Waheed Akhtar

Syed Waheed Akhtar (August 12, 1934�December 13, 1996) Was an Urdu poet, writer, critic, distinguished orator, and one of the leading Muslim scholars and philosophers of the century.

Syed Waheed Akhtar a poet, literary critic and scholar was born on 12th of August, 1934, in the city of Aurangabad (Deccan) of erstwhile Hyderabad State of Nizam (present day Maharashtra), in a family which migrated from [Nasirabad]-Jais (Jais-birth place of poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi, boroughs of sa'adat inhabitants in Raebareily (or Raebareli) district of Uttar Pradesh. His father's name was Syed Nazr-e Abbas, and mother's name was Syeda Aliya Begum. They had seven children. Waheed Akhtar was the second child, among six sons and one daughter.

After spending his childhood in Aurangabad, and completing high school and intermediate, he went to Hyderabad, to enroll at Osmania University as a bachelor of art student. He was in Hyderabad for eight years until he completed his Ph. D. and got appointment as lecturer at Aligarh Muslim University. Years in Hyderabad were crucial for moulding his personality as a poet and writer. Although, after Police Action Hyderabad acceded to the Dominion of India, it was still a very strong feudal society, dominated by rich and elite. At the same time, lot of muslims who held positions of importance had become defeatist, thinking they had lost their voice and authority in the conditions prevalent at that time.

Hyderabad was still, the only University in subcontinent to teach modern sciences including medicine and engineering in Urdu, which was the fruit of Allamah Shibli Nomani's hardwork. Waheed Akhtar was not the one to resign to defeat, nor overwhelmed by the times and existing system. He was a born fighter and he made his ideas and voice heard in his writings. He was independent minded, freedom loving man who was well aware of Political and Literary Movements of his times around the world. He wrote prolifically in Urdu from very early age. During his initial years he adopted the pen name "Barq".

He got married to Indo-Iranian lady Syeda Mahliqa Qarai in Hyderabad in the year 1962 and had four sons: Hasan, Husain, Haider (who died due to polio in the fifth month of his birth) and Mohsin. Mrs Mahliqa Qarai was killed in the USS Vincennes attack on Iran Air Flight 655 - an Iranian civilian airliner on Sunday, July 3, 1988, in the Persian Gulf during the 8-year Iraq-Iran war. After his wife's death he suffered 5 heart attacks and 3 cardiac arrests. Finally passed away on 13th of December in 1996 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi one year after his retirement at the age of 61.