By Prof Khalid Mehmud (Pulse January 29, 2010)
Prof. Khwaja Masud was a living legend. He did not inherit a famous surname, nor did he occupy a position of authority or privilege, but he commanded respect and admiration of a crowd of loyalists who called him his Guru.
All his life he taught mathematics in Gordon College Rawalpindi – from 1944 onwards for more than half a century until be became the principal of the college after its nationalisation and a few years later when Zia-ul-Haq proclaimed himself as the custodian of Islam and the ideology of Pakistan, Khwaja Sahib was transferred to a Gujar Khan college.
Khwaja Sahib belonged to a Kashmiri family from Duska but after his father’s transfer to Pindi he studied at Gordon College Rawalpindi, opting to study mathematics which was a rare thing to do for a Muslim in pre-partition days. He was an extra-ordinary student who did his Master’s from Punjab University with flying colours and was immediately recruited as a teacher by the mission college. He was known by all and sundry as an excellent teacher of manner that nobody ever missed his class. But his mass popularity among the students of the college was much larger than his students of mathematics as he did many more things to attract and influence scores of students, since there was hardly a college activity, barring sports, he did not participate in.
Khwaja sahib was often carried on shoulders by dancing students and he would nod his approval by waving his head. However, the art of public speaking was his speciality and he tutored countless students in that, apart from the formal forums available in the college. One such activity was the creation of informal debaters club in which the students were trained in extempore speaking. Khwaja sahib himself would lead the discussion. As scores of his students entered public life, became civil servants, joined the army or entered politics, Khwaja Masud’s fame spread to all parts of the country. There was not a single Gordonians who would not identify himself with Khwaja Masud. Small wonder, a former Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat who himself was a student of Khwaja Masud, therefore, fans arranged a special meeting of Gordonians to play host to Khwaja Masud. Among the audience where Khwaja Masud was the guest of honour were scores of formal federal and serving secretaries, generals and politicians. Among them was ex-prime minister Shaukat Aziz.
After his retirement Khwaja Masud started writing a weekly column in a leading newspaper. His choice of subject was rare as he mostly addressed philosophical issues which nobody else in Pakistan has ever done. But this was indeed Khwaja sahib ’ s real self. Khwaja Masud was basically a visionary and intellectual par excellence. There was hardly another person in Pakistan of Khwaja Masud ’ s calibre who could talk about history and the process of social change. Perhaps no one was as well read in history and philosophy as Khwaja Masud, which gave him the facility to write with ease on such issues.
Incidentally, the veteran communist leader Joti Basu died the same day as Khwaja Masud, with whom Khwaja Masud had shared many ideas and values in life. Khwaja Masud was prudent enough not to reveal his political affiliation, especially when he was serving in a missionary college. But it was through words of mouth that all and sundry came to know that Khwaja Masud was a committed socialist. Some radical leftists have accused Khwaja Masud of hiding behind the façade of liberalism to avoid being dubbed as a socialist. They have also charged him with collaboration with the missionary college and later the government. They insist that Khwaja Masud could have called a spade a spade and followed in the foot steps of Faiz, Sajjad Zaheer and Sibtein Hassan. But the fact remains that Khwaja Masud was not a political activist but his role model was that of a guide philosopher. Khwaja Masud ’ s singular contribution to the cause of socialism was that he converted scores of his students to the ideal of social justice for the have-nots. He was indeed a moderator who did not believe in confrontation with his adversaries.
Among the long list of writers whom Khwaja Masud read and admired, and used to recommend by books to friends was Liu-Shao-Chee who disagreed with Mao and was branded as a “capitalist roader ”. But it was not until last year that Khwaja Masud has had the opportunity to go to China, when he was invited by the Chinese government to visit that country as a state guest. During his stay in China he discussed with the Chinese party leaders issues of mutual interests, especially how to go about accomplishing the task of transition from capitalism to socialism.
Khwaja Masud died at the age of 88. Till his last breath he was physically fit and mentally alert. Khwaja sahib was a well dressed person, who always used to wear a suit with a matching necktie. Even after his retirement when he had nowhere to go he would get up in the morning, and dress up properly before he would talk to anyone.
