M. D. Taseer

Muhammad Din Taseer, also known as Deen Muhammad Taseer[1] and popularly known as Dr. M. D. Taseer, was an Urdu poet, writer, and literary critic.[2] He is considered one of the pioneers of the progressive movement in Urdu literature.[2]

He was born in Ajnala, Amritsar,[3] on 28 February 1902.[1] His father, a peasant named Mian Atta ud Din, died when he was a small child, and he was brought up by his maternal uncle Mian Nizam ud Din in Lahore.[3] He was a friend of Allama Iqbal since his childhood.[4][2]

In 1933 he started a literary journal called Karwan.[2] After his M. A., while employed as an Assistant Professor in the University of the Punjab, Lahore, he went to Cambridge for a PhD in English literature, with Iqbal's letter of recommendation.[2] He reached London in 1933 and began his M. Litt. at Pembroke College, Cambridge, with Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch as his research guide, who persuaded the University Senate to allow him to take his PhD directly without doing an M. Litt first.[5] His PhD thesis was titled "India and the Near East in English literature from the earliest times to 1924", and is still unpublished.[5] Taseer is said to be the first person from the Indian subcontinent to have obtained a PhD in English Literature in England.[4][1]

On his return from Cambridge at the end of 1935, he joined the Muslim Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College in Amritsar as its principal. Along with Faiz Ahmad Faiz he was one of the founders of the Progressive Writers' Movement.[3] In 1937 he fell in love with a British tourist named Christobel George, who had also been a student at Cambridge.[3] They were married in 1938, with Allama Iqbal himself drafting the marriage-deed (nikahnama) for the couple, including the right of divorce for Christobel George, and Christobel converting to Islam and adopting the name of Balquis (also spelled Bilquees or Bilqees) Taseer.[3] Later in 1941, Christobel's sister Alys Faiz married Faiz Ahmad Faiz.[4] During this time (1941–1942), Taseer was temporarily in Srinagar as the principal of S. P. College.[3] His lyrics were used in the 1942 film Khandan.

After partition he became principal of Islamia College in Lahore.[3]

He is the father of Salmaan Taseer and the grandfather of Aatish Taseer.[4] His daughter Salma Mahmud published a memoir The Wings of Time, recounting his life.[6]

He died of a heart attack on November 30[1] or December 1, 1950, at age 47.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Renowned Urdu poet Dr Deen Muhammad Taseer’s death anniversary today
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Mohammad Din Taseer and Mohammad Iqbal
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/dec/22/remembering-a-personality-1.asp
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 http://tribune.com.pk/story/99271/remembering-the-man-the-lesser-known-side-of-salmaan-taseer-national/
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 52nd death anniversary
  6. ↑ The legacy of an orphan genius

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