AN INTERVIEW WITH PROF. FARIDA KHANAM

happened. I was selected. It was a special help from God. A village girl who did not get elementary education was now going to be a lecturer in a reputed university. It was in 1994. It is usually really difficult for someone to get a permanent job in a university. One has to work on a temporary basis for many years before getting a permanent post. I got a permanent post just after seven months. I was another person before Jamia, I became another person after Jamia. I did not know how to talk, how to interact. Now I got the opportunity to engage in fruitful intellectual discussions with fellow teachers and students. I participated in seminars and conferences that helped me in my travels all over the world. How did your career pan out in Jamia? I had a twenty-four-year rich career at Jamia Millia Islamia. I had the opportunity to teach almost every subject about Islam and related fields. I taught Islamic History, Period of the Prophet and his Companions, Islamic Jurisprudence, Muslim Theology, Islamic Mysticism, World’s Major Religions, Muslim Philosophy and Muslim Sciences. I also wrote articles and books on many of these subjects. I began my career as an assistant professor. I then moved up the ladder and worked as an associate professor. I retired in 2017 as fullfledged professor. One needs to show academic work for promotion in universities. Therefore, I wrote a lot of articles and books. This academic pursuit required me to read voraciously. All of these greatly benefited me in my intellectual and personal development. Whom did you look up to among the Islamic personalities during your youth? I don’t remember any writer having any particular impact on me. I would just read my father’s writings. My father introduced me to Khalida Adeeb Khanam (1884–1964). She was born in Turkey. One of her books was about the Conflict between the East and the West in Turkey. I was thus inspired to write a book one day. She visited India and delivered lectures in different universities. This book was published in Urdu in 1938 titled ‘Turkey mein Mashriq-OMaghrib ki Kashmakash.' One of the main reasons that Urdu writers did not impress me was the style of their writing. Urdu writers still write in a rhetorical and poetical manner. The words they use are high-sounding verbose, but having no real import. Urdu writings are full of bombastic words. On the other hand, English literature is realistic in its approach.