5 interesting facts about Urdu writer Abdul Qavi Desnavi

Abdul Qavi Desnavi was mentor to famous poets and academicians including Javed Akhtar and Iqbal Masood

By: Kanishk Singh |
November 1, 2017 11:31 am

November 1 marks the 87th birth anniversary of noted Indian Urdu language writer, critic, bibliographer and linguist Abdul Qavi Desanvi. Google celebrated the birth anniversary of the critic with a doodle styled in the Urdu script. Born in Bihar’s Desna village, Desnavi played a powerful role in the evolution of Urdu literature in India and was a well-known literary figure.

Here are a few interesting facts about the Urdu author:

1. Desnavi was born in 1930 into the family of Muslim scholar Syed Sulaiman Nadvi who was a noted historian and biographer of the Prophet Muhammad. Desnavi was the second son of SM Saeed Raza who was the professor of Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages in St Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

2. Desnavi received his primary education in Arrah, Bihar and completed his graduation and post-graduation from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

We pay our humble homage to Late Prof. Abdul Qavi Desnavi on his 87th birth anniversary.

Team SNSMT pic.twitter.com/ipOqWjWftW

— SNSMT (@SNSMT) October 31, 2017

3. Desnavi was the head of the Urdu department in Bhopal’s Saifia Post Graduate college and retired in 1990.

4. He was a mentor to now famous poets and writers like Javed Akhtar and Iqbal Masood.

5. Desnavi wrote more than 50 books in Urdu and translated his books in other Indian languages. His prominent works included Sat Tahriren, Motala-E-Khotoot Ghalib on Ghalib, Talash-E-Azad and his magnum opus Hayat-e-Abul Kalam Azad which is the biography of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and celebrated his life and works.

Desnavi died on July 7, 2011.