DiannaGariepy5 at 12:44, 21 December 2025

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{{short description|Urdu poet and literary critic}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=April 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Progressive Writers' Movement}}
'''Muhammad Din Taseer''' (28 February 1902 – 1 December 1950), also known as '''Deen Muhammad Taseer'''<ref name=death/> and popularly known as '''M. D. Taseer''', was a Pakistani Urdu poet, writer, and literary critic.<ref name=iqbal/> He is considered one of the pioneers of the progressive movement in Urdu literature.<ref name=iqbal/>

== Early life ==
M. D. Taseer was born in [[Ajnala, India|Ajnala]], Amritsar district, [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]],<ref name=personality/> on 28 February 1902<ref name=death/> to a family of [[Kashmiris of Punjab|Kashmiri ancestry]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/blog.php?blogstory=6|title=Salmaan Taseer: the future waits|last=Basheer|first=Tariq|publisher=[[The Friday Times]]|language=English|accessdate=23 July 2015|archive-date=22 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122134659/http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/blog.php?blogstory=6|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Taseer">{{cite web | url=http://www.newsweekpakistan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=131&Itemid=53 | title='To Hell Where They Belong': In conversation with Salmaan Taseer, governor of the Punjab. |publisher=Newsweek Pakistan| date=4 January 2012 | accessdate=6 July 2012}}</ref> His father, a tribesman from kashmir named Mian Atta ud Din Taseer, died when he was a small child, and he was brought up by his uncle Mian Nizam ud Din Taseer in Lahore.<ref name=personality/> He was a friend of [[Allama Iqbal]] since his childhood.<ref name=remembering/><ref name=iqbal/>

In 1933 Taseer started a literary journal called Karwan.<ref name=iqbal/> After his M. A., while employed as an assistant professor in the [[University of Punjab]], Lahore, he went to [[University of Cambridge]] for a PhD in English literature, with Iqbal's letter of recommendation.<ref name=iqbal/> He reached London in 1933 and began his M. Litt. at Pembroke College, Cambridge. His research supervisor [[Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch]] asked the University Senate to allow him to work on his PhD without obtaining an M. Litt first.<ref name=52nd/> His PhD thesis was titled "India and the Near East in English literature from the earliest times to 1924".<ref name=52nd/> Taseer is said to be the first person from the [[Indian subcontinent]] to have obtained a PhD in English Literature in England,<ref name=remembering/><ref name=death/> but it is not true because Taseer completed his PhD at Cambridge in 1936,<ref>{{cite thesis | url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/250853 | title=India and the Near East in English literature from the earliest times to 1924 | year=1936 | publisher=University of Cambridge | type=Thesis | last1=Taseer | first1=Mohammed Deen }}</ref> whereas Saiyid Abdul Latif, was awarded a doctorate in English literature from the University of London in 1924.<ref>{{cite thesis | url=https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00034031 | doi=10.25501/SOAS.00034031 | year=1924 | last1=Latif | first1=Saiyid Abdul | title=The Influence of English Literature on Urdu Literature | type=phd }}</ref>

== Career ==
On his return from Cambridge at the end of 1935, Taseer joined the [[Govt. M.A.O College Lahore|Muslim Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College in Amritsar]] as its principal. Along with [[Faiz Ahmad Faiz]] he was one of the founders of the [[Progressive Writers' Movement]].<ref name=personality/>

In 1941, Taseer was appointed the principal of [[Sri Pratap College]] in Srinagar. In 1942 he became the founding principal of the new [[Amar Singh College]], which was an offshoot of the Sri Pratap College. In 1943, he was given in the [[British Raj|Government of India]], helping in the war effort. He worked in Simla and Delhi.<ref name=personality/>

After the [[Partition of India]], he moved to Pakistan, worked as the principal of the [[Islamia College (Lahore)|Islamia College]] in Lahore.<ref name=personality/>

== 1947 Kashmir conflict ==
In the first week of October 1947, the Government of Pakistan reportedly sent him, along with [[Faiz Ahmad Faiz]], to persuade [[Sheikh Abdullah]], the leader of the [[Jammu & Kashmir National Conference]], to join Pakistan. Abdullah, who had just been released from prison by the Maharaja's government, was unwilling. He wanted to keep his options open. According to Abdullah, Taseer told him that, if Kashmir did not join Pakistan, they would have to think of "other ways". Abdullah's response was that "a decision must be made by the people themselves and they must be allowed to make it."<ref name=personality/>{{sfn|Taseer, The Kashmir of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah|1986|pp=50–51}}

Abdullah's indecision ended with the [[Pakistani tribal invasion of Kashmir]] on 22 October. He asked the Indian prime minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] to accept Kashmir's accession and send the troops needed for the defence of Kashmir.<ref>{{citation |last=Mahajan |first=Mehr Chand |authorlink=Mehr Chand Mahajan |title=Looking Back: The Autobiography of Mehr Chand Mahajan, Former Chief Justice of India |url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.119631/2015.119631.Looking-Back#page/n1/mode/2up |year=1963 |publisher=Asia Publishing House |page=152}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Jha |first=Prem Shankar |title=The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kluAAAAMAAJ |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-566486-7 |pages=207–208}}</ref>

== Life ==
In 1937 Taseer fell in love with a British tourist named Christobel George, who had also been a student at Cambridge.<ref name=personality/> They were married in 1938, with Allama Iqbal himself drafting the marriage-deed (nikahnama) for the couple, including the right of divorce for Christobel George, and Christobel converting to Islam and adopting the name of Balqees Taseer (also spelled Bilquis Taseer).<ref name=personality/> Christobel's sister [[Alys Faiz]] married [[Faiz Ahmad Faiz]].<ref name=remembering/>

M. D. Taseer was the father of the 26th [[Governor_of_Punjab,_Pakistan|Governor of Punjab]] [[Salmaan Taseer]] and the grandfather of [[Aatish Taseer]].<ref name=remembering/> His daughter Salma Mahmud published a memoir ''The Wings of Time'', recounting his life.<ref name=legacy/>

Taseer died of a heart attack on 30 November<ref name=death/> or 1 December 1950, at age 47.<ref name=iqbal/>

==Works==
* {{cite book|author1=M. D. Taseer|author2=Khurram Khiraam Siddiqui|title=Articles of Dr. M.D. Taseer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1erSQAACAAJ|year=2009|publisher=Pakistan Academy of Letters|isbn=978-969-472-188-0}}
* {{cite book|author1=M. D. Taseer|author2=Afzal Haq Qarshi|title=Iqbāl kā fikr o fann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxBCnQEACAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Bazm-i Iqbāl}}
* {{cite book|author=M. D. Taseer|title=Iqbal: The Universal Poet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhkKAQAAIAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Munib Publications}}

Taseer's lyrics were used in the [[Khandan (1942 film)|1942 film Khandan]].

==References==
<references>

<ref name=remembering>{{Cite web|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/99271/remembering-the-man-the-lesser-known-side-of-salmaan-taseer-national/|title = Remembering the man: The lesser known side of Salmaan Taseer|date = 4 January 2011}}</ref>
<ref name=personality>Muhammad Amin Malik, [http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/gk-magazine/remembering-a-personality/110096.html Remembering a Personality], Greater Kashmir, 22 December 2011.</ref>
<ref name=iqbal>[http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/02-Dec-2003/mohammad-din-taseer-and-mohammad-iqbal Mohammad Din Taseer and Mohammad Iqbal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118192930/http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/02-Dec-2003/mohammad-din-taseer-and-mohammad-iqbal |date=2015-01-18 }}</ref>
<ref name=death>[http://www.lhrtimes.com/2012/11/30/renowned-urdu-poet-dr-deen-muhammad-taseers-death-anniversary-today-113029/ Renowned Urdu poet Dr Deen Muhammad Taseer’s death anniversary today] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118195157/http://www.lhrtimes.com/2012/11/30/renowned-urdu-poet-dr-deen-muhammad-taseers-death-anniversary-today-113029/ |date=2015-01-18 }}</ref>
<ref name=52nd>[http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/01-Dec-2002/52nd-death-anniversary 52nd death anniversary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118203148/http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/01-Dec-2002/52nd-death-anniversary |date=2015-01-18 }}</ref>
<ref name=legacy>[http://tribune.com.pk/story/331889/the-legacy-of-an-orphan-genius/ The legacy of an orphan genius]</ref>

</references>

== Bibliography ==
* {{citation |last=Taseer |first=Christobel Bilqees |title=The Kashmir of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNpHAAAAMAAJ |year=1986 |publisher=Ferozsons |ref={{sfnref|Taseer, The Kashmir of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah|1986}}}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taseer, MD}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:Taseer family|MD]]
[[Category:Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent]]
[[Category:Writers from Amritsar]]
[[Category:Poets from Lahore]]
[[Category:Urdu-language Pakistani poets]]
[[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Government Islamia College]]
[[Category:Writers from British India]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of the Punjab]]
[[Category:People of the 1947 Kashmir conflict]]
[[Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)]]

M. D. Taseer - Revision history

DiannaGariepy5 at 12:44, 21 December 2025