PESHAWAR: NWFP Minister for Sports, Culture and Tourism Syed Aqil Shah here Monday announced Rs50,000 for treatment of the ailing widow of Maulana Abdul Qadir, a respected intellectual and research scholar, who was founding director of the Pashto Academy at the University of Peshawar.
He also announced Rs3,000 monthly stipend for her. During his visit to Shafi Market here, where the 80-year-old Ummat-ur Rasool, the issueless widow of Maulana Qadir, is residing in a rented house, the minister inquired after her health and apologised for the delay in assistance.
Aqil Shah said he would talk to the chief minister about her so that a small house could be arranged for her where she could lead the rest of her life peacefully. The minister said it was sad that despite Maulana’s great contribution and services and having a large number of students, his widow was living a life of loneliness and residing in a dilapidated rented building.
The octogenarian widow got her right leg and arm fractured after she slipped over the floor at her house. She has been living in penury and loneliness for the last 40 years. The NWFP governor had also announced financial assistance for the lady a couple of months back following publication of news about her illness.
Ummat-ur Rasool had married Maulana Qadir in 1936 when she was only 13. Since the couple was issueless, the Maulana had adopted a girl but unfortunately she was burnt to death when fire broke out in her house due to short-circuit.
Maulana Abdul Qadir was born on June 14, 1905 in the small village, Pabini in Swabi district and he did his matriculation, intermediate and graduation from Islamia College Peshawar in 1927. He went to Aligarh University in 1928 and qualified masters in English, Arabic, LLB and BT in 1929, 1930, 1931 and 1932, respectively. He remained president of students union at the university and also used to edit the university’s literary magazine.
In 1942, he began editing Pashto magazine Nun Paroon published from Delhi by the foreign ministry. Later, Pitras Bokhari, the then director general (DG) of All India Radio, appointed him in-charge of Pashto section for Middle East.
After partition, the Maulana was made vice counsel and then Pakistan ambassador in Kabul in the early 50s. He founded Pashto Academy in 1955 and Department of Pashto in 1961. He collected thousands of valuable books and rare manuscripts on the origin, history and traditions of Pakhtuns from Rampur (India), British India Office library and other sources.
He also discovered a rare manuscript of Khairul Bayan, the first prose book in Pashto from Tubengen University Library, Germany. Two of his books including a collection of letters and another containing research papers were published posthumously. His [Da Quran Tafseer] explication of the Holy Quran in Pashto is still unpublished. He passed away on October 22, 1969 at Rajshahi in Dhaka during a seminar and was laid to rest at Peshawar University graveyard, adjacent to his beloved Pashto Academy.
