In fond memory: ‘Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui will live as long as the Urdu language’

The Urdu writer and intellectual died earlier this month.

KARACHI:

So great were Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui’s contributions to the Urdu language that speakers agreed that his name will stay alive as long as the language.

Several fans and friends of the eminent writer, columnist, and intellectual gathered at Anjuman Taraqi-e-Urdu Pakistan (ATUP) on Saturday. Dr Siddiqui passed away on January 9 this year after a brief illness.

Dr Siddiqui’s name is respectable among literary figures for analysing Urdu literature among his contemporaries and for generations to come. “His contribution is not limited merely to literary activities, but he kept an eye on culture, history, education and social issues,” said Syed Azfar Rizvi of the ATUP.

Born in a middle-class family on March 7, 1938, in Amroha, India, Dr Siddiqui spent his life reading and writing. He did his PhD in Pakistan Studies in 1992 and D.Litt. in 2003. He wrote over 15 books and thousands of articles and research papers. Tawazun, a compilation of critical essays, was his first book published in 1976.

“He was a great person as well and being a closed friend of mine, he always asked me to recite Mirza Ghalib’s couplets,” said ATUP’s Aftab Ahmed Khan, who was presiding over the session. Khan said that there are very few people who have worked as hard as Dr Siddiqui for Urdu literature. “His name will be alive till the Urdu literature survives.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2013.