Dr Kausar Yazdani Nadwi

A towering personality among Muslims

By Javed Ali

The biography of Kausar Yazdani, a unique personality in modern India,

tells us how Muslims in the present day India encountered and faced
the problems after the partition of the subcontinent. Muslims of that
era did it in most non-violent and peaceful manner, inspite of the great
provocations and Himalyan hurdles. Indian Muslims chose the non-
political path.

Kausar Yazdani was born in 1935 at Katalpur village of Azamgarh

district of Uttar Pradesh. His father was in the police department and
retired when he was studying in class VII. He did his metrication in
1951, BA in 1955 from Shibli College and married in his own family in
same year. Then he entered in the practical life.

Yazdani came into the contact of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), when he

was in Intermediate at Tanda. Jamaat was writing
new chapters in Islamic dawah and awakening for
non-Muslims as well as Muslims. He learnt, Islam is
for everybody. Yazdani, whose subject in BA was
not Hindi, chose Hindi journalism as his life long
career under the influence of the Islamic
movement. At that time, Muslims of north India had
a hate relationship with Hindi. Urdu had not become
their preferred language but it was crushed just
after the Independence. It is a historical fact that
Urdu was vastly used in govt. and non-govt. works
Dr Kausar Yazdani
before 1947. But its use stopped in govt. offices, its Nadwi
teaching banned in schools and other educational
institutions and it was labelled as anti-Indian. It place was given to
Hindi, which was finally declared the official language of the province
in 1951 by Congress govt. in UP, under its chief minister Pandit Govind
Ballabh Pant. But no reciprocal safeguard was given to Urdu language.
Yazdani chose Hindi as his first love.

Jamaat decided to publish a Hindi magazine and called him for the job
in 1956-7. After some preparations ‘Kanti’ monthly started its
publication in 1958. It became a weekly after a decade and changed its
place of publication from Rampur to Delhi.

When Nadvi joined the Kanti, he did not know the Arabic language. But
as he chose the dawah path, he decided to learn Arabic and studied
the language from Maulana Salman Qasmi at Rampur. Then he took
three years leave to study Arabic and Islamic sciences at Nadwa
College, Lucknow. Jamaat chief Maulana Abul lais allowed him to work
from Lucknow and granted him the required leave. Maulana Syed Abul
Hasan Ali Nadvi gave special permission to enrol him for Almiat. He
cleared all the papers in one year and got Almiat degree. Later he
completed his Fazilat at Rampur. Kanti was banned during emergency
and its editor was jailed for few months. In this critical period he did his
MA in Hindi Literature and a PhD in 1980. His thesis was on Sufism and
Sadhna. Kanti was divided into weekly and monthly in the same year.
Weekly was generally for Muslims and monthly was for non-Muslims.
But according to Nadvi, its readership were promidently Muslims,
although non-Muslims also read it.

He remained its editor for about 37 years and left it in 1995. Nadvi told
us that ‘generally Hindus have a little or no interest for understanding
Islam. We reached them and explained its message’. So its circulation
in his time remained between 3 to 5 thousands. It published extracts
from the Holy Quran and Hadith, episodes from Islamic history and true
principles of Islam. It also tried to remove misunderstandings against
Islam and Muslims. It had one or two short stories. After 1968, political
and social issues increased considerably. Then it became a weekly. To
a query, whether Kanti criticised Hindu Dharam also former editor
replied that we critcised very little and never made such criticism a
formal topic. ‘It was not appropriate in the early phase of Dawah’.
Islam’s fundamental teachings were introduced in a positive way,
polytheism was mildly criticised. If reverse was done, it could have
caused a roit and then nobody would have heard our message, he
explained. He concluded that when Islam would be described in more
details, in the next phase of our dawah, such criticism may increase,
then it would be relevant.

He was not just a journalist or writer, but an active worker and a leader
also. He became chief of J. I. H. (Delhi & Haryana State) in 1979 and
remained so till 1995. At that time, he used to start his day before
morning prayers (salat Fajr), read daily news paper and wrote editorial,
etc. Later, he worked for the Kanti till about 1’o clock. After 3 or 5’o
clock in the afternoon, to 11 in the night, he spent his time, visiting
different places of Delhi & Haryana for Dawah and Islamic awekening.
It was his daily routine. In 1995 he was called to central office of the
Jamaat as its all India secretary to look after the Dawah work from
which he just retired. Nadvi translated about 40 books in Hindi and
wrote a dozen books. As his health in deterioted, he spent most of his
time at his residence at Abul Fazl Enclave in New Delhi. He has three
sons and one daughter. His wife died in 1990. 

Published in the 1-15 Mar 2004 print edition of MG