Shamsuddin Ismail Agha, President of the Indian Muslim Federation (UK) was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) India. He received his B.A. (Hon) and M.A. from Bombay University and theatre training in Bombay and London. He was a lecturer of classical Persian and English in India. He came to England in 1964 and after working in different jobs and living for a short period in Bolton he worked as a teacher in London. He was a linguist and worked as a curator at Leyton Library and later retired from London Borough of Newham as Head of the Translation Unit 25 years ago.
He was a founder member and trustee of the Indian Muslim Federation (UK) established in 1969, the largest and oldest organisation of Indian Muslims in the UK which has NGO status with the United Nations. The Indian Muslim Federation has its offices and a community center in east London. Under Agha’s leadership, IMF has organised many seminars and meetings on the plight of Indian Muslims and has held the protest marches against anti-Muslim pogroms in India.
After being accredited as with Non-Governmental Organisation status by the United Nations in 1999, the IMF delegation under Agha’s leadership attended many UN conferences and meetings in Geneva, New York and South Africa to raise the plight of Indian Muslims at the international level and published papers and booklets on the plight and suffering of Muslims in India.
Agha was a linguist, writer, academic and above all a community person. He has written and acted in many plays in India and Britain. He was responsible for the production and direction of a series of one-act plays in Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi and English. His books of plays in Urdu “Wahshat Hi Sahi” (Madness Rules Okay) and plays “Mirza Ghalib in London”; “Tipu Sultan” and “Flight Delayed” were published in India and the UK and were well received in the academic circle.
His burial was held on Thursday, 22 June 2021 at Muslim Burial Trust Cemetery, Waltham Forest, London, and was attended by many leaders across the community. Condolence messages were received from many organisations with whom Agha worked closely including cabinet members and councillors of Waltham Forest Council and Newham Council, General Secretary of Muslim Council of Britain and Minister Co-ordination of Indian High Commission, London. Agha is survived by his daughter, son and one granddaughter.
Shakeb together with Vasanth Kumar Bawa, setup the first-ever Hyderabad Urban Development Authority which is now referred to as Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. In 1962, he was appointed as an archivist at the State Archives of Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad. Whilst here he created the Mughal Record Room. His publications include Mughal Archives Vol I: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Documents Pertaining to the Reign of Shah Jahan, in 1977 which remains critical reading for those seeking to learn how to read administrative documents in Indo-Persian. He went on to write many publications for The British Library, State Archives Andhra Pradeshand other repositories, universities, and auction houses.
From 1980 to 1987, Shakeb taught Indian history and the history of Indo-Islamic art and culture in the Department of Indology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He later on worked as a consultant for Christie’s in their department of Islamic and Indian Art as their leading expert on Persian and Arabic manuscripts for 30 years.
He also continued to work on Indo-Persian manuscripts and Mughal documents and catalogued such manuscripts in the British Library, such as the Batala Collection of Mughal Documents 1527-1757 in 1990. Throughout this time he supervised many doctoral researchers in the fields of Mughal history, Deccan studies and Urdu and Persian literature.
Shakeb was also the Director of Urdu teachers training at Middlesex University up until 1998.
He also played a key role in setting up the Haroon Khan Sherwani Center for Deccan Studies at Maulana Azad National Urdu University and had been a member of the center’s first advisory board. He was considered a pioneer, having helped lay the foundations of Deccan Studies
Shakeb was an authority on various poets from the Indian subcontinent and Persia, writing books and organising and speaking at conferences on Bedil, Amir Khusrau, Iqbal, Ghalib and Rumi
Shakeb died in London on 20 January 2021, aged 87. He is survived by his wife, Farhat Ahmed, two daughters, a son and nine grandchildren
That this House notes the forthcoming visit by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, following the lifting of his ban to enter the UK; further notes that Prime Minister Modi was Governor of the state of Gujarat in 2002 when sectarian violence led to the murder of three British tourists, Sakil Dawood, Saeed Dawood and Mohammed Aswat, and the attempted murder of Imran Dawood; is deeply concerned that those responsible for those murders have not been brought to justice and that attempts to investigate the murders and bring the killers to justice have been hindered and frustrated; calls on the Government to take the opportunity presented by Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UK to secure answers and assistance on behalf of the families of the British men who were murdered; and further calls on Ministers and Officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to do all they can to ensure that justice is done, the killers are brought to account and the remains of Saeed Dawood are finally repatriated and returned to his family in the UK so they can attempt to achieve some peace and closure on this tragic episode.
Some of my friends complain that I keep writing letters to the dead people. But I cannot stop myself from dashing this missive off to you now that you are no more. It is a closure to the pains that had grounded you, put you in oblivion for years. Now that you have been relieved of multiple pains, I try to pen this tribute.
The last time I met Asrar Jamayee (1937-2020) was a couple of years ago at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s grandnephew and currently Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) Chancellor Firoz Bakht Ahmed’s house at the crowded Zakir Nagar in Delhi. Though an octogenarian and frail, Asrar nevertheless retained the humour in his talk that had characterized him. Mazahiya shair or humorous poet that is what distinguished him from others. He presented me a copy of Tanzpaey, a collection of his humorous poems. Self-respect tried to stop you from accepting the price that I offered to pay because he said it was a “gift”. But when I insisted and Firoz Bakht persuaded, he accepted it willy-nilly.
Asarar stayed at a one-room rented tenement in Batla House area, his books, papers and many pairs of sherwani laden with dust. He was single and lived alone. Towards the autumn of his life, he remained mostly confined to his room, ignored, disillusioned, uncared for. As if old age-related illnesses and privation were not enough to put hurdles in the path of this once peripatetic poets, a car knocked him down, fracturing one of his arms. His arm in cast, he sat at his room, awaiting help. Help came to him few and far between.
When Firoz Bakht announced on Facebook about the accident that had put the already financially drained and physically weak Asrar sahib in further trouble, I sent my younger brother Dr Mohd Qutbuddin to see him. Dr Qutbuddin drove from JNU to Zakir Nagar, accompanied Firoz Bakht and landed up at Asarar sahab’s tiny, ramshackle room. I had asked my brother to help the poet. He did help him but Firoz Bakht caught the act of giving some money to the old, ill poet on his mobile camera. Firoz Bakht subsequently posted the photograph with a small note on his Facebook wall. It received some snide comments from many who knew Asrar sahib but, I think Firoz Bakht did it only to encourage others to come forward and help the needy poet.
Asrar was cheated multiple times–by others and by his own close relatives. Born Asrar-ul-Haq in a zamindar family in Patna, Asrar’s father Syed Waliul Haq was a student of revolutionary freedom fighter, poet-journalist Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar at Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi. Jauhar, along with Mahatma Gandhi and a few others, founded Jamia Millia in 1920 and was its first vice-chancellor. Jamia was created as a nationalist institution after a group of students and teachers of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) aligned with the Muslim League and backed its diabolical, divisive policies.
Asrar received a major setback when his own brother fudged documents to grab ancestral properties. He met Dr Zakir Hussain, educationist, former governor of Bihar and later President of India. Zakir Sahab liked his humorous poetry but, a man of vision that he was, he knew writing poetry alone would not ensure him financial stability. So he advised him to finish his Bachelor in Engineering course from BIT, Pilani. But midway this course, Asrar lost his father, returned home only to get entangled in disputes over inherited properties. Earlier, he had earned praise from India’s first President Dr Rajendra Prasad too. Few among today’s generation will believe it, but Dr Rajendra Prasad had initially studied at a madrasa and had learnt Urdu and Persian too.
Dejected, Asrar came to Delhi, adopted the moniker “Jamayee” and became part of the city’s vibrant literary culture. Clad in loose trousers and shirt (in winter he wore sherwani and pyjama), tall, thick glasses framing his face, Asrar would move with a small suitcase in hand. Ministers and politicians, including three former PMS (Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, V P Singh, Narasimha Rao) hosted him. Former CM of Bihar Karpoori Thakur was also among his admirers. He was invited over dinner by the powerful politicians whom he regaled with his satirical poems, targeted often to the politicians. His satirical poems on Rajiv Gandhi angered some Congressmen and some of Rajiv’s chamchas even threatened Asrar. When Rajiv Gandhi heard of it, he invited the poet home and enjoyed the humorous, satirical lines he had penned on him.
When the draconian anti-terrorism law, TADA, was brought in in the 1990s, Asrar composed several poems, making fun of how TADA was misused to terrorise people.
I first met him in the mid-1990s at a tiny magazine that I worked for at Nizamuddin West in Delhi. Mr Zeyaul Haq, then executive editor of the magazine, was a connoisseur of Urdu poetry and was fond of Asrar sahab’s sharp satirical lines. Arar Shab would often come there. Seated at Zeyaul Haq Sahab’s cabin, Asarar Sahab would recite his poems, sending us in the peals of laughter. One of the couplets on TADA’s misuse went like this: Hum jo police ke dar se bumpolice mein bhage/Daroga tartaraya TADA mein band kardo (As I bolted myself inside a toilet fear the cops/the daroga asked for arresting me in TADA). Before I heard this, I did not know that public toilets were bumpolice in the local dialect of Delhi and UP.
After the demolition of the Babri Mosque on December 6, 1992, Narasimha Rao began an “outreach to Muslims” programme. A group of Urdu editors were invited to the PM’s house as part of the programme. Asrar who then also edited a newspaper called “Postmortem” was among the invitees. Narasimha Rao too enjoyed his poems that took ample potshots on the shenanigans of the politicians. Explaining the exotic name of the paper, he once said: “Others do postmortem of the dead. I do postmortem of the living.”
The cruelest treatment that this world could have meted out to Asrar was when the Delhi government declared him dead in its registers even when he was alive. A former MLA had helped start a pension of Rs 1500 monthly to Asrar who lived and worked most of his life in Delhi. Somehow, a clerk struck his name off the list of pensioners, denying him the much-needed financial help. He petitioned officers, met local MLA Amanatullah Khan a couple of times, but in vain. Once he confronted the concerned officer, saying: “Aur kya saboot chahiye mere zinda hone ka. Main aapke samne khada hoon (What other proof do you need that I am alive. I am standing before you). Mirza Ghalib had travelled from Delhi to Calcutta to get his suspended pension reopened. Ghalib returned unsuccessful. So did Asrar who never succeeded in convincing the cruel, heartless, insensitive system that he was alive and deserved his pension.
Last winter, a rumour had it that Asrar Jamayee was dead. When he heard it, Asrar stirred his old, creaky bones and came out of his dimly lit, dusty room to declare to the world that he was alive. Now he doesn’t need to do that.
Asrar’s dilemma can be best described in his own words
(translation by Firoz Bakht Ahmed) :
Hamdardi ki lazzat bant rahey hein khushion ke paimaney mein
Kitney dukhi insan hein, yeh koi nahin pehchaney he
Mulkon, mulkon, basti, basti shor hamari jurrat ka
Bachcha, buddha, buddha, tanz hamari janey hei!
They are partying all and celebrating with goblets full of happiness
No one knows the trauma and angst of my life’s sadness
O, the bravery and boldness of my poetry is internationally known
What to talk of adults, even the children are aware of my sadistic groan!
The Eminent poet with modern diction and style Nida Fazli passes away, urdu world in morning.
Nida Fazli who swiftly made his individual identity within the crowd of modern poets passed away last Monday he was 78 years old. His poetry dealt with man and humanity. He believed in human values and kept away from the traditional pathways of poetry and achieved eminence in prose and poetry . In poetry along with gazals he also used poems and couplets (dohas), to convey his thoughts and ideas to readers. This is the reason he was equally popular among urdu and hindi spheres.
His real name was Muqtada Hasan and was born on 12th October 1938 in Delhi. He completed his education in Gwalior graduating in 1957.
Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Baron Noon, MBE (24 January 1936 – 27 October 2015) was a British businessman originally from Mumbai, India. He was known as the “Curry King”. He operated a number of food product companies in Southall, London. He was a member of the Dawoodi Bohra community.
Noon was born in 1936, into a Muslim family which operated a sweet shop in Bombay. His father died when he was 7, and a relative ran the business until Noon took over its management at the age of 17. He renamed the shop “Royal Sweets”, and expanded its clientele and size until it was capable of exporting internationally.
In 1964, Noon travelled to Britain and emigrated permanently in 1972.
He established a sweet shop in Southall, producing such products as Bombay mix. Noon founded and operated a number of food product companies in Southall, London, specialising in lndian cuisine. His main business was Noon Products which he established in September 1987, manufacturing chilled and frozen lndian and Thai ready meals, predominantly for UK supermarkets. Whilst he didn’t invent the dish, Noon is credited with the popularity of chicken tikka masala in Britain.
In 1994, the company experienced a serious factory fire which destroyed much of its manufacturing capability; however within ten weeks of this fire the company had begun selling its products again. Noon kept all his staff in employment during this period.
He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1996. He was later made a Knight Bachelor in the 2002. On 27 January 2011, he was created a life peer as Baron Noon, of St John’s Wood in the London Borough of Camden and was introduced in the House of Lords on 31 January 2011, where he sat on the Labour benches.
He was awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of East London on 12 November 2009. In January 2013, Lord Noon was appointed as the chancellor of the University of East London. On 26 April 2012, Noon was a made a Fellow of Birkbeck College of the University of London.
1936 – 2015
Hazaron Saal Nargis Apni Benoori Pe Roti Hai Bari Mushkil Se Hota Hai Chaman Mein Didahwar Paida
(For a thousand years the narcissus has been lamenting its blindness; With great difficulty the one with true vision is born in the garden).
لارڈ نون کی وفات پر دل وجان سے پیارا ہر کسی کا دلارا تھا وہ سب کی اٰنکھوں کا تارا وہ بیشک تھا ہمارا نون
جو تھا بے انتہا مالکِ عزت جو تھا بے انتہا مالکِ شہرت جو تھا بے انتہا صاحبِ حرمت وہ بیشک تھا ہمارا نون
کیٰ روتوں کو جس نے ہنسایا کتنے لوگوں کی قسمت جگایا غرضمندوں کی ظلمت مٹایا وہ بیشک تھا ہمارا نون میرا بھایٰ تھا وہ جان والا میرا بابا تھا وہ اٰن والا میرا نانا تھا وہ شان والا وہ بیشک تھا ہمارا نون کون کہتا ہے کہ وہ چلا گیا ہے کون کہتا ہے کہ وہ بسر گیا ہے کون کہتا ہے کہ وہ گزر گیا ہے وہ تو ہمارے دل میں بسا ہے وہ تو ہماری جان میں بسا ہے نون ہمیشہ زندہ رہے گا نون سدا پایٰندہ رہے گا شمس الدین اٰغا ۲ نومبر ۲۰۱۵
દિલોજાન નૂન દિલોજાનથી પણ પ્યારા દરેકના પ્યારા સૌની આંખોના તારા એ, અલબત્ત, હતા આપણા નૂન. ઇજ્જતવાન હતા કીર્તિવાન હતા ગૌરવવંત હતા એ, અલબત્ત, હતા આપણા નૂન. કંઈ કેટલાંયનાં આંસુ ખાળી હસતા ચહેરા કર્યા હળેમળે એ દરેકનું ભાગ્ય ઉજાળ્યું દુ:ખદરદમાંથી કેટલાંયને પાર કર્યા એ, અલબત્ત, હતા આપણ નૂન. એ મારા ઝિંદાદિલ ભેરુ હતા, બહાદુર હતા એ આબરુદાર પિતા સમાન હતા એ શાનઆબરુ વારસાની હતી એ, અલબત્ત, હતા આપણ નૂન. એ ગયા, એમ કોણ માનશે ? એ ભૂલાઈ જવાના, તેમ કોણ માનશે ? એ દિવંગત થયા છે, એમ કોણ કહશે ? અમારાં હૃદયમાં બિરાજમાન છે અમારાં અંતરમાં એમનું સ્થાન છે નૂન સદાય ચેતનવંત છે નૂન સદાય અમર છે. (ગુજરાતી ભાવાનુવાદ : વિપુલ કલ્યાણી)
Dearer than the heart, Dearer than the soul, The star of all our eyes, That was our Noon. A man of respect, A man of fame, A man of dignity, That was our Noon. He turned so many tears into smiles, He brought blessings to all he met, He freed countless from misery, That was our Noon. “My brother was brave”, “My father was dignified”, “My grandpa was awe-inspiring.” That was our Noon. Who’s to say that he is gone? Who’s to say that he is no more? Who’s to say that he has passed? He lives in our hearts, He rests in our souls, Noon is forever, Noon is eternal. English Translation: Qudsiyah-Bano Agha-Shah
Hospital Bed Rajasthan
Memorial Rajasthan Hospital Reception
Memorial Rajasthan Hospital
Memorial Rajasthan Hospital
Gulam Noon Memorial Service Rajasthan Hospital
Rajasthan Hospital blood pressure
Guests Arun Harnal
Memorial GK Noon Guests-Harnal Sekhon
GK Noon’s daughters
Noon’s surviving family
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackery meets with relations
The Indian Muslim Federation Executive Committee expresses their deepest sympathies at the sad demise of Mr. Siraj Tirmizi Editor of Gujarat Today, published from Ahmedbad, India and of Lokhit Prakashan Sarvajanik Trust.
May Allah bless his soul and give strength to his family members to bear this loss.
Dr Syed Aziz Pasha, OBE The members and trustees of Indian Muslim Federation (UK) were saddened by loss of Dr Syed Aziz Pasha, IMF Trustee who passed away on 23 November 2011 after a long illness. Dr Pasha was from India and became a distinguished leader of the British Muslim community in Britain for last five decades. Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raajioon – to God we belong and to Him we return.
Dr Pasha, who was 81 years old, dedicated his life to public service following a promising career as an international lawyer. He served as President and then a Trustee of Indian Muslim Federation (UK) one of the oldest Muslim organisation in UK since its establishment in 1969. He later on established the Union of Muslim Organisations (UMO) – an umbrella association of many Muslim organisations to lead the causes of Muslims in Britain.
Dr Pasha was determined that Muslims should play their full part in mainstream life. He played major role in identifying policy issues that affected British Muslims as a faith community and championing issues such as provision of state funding for Muslim schools.
For his dedication to the community, he was honoured OBE in 2005 and was a recipient of many awards from different communities and government organisations.
Mr Irfan Mustafa, General Secretary of Indian Muslim Federation (UK) said “it is a sad day for all communities in Britain particularly for Muslims as Dr Pasha dedicated his life for betterment of Muslims and all communities in the country. We should learn from his good work, his commitment and dedication and should carry on the torch he lighted with his hard work for the community”.
Indian Muslim Federation (UK) was always close to Dr Pasha’s heart and he always kept in touch with the organisation as its trustee and well wisher. He would be missed by members of all communities in Britain.
