Zakir Husain Quotes

For God’s sake, reform and improve the politics of our country.

Our country does not need warm blood oozing out from our necks, but it needs the sweat of our brow that would flow twelve months in a year. The need is great for work, serious work. Our future would be made or marred by the broken hut of the farmer, by the dark roof of the artisan, and by the straw school of a village. It is possible to settle the disputes of a day or two in political strife, in conferences and congresses, but those places which I have indicated have been centuries the centers of our destiny. Work in these areas requires patience and perseverance. It tires you much and it is thankless too. It does not yield quick results; but yes, if someone holds on for long, it would give him sweet fruit.

Feeble beliefs must be replaced by healthier habits and irrelevant institutions by progressive institutions. Our will should get guidance not form the twilight of the intellect but from the broad daylight of true beliefs.

Home expands it becomes the country. It grows to be India that become the Himalayas and the Vindyachal, the Ganges... the Cauvery; it becomes Rameshwaram... it grows to be W:Rama:Rama and Lakshmana, the Buddha and the Shankaracharya, Mouniddin Ajmeri and Jalaluddin Akbar; it becomes Nanak and Kabir, Surdas, Tukaram, and Mirabai; it becomes Kalidas and Tulsidas; it becomes Mir, Ghalib and Anis; it becomes Vallathol and Tagore; it becomes Gandhi and Abul Kalam, Vinoba and Nehru.

I have after years of thinking on the subject come to the conviction that work is the only instrument of effective education. It may sometimes be manual work, at others, non-manual work.

He was a much tested person whose patriotism was unquestioned , whose nationalism was unsullied and whose integrity was of a high order.

In 1937-38, Basic National Education or Wardha Scheme came into prominence. He had given a definite shape to the concept of basic education. He championed its cause as well.

The history of India’s independence is replete with lives of many a great men and women who serve as beacons and role models for generations to come. He was one of them and his contribution was unique in its creativity. Using education as the instrument of his expression, he served the motherland with devotion and Gandhian faith.

He was perfect Muslim as envisioned by Iqbal. He possessed the inherent passion for which the Arabs are known and the delicate temperament for which the Persians are acclaimed. He was soft in private audience and action-packed when involved in some task. He was like a drew drop which smoothens the fire in the heart of tulip and like a storm which terrifies the heart of the sea. He was like that hermit whose humbleness bears magic character. He knew how to keep the lamp glowing in the tempest. He was a model of culture and refinement.

Streams of ideals that originated in the summit of our past, flowing underground in the depth of India’s soul, the ideals of simplicity of life, clarity of spiritual vision, purity of heart, harmony with the universe and consciousness of the infinite personality in all creation and the urge to bring these to the surface of our daily use and purification.

He was extremely pre-occupied with a varied plan of action he could find time to write stories and plays for children...with the gifts of creative expression made him write whatever he did... He wrote all the stories under the pen name Ruqaiyya, which were published under the title “Abbu Khan ki Bakri.

Among his teachers in Berlin Professor Sombart was a scholar of repute. He learnt much from him. However, he gained many insights from my teacher, Sprangner who was undoubtedly gifted with vision...He was much more keenly interested in education than his field of specialization [Economics]. He had tremendous regard for my teacher Professor Sprangner, an authority on the philosophy of education.

A quiet strength of character was his hallmark. He never looked back once he undertook a step, indeed as he did when he left Aligarh is response to Gandhiji’s call...Deeply inspired and influenced by Gandhiji, he was determined to translate into reality a dream of an educational institution which would give Swaraj a wholesome dimension in education and would nurture intellectual leadership for independent India. Thus was born Jamia Milia, a unique national institution and an innovative experiment in education. Today, as Central University, Jamia Milia is a thriving monument for his tireless and unprecedented vision.

Humanities and science are not something mutually contradictory but complimentary. One should realize the fact that science is devoid of values especially moral and ethical values. Science is a system of philosophy without ethics. Science devoid of ethical judgment becomes an ally of everyone – of the good as well as the bad and is of service in changing the world into a paradise or reducing it to a veritable hell.

There is little evidence that he owed particular allegiance to any political organization or to any political leader. Evidence only there is of his nationalistic leanings, his hatred of foreign rule and a broad liberalism