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Professor of Urdu (1966-1971)
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Prof. Inayat
Ali Khan
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By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, 671/Latif
Prof. Inayat
Ali Khan joined Cadet College Petaro in 1966 to
teach Urdu and left in 1971. He was born on
13/4/1935, and married Mrs. Fatima on 1 September
1965. They have 5 children.
Amongst all my teachers, the one who had a deep
impact on my thought process was none other than
Prof. Inayat Ali Khan. Unfortunately, for some
reason or the other, I could not obtain his
autograph in 1969.
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Inayat Sahib was my Urdu teacher. I was very weak in
Urdu language, and was therefore relegated to the “salees
Urdu” class. It was our fortune that Inayat Sahib
was assigned the task of bringing us up to speed.
The
point I would like to make here is that it was Inayat Sahib’s
thought process, his behaviour, his attitude, and his
simplicity that had a very lasting impression on me. He was
the epitome of humbleness, and he was a true reflection of the
characteristics demanded of a Muslim.
I
continued to correspond with Inayat Sahib even after I left
Petaro from Turkey and the USA. During the summer of 1973, I
was visiting Pakistan from Boston. By then, I had become
deeply involved with Muslim community activities at MIT. I
traveled from Karachi to Hyderabad especially to meet Inayat
Sahib. Hafeez (542) accompanied me. And we sat at Inayat
Sahib’s house for probably more than 6 hours trying to solve
the problems of the world. Those were the days of idealism.
And Inayat Sahib was also relatively young and full of vigor.
The next
I met him was more than 28 years later at the great reunion of
my batch mates in 2001. What a man! He had not changed at
all. The same simplicity, the same demeanor, the same
humbleness! This is all despite the fact that over the years
he has gained fame as a satirist and a poet of national
stature. His books and poems are worth reading. He
has been in great demand on TV shows, seminars, mushairas, and
other gatherings. He charges up his audiences with his
poetry.
Inayat Sahib's admirers
have created a website where one can read his poems and also
download the recitations of these poems in his own voice. The
website is www.inayaat.com.
During the Golden Jubilee
celebrations of CCP, Inayat Sahib was a star when he delivered
his speech in prose and poetry on 24 February 2007. Please
click on the following links to see his presentation:
May
Allah grant Inayat Sahib a long life with health!
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