Tributes paid to Syed Muhammad Taqi | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Tributes paid to Syed Muhammad Taqi

Glowing tributes were heaped on the late Syed Muhammad Taqi on the occasion of the launch of his book, “Karbala: Tehzib Ka Mustaqbil” at the Arts Council on Tuesday evening.

Hussain Muhammad Jaffri said that through the book, Taqi put Karbala on the canvas of humanity. History is treated as philosophy with maximum clarity in the book, Jaffri said.

He told the audience that Taqi was the author of “A new concept of the universe”.

Munawwar Saeed read passages from the book which advocated peaceful revolution. He said that through his book, Taqi had propagated something that was really dear to his heart, tolerance, compassion and magnanimity.

All the speakers lauded his command and in-depth comprehension of Marx, Goethe, and the early Greek thinkers, as also his intellectual magnanimity.

Noted Urdu scholar Seher Ansari said that Taqi was in the forefront of those who attached prime importance to education and awareness. He said that he had two lives, existence, and the wholehearted pursuit of things intellectual.

He called Taqi an intellectual giant. He credited Taqi with having accomplished the most arduous task of translating Western philosophy into Urdu. Besides, Ansari said, Taqi had to his credit translating Karl Marx’s Das Capitas and Sir James Jeans “The world around us” into Urdu.

“Taqi was very magnanimous intellectually and accorded equal importance to Western thought,” Ansari said.

Talking about the personal side of Taqi, Ansari said that he was very particular about polite language and finesse. He added that he was a mentor to so many public figures, intellectuals, and artists.

“He was all for public good even if things went against his personal interests. He was a university within himself,” Ansari said.

“In ‘Karbala: Tehzeeb Ka Mustaqbil’, Taqi has highlighted the crying need for changing the world,” he said.

Shahnaz Saeed, daughter of the late Taqi, said that her father was all-out in favour of women’s education as he thought that women’s emancipation was the key to a society’s drive for egalitarianism and equality.

Her father, she said, was very particular about etiquette as he thought that etiquette were meant not to hurt another person’s ego.

Noted intellectual Dr Aliya Imam said, “Today when words of love are unheard of in our society and terrorism is the order of the day, one really misses people like Syed Muhammad Taqi who preached love, universal brotherhood, and tolerance.”

“He was a beautiful person,” Imam said. She said Taqi’s motto was serving people through learning.

Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui narrated his and his family’s personal association with Syed Muhammad Taqi and talked of his intellectual acumen. Siddiqui regretted that today children were having to study distorted history. He said that it was in such situations when the need for intellectuals like Taqi was most acutely felt.

In the end, Haider Taqi, the late Taqi’s son, narrated childhood incidents and talked very fondly and sentimentally of his father, garnished, of course, with very humorous and witty remarks.

The News