Feedzilla

Monday, August 5, 2013

Noted writer Prof Dr Farman Fatehpuri passes away

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News and Features Services)

Eminent writer, scholar and critic, Prof Dr Farman Fatehpuri, passed away in Karachi on August 3. His funeral prayer was offered at Masjid Khulafa-e-Rashideen, 13-D/1, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, and he was laid to rest at the Karachi University's graveyard.

He has left behind two sons and four daughters to mourn his death. One of his sons, Engr Syed Abrar Ali, is presently the Registrar at the Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology (SSUET), Karachi.

The SSUET Chancellor, Engr Mohammad Adil Usman, and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Jawaid H Rizvi, have expressed their grief and sorrow over the sad demise of Prof Dr Farman Fatehpuri.

In their condolence messages, they paid rich tribute to the great writer for his contribution toward the promotion of the cause of Urdu, noting that the literary world has lost one of its most versatile personalities. They prayed to Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant fortitude to bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss.

Prof Dr Farman Fatehpuri was acclaimed as an outstanding Urdu linguist, researcher, writer, critic and scholar. He was widely regarded as the supreme authority on life and work of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, the greatest-ever Urdu poet. He is credited to have penned more than 300 scholarly articles, 600 book reviews and 400 editorials of Nigar. He received Sitara-e-Imtiaz, for his literary accomplishments, from the Government of Pakistan in 1985.

He was born on January 26, 1926 in Fatehpur, Uttar Pardesh, India. He did his matriculation in his Fatehpur, intermediate from Allahabad and graduation from the Agra University. He had migrated to Pakistan in 1950 and relocated in Karachi.

He became the first Pakistani to earn the prestigious degree of Doctorate in Literature in 1974. He remained associated with the University of Karachi for more than three decades, having produced numerous PhDs and researchers. He was then appointed as the Chief Editor and Secretary of the Urdu Dictionary Board.

He also served as a member of the Civil Services Board of the Government of Sindh. He became the editor of the monthly publication, Nigar the oldest Urdu literary journal, founded by Farman's mentor, Allama Niaz Fatehpuri.  


He had special association with the legendary Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and hardly ever missed a function organised in his memory by the SSUET.