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Scroll.in
a day ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Remembering CM Naim (1936-2025): The conscience keeper of Urdu, who wrote fearlessly of its politics
Chaudhary Mohammad Naim, aka CM Naim, who passed away on July 9, 2025, at the age of 89, was a peerless scholar of Urdu literature who wrote prolifically in English. In that sense, Naim was also a conscience keeper since he regularly assessed the works of Urdu legends and Urdu studies in the more exacting standard that writing in English could provide him. He was born in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh and after studying at Lucknow University, Deccan College and the University of California, Berkeley, he remained associated with the University of Chicago for over four decades at the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilisations. Besides contributing enormously to South Asian studies, he also introduced some prominent and not-so-prominent Urdu literary works to a wider audience. It won't be out of place to call him a one-man industry. Apart from his vast scholarly output, he frequently wrote in the media. Letters to Hindustan Times, EPW and his columns in Outlook stand out for the fresh and sharp perspectives they offered. He never shied away from taking difficult positions. Obituaries published following his passing away rightly mention his books – the most recent one being Urdu Crime Fiction, 1890-1950: An Informal History. However, equally celebrated and forthright were some of his journal articles and writings in the media. A decade and a half ago, he wrote about the alleged plagiarism by the high priest of Urdu, Gopi Chand Narang. The plagiarism, highlighted by several people, including Fuzail Jaffrey and Imran Bhinder, acquired more weight as Naim expounded on it in his popular Outlook column. In his quest for objectivity and honest scholarship, even the greatest would come under the scanner. A journal article written in the wake of the 1965 India–Pakistan war examined the attitude and literary output of the prominent Urdu writers in both countries. Naim described Ali Sardar Jafri's piece in Dharmayug as having 'blatantly confused motives' and parts of eminent Hindi writer Kamaleshwar's rejoinder to it as 'unfair'. Khwaja Ahmed Abbas had accused Faiz Ahmed Faiz of tacitly supporting Pakistan's war mongering against India. According to Naim, the 'hypocrisy underlying Abbas' remarks needs no comment.' One has to read this article to appreciate the nuanced analysis from Naim of an important event that gave him the opportunity to point out certain plain truths. He highlighted that '…the elders of the Progressive Movement who over the years had come to form a kind of literary establishment, controlling magazines, radio and film industry jobs, and cultural embassies.' What stood out for me was his perceptive observation that two separate literary-cultural identities will emerge that will complement the existing separate national-political identities. Naim did not want Urdu writers to apologise for their politics, which was only stopping them from writing more freely. This was crucial, according to Naim, to generate an atmosphere of greater trust and respect akin to English language writers in England and America. While Naim had donned the hat of a critic when several of the Progressive Movement legends were alive and he never minced words, some of his critics would seek to reduce his stature by saying that he was teaching elementary Urdu to students in the US! Such invectives didn't bother him. A whole generation of scholars benefited from his stewardship of The Annual of Urdu Studies and his large-heartedness to help those who reached out to him. Although I never met him, I enjoyed and benefited much from our conversations over email, which began over a decade ago. For someone steeped deep in the Urdu ethos and who grew up in the environs around Lucknow of the 1940s and 1950s, he was uncharacteristically unbeholden to nostalgia. I think that stemmed from his catholicity of views and the ability to look at things from a long-term perspective. Five years ago, in an email he recounted his experience of attending a Progressive Writers Association meeting in Lucknow. 'In 1966, I happened to be in Barabanki when I read that a major meeting of the Association would be held in Lucknow to celebrate the 30th anniversary. I eagerly went and was horrified to see thatthe crowd consisted of fewer than 20 people. In Lucknow – the city where the Association began. In a city full of colleges and one university. Only the old, big names who had survived the years had come.' Naim held the view that the average Marathi and Bengali scholars knew more about literary theories than Urdu academics. He was also critical of scholars who had notions that a non-native academic could not do justice to Urdu studies. In response to one such tirade, he gave a sharp rejoinder, titling his piece 'Our ungenerous little world of Urdu Studies.' I have mentioned these nuggets to make the point that CM Naim, the person, was not different from C M Naim the scholar. His life was marked by humility, solid scholarship and measured words. Although it must be pointed out that if the occasion arose, he never shied away from using his meticulous observation and wisdom to great effect. He moved to the US in the late 1950s but continued his annual visits to India. Lucknow, the city of culture, was a regular visit for Naim, known for its two iconic bookstores: Ram Advani Booksellers in Hazratganj (which closed down in 2016) and Danish Mahal in Aminabad. Naim could easily be one of the most learned and treasured customers of both these stores and his passing away signifies the death of an icon who straddled multiple genres and cultures.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- General
- Indian Express
Eminent Urdu scholar CM Naim dies at 89
Eminent Urdu scholar, author, and translator CM Naim passed away at 89 on Wednesday in Chicago. Naim's nearly six-decade-long career was dedicated to restoring Urdu, a language he rued was losing its sheen in the sub-continent, to its original glory. Born in UP's Barabanki, he studied Urdu at Lucknow University, followed by another Master's in Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. For the next several years, he moved across universities in the US, before embarking on his long association with the University of Chicago where he taught from 1961 to 2001. There he chaired the South Asian Languages and Civilisations department there from 1985 to 1991. As unparallelled as his academic contribution to the proliferation of Urdu literature was, it was his unique approach towards making the language accessible that left a mark on the global literary scene. For Hindustani classical singer Vidya Rao, who was also the commissioning editor for 'Urdu Crime Fiction, 1890-1950: An Informal History' (2023) at Orient Black Swan, Naim's death is a personal loss. 'Today is Guru Purnima, and I feel like I have lost my guru,' she said. 'I had read him even before I had the privilege of publishing his work. There was so much knowledge, understanding and research, but also it was so accessible. He was not writing for just a small group of people… He was reaching out to people who may not be scholars,' said Rao. Orient Black Swan worked with Naim on two other books — distributing 'Urdu Texts and Contexts: The Selected Essays of CM Naim' (2004, published by Permanent Black) and 'A Most Noble Life: The Biography of Ashrafunnisa Begum (1840–1903) by Muhammadi Begum (1877–1908)' (2022), which he translated and wrote the introduction for. Naim's unique quality as a writer was his eye for the innocuous. Close friend and former professor at Zakir Husain Delhi College Khalid Alvi said, 'He was someone who would write about people and things that one would otherwise overlook. He was the person who brought people like Munshi Tirath Ram Ferozpuri and Mirza Fida Ali Khanjar lakhnawi — who had written early detective fiction in Urdu — to the forefront. He also wrote about Zafar Umar, an IPS officer who took to writing after tragically losing a limb. Naim saab wrote about how one of Umar's stories, 'Neeli Chhatri', was named after his home in Aligarh.' Renowned Urdu scholar, Professor C.M. Naim, has passed away. May he rest in peace. Was honoured to call him a friend. Choudhri Mohammed Naim (3 June 1936 – 9 July 2025) — Musharraf Ali Farooqi (@microMAF) July 10, 2025 Among his most memorable pieces, both Rao and Alvi agreed, is his article on Hasrat Mohani. Published in the 'Economic & Political Weekly' in 2013, it was titled, 'The Maulana who Loved Krishna'. Equally noteworthy are his biographies of Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Ghalib. Historian, translator, and archivist Ravikant remembered Naim as a writer who was 'forthright and erudite'. 'He had done a comparison of the 1971 war reporting both in Indian and Pakistani media, and he was non-sparing. He was not one to mince his words,' said the professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) . 'He had visited CSDS quite a few times and we did a workshop with him at IIAS, Shimla. Naim saab gave us many joyous moments. We learnt a lot from him. He was a great guru, friend and companion,' Ravikant said. Naim was a custodian of the Urdu language in all its essence. He reiterated — with every article he wrote, every lecture he delivered and every book he authored — the Indianness of the language; one that was 'created in India and is a mixture of different dialects and existing languages and languages that have come and become a part of this culture'. 'His work was not just on literary studies, but actually on the Urdu language, its history and the cultural world, which is very important because otherwise we tend to see a language as separate from the lived life of the people,' said Rao. Admirer and fellow Urdu scholar Khalid Jawed said his two visits to the US — at the University of Virginia and Princeton University – made him realise the impact Naim had in the West. 'He had a multi-national personality. He didn't teach literature but language. Because he knew that language was the foundation. Once that is strong, students naturally gravitate towards literature. It was truly a one-man show there,' Jawed said, adding, 'He had of course written, translated and edited several classical Urdu texts, but his contribution can be felt deeply in the way he shaped three generations of Urdu speaking people in the US. That is why he was given the title of Professor Emeritus of South Asian Languages and Civilisations at the University of Chicago.' The accessibility of Naim's work that Rao talks about was in fact an extension of his personality. His approachability made him human. 'Who is anybody compared to this great scholar? But he would always listen. If you had a question he would always give it the space it needed, even if it was not about his book. And that is such an extraordinarily gracious quality,' Rao reminisced. Jawed remembered him as a man of principles with a great sense of humour. 'He loved to eat and was extremely affectionate. I had interviewed him twice for Rekhta,' he said. 'He came from a feudal family in Barabanki, but he had completely de-classed himself. While he adapted the positive learnings that came by virtue of his birth, he shunned the exploitation and dogmas associated with the family he was born in.'
