Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed: Memorial Volume (An Old and Rare Book)

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Born in 1905 in Delhi, the late President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was a versatile and distinguished political figure who played a crucial role in the freedom struggle of India and rose to the highest rank. Mostly nurtured and educated in Cambridge from where he got the Tripos in Economics and was called to the Bar at Inner Temple. He subsequently practised law in Assam on his return to India. Early in his career he was picked up by Pandit Nehru and joining the Congress under his aegis he did a lot in consolidating the hold of the Congress in Assam. He served as Finance Minister in the Bardoli Ministry in that State in 1939. On India's gaining independence in 1947 he later on was taken in the Central Cabinet and held a number of portfolios with distinction, including his heading of the Ministry of Agriculture. Between 1940 and 1946 he was almost uninterruptedly in prison and availed himself of this opportunity of enforced seclusion to study the Quran. His selfless and continued services to the country earned him eventually the unique privilege of being elected President of India for a term of five years. Unfortunately his premature and untimely death in 1977 put an end to a career of brilliance, genuine self- dedication and deep commitment. He was a shrewd and able administrator, a consistent and vigorous pursuer of the policies of the State and a man of remarkable stamina and mental vigilance. Confronted with explosive and embarrassing circumstances he tended to be calm and self-possessed and could resolve tricky matters in a way that inspired confidence among others. He had the knack of diffusing any ugly situation adroitly and with promptitude.

Besides his political and professional responsibilities, in the exercise of which his palpable sagacity and sincerity were so evident, he was also sensitive to art and literature: the Ghalib Institute in Delhi owes its inception, its very existence, to his farsightedness. He was also a keen sportsman, had a passion for playing hockey and tennis in his younger days and golf in the declining years of his life. He was a devout Muslim without any touch of sectarianism; about him patriotism and secularism were in his bones and he was a lover of the motherland and of the Urdu language, with all the resonance of culture that the latter entails.

With a view to paying a tribute to the revered memory of such an illustrious person. Professor Nazir Ahmad, the renowned Persian and Urdu scholar along with his colleagues and associates, thought it worthwhile to collect learned articles in English and Urdu and publish them in two separate Volumes. Eminent historians, men of letters and scholars and researchers in India and abroad were requested to lend a hand in this venture and the response came not only ungrudgingly but enthusiastically. The articles in this volume relate to such major areas: Medieval Indian history, English and Persian literatures, Indo-Persian relations and history of Medieval Science and medicine. Professor K.A. Nizami writes with clarity and distinction on Arnold Tonybee. Professor Nazir Ahmad and Professor Mukhtar ud-Din Ahmad and Dr. Sharif Husain Qasmi bring their sifted and painstaking research to bear upon their respective topics of choice. Professor Razaullah Ansari writes penetratingly on Ibn Haisam. Similarly, Professors P. Hardy, Barnett Jackson, Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui, Zaheeruddin Malik, Taufeeq Nizami, Dr. Zilli and Dr. Z. A. Desai write with well-informed acumen on aspects of Medieval and Modern Indian history. Professor G.E. Bentley Jr. and Professor M.H. Khan have brought deep and sure insight and subtlety to bear upon their treatment of William Blake and the illustrated Bibles, and Shakespeare and Hafiz, respectively and I myself have contributed one piece each on Shakespeare and Hafiz.

On an over-view it is a very adequate and satisfying collection of articles covering a wide range of subjects and written perceptively and with meticulous care. Special mention may towards the end be made of the untiring zeal and keen interest shown by Professor Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui in procuring for us articles from both Indian and foreign scholars for which I feel greatly indebted to him.

The Late President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was a great luminary in the sphere of Indian politics. After completing his education at cambridge and having been called to the Bar at Inner Temple, he returned to India and practised as a Barrister at the Calcutta High Court for about two years; then he moved to the Gauhati High Court. It was there that he entered into politics and joined the Congress party. He took active part in the freedom movement and was twice imprisoned. In 1946 he was appointed by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru a member of Congress Working Committee. He served as Minister in Assarn before joining Mrs. Indira Gandhi's Cabinet as the Minister of Agriculture. Lastly he was chosen to steer the ship of the Nation as the fifth President of the Indian Republic in August 1974 until he met sudden death in 1977.

Mr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed's ancestors belonged to Assam. His father, Mr. Zun-Nur Ahmad was in the Medical service of the Indian army and Mr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was born in Delhi in 1905. He received his early education in Delhi and in U.P. For some time he had studied at the Government High School Gonda (U.P.), now an Intermediate College named after him as the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Intermediate College, Gonda. It is a strange coincidence that the present writer too joined the same institution in 1930 and passed his High School Examination from the said school in 1934.

Mr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed during his stay at Cambridge, was in the company of some Indian students who were later to play a conspicuous role in various fields of intellectual life on returning to India. Amongst them were Col. S. Bashir Husain Zaidi, the late vice-chancellor of A.M.U., Mr. Nurud Din Ahmad, Bar-at-Law, the well known lawyer of Delhi and the most popular Mayor of the Metropolis, Qazi Abdul Wadood, Bar-at-Law, the renowned Urdu scholar, Prof. Mohammad Zubair Siddiqi, Sir Austosh Professor of Islamic History and Culture, Calcutta University, Professor Nizamuddin Ahmad of the Osmania University, Hyderabad. Mr. Fakhruddin was on very close terms with Barrister Nuruddin Ahmad and Qazi Abdul Wadood.