobilisation. Fazal Pookoya Thangal, the 19th-century Mappila spiritual leader of Malabar, became an influential voice against British authority and the oppressive agrarian order sustained under colonial rule, eventually being forced into exile in 1852. Decades later, that inheritance of resistance found powerful expression in the 1921 Malabar uprising, with Ali Musliyar, a religious scholar and Khilafat leader, and Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji becoming among its most prominent leaders. Haji challenged British authority in parts of Malabar and established a parallel administration in areas under rebel control, while Ali Musliyar mobilised people against colonial rule before being captured and executed by the British. Haji, too, was eventually captured and executed by firing squad in January 1922.
Ali Musliyar
Culture can marginalise women, but religion pours courage
“Khoob Ladi Mardani thi, Wo Jhansi Wali Rani thi”, Whenever we speak of women who took up arms for this land, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi is the name that comes to every tongue, and she deserves every bit of that memory. But here’s what gnaws: she was not alone. There were other women just as fearless, standing in the same fire, and history simply didn’t bother to write their names down.
Begum Hazrat Mahal
Begum Hazrat Mahal was one of them, and she wasn’t a side character, she was one of the rebellion’s most formidable forces. Even William Howard Russell, a British correspondent writing for his own side, couldn’t deny her fire. In his My Indian Mutiny Dairy, describing her as a woman of remarkable energy who had stirred all of Oudh into rising for her son’s cause and had herself declared undying war against the British. At Musa Bagh in Lucknow, she didn’t issue orders from a distance, she personally fought alongside and rallied nearly 9,000 rebel soldiers, moving from camp to camp, lifting morale with speeches that set entire camps on fire.
Abadi Bano Begum
And then there’s Abadi Bano Begum- the woman history remembers, if at all, only as “Bi Amma.” A widow with six children, one of the sons Maulana Shaukat Ali, and the other Mohammad Ali Jauhar, above-mentioned together known as the Ali Brothers. She could have used every excuse the world hands a woman to stay silent. widowhood, motherhood, the weight of raising children alone. She used none of them. When the country needed people brave enough to stand up to the British, she stood up too. She became the first woman to address a political rally while wearing a burqa and let that sink in for a moment. She didn’t have to remove a part of her identity to be taken seriously in public life; she broke the idea that a veiled woman couldn’t also be a fighter, a leader, or a voice loud enough to move a crowd. She urged women to stop hiding at home and join the struggle, organizing funds and meetings where they were addressed as political beings for the first time, and taught why boycotting foreign goods mattered. She convinced them to donate to the Tilak Swaraj Fund, set up by Bal Gangadhar Tilak to finance India’s freedom struggle.
Kulsum Sayani
Not every battle was fought with a sword, some were fought with pen and paper. Kulsum Sayani, awarded the Padma Shri in 1960, waged her own war against illiteracy through the Jan Jagran movement, teaching under “each one, teach one” and leading centres for Muslim women that grew from 50 to 600 by sheer will. Begum Rokeya, a fiercely prolific feminist writer at a time when a woman dreaming was seen as rebellion, imagined a world turned upside down in Sultana’s Dream, then built that vision into reality, founding a girls’ school in 1909 and the Muslim Women’s Association in 1916, giving women space to learn and speak.
Begum Rokeya
80th Indian Independence Day’s call to unwind the narratives
As the author of ‘Sare Jahan Sai Achcha, Hindustan Humara’– Allama Iqbal penned- “The freedom lovers of the nation stepped forward with such dignity that even those long imprisoned by deprivation watched in admiration.” It has been shouldered on the present generations to soak in the evolving history to sanitize the present from groans of hatred, rotting the Indian society.
These lost chapters from Indian history wouldn’t have been possible to muster without the effulgent works of Salim Khan, Romila Thapar, Ramachandra Guha, S. Irfan Habib, Mushirul Hasan, A. G. Noorani, Rana Safvi, etc. Grinning us with the fact that the pluralistic framework of India is not only designed by the constituent makers, but it is also originally earned by all the freedom fighters, from pre- to post-independence.
Adeena Navaid is a law student and writer covering legal, social, and feminist issues, with work published in Maktoob, Bar & Bench, The Quint, Siasat, SheThePeople, and other platforms. Aiman Tabassum is a final-year LL.B. student at the University of Mumbai who writes on constitutional law, legal history, and socio-political issues, with work published in Bar & Bench.
source: http://www.maktoobmedia.com / Maktoob Media / Home> Opinion / by Adeena Navaid & Aiman Tabassum / August 14th, 2026
Professor Mohammad Mobin, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), has been conferred the prestigious Professor B.P. Verma Memorial Award for 2025 by the Indian Chemical Society (ICS), recognising his contributions to research, development and innovation in Chemical Sciences and Engineering.
The honour marks a significant achievement in Professor Mobin’s academic career and reflects his sustained efforts towards advancing scientific research and translating innovation into meaningful technological and societal applications.
In a communication dated August 14, 2026, Prof. G. D. Yadav, President, Indian Chemical Society, conveyed the Society’s appreciation of Professor Mobin’s distinguished professional accomplishments, which have enhanced the stature of Chemical Sciences and Engineering and contributed to the advancement of Indian chemical and allied industries and society.
As part of the recognition, Professor Mobin has been invited to deliver the Professor B.P. Verma Memorial Award Endowment Lecture at the 63rd Annual Convention of Chemists (ACC 2026) of the Indian Chemical Society from December 14–16 at Graphic Era University, Dehradun.
Professor Mobin is presently serving as Vice Chancellor of Cluster University of Srinagar on deputation from AMU. His academic and research contributions span Chemical Sciences and Engineering, with particular emphasis on Materials and Corrosion, research innovation and technological development.
The Indian Chemical Society, one of India’s leading professional bodies in chemical sciences, has played a vital role in promoting chemical research, technology and industry while fostering collaboration among academia, research institutions and industry.
The Professor B.P. Verma Memorial Award adds another distinguished recognition to Professor Mobin’s achievements and brings pride to AMU and the wider academic and scientific community.
source: http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in / India Education Diary / Home> Educational News> University News / by iednewsdesk / August 17th, 2026
