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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Ale Ahmad Suroor
| birth_date = 9 September 1911
| birth_place = [[Badaun district]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], India
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2002|02|09|1911|09|09}}
| death_place = [[Delhi]], [[India]]
| resting_place =
| occupation = Professor, Poet, Critic
| language = [[Urdu language|Urdu]]
| nationality = Indian
| ethnicity =
| alma_mater = [[Aligarh Muslim University]]
| genre = [[Literary criticism]], [[Ghazal]]
| awards = [[Padma Bhushan]] (1991)<br />
[[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1974)
}}
'''Ale Ahmad Suroor''' was an [[Urdu]] poet, critic and professor from [[India]]. He is best known for his literary criticism. In 1974 he was honoured with the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] by the [[Government of India]] for his literary critic work, ''Nazar aur Nazariya''. In 1991 he was also awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]], India's third highest civilian award.<ref name="Lal1992">{{cite book|author =Mohan Lal|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&pg=PA4240|year=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1221-3|pages=4240–}}</ref><ref name="milligazette">{{cite news |url=http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/01032002/0103200204.htm |title=Obituaries |work=The Milli Gazette |volume=3 |number=5 |publisher=Pharos Media |access-date=2015-10-05}}</ref><ref name="india">{{cite web|url=http://archive.india.gov.in/myindia/padmabhushan_awards_list1.php?start=450|title=Padma Bhushan Awardees – Padma Awards – My India, My Pride – Know India: National Portal of India|publisher=archive.india.gov.in|access-date=2015-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006023626/http://archive.india.gov.in/myindia/padmabhushan_awards_list1.php?start=450#|archive-date=6 October 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> He was awarded a special gold medal by the [[President of Pakistan]] on the centenary of the birth of [[Muhammad Iqbal]].<ref name="the news"/><ref name="urdustudies1"/>

== Early life ==
Suroor was born in the [[Badaun]] city of [[Uttar Pradesh]] on 9 September 1911. He studied Science and graduated from [[St John's College, Agra]]. He completed his master's degree in [[English studies|English literature]] in 1934. From 1958 to 1974 he worked as professor and Head of Urdu at [[Aligarh Muslim University]].<ref name="Lal1992" /><ref name="urdustudies1">http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/18/59SuroorMemoriam.pdf</ref>

==Philosophy==
{{Quote box|width=20em|align=right|quote=I am a Musalman and, in the words of Maulana Azad, “caretaker of the thirteen hundred years of the wealth that is Islam.” My deciphering of Islam is the key to the interpretation of my spirit. I am also an Indian and this Indianness is as much a part of my being. Islam does not deter me from believing in my Indian identity.|source=-'''Quote of Suroor from his autobiography'''<ref name="urdustudies1" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Suroor|first1=Ale Ahmad|title=Khwab Baqi Hai|publisher=Aligarh: Educational Book House, 2000 |page=341}}</ref>}}
Suroor's autobiography, ''Khwab Baki Hai'' (Dream Still Remain), states, "Criticism takes the help of science but it is not a science; it is a branch of literature". Regarding poetry Suroor states that poetry does not bring "revolutions" but it creates right environment to make sudden change in mind, it is not "sword" but the "lancet".<ref name="urdustudies1"/>

==Work==
Suroor wrote extensively on Urdu poet [[Muhammad Iqbal]]. Suroor was the founder director of the "Iqbal institute" in Kashmir University which is now known as the "Iqbal institute of Culture and Philosophy". The "Iqbal Chair" was established at Kashmir University in 1977 where Suroor was appointed as Iqbal professor.<ref name="Farooqi2012">{{cite book|author =Mehr Afshan Farooqi|title=Urdu Literary Culture: Vernacular Modernity in the Writing of Muhammad Hasan Askari|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSXHAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA263|date=3 July 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-137-02692-7|pages=263–}}</ref><ref name=GK>{{cite news|last1=Fazil |first1=Takseen |title=Prof. Ale Ahmad Suroor |url=http://wap.greaterkashmir.com/news/gk-magazine/prof-ale-ahmad-suroor/113208.html |access-date=9 November 2015 |agency=Greater Kashmir |date=9 February 2012 }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== Books ===
Suroor authored many books. The following is an incomplete list of Suroor's books.<ref name="urdustudies1" />
* ''Khwab Baaki Hai'' (Dreams Still Remain): It is an autobiography of Suroor published in 1991.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=23345647|title=Ale Ahmed Suroor: "Khwab Baqi Hain"|last1=Jalil|first1=Rakhshanda|journal=Indian Literature|year=2002|volume=4|issue=210|pages=85–89}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/books/farooqi-2010-oxford-india-anthology.html |title=Book Excerptise: The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature: Poetry and Prose Miscellany by Mehr Afshan Farooqi (ed) |publisher=Cse.iitk.ac.in |access-date=2015-10-05}}</ref>
* ''Nazar aur Nazariya'' (Sight and Perspective) (1973): Critic work which won [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] of [[Government of India]] in 1974.
* ''Tanqidi Ishare'' (Critical Signposts) (1942): It was Suroor's first collection of critical writing.
* ''Naye aur Purane Chirag'' (New and Old Lamps) (1946)
* ''Tanqid Kya Hai?'' (What is Criticism?) (1947)
* ''Adab aur Nazariya'' (Literature and Perspective) (1954)
* ''Jadidiyat aur Adab'' (Modernism and Literature) (1967)
* ''Masarrat se Basirat tak'' (From Pleasure to Insight) (1974)
* ''Urdu aur Hindustani Tehjib'' (Urdu and Indian culture) (1985)
* ''Afkar ke Diye'' (The Lamps of the Mind) (2000)

The following are some of books written by Suroor on Iqbal's legacy.<ref name="urdustudies1" />
* ''Iqbal aur unka Falsafa'' (Iqbal and his Philosophy) (1977)
* ''Iqbal:Nazar aur Shairi'' (Iqbal:Vision and Poetry) (1978)
* ''Iqbal, Faiz aur Ham'' (Iqbal, Faiz and We) (1985)
* ''Iqbal ki Manviyat'' (The Relevance of Iqbal) (1986)
* ''Danishwar Iqbal'' (Iqbal The Intellectual) (1996)

== Awards and recognition ==
Suroor was honoured by following major awards<ref name="urdustudies1" />
* Uttar Pradesh Urdu Akademi Award (1954)
* Delhi Urdu Akademi Award (1973)
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1974)
* [[President of Pakistan|Pakistan President's]] "Iqbal Centenary Gold Medal" presented to Suroor by the [[High Commissioner of Pakistan]] to India for his contribution to [[Muhammad Iqbal]] related literature (1978)<ref name="the news">{{cite web|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=193220&Cat=11&dt=9/9/2009|title=Pakistan is equally my country|date=16 August 2009|work=The News International, Pakistan}}</ref><ref name="urdustudies1" />
* Ghalib Modi Award (1982)
* [[Padma Bhushan]] by [[President of India]] (1992)
* Majlis-e-Farogh-e-Urdu (1996) : Regarded as the Urdu-speaking world's highest literary award.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/apr/16urdu.htm|title=Rediff On The NeT: Jeelani Bano shares Urdu literary award with Pakistani writer|work=rediff.com}}</ref>
* Iqbal Samman by Government of [[Madhya Pradesh]] (2001)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1990–99}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suroor, Ale Ahmad}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu]]
[[Category:Urdu-language poets from India]]

Ale Ahmad Suroor - Revision history

>Citation bot at 13:02, 29 May 2021