REMEMBERING SOME GREAT MEN

In this final volume of his selected shorter works Professor AM recalls some prominent personalities whom he has intimately known or studied in the course of his research. In the first group, he pays his double tribute to Prof. Sirajuddin and his wife Urmila, recounts Chaudhri Zalarulla Khan’s services to Muslim India and Pakistan, thanks his two British friends, the Barratts, and brings out the genius of Professor Abdus Salam. In the second group, he recounts the achievements of Lord Wavell, Napoleon, Sayyid Ameer Ali, Jinnah, the Aga Khan, Shah Waliullah and lqbal. A critical essay on Rudyard Kipling assesses his place in the British imperial literature of India. A long well-researched paper on Jamaluddin “Afghani” explodes the many myths still surrounding the man. A trenchant lecture on Choudhri Rahmat Ali reminds us how Pakistani intellectuals, men of letters and historians continue to either ignore him or blacken his character. Every reader will find in this pot-pourri something to interest, move, fascinate, remind or instruct him. Men make history, literature and culture, and thus draw the contours of an age. This book presents a stimulating and fascinating biographical peep-show of past events and human affairs.