(LETTER) Sir, The removal of the remains of Jamal-ud-Din Afghani from Constantinople to Kabul has a lesson which the Muslims of India … must take to heart. Since the death of Aurangzeb, Indian Muslims have produced only … Shah Wali Ullah, Syed Ahmad Shahid and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

Of this trio, Shah Wali Ullah was by far the greatest but we have shown him the least respect. He died in 1762 and during all this intervening period his biography remains unwritten and some of his works unprinted. But the heart-rending fact is that his school which gave name to the mohalla in which it was situated has been bought by a Hindu and the mohalla named Madrassa Rai Bahadur Lala Ram Kishan Das. Woe be to the man who sold it! …[N]obody, I am sure, will dispute that whatever religiousness exists among Indian Muslims is due to this school. It has now disappeared…. Syed Ahmad Shahid lies buried in his martyr’s dress at Balakot…. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s house is being used for residential purposes. Cannot we turn it into a museum or make some other worthy use [of it] for commemoration?

Yours etc., ASLAM SIDDIQUI (Dawn, Delhi)

Published in Dawn December 24th , 2014