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Sir Syed Day Magazine
The Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Associations of America published a magazine in Urdu and English on this occasion.
Dr. Shaheer Khan PhD is the editor of the Sir Syed Day Magazine which is published jointly by the AMU Alimni Associations of Northern California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The magazine contains exclusive articles well known personalities. It pays homage to two distinguished Aligarh Alumni - Syed Hamid who passed away on December 29, 2014 and Hamida Salim who left this temporary abode on August 16, 2015. As Dr. Shaheer Khan said, Syed Hamid was a great educationist and reformer. Unfortunately, motivated by their limited self-interests, a group of university staff mounted an ugly campaign against him forced him to leave. However, Syed Hamid continued his service to advancement of education at Jamia Hamdard and served as its Vice Chancellor till his death. Dr. Shaheer Khan says that it is a matter of pride that for the first time he shared his side of the story at AMU in this magazine.
Hamida Salim, the sister of two tragic figures, Asrarul Haq Majaz and Safia Akhtar was a frequent contributor to Sir Syed Day Magazine.
Dr. Masood Haider PhD has written an article about a living legend, Zia Mohiuddin. The AMU Alimni Associations of New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be honoring this legend with 'Sir Syed Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Poetry, Arts and Science for his outstanding contribution to Dramatic Arts.
David Leyveld writing on Sir Syed's religion points out that "Alhough Sir Syed is often characterized as the great modernizer or as westernizer of Indian Muslims, it is important to bear in mind that he came to his encounter with modern Europe in middle age and was already deeply rooted in the Islamic and Indo-Persian culture of Delhi."His modernism, Jadidyat, was anticipated by the mujaddadi milieu in which he found his early formation, particularly the mujaddadi Naqshbandi silsila."
However, the author says that it was unclear when he abandoned his Sufi bonds and adopted modernism. May be because "Sir Syed was participating in the modernization of religion that has taken place in much of the world," Leyveld argues.
Sir Syed Day Magazine also publishes an article by H. A. S. Jafri, former Pro-Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in which he describes his 50 years stay at the AMU.
Urdu section of the magazine contains two articles about Sir Syed's message of modernism.
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