NEW DELHI :
Renowned Urdu Scholar and former general secretary of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu Hind, Dr Khaliq Anjum passed away today in New Delhi after prolong illness. He was 81.
One f the most prominent scholar of his time, Anjum dedicated his whole life for promotion of Urdu in the country through his literary works and Anjumans and academies.
He authored several books of high literary value. One of the most important books is by him is ‘Matni tanqeed’, or textual criticism, a fine work that discusses the methods and techniques of evaluating, editing, annotating and compiling texts. His other significant contribution is the editing and annotation of Ghalib’s Urdu letters, compiled in five volumes.
Being an expert on textual criticism, he was one of the first people in the subcontinent to adopt the German technique of compilation to edit these letters and his version of Ghalib’s letters is considered among the most authentic ones.
His other books on Ghalib include ‘Ghalib ka safar-i-Kalkutta’, ‘Ghalib Kuchh mazameen’ and the forthcoming ‘Ghalib aur shahan-i-Taimuriya’.
In addition to Ghalib and textual criticism, Dr Khaliq Anjum’s another expertise was in the field of history and archaeology. His books ‘Muraqqa-i-Dehli’, ‘Dilli ke aasar-i-qadeema’ and ‘Dargah-i-shah-i-mardan’ deal with the archaeological sites of Delhi. His profound knowledge of Delhi’s history and its historical remains is also evident from the gigantic task he has carried out in three volumes editing and annotating Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s ‘Aasar-us-sanadeed’.
Dr Khaliq Anjum also served ministry of education and was also a member of Inder Kumar Gujaral committee formed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the promotion of Urdu. The committee submitted a detailed report on the status of Urdu., Dr Khaliq Anjum toured the length and breadth of India to survey and to understand the issues concerning the language.
The report made several recommendations, including the one that suggestion for establishing Urdu academies in every Indian state and Urdu schools and colleges in every locality where Urdu-speaking people were 10 per cent or more of the population.
Unfortunately most of the recommendations went unheeded and the only major implementation was the establishment of Urdu academies and that, too, in some state were implemented.
Born in Delhi in 1935, Khaliq Anjum, whose real name is Khaliq Ahmed Khan, did his intermediate and graduation from Aligarh Muslim University.
Having got a Master’s in Urdu and diplomas in linguistics and library science from Delhi University, he joined Delhi University’s prestigious Karori Mal College as lecturer and taught Urdu for about 10 years. In 1970, he obtained a PhD from Delhi University. His doctoral dissertation was on Mirza Mazhar Jan-i-Janan, Urdu’s classical poet and a Sufi in his own right.