13th National Seminar on Sir Syed: Social Service and Pandemic

Aligarh: The 13th national Seminar on Sir Syed: Social Service and Pandemic was organized by Sir Syed Awareness Forum (SAF) at Muktakash Manch, Exhibition Ground, Aligarh.

Presiding over the seminar, Mr. Mohammad Furqan, Mayor, Aligarh said that Sir Syed was a social worker and he has helped Indians a lot by establishing the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University. He further stated that Sir Syed treated everyone equally, irrespective of their religion. In his eyes, everyone was an Indian first. He congratulated Prof. Shakeel Samdani for continuously organizing this seminar on Sir Syed for the last 13 years.

Chief Guest, Mr. Vivek Bansal, Former MLA and MLC, Aligarh said that a man like Sir Syed is born only in centuries. The contributions of Sir Syed towards the Indian population are many. At last, he concluded by saying that Sir Syed always believed in the idea of unity in diversity and scientific education for all.

Director of Seminar and President, Sir Syed Awareness Forum, Prof. Shakeel Samdani who is also the Dean, Faculty of Law, AMU said that Aligarh city is known to the world only because of the fact that the Aligarh Muslim University is situated over here. He said that Sir Syed had a multi-faceted personality. He was a champion in doing social work for everyone. Sir Syed played a very important role in the elimination of evil practices and superstitions over that time.

Sir Syed had convinced British to vaccinate every Indian

Prof. Shakeel Samdani further highlighted the incident in which Sir Syed convinced the British to vaccinate each and every Indian free of cost during the time when smallpox was spreading quickly among them. While citing the incident of Bijnor, Prof. Samdani highlighted the secular aspect of Sir Syed’s personality. He said that Sir Syed was well versed in law that’s why he also established the Department of Law at MAO College.

Prof. Samdani while pointing his figure towards the exhibition ground said that this large ground was donated for the students of MAO College by one of the admirers of Sir Syed. He further advised the audience to carry forward the mission of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and to replicate his multi-faceted personality in our lives as well.

Key Note Speaker of the seminar, Prof. Urooj Rabbani, Chairperson, Department of Cardiology, AMU explained in detail about the life of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his contributions in the field of social services.

Guest of Honor, Dr. Khalil Chaudhary, Director, MAF Foundation and Para Medical Institute said that Sir Syed promoted modern education at a time when it was not acceptable by the general masses. He continued his efforts and ultimately achieved success.

Prof. Shariq Aquil, CMO, University Health Services while addressing the gathering as Chief Speaker said that AMU continued to work on the footprints of Sir Syed and during the COVID 19 pandemic, AMU open-heartedly contributed in tackling it. The efforts of AMU were also praised by the Prime Minister.

Sarah Samdani also delivered a speech in which she highlighted various incidents of Sir Syed’s life and social work.

SAF award

In this seminar, SAF Award for Excellence was presented to Prof. Mohammad Shameem, Dept. of TB and Chest, AMU, Dr. Najmuddin Ansari, Taj Charitable Hospital, Mr. Pawan Varshney, Paathshala Classes, Abu Anas Siddiqui, Brix PMT Academy, Faisal K.P., Director, Mallapuram Center, AMU, Dr. Jameel Ahmed, Ass. MIC, University Guest House, AMU and Mr. Tariq Hussain, AMU.

The seminar was successfully conducted by Ms. Ayesha Samdani, MBBS student, JNMC. Mr. Abdullah Samdani explained the history and objectives of the Sir Syed Awareness Forum while Ms. Hiba Zaheer welcomed the guests. Ms. Fozia, Ms. Razia Chauhan and Ms. Shelja Singh were the rapporteurs in this seminar.

The seminar was attended by a large number of academicians, lawyers, students and other important personalities including Prof. Wasim Ali, Prof. Hashmat, Dr. Ali Nawaz Zaidi, Dr. Rahmatullah, Dr. Zeba Azmat, Dr. Naghma Azhar, Dr. Tabassum Chaudhary, Sadaf Ali Khan, Absar Kidwai, Zakiuddin Khairoowala, Dr. Obaid Iqbal Asim, Adv. Wajahtullah Khan, Dr. Khalid Nasir Siddiqui, Dr. Imran Dr. Kalimullah and Dr. Raghib Gauhar.

This seminar was a great success with the tireless efforts of Adv. Shoeb Ali, General Secretary, Dr. Haider Ali, Head, Legal Studies, Mangalayatan University, Mrs. Anjum Tasneem, Danish Iqbal, Mushfiq Ansari, Shubham, Mohd Salman, Sarim Ali, Mantavya Chauhan, Shahnawaz Ahmad, Yaseen Khan, Shubham Kumar and Anas.