Urdu language being taught at 7 universities of Egypt
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KARACHI: Urdu literature and language is being taught at the seven universities of Egypt and work of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Allama Iqbal is included in the curriculum.
This was stated Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Syed from the Department of Urdu, Jamia Al-Azhar, Egypt. He was speaking on the second day of the international conference on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan on Tuesday in connection withhis 200th birth day.
The three-day moot is being held at the University of Karachi under the auspices of the Department of Urdu. Dr. Ibrahim said that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was a great leader and reformist of subcontinent. Due to Muslims' backwardness in education, he advised them to stay away from politics in the 19th century so that they could completely focus on their educational uplift.
Due to this step, Muslims started to progress in educational field. Sir Syed visited Egypt in the seventh decade of 19th century and published his experience in Egypt in four editions of his magazine `Tehzeeb-ul-Ikhlaq'.
Dr. Ibrahim pointed out that Urdu literature and language was introduced as a subject in only one university of Egypt i.e. Cairo University in 1938 but now Urdu literature and language are being taught in seven universities of the country, the work of Sir Syed and Allama Iqbal are included in this curriculum.
The international conference entitled `Literature, History and Culture: South Asian Perspective and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan' organized by Department of Urdu, University of Karachi in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Anjuman-e-Taraqqi Urdu Pakistan.
Former Director Pakistan Study Center KU Professor Dr. Jaffar Ahmed in his research paper said that Sir Syed was considered to be the first torch bearer of modernism in the subcontinent, his services and accomplishments are recognized in history.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan is not only considered to be a meaningful bridge between the two centuries but he is a name of dialogue between the east and west.
Research Scholar from McGill University, Canada Zahira Sabri said that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in subcontinent and Ismail Gasprinski in Russia, both did exceptional service in the field of education in the background of European imperialism. Both of them aimed towards the societal and economic uplift of their nations, reformed their education system and spread awareness among masses through their writings, published work and magazines.
Talmeez Fatima Burney, research scholar from USA, stated in her paper that concept of collective time espouses Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's reformation movement. Khan's propensity for literature diverts him towards reformation for society. Not only because Delhi was considered one of the cultural epicentres or because he was a contemporary of Ghalib, but due to the constant decline ofIndian Muslims.
The tightly knitted social structure and his religious background pushed him forward to experience time's movement for a declining society. One way or another collective time connects an individual to a society.
In this manner, an individual becomes a part of a whole, However, becoming part of a whole leads one towards collective memories of history and language. Without these two components, memory cannot be established and recall is almost impossible.
Khan's literature reformation movement seems to be a strong recall to a reader. Even the titles of Khan's reformation movement's members such as Hali, Shibli, and NazirAhmed reflect the notion of recall even though they created new or Western ideas or genres in literature.
