Muhammad Umar Memon
{{short description|Scholar of the Urdu literature (1939–2018)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Muhammad Umar Memon
| image = Muhammad Umar Memon.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1939
| birth_place = Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2018|06|03|1939}}
| death_place = Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| website = {{official|https://web.archive.org/web/20210311184608/https://sites.google.com/site/muhammadumarmemon/}}
}}
Muhammad Umar Memon ({{langx|ur|{{nq|محمد عمر میمن}}}}; 1939 – {{nowrap|3 June}} 2018) was a scholar of the Urdu language and literature. As Professor Emeritus of Urdu Literature and Arabic Studies at University of Wisconsin–Madison, his activity included translation, short story writing, and editing the The Annual of Urdu Studies.
Memon retired from the University of Wisconsin in 2009 after 38 years of teaching, but remained active as a scholar. He was also a long-time editorial board member of Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies,{{cite web |url=http://www.pakistaniaat.org/about/displayMembership/150 |title=People | work=Pakistaniaat | access-date=24 March 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327194308/http://www.pakistaniaat.org/about/displayMembership/150 |archive-date=27 March 2012 }} as well as an advisor to the Urdu Project, which was created to meet the challenges of publishing translations of literary works of Urdu language in the North American market.{{cite web |url=http://urduproject.wordpress.com/ |title=Urdu Project |website=urduproject.wordpress.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605172308/http://urduproject.wordpress.com/ |archive-date=5 June 2009}}
Life and career
Memon was born in Aligarh, India in 1939 to a Memon family. In 1954, his family moved to Karachi, Pakistan where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees. After his graduation, he taught at Sachal Sarmast College and Sind University. In 1964 he won a Fulbright scholarship to the United States. This move enabled him to earn a master's degree from Harvard University and eventually a doctorate in Islamic Studies from UCLA.{{cite web |last=Alden |first=Anjum Dawood |date=14 January 2009 |title=Interview with Muhammad Umar Memon |work=Pak US Online |url=http://www.pakusonline.com/page.aspx?page_id=98 |access-date=23 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430041034/http://www.pakusonline.com/page.aspx?page_id=98 |archive-date=30 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}{{cite journal |last=Khan |first=Abroo H. |year=2009 |title=An Interview with Dr. Muhammad Umar Memon |journal=Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=180–199 |url=http://www.pakistaniaat.org/article/download/5001/3412 |access-date=23 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327194317/http://www.pakistaniaat.org/article/download/5001/3412 |archive-date=27 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}
Memon joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) in 1970; upon his retirment after 38 years of service, he had received the title Professor Emeritus of Urdu Literature and Arabic Studies.{{cite web |last=Lucas |first=John |date=14 January 2002 |title=Professor published world's only English journal on Urdu |url=http://www.news.wisc.edu/6962|publisher=Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System }} At UW he taught Urdu, Islamic Studies as well courses in Arabic and Persian. Memon died on 3 June 2018.{{cite web |date=21 June 2018 |title=Muhammad Memon, renowned Urdu scholar, dies at 79 |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |url=https://news.wisc.edu/muhammad-memon-renowned-urdu-scholar-dies-at-79/ |access-date=23 March 2025 }}
Selected publications
See Memon's website for a more complete list:{{Cite web|url=http://sites.google.com/site/muhammadumarmemon/bibliography|title = Bibliography - Muhammad Umar Memon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314182605/https://sites.google.com/site/muhammadumarmemon/bibliography |archive-date=14 March 2021 |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite book |author1=Muhammad Umar Memon|author2=Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm Ibn Taymīyah|title=Ibn Taimīya's struggle against popular religion: with an annotated translation of his Kitāb iqtiḍāʾ aṣ-ṣirāṭ al-mustaquīm mukhālafat aṣḥāb al-jaḥīm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTMKAQAAIAAJ|access-date=30 July 2011|year=1976|publisher=Mouton|isbn=978-90-279-7591-1}}
- Studies in the Urdu Gazal and Prose Fiction. Madison: University of Wisconsin press, 1979.
- {{Cite book | last1 = Memon | first1 = Muhammad Umar | title = An epic unwritten | year = 1998 | publisher = Penguin Books | location = New Delhi ; New York | isbn = 978-0-14-027227-7 }}
- {{Cite book | last1 = Memon | first1 = Muhammad Umar | title = The Harper Collins book of Urdu short stories | year = 2005 | publisher = Harper Collins Publishers | location = New Delhi | isbn = 978-81-7223-611-3 }}
- English translations of many of Naiyer Masud's Urdu short stories, including the volumes Essence of Camphor and The Snake Catcher
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official|https://web.archive.org/web/20210311184608/https://sites.google.com/site/muhammadumarmemon/}}
- [http://www.urdustudies.com/ The Annual of Urdu Studies]
- [http://wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/muhammad-umar-memon/ Articles by Memon] on Words Without Borders
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Category:Pakistani educational theorists
Category:Pakistani literary critics
Category:Harvard University alumni