Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu

Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu Hind
Founded at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in India, in 1903[1]
Type Urdu Literary Organization
Legal status Non-Government Organization (NGO)
Purpose To promote the Urdu language
Location
Key people
 (Founders and Pioneers)
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan[2]
Maulvi Abdul Haq (Baba-i-Urdu)[1]

Anjuman Taraqqī-yi-Urdū (Urdu: انجُمن ترقئ اُردو‬‎) is an organization working for the promotion and dissemination of Urdu language, literature and culture in Pakistan and India. Anjuman-i Taraqqi- Urdu (henceforth called, the Anjuman) is the largest Urdu scholarly promotional association in South Asia.[2]

History of the organization

The organization owes its origin to the All India Muslim Educational Conference, set up by the great social reformer and educationist Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1886, with the assistance of Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk. The basic objective of the above-mentioned Conference was to encourage Indian Muslims to adopt modern education, and for this purpose, establish schools and colleges along the lines of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (later known as Aligarh Muslim University).[2]

The Conference had three sections: Women’s Education, Educational Census and Schools. In a later Conference held in 1903, three more branches were added: Social Reform, Shoba-yi-Taraqqī-yi-Urdū and Miscellaneous.[2] It is to the Shoba-yi-Taraqqī-yi-Urdū that the current Anjuman traces its origins. Incidentally, Thomas Walker Arnold was the first elected President of the Shoba-yi-Taraqqī-yi-Urdū and the noted writer Allama Shibli Nomani was the first Secretary. These were some of the renowned personalities that worked so hard to create the Anjuman and people continue to draw inspiration from them even today.[2]

In British India

Baba-e-Urdu (Father of Urdu) Maulavi Abdul Haq became the Secretary of the organization in 1912, and the base was shifted to the modern day Aurangabad district, Maharashtra in 1913, where he was employed by the then Nizam of Hyderabad. Then the Anjuman shifted its base to Delhi in 1938 where it functioned until 1949 with Maulavi Abdul Haq as its head.[2]

In India after 1947

Anjuman in India is known as "Anjuman Taraqui Urdu (Hind)" (انجمن ترقی اردو ہند)

After independence of India, Zakir Hussain become the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in 1949. Anjuman Taraqui Urdu was shifted to Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh. In the year 1977 Anjuman was moved to New Delhi with its office at Urdu Ghar. It started to work for the promotion of Urdu as a common language in India. As per the references of Eighth Scheduleof the Indian Constitution, it started to play a vital and positive role regarding the function Urdu.

Anjuman Taraqui Urdu Hind has echoed the nationalistic character and prominent Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Zakir Husain had good relations with Anjuman. Premchand was one among the prominent person of the Anjuman. It has been maintaining the "Ganga-Jamni Tehzib" (Ganga Yamuna Civilization) among the masses and working both for the Urdu language and national integrity.[3]

Currently Anjuman Taraqui Urdu has its branches in many states of India. Particularly most of the cities of India where considerable Urdu speaking population is, Anjuman has its branches and functioning to celebrate the secular fabric of the nation.

Publications
  • Urdu Adab - اردو ادب (Quarterly)
  • Hamari Zaban - ہماری زبان (Weekly)
Current team of office bearers

Ather Farouqui is a poet, writer and translator who has published eight books in Urdu and two books in English, and is also the author of Islamic Banking in India at the service of Pan-Islamists which forced the UPA-II to reverse its decision to allow Islamic banking, and of Marx My Word, a unique play of Marxist dichotomy. He has a PhD degree from JNU, and is a pioneering scholar of Urdu language and its education. For long, he has been arguing that instead of modernizing Deeni Madrasas, the government should provide Urdu education as part of the secular curriculum, at the school level itself. A Sahitya Akademi Award Translation Prize winner, he is the editor of Muslims and Media Images and Redefining Urdu Politics in India. Presently, he is the General Secretary of Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind). He lives in New Delhi. His translation of the 1964 biography of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor, based on archival sources entitled the Life & Poetry of Bahadur Shah Zafar, (2017) has been well received.


In Pakistan after 1947

In 1947, when the British left India, and India and Pakistan were created as two newly independent nations. Maulvi Abdul Haq supervised the relocation of the Anjuman base from Delhi to Karachi, Pakistan in 1949, fulfilling the wishes of Qāʾid-i Aʻz̤am Muhammad Ali Jinnah who had died in 1948. Maulvi Abdul Haq, himself migrated to Karachi along with the base of the Anjuman. He worked as the head of the Anjuman there till his death on 16 August 1961 in Karachi. The Anjuman played a decisive role in the creation of Pakistan. Baba-e-Urdu Maulavi Abdul Haq was succeeded by the Pakistani renowned scholar Jamiluddin Aali who handed over the office to Fatema Hassan in 2014.[4]

Fatema Hassan is currently the Honorary Secretary of Anjuman Taraqqī-yi-Urdū Pakistan. The membership of the organisation was re-opened after 50 years on the occasion of the 53rd death anniversary of Maulvi Abdul Haq.[4] According to the feelings expressed by some prominent Urdu-language scholars on the 53rd death anniversary event held in Karachi in 2014, "The Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu played a decisive part in the creation of Pakistan."[4]

The organisation publishes journals and books, and supports research and creative work in Urdu linguistics and literature. Prominent Urdu poet Josh Malihabadi (1894-1982) had also worked towards the progress of the organization in his lifetime.

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.dawn.com/news/1278009, 'Homage paid to Baba-i-Urdu on his 55th death anniversary', Dawn newspaper, Published 17 August 2016, Retrieved 31 January 2017
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 http://www.pakistanstudies-aips.org/sites/default/files/AIPS%20final%20report%20(Andrew%20Amstutz).pdf, 'Finding a Home for Urdu: The Anjuman-i Taraqqi-yi Urdu, (1903-1971), Published 31 December 2013, Retrieved 31 January 2017
  3. ↑ http://www.atuh.org/about
  4. 1 2 3 "After 50 years, Anjuman opens membership to Urdu aficionados". Dawn newspaper. 10 August 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2017.


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