UP Rabita Committee, Aligarh, in collaboration with Hamdard Study Circle organised a seminar on “Saiyid Hamid and His Educational and Social Contributions” at Hamdard Public School, New Delhi on 15 March. The seminar aimed at paying a tribute to diverse contributions of the former vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and former chancellor of Jamia Hamdard, who succumbed to his long illness at an age of 94 years on 29 December last year.
Mr Naseem Ahmad, chairman National Commission for Minorities and president UP Rabita Committee (UPRC), chaired the seminar whereas Mr Siraj Hussain, former vice-chancellor of Jamia Hamdard and presently Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India, was the chief guest of the programme. Dr S. Farooq and Brigadier (Rtd.) IR Khan were other guests on the dais. UPRC’s coordinator Mr Amanullah Khan, its general secretary Dr Mohammad Jamil and its secretary Dr Ubaid Iqbal Asim represented the organisation. Professor Shakeel Samdani, Aligarh Muslim University, conducted the proceedings whereas the seminar was organised by Mr Abdul Rashid Agwan.
In his presidential remarks, Naseem Ahmad remembered the days of his association with Saiyid Hamid and found him a resolute person in implementing things he believed with conviction.
Sirajul Hussain enumerated many less known initiatives which he and Saiyid Hamid jointly took but fizzled out due to different factors. He informed that there was no precedence in the academic community where regular meetings of any vice-chancellor with the chancellor were required but he used to call on Dr Hamid on Saturdays mainly because of his magnetic eloquence. He also remembered that his chancellor never encouraged criticism of Muslim organisations and personalities as he strongly believed in the unity of the community and wished that its internal differences should not be made a public talk.
The vice-president of UPRC Brig. Israr Rahim Khan found Saiyid Hamid to be a charismatic personality who believed not in speaking much but in action; however, whenever he spoke either in English or Urdu there was no parallel to his eloquence. He recalled how much he took interest in the establishment of information centres in various parts of the country as a follow-up of Caravan-e-Insaf, a campaign undertaken in North India under the leadership of Saiyid Hamid in early 2007 in the post-Sachar aspirations. Brig. Khan mentioned that he never saw him bothering about the discomforts of journeys taken up for good motive and gave preference to others’ comfort than his own.
Dr S. Farooq shed light on some striking aspects of Saiyid Hamid’s life and assessed him as a person of balanced life, who fulfilled the requirements of the rights of the divine as well as the rights of fellow beings.
In his welcome note, Dr Jamil informed the audience that as the president of UPRC, Dr Saiyid Hamid spearheaded many awareness caravans for the promotion of education, health and communal harmony in Uttar Pradesh and in some other states too. He also let the participants know that the senior secondary school run by the AMU has now been renamed as Saiyid Hamid Boys School as a tribute to his contribution to improving its academic environment when he headed it as the vice-chancellor from 1980 to 1985.
Mr Amanullah Khan recalled the spirited leadership of Saiyid Hamid in the organisations where both of them jointly worked for the betterment of the Muslim community like the UPRC, All India Educational Movement and Muslim Education Trust and pledged that the missions led by the latter will be carried on by all his followers. He especially mentioned some achievements of the said organisations after Saiyid Hamid fell ill and committed that a national seminar on Saiyid Hamid’s contributions will be soon held.
Professor Shakeel Samdani recalled an instance that once he spoke in a programme, chaired by Saiyid Hamid, against the American policy in Afghanistan and many in the audience objected to his viewpoint but Dr Hamid defended him when he delivered his presidential remarks and went on to expose the American callousness in the world. Dr Samdani also appreciated Saiyid Hamid’s contribution to reviving the academic life of the renowned university he headed during a time which was full of resistance against the reforms introduced by him. However, the passage of time had shown that the measures taken by him were visionary and entailing.
Professor Samdani further said that as Vice Chancellor Saiyid Hamid himself wrote all the editorials in Tahzibul Akhlaq. He congratulated the present Vice Chancellor Lt. Gen. (Rtd.) Zameer Uddin Shah and the members of Executive Committee of AMU for renaming the Senior Secondary Boys School as Syed Hamid Senior Secondary Boys School.
While recalling some sweet memories of the first educational caravan of April 1992 from Aligarh to Deoband, Dr Ubaid Iqbal Asim said that he was immensely inspired by the leadership of Saiyid Hamid and noted that when most of the fellow travellers were sleeping in the bus he was taking individual reports from some of them enquiring about local conditions, community’s efforts so far and future needs. He remarked that one noteworthy contribution of Saiyid Hamid was the revival of Tahzibul Akhlaq, the journal edited by Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan, and the former’s editorials and writings in the journal need to be published for the knowledge of posterity.
Abdul Rashid Agwan underlined the remarkable contribution of Saiyid Hamid in the form of Sachar Committee Report which speaks of his ideas and concerns regarding the development of Indian Muslims.
Dr Masood Ahmad, editor, Salam-e-Watan, narrated one incident of Saiyid Hamid’s life. Saiyid Hamid was invited to chair a public function in Kannauj. He insisted that he would join any such programme only when local people succeeded in establishing a school there. Consequently, his local fans worked for almost eight months and finally invited him to inaugurate the school called Humairah Girls School, which he pleasantly did.
A note of Mahtab Alam was also read out in the seminar which highlighted the contribution of Saiyid Hamid in the less known field of madrasa modernisation. He also applauded the simplicity and humility as the distinct features of Dr Hamid’s personality.
Other speakers of the seminar were Dr Shakeel Ahmad from Maunath Bhanjan, Adil Siddiqui from Lucknow, Islam Mansuri from Kannauj, etc.