With the passing of Prof. C.M. Naim, the literary world has lost a colossal figure whose immense contributions to Urdu language and literature spanned over six decades. His demise, on July 9, 2025, marks the end of a truly glittering chapter in Urdu literary history, leaving a profound void that will be felt keenly across intellectual circles globally. Professor Naim's departure comes at a time when the Urdu literary criticism landscape has already been significantly diminished by the loss of several other prominent critics who were once the luminous lights guiding Urdu's engagement with global literary trends. The Urdu literary scene has been rendered bleak following the deaths of front ranking critics like Shamshur Rahman Farooqui, Prof. Gopichand Narang, Prof. Kaleemuddin Ahmad, Prof. Wahab Ashrafi, Waris Alvi, Prof. Ale Ahmad Saroor, Prof. Asloob Ahmad Ansari, Prof. Qamar Rayees, Prof. Mohammad Hassan and Prof. Shameem Hanfi, to name a few, who were the luminous lights of Urdu literary criticism. They had brought Urdu literature close to the western and European literary traditions, or any literary movement in the west was immediately reported to Urdu readers through these critics who were well informed and knew the direction of world literature be it novels, short stories and literary theories. But with their egress, Urdu literature plunged into the abyss of ignorance as those who succeeded him were poor substitutes appointed by these very critics who raised a generation of Urdu critics and writers who lacked the scholarship or did not inherit the class of their predecessors.

In fact, Prof. Naim was the last link of the great Urdu literary tradition associated with Chicago University, whose service to Urdu language and literature must be recorded in golden letters. A well-read academics and a globe trotting scholar, was born in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh in 1936, the year when People’s Writers Association was founded in Lucknow. He studied Urdu in the city of Nawabs, completed his Master's from Lucknow University in 1955 before going to the University of California, Berkeley in US.

Dr. Naim served as Professor Emiretus of South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago, a position he held for decades. He taught there from 1961 to 2000. He chaired the South Asian languages and civilizations department from 1985 to 1981. He launched many journals as he wrote extensively on matters to do with Urdu language, culture ,and its politics as Urdu was almost discarded from the land of its birth. Prof Naim had plenty of publications to his credit that were polemical yet profound and initiated discourses in Urdu literature that were historical in the context of the changing face of Urdu language and possibilities of its growth and development that too outside of the country. Following is the list of his contributions to Urdu literature:

Urdu Reader (with John Gumperz). Berkeley: Center for South Asia Studies, University of California (1960).

Conversational Hindi-Urdu, 2 vols. (with John Gumperz, June Romery and A. B. Singh). Berkeley: ASUC Store, University of California (1963).

Readings in Urdu: Prose and Poetry. Honolulu: East-West Center Press, for the South Asia Language and Area Center, University of Hawaii (1965).

Iqbal, Jinnah, and Pakistan: The Vision and the Reality. Ed. by C. M. Naim. Syracuse: Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University (1979).

Curfew in the City: Novella by Vibhuti Narain Rai (translated from Hindi), New Delhi: Roli Books (1998).

Zikr-i Mir: The Autobiography of the Eighteenth Century Mughal Poet Mir Muhammad Taqi 'Mir'. (translated from the Persian, with annotation and introduction). New Delhi: Oxford University Press (1999).

Ambiguities of Heritage: Fictions and Polemics. Karachi: City Books (1999). Available at Ambiguities of Heritage (1999), by C. M. Naim

A Season of Betrayals: A Short Story and Two Novellas by Qurratulain Hyder (translated from Urdu). New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1999.)

Introductory Urdu, 2 vols. Chicago: Committee on Southern Asian Studies, University of Chicago, 1975. Revised edition, 1980. Third revised edition, Chicago 1999. Also published, New Delhi: Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (2000).

Inspector Matadeen on the Moon: selected satires of Harishankar Parsai (translated from Hindi). New Delhi: Katha (2003).

Urdu Texts and Contexts: The Selected Essays of C. M. Naim. New Delhi: Permanent Black (2004).

A Killing in Ferozewala: Essays / Polemics / Reviews. Karachi: City Press (2013).

The Muslim League in Barabanki: Essays / Polemics. Karachi: City Press (2013).

The Hijab and I: Essays/Polemics/Reviews. Karachi: City Press (2015)

Mir Taqi Mir: Remembrances. Edited and translated by C. M. Naim. (Murty Classical Library of India) Cambridge: Harvard University Press (2019)

A Most Noble Life: The Biography of Ashraffunnisa Begum (1877—1903). Edited and translated by C. M. Naim. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2022.

From the above list, it is obvious that throughout his life, Prof. C. M. Naim remained a committed soldier of Urdu language and literature, and his death today ends one of the most glittering chapters in the history of Urdu literature. May the departed soul rest in peace.

Throughout his remarkable career, Professor Naim was a prolific writer, academician, and tireless advocate for Urdu. He launched numerous journals and wrote extensively on the language, its culture, and its often-complex politics, especially as Urdu faced marginalization in its land of origin. His extensive list of publications, including "Urdu Reader," "Introductory Urdu," "Zikr-i Mir," and "Urdu Texts and Contexts," are a testament to his profound scholarship. His works were often polemical yet always insightful, initiating crucial discourses that explored the evolving nature of Urdu and its possibilities for growth and development beyond national borders.

Professor Naim's unwavering commitment to Urdu language and literature, evident in his vast body of scholarly and translational work, truly makes him a "committed soldier" of the language. His death represents the closure of one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of Urdu literature. His profound scholarship, intellectual vigour, and enduring dedication to promoting his mother tongue globally will be deeply missed.

(Author is an English professor at the College of Commerce, Arts & Science, Patna.)