TRIBUTE TO Dr. Zohra Azam
A Homage to the Art of Educational Passion
The healing recitation of the Qasidah Burdah (Imam Busairi, 1211-1294) helped millions of people to overcome physical and psychological maladies; events of healing remain a mystical act that goes well beyond medical remission. Dr. Zohra Azam has provided the Urdu speaker with a free – verse translation (2009) from the Arabic original, thus making this poetry of divine healing available to the understanding of millions of Pakistani people. Magic recovery from illness and disease, in partnership with the professional advice of a physician, is a divine act of removing painful shadows from the living soul and restoring the original oneness of body and soul that can go easily lost in the pilgrimage of life.
The role of woman in the process of societal development, as exemplified by Dr. Zohra Azam, is that of eminent educational pioneers; the avant-garde of Muslim women in social change is more than just the daily labor of educating a new generation of women for their role under changing social conditions. Islami social change, with special reference to women and young people, is about creating an ethical future for families, new generations and the elderly. Educators in very fast emerging nations like Pakistan have to work under almost unbearable stress that results from bridging the many
divides in the country, ranging from rural to urban life, and only a clear cultural agenda can yield fruits.
I am congratulating Dr. Zohra Azam to the IIAS Award (2015) for outstanding contributions to societal development in Pakistan and Muslim countries in general; everybody who has a good memory of his own career knows how important educational role models like Dr. Zohra are for the social development of talent, trust and ambition.
The passionate educator develops the human potential of the person and does primarily not refer to gender; as a biological fact, gender exists as a fact of nature by divine decree and design. Education was not invented to abolish nature, but to help men and women to understand their decisive tasks for work, home, life and the human community. In my opinion, the life and work of Dr. Zohra documents this vital challenge profoundly and in very depth; I am extending my congratulation to both, brother and sister Azam, who have worked very hard to advance the educational agenda of Islami futuristics in Pakistan.
Stephen I. Ternyik Social science researcher & entrepreneur (-1985) StephenJehucal@web.de