Muhammad Umar Memon

Muhammad Umar Memon
Muhammad Umar Memon
Born	1939; Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Died	3 June 2018 (aged 78–79); Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Website	Official website

Muhammad Umar Memon (Urdu: محمد عمر میمن; 1939 – 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,^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]^[4]

Memon joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) in 1970; upon his retirement after 38 years of service, he had received the title Professor Emeritus of Urdu Literature and Arabic Studies.^[5] At UW he taught Urdu, Islamic Studies as well courses in Arabic and Persian.^[3]^[4] Memon died on 3 June 2018.^[6]

Selected publications

See Memon's website for a more complete list:^[7]

Muhammad Umar Memon; Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm Ibn Taymīyah (1976). Ibn Taimīya's struggle against popular religion: with an annotated translation of his Kitāb iqtiḍāʾ aṣ-ṣirāṭ al-mustaquīm mukhālafat aṣḥāb al-jaḥīm. Mouton. ISBN 978-90-279-7591-1. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
Studies in the Urdu Gazal and Prose Fiction. Madison: University of Wisconsin press, 1979.
Memon, Muhammad Umar (1998). An epic unwritten. New Delhi ; New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-027227-7.
Memon, Muhammad Umar (2005). The Harper Collins book of Urdu short stories. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers. 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

^ "People". Pakistaniaat. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
^ "Urdu Project". urduproject.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009.
^ ^a ^b Alden, Anjum Dawood (14 January 2009). "Interview with Muhammad Umar Memon". Pak US Online. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
^ ^a ^b Khan, Abroo H. (2009). "An Interview with Dr. Muhammad Umar Memon". Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies. 1 (2): 180–199. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
^ Lucas, John (14 January 2002). "Professor published world's only English journal on Urdu". Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
^ "Muhammad Memon, renowned Urdu scholar, dies at 79". University of Wisconsin-Madison. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
^ "Bibliography - Muhammad Umar Memon". Archived from the original on 14 March 2021.