Muhammad Ali Siddiqui | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 March 1938[1] |
| Died | 9 January 2013(2013-01-09) (aged 74) |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Alma mater | University of Karachi |
| Genre | Literary critic, newspaper columnist,educationist |
| Literary movement | Progressive Writers' Association[1] |
| Notable awards | Pride of Performance Award by thePresident of Pakistan in 2003 |
Muhammad Ali Siddiqui (7 March 1938 – 9 January 2013) was a notedscholar of Urdu literature,educationist,literary critic and anewspaper columnist fromPakistan. He was also widely known by his pen nameAriel in Pakistan.[2]
He was born on 7 March 1938 inAmroha,India, and was brought up inKarachi, Pakistan. He died on 9 January 2013 at Karachi, Pakistan.[2] His family had migrated to Pakistan in 1948. He received his early education at Christian Mission School in Karachi. Then he went on to receive his master's degree in English literature from theUniversity of Karachi in 1962.[2] He was able to use English, French, Hindko, HindiPersian,Punjabi,Sindhi,Seraiki andUrdu languages. Muhammad Ali Siddiqui completed hisD.Litt degree inPakistan Studies in 2003 after doing his PhD in the same subject in 1992. He worked at the Pakistan Studies Center of theUniversity of Karachi.[1][3]
Muhammad Ali Siddiqui was a member of many national and international organizations such as: Pakistan Writers Guild, Pakistan, Association Des Litteraire Critiques International, Paris, European Union of Writers and Scientists, Rome, International Association of Literary Critics (AILC), Stavanger, Norway, Majlis-i-Farough-i-Urdu Adab, Doha, Qatar.[4]
Ali Siddiqui was a prominent Urdu language critic. He was also the Dean of the Faculty of Management and Social Sciences,Institute of Business and Technology,Karachi. He also served as Dean, Faculty of Education & Social Sciences atHamdard University, Karachi for six years. He taught atKarachi University for a number of years. He served as the Director ofQuaid-i-Azam Academy for six years and was the President ofProgressive Writers Association in 2013 at the time of his death.[1]
Ali Siddiqui had penned more than 100 research articles. He has 16 books to his credit, two of themTawazun andCroce ki Sarguzasht, were adjudged as the 'Best Books of the Years' in 1976 and 1979 respectively. He used to write for the business journalBusiness Recorder and he wrote a column for theDawn newspaper under the pen nameAriel for over two decades.[2][3][4]
He had delivered lectures in many overseas universities such as the School of Oriental & American StudiesLondon University,Carlton University, Canada, theUniversity of Toronto, Canada, andOslo University,Norway.[4]
His importance as a critic has been applauded by the critics ofUrdu language likeMajnun Gorakhpuri,Akhtar Hussain Raipuri, Professor Mumtaz Husain, Professor Mujtaba Husain, Dr. Ali Jawwad Zaidi, Dr.Wazir Agha etc. Among the creative writers,Faiz Ahmed Faiz regarded him as the only creative critic from Pakistan, the others being Dr. Narang, Dr. Zoe Ansari usage Dr. Qamar Rais fromIndia.
JournalistKhalid Ahmed wrote:
"Most people think Muzaffar Ali Syed was the most learned man in Pakistan. Among the living, Muhammad Ali Siddiqui or Ariel of Dawn is undoubtedly the most learned man. He holds his own compared with the late Syed who created waves more often by being controversial. Not that Siddiqui is non-controversial. His assessments of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Allama Iqbal have been heretical but have escaped attention because his scholarship is unassailable and we generally don't like reading controversial things if they are deeply scholarly. If you can't face a critic, ignore him".
| Editors |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| People | ||
| Magazines | ||
| Defunct | ||
| Coverage | ||
| Related media |
| |
| Columnists |
| |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
