Abdul Kalam Was Not The Only Muslim Who Contributed Towards India

By Saad Saud

October 4, 2015

Recently, Indian Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma stoked controversy by opining that former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam was “a great nationalist despite being a Muslim”.

Politicians’ contributions:

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Badruddin Tyabji, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Asaf Ali, Syed Mahmud, Zakir Hussain, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, APJ Abdul Kalam, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Muhammad Yunus, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan, Khwaja Abdul Hamied, MC Chagla, Mohammad Hidayatullah, Salman Khurshid, E Ahamed, Sheikh Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Sikander Bakht, Shahnawaz Hussain.

Bureaucrats’ contribution:

Ali Yavar Jung, Abid Hussain, Salman Haider, Syed Akbaruddin, SY Quraishi, Wajahat Habibullah.

Actors’ contribution:

Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Aamir Khan, Dilip Kumar, Feroz Khan, Mehmood Ali, Arshad Warsi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Shabana Azmi, Zeenat Aman, Farida Jalal, Farooq Sheikh, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu, Farhan Akhtar, Zohra Sehgal, Habib Tanvir.

Musicians and vocalists’ contribution:

Amjad Ali Khan, AR Rahman, Anu Malik, Naushad, Zakir Hussain, Bismillah Khan, Begum Akhtar, Lucky Ali.

Poets and lyricists’ contributions:

Akhlaq Muhammad Khan (Shahryar), Shakeel Badayuni, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Majaz Lakhnawi, Kaifi Azmi, Ali Sardar Jafri, Sahir Ludhianvi, Javed Akhtar, Nida Fazli, Bashir Badr, Rahat Indori, Salim Khan.

Filmmakers’ contribution:

Kamal Amrohi, K Asif, Muzaffar Ali, Shaad Ali, Zoya Akhtar.

Writers and academics’ contribution:

Qurratulain Hyder, Ismat Chughtai, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, MJ Akbar, Muhibbul Hasan, Mushirul Hasan, Zoya Hasan, Mohammad Habib, Irfan Habib, Rakhshanda Jalil, Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, Asghar Ali Engineer.

Business and entrepreneurs’ contribution: 

Azim Premji, Yusuf Hamied, Shahnaz Hussain, BS Abdur Rahman.

Cricketers’ contribution:

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Mohammad Azharuddin, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan.

Military and army contribution:

Abdul Hamid, Mohammad Usman, Idris Latif.

A subeditor for the Lahore desk of The Express Tribune. He graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MA (Hons) in International Relations. He tweets @saadnama (twitter.com/saadnama)

Source: blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/29697/abdul-kalam-was-not-the-only-muslim-who-contributed-towards-india/

URL: http://newageislam.com/current-affairs/saad-saud/abdul-kalam-was-not-the-only-muslim-who-contributed-towards-india/d/104839