Barbara Metcalf and Maulana Azad Foundation win Sir Syed Excellence Award

ALIGARH  : The author of seminal books on the history of Muslims of the subcontinent, and internationally acclaimed historian of South Asia and Islam, Barbara Daly Metcalf, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Davis, USA has been selected for this year’s Sir Syed Excellence International Award, while the Sir Syed Excellence National Award will be given to the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, New Delhi at the Sir Syed Day Commemorative Meeting, scheduled to be held at Aligarh on October 17.

The yearly International and National Sir Syed Excellence Awards, given by the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to perpetuate the memory of its founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, and pay homage to his scholarship, carry cash prizes of Rs 200000 and Rs 100000, respectively. The awards are given to noted scholars or organizations who produced outstanding intellectual seminal works in the areas of Sir Syed Studies, South Asian Studies, Muslim Issues, Literature, Medieval History, Social Reform, Communal Harmony, Journalism, and Inter-Faith Dialogue.

AMU Vice Chancellor, Professor Tariq Mansoor, on the recommendation of a jury comprising Prof A R Kidwai, Prof Ali Mohammad Naqvi, Dr. Mohammad Shahid, Mr. Tariq Hasan, and Prof M Shafey Kidwai, finalised the awardees.

The International Sir Syed Excellence Award winner, Barbara Daly Metcalf is a specialist in the history of South Asia and has been privy to the colossal transformation of the Muslim community in the parts of the Indian subcontinent since her initial introduction to their issues in 1970s when she started working on her doctoral project, Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860–1900 (published 1982).

In her trail blazing work, Barbara wiped out the misconception created by the dominant historical discourse on modern India. She consolidated her work on the Urdu writings of traditional religious leaders and developed a historical perspective on India’s colonial past that provided new perspectives on the ulema.

Barbara’s work opened the worlds of these ulema that were viewed as “traditionalists,” or “fundamentalists”. These religious scholars were portrayed by Barbara as inhabiting a much more complex intellectual and institutional world.

Her other works manifesting profound academic rigour include Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanawi’s Bihishti Zewar (1992), A Concise History of India (with Thomas R. Metcalf) (2002), Islamic Contestations: Essays on Muslims in India and Pakistan (2004), Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe (1996) and Essay, “Traditionalist’ Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs” (2001).

Barbara completed her doctoral degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1974, under the guidance of Ira Lapidus, a historian of the Islamic world, and Hamid Algar, a scholar of Persian and Islam. At Berkeley, she developed an interest in the modern history of the South Asian ulema, the religious scholars of Islam, that was to mark her career as a historian.

Barbara served as the Dean, College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Davis, and as the Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of History at the University of Michigan (2003–2009). She was the president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1994 and the president of the American Historical Association in 2010–11.

The Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) was established on the occasion of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s birth centenary celebrations as a befitting tribute to Maulana Azad’s eventful life and scholarship. He was a towering figure on the Indian political scene and a high-rated scholar and journalist in the realms of Urdu Literature.

The Foundation was established in 1989 to promote education amongst the educationally backward minorities in particular and other weaker sections in general. It is a voluntary, non-political, non-profit social service organization, fully funded by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India and the Minister of Minority Affairs is Ex-Officio President of the Foundation.

The MAEF provides scholarships at various levels of studies to meritorious students belonging to financially weaker sections of society. It also gives financial assistance to institutions working for the educationally backward minorities for various purposes including construction and expansion of schools and purchase of science/computer lab equipment’s/furniture under the Grant-in-Aid scheme.

The scholarship schemes run by the MAEF include Pre Matric Scholarships Scheme for Minorities, Post Matric Scholarships Scheme for Minorities, Merit Cum Means Scholarship for Professional and Technical Courses CS and Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship Scheme. Besides these, the Foundation also runs schemes like Gharib Nawaz Employment Scheme for Minorities and Skill Development Programme Under ‘Seekho aur Kamao Scheme’ of the Ministry of Minority Affairs.