A small branch of respected Qureshies engaged in traditional Dars – o – Tadrees resided in Mohalla Chitti Pully for a long time. In the late nineteenth century, it was headed by Maulvi Fazl – e – Kareem Qureshi, who on the call of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan sent all his three sons for higher modern education to MAO College Aligarh. The story primarily relates to his youngest son, Abdul Majeed Kureshy and his immediate family who were settled in Alighar and were well respected and admired for their cultured way of life, high learning and devotion to the cause of education for both Muslim men and women.
Chitti Pully is fairly a large mohalla, located inside Chitti Pully Darwaza (Cashmiree Gate – 1865). In the north of it are the Circular Road and the road that goes towards village Gaga, in the east mohalla Sethianwala, Sheesh Mahal and Chibberanwala ( a very small closeended mohalla ), in the southwest Masjid Gondianwali, in the south mohalla Nagianwala and in the west Khaniawala.
After entering Chitti Pully Darwaza, the second house on the left belonged to the ancestors of Prof Abdul Majeed Kureshy, a renowned mathematician who retired as Chairman of the Mathematics Department beside other administrative positions held from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 1947. He was born in Bhera in 1886, passed Matric from Government High School, Bhera and went in 1903 to join MAO (Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental) College, Aligarh for further studies, where two of his elder brothers Fazal – e – Haq Kureshy and Abdul Aziz Kureshy had got their education from and entered practical life.
Immediately on arrival in Aligarh the father of Prof Kureshy died but he stayed back for his studies on assurance of support from his elder brother, Fazal – e – Haq Kureshy, who was in Chhatarpur as senior advisor/ minister with the Raja. Being an intelligent and hard-working student, Abdul Majeed completed his education at Aligarh with honours and a gold medal in Mathematics based on a good result in MA from Allahabad University. He declined the job of Deputy Collectorship offered by the government, and instead joined MAO College as a lecturer, sensing the wish of the Honorary Secretary and the trustees of the college founded by the great Sir Syed for the advancement of Muslims as a nation. He continued to serve the institution, which later attained the status of a University under the title Aligarh Muslim University, in various capacities to the best of his ability winning respect and appreciation from all quarters. He was not only a good teacher but also an administrator par excellence and so was admired and respected by students and wards equally even after retirement and migration to Pakistan immediately after partition in 1947. Being a well-read person had a good taste in literature and poetry, and was an excellent conversationalist with a command of the languages in use in elite literary circles. He was socially popular and had gatherings of friends and admirers every evening.
On migration to Pakistan after trying many places for his permanent stay he finally decided to settle in Bhera, his birthplace, where he was allotted the Kothi of Malak Suraj Kaul, an evacuee property on the outskirts of the main city near the railway station. He stayed at Bhera from 1949 to 1955, doing some literary work as well as an examiner in Maths for the Federal Public Service Commission and most probably for Karachi University for some time.
Three of his children namely Tariq, Khalid and Farzana did their matriculation from government schools in Bhera, while the youngest Shahid studied till ninth class. Prof Kureshy was forced by his friends and ex-students to move to Sagodha in 1955, for better educational and other facilities. He was allotted bungalow No. 90 Civil Lines on College Road, Sargodha and later was permanently transferred to him instead of his property left behind in Aligarh. During his stay at Sargodha, he kept himself busy by translating some important scientific works for the All Pakistan Educational Conference founded by Syed Altaf Ali Barelvi (late) of which he was one of the founding members and patron also. He had to often travel to Karachi to attend meetings of the Conference and other educational forums. Most of the members of district management, advocates and elites of the city involved in local and higher politics, being old students took special care of their mentor/ teacher and saw to it that he was present at all important functions arranged in the city and it was at one of such occasions that President Ayub Khan, an old Aligarian, when sitting on the dais noticed professor Sahib in the front row came down, paid respect and holding his hand took him to the platform to sit nearby, as a mark of respect. Such shows were not far and few in his life when his students treated him with such love and respect that onlookers thought he was an established “Pir” and Gaddi Nasheen “.
Prof Kureshy’s stay in Sargodha lasted till 1964, when his daughter Dr Raana who had established her practice there, after doing her MBBS from Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore, somewhere in the late fifties, was married and shifted to Karachi.
His other children had already moved away, including the youngest son, who joined NED Engineering College Karachi in 1960. After leaving Sargodha he got permanently settled at No.1 Maqboolabad, Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Karachi. He stayed at this address till his demise on June 10, 1982. He was buried in the graveyard of Model Colony, Malir.
During the time spent in Karachi, he did a translation of a book or two as well as wrote his memoirs under the title “Aligarh Main Meray 44! Sall “ which were later published along with some of his letters and some speeches and papers related to education other important subjects relevant to the prevailing situation in a book form by Syed Altaf Ali Sahib by the name “ نامہ ہائے صدق و صفا” under the banner of All Pakistan Educational Conference.
Notes: In case interested to know more about the family of Prof Abdul Majeed Khureshy.
- Prof Abdul Majeed Kureshy had twelve children from two wives. All his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have done extremely well in life in their respective fields. His first wife, Khadija Begum, was from a respectable Qureshy family in Gurdaspur. From her Kureshy Sahib had four surviving children, two sons and two daughters as follows:
a. Eldest daughter, Dr Fatima Shah will be dealt with separately for her extremely motivating achievements as a blind person in her later life in Pakistan.
b. Prof Abdul Waheed Kureshy who did not migrate to Pakistan with the rest of the family stayed back to continue his recently acquired job as a lecturer in the History Department of the great Muslim University. He retired finally as Head of his Department and Provost of one of the halls. He died in Aligarh leaving behind two daughters and two sons. The eldest Sarah Shan did MBBS from Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi. She lives with her husband, an engineer, in the UK after serving National Health Services for nearly 50 years. Next Seema Alavi, has done a Master’s in English and Library Science and lives in LA California. Both the sons (Salman Majeed and Tariq Waheed) have achieved a doctorate in their respective fields, i.e., HRD and Oceanography and are settled in Canada and Goa, India.
c. Mrs Humaira Alvi who joined the teaching profession after doing a BA, BT from Girls College attached to the Muslim University, started her career with her Alma mater. On migration, she joined government service and started teaching at Government Girls High School, Jacob Lines, and Karachi. Finally retired as Head Mistress Government Girls High School, Airport Karachi. Her husband was Prof A Y Mustafa Alvi, an Aligarian, the Principal of the famous S M College Karachi. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1982, leaving behind a wife and six well-established sons. Mrs Humaira Alvi adopted one of her students at Airport School as her daughter who did very well in the nursing profession. One of her sons, Hasan Jameel had the singular honour of playing cricket at the international level and representing Pakistan in England, besides being an engineer: retired from PIA as GM.
d. Abdul Hameed Qureshi, who after graduating from Muslim University adopted business as a profession and was doing well at Delhi and Calcutta when the country was divided. He had to migrate closing his business. However, he led a fairly successful life in Lahore despite some health issues. He was married to a friend of his elder sister, Dr Fatima Shah, namely, Dr Qamar Khan, professor of Pathology at Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore. Dr Qamar was issueless. Abdul Hamid died in Karachi and was laid to rest in Defence Graveyard, Phase IV.
- Prof Kureshy’s second wife, Azra Khatoon Naqvia, was the daughter of Syed Inayat Ahmed Naqvi a scion of an eminent and well-respected Syed family ( Sadat e Qubai) of religious scholars settled in Badayun since the arrival of Hazrat Sharf Uddin Aala, the Mooris – e – Aala in India, in the reign of Sultan Altamash. Syed Inayat Ahmad was a great scholar like a whole line of ancestors and was an ardent advocate of the education of Muslims both men and women. It may be of interest to many that second on top of the line Maulana Ala Uddin Usooli s/o Hazrat Sharf Uddin was the first teacher of Hazrat Nizam Uddin Aulia (Sultan of Hind in Chishtia Order), Mureed and Khalifah of Hazrat Fareed Uddin Ganj – e – Shakar of Pakpatan Shareef. Syed Inayat Ahmad, at a time when modern education was taboo for men, not only got all his sons educated at Aligarh Muslim University but also provided tutoring at home to all of his daughters in basic subjects, i.e., languages ( Urdu and Persian), a bit of English and Arithmetic, to come handy in their future lives. Besides, being well-versed in all activities related to managing the household all these sisters were very fond of reading books as well as writing on various important aspects of the married lives of women for their benefit. The eldest of the sisters was a competent writer and wrote some interesting novels and trained her sisters also in this art. These sisters along with some cousins and friends used to bring out a handwritten tiny magazine for women monthly and circulated it in their close social circle as far as Aligarh, almost a hundred years back. According to the youngest son of Kureshy Sahib – Shahid Khureshy, his mother had a sharp memory and remembered all that she read, especially Urdu and Persian poetry. She had a big stock of poetry in her memory with the whole of Deevan e Ghalib and much Gulistan e Saadi and it was very difficult to defeat her at baitbazi a game offering proper couplet starting with a certain letter in response to the couplet quoted by the opposition; the game continued till one of the parties conceded defeat not being able to recite a couplet starting with the letter required. Despite a heavy schedule of household chores and attending to the needs of the children she devoted some of her time to work and collecting whatever funds she could manage with her limited social life for the Muslim League in those critical times. She was elected president of the women’s section of Aligarh City Muslim League and presented an address of welcome and a purse of funds to the great Quaid – e – Azam, M A Jinnah on his visit to Aligarh in 1939. It may also be mentioned that her maternal grandfather, Hazrat Dillard – e – Ali Mazaq Milan Sahib (Siddiqi) was a well-known Sufi buzurg of Madinatul Aulia Badayun. This Siddiqui clan had its origin in Badayun in the reign of Altamash with the arrival of Sheik Hameed Uddin, a brother of the famous Sheik Saadi Shiraz. He is remembered in Badayun as Dada Hameed.
Out of this wedlock, Kureshy Sahib had the following eight surviving children; four sons and four daughters in order of their ages:
a. Mrs Khurshida Alavi was the eldest amongst the second set of children and was married immediately after migration while doing a B.A. with Mathematics as the main subject, to her fiancée Mr A F M (Abul Fazal Muhammad) Alavi, who after graduating in Engineering from AMU was working as SDO in Irrigation Department at Dera Ghazi Khan. Although the marriage was subject to the condition that she would be allowed to appear in the forthcoming exam and complete her education, up to graduation level it could not be met and she settled into a happy married life without regrets for not being able to get a degree with honours, despite being exceptionally brilliant in Math and Persian her main subjects. She had eight surviving children, four sons and four daughters; all very competent professionals leading successful and happy lives with their children.
b. Mrs Zohra Mujib after completing a brilliant educational career with a master’s degree in Nutritional Science from Oklahoma University, USA taught at the College of Home Economics Karachi for many years, before switching over to Defence Science & Technology Organisation (DSETO) and did useful research work till her retirement as Senior Research Officer in nineties. She was married to Sqd Ldr A Z Mujib and has three daughters and two sons, all married and well-settled in life with their children. Her elder son retired from the Pakistan Navy as Commodore and is now working with Bahria Foundation; the younger one, BBA from the USA, after working with a few national and multinational companies has recently been released from Feroz Sons Labs as a Senior Marketing Executive and is busy establishing a business of his own in upcountry. All the daughters are married and well-settled, two are in the USA and the eldest is in England and has recently retired from the Royal Air Force Administration.
c. Abdur Rahman Akhtar Saeed Kureshy did a marine engineering course from Karachi and having served in the merchant navy as 2nd Engineer for a considerable period and being sick of sea life, joined SNGPL and served till his retirement in the early nineties as Senior Pipeline Engineer. He was married to a closely related cousin from a family permanently settled in Bhera and had three children, all daughters; they were all married. Two of them are settled abroad, one in the USA and the other in Canada. The youngest is married to the current Gaddi Nashin and Pir Sahib of Qadiria order in Bhera and settled there. Late Akhtar Kureshy is buried in Sargodha, where he built a house for residence after retirement.
d. Dr Raana Masood Naqvi did her MBBS from Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore around the mid-fifties and after an initial period of compulsory house job at Naushehra Government Hospital and some service with District Hospital Sargodha, she established her medical practice at Sargodha, which was running well till she was married to Mr Masood Naqavi Advocate, s/o Mr S N Naqvi, Director General Meteorological Services, younger brother of her mother, in 1963. She wound up her practice and shifted to Karachi with her husband and with her departure, Kureshy Sahib had also to say goodbye to Sargodha as other children had already moved away. After some time she started to work again and joined DESTO for research on various health issues related to the armed forces. She retired as SRO. She had three children, the eldest was a daughter who did MBBS, the next one, the son graduated in engineering from NED University and MBA from IBA and the youngest did a Master’s from Karachi University. They all got married and are well-settled in professional life. She is buried in a small family cemetery in the Khamosh Colony graveyard.
e. Dr Abdur Raheem Tariq Kureshy, a brilliant student throughout his career, did matriculation from Government High School Bhera and finally MSc Hons from University of the Punjab / Government College Lahore, winning a Gold medal. He went to Imperial College London on scholarship and obtained a PhD degree in Chemistry/ Chemical Technology. After serving many institutions in Pakistan, Iran and some European countries, he finally joined M/S Solar Turbines a subsidiary of Caterpillar in a senior position and settled in Houston, Texas, USA, where he is enjoying a comfortable retired life with his wife Shahnaz Kureshy, who herself is highly qualified from some foreign institutions and taught French or some other subject at Viqar un Nisa Girls College, Rawalpindi, before marriage. Their youngest son, a marine biologist by profession is managing his fish farm in a town nearby. His eldest daughter is working with the UN in a senior position in Washington and his brother next to her a senior IT professional lives in Seattle attached to some giant multinational like Intel.
f. Abdul Malik Khalid Qureshy did his BSc with Statistics as a major in 1956 from Government College Sargodha having done matriculation from Government High School Bhera in 1950. He is a highly intelligent person with a mercurial nature and kept changing jobs in his earlier career although getting married in 1957 with his first job in PIA. Roaming around he saw most of the world, playing bridge professionally, a game requiring a high IQ and in which he was quite an expert. Came back after doing jobs with some airlines and Caltex Petroleum Company in a good executive position, he finally landed in Saudi Arabian Airlines Finance Department, Jeddah and handled the financial matters with such exceptional brilliance that he became an apple of the eye of all his Saudi bosses and almost indispensable for the company. He finally came back to Pakistan of his own accord and after serving in various senior positions retired in the late nineties with honours. He died recently at Rawalpindi and was buried in an army graveyard, near Peshawar Road and so did his wife, who followed immediately after him. They have left behind the eldest son and his family, the other two, a daughter and a son left for their heavenly abodes earlier.
g. Ms Farzana Qureshy did matriculation from Government Girls High School Bhera in 1955; she had to suffer a loss of one academic year because there was no middle school in Bhera when the family settled there. After matriculation, she had to move to Lahore for further studies, as till then Sargodha had no girls’ college. With a first-class academic career throughout she finally did MSc in Physics under the supervision of Dr Rafi Chaudhry one of a rare breed of scientists in those days in Pakistan; he had carried out research for his PhD with Rutherford in England, from the University of the Punjab /Government College Lahore and started teaching as a lecturer in PECHS Girls College Karachi established by Begum A Majeed Malik popularly known as “Baji” an educationist belonging to an eminent family of Aligarh. Ms Farzana retired as the Principal of this well-reputed College in 2001 and lives comfortably in Karachi, thereafter.
h. Abdus Salam Shahid Khureshy, a civil engineer by profession having done B E (Civil) from N E D Government Engineering College, Karachi in 1964 is now passing retired life in Karachi with his wife and unmarried daughter who are both well-educated and competent professionals in the fields of Microbiology and Computer Science. Ms Erum Shahid was teaching at Karachi University as a lecturer when in 2014 suffered a serious illness from which she is still not fully recovered. Naveed Shahid, the son is an “Actuary” and holds a senior position in a German multinational M/S Hannover in Bahrain. He has one daughter and his wife, Leena Ahmad is an architect by qualification and an amateur tabla player by way of a hobby. The whole family is fond of music and even the tiny daughter, Aman Eman plays violin, piano and harmonium quite ably.
MAO College & AMU. Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a public central university in Aligarh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College in 1875. MAO College became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.
Actuary. An Actuary is a business professional who analyses the financial consequences of risk. Actuaries use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to study uncertain future events, especially those of concern to insurance and pension programs (for details see Wikipedia).
I am thankful to Mr Shahid Kureshy for providing his family history and rare old pictures of the family and Prof Abdul Majeed Kureshy. These may be a source of inspiration for parents, teachers and youngsters of Bhera. I was friendlier with his elder brother, Mr Khalid Qureshi, who lived in Rawalpindi, close to my house. He was a gem of a person and could discuss any subject with conviction for hours…. from religion to the latest developments in science and technology. His demise was a real loss to me. After his death, I became more intimate with Shahid Sahib, who is now about 80, and living in Karachi.
To be continued….
In Part 2, details about Dr Fatima Shah, the eldest daughter of Prof Abdul Majeed Khreshy will be covered.
Zahid Mumtaz
