Abdul Aleem (professor)
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Abdul Aleem was a scholar, educationist, journalist and writer in Urdu. He was the professor of Arabic at
Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...
, and also served as its vice-chancellor from 1968 to 1974.


Early life and education

He belonged to a zamindar family. His father was a practicing lawyer in
Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
. He excelled at studies from the very beginning, and it was only natural that he should have been drawn into the field of academics. After his studies he initially joined Jamia University and during his association with Jamia university, he wrote profusely for its organ "Jamia". His escalation as an academic was phenomenal, but hardly surprising in view of his abilities. In the early 1930s he had been to Germany and had there come into contact with Marxian thought. After his stint at Jamia, Abdul Aleem joined the
Lucknow University University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...
as head of Department of Arabic. He was soon to come under the influence of the progressives. The progressives were extremely active at
Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
, during this period. The university was a hotbed of nationalist, socialist and communist literary activities. It was no surprise that he should have got involved in these.


Political career

In 1934, when Shri Jaiprakash Narian lay the foundation of the
Congress Socialist Party The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of ...
at Pune, Abdul Aleem was with him, amongst the founders. When the first convention of the Progressive Writers was being called at Lucknow in 1936, Shri Abdul Aleem was amongst the organisers along with Sajjad Zaheer and others. In 1938, he was appointed General Secretary of this Association. He was managing director of the weekly "Hindustan" which was the precursor of the Qaumi Awaz. this publication was started by Acharya Narendra Dev and shri Rafi Ahmed Qidwai. He was also a member of the editorial board of "New Indian Literature" along with Mulk Raj Anand and Ahmad Ali. His work "Literature and Marxism" is one of the accomplished treatises of the times and of the progressive literature of the period. The writings of Abdul Aleem were causing an awakening amongst the youth, throughout the length and breadth of the entire country and his political activism was becoming more and more strident day by day. As a consequence, he was arrested and imprisoned by the British and underwent rigours of prison for a year.


Academic career

After independence was won, Abdul Aleem was invited to join the Aligarh Muslim University as head of the Department of Arabic. In a short time he proved his worthiness in his assignment and was appointed as Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University in 1968. After completing his tenure here he was called upon to serve as chairman of the newly constituted "Board for Promotion of Urdu". He was called upon to travel with Zakir Hussain who was serving as the 3rd
president of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...
. Dr. Abdul Aleem was also a linguist in his own right, besides English, Hindi, Urdu, Persian and Arabic, he also had knowledge of German, French, Russian and Chinese. He was amongst the founders of the "
Indian School of International Studies The School of International Studies () (formerly Indian School of International Studies) is an academic institution created in 1955 which merged with the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1970. It was founded b ...
". Prof. Mumtaz Hussain wrote about him thus: "Dr. Aleem can be counted amongst those few intellectuals belonging to the sub-continent who gave a direction to the thinking of the people of the sub-continent."


References

Vice-chancellors of Aligarh Muslim University Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{Improve categories, date=July 2023