JEDDAH — The Urdu Academy Jeddah recently organized held a literary program dubbed "Aoa Urdu Seikhien (Let's Learn Urdu) at a local restaurant here. This initiative to promote Urdu language was part of their seventh quarterly program for this year. Gulam Asif Samdani, a visiting dignitary and supreme guardian of Urdu Academy, presided over the event while Zia Nadwi director of DPS Al Falah International School Jeddah was special guest of the evening. The program started with the recitation of some verses from the Qur'an by Sadiq Shoaib, a student of International Indian School Jeddah followed by a Naat presented by program coordinator Khalid Hussain Madani. Ibrahim presented a poem titled "Yarrubb rahay salamat Urdu zuban humari (O God Protect our Urdu language). Academy President Syed Jamal Qadri in his welcome speech paid rich tribute to Samdani and shed light on his long-time services. While addressing the gathering Samdani said, "We always step forward for the betterment of Urdu language despite rumors about the dark future of language and its poor condition. "We work hard for the betterment of Urdu language and for that we distribute school bags, books and felicitate the top students, teachers and headmasters of Urdu schools. "We move forward with an aim to spread Urdu language all over India and Academy's Lets Learn Urdu' program at every three months will develop Urdu atmosphere among Jeddah students Zia Nadwi in his speech said "Our ancestors left a huge collection and rich culture in Urdu language, to convey it to our next generation such that they need to learn the language properly." Nadawi praised the efforts of Academy to promote Urdu language. Mohd. Faheem, program organizer of the Academy, compered the program, academy member Hashim Ali presented an article on famous poet Quli Qutub Shah and held a quiz based on it. Abdul Sattar Khan conducted a quiz of Let's Learn Urdu based on meanings of difficult Urdu words, idioms and matching the word with its correct definition. Sheik Ibrahim, Riyaz Ahmed and Munawwar Khan distributed prizes in winners. Famous poets Ather Asloobi and Kamil Hyderabadi presented some of their couplets and thrilled the audience. A group of ten students from International Indian school presented parody of famous poets and amazed the audience. Their talent in replica of famous poets delighted the audience. Students who performed were Abdul Rehman, who acted like famous poet Nadeem Shad, Mohd Abdulla ( Majid Devbandi), Mohd Anees Patel (Munawwar Rana), Asrar Husaini (Ghous Khamakhwa), Ali Mohd Rayees (Johar Kanpoori), Ubaid Ullah Mohd (Imran Pratab Gadhi) while in girls Saima Rafi Sufi ( Ambareen Haseeb), Samia Shamim (Ada Jafri) and Nadia Anees Ahmed (Lata Haya). They all received prizes from the Academy for their marvelous performances. Academy members who worked hard to make program a great success were Sheikh Ibrahim, Hafiz Mohd Abdul Salam, Aslam Afghani, Liakath Ali Khan, Mahmoud Hashmi, Munawwar Khan, Riyaz Ahmed, Abdul Sattar Khan, Rafat Siddiqui, Ahmed Mohiuddin, Saif Qadri and Fawad Anwar. Saleem Farooqi, general secretary of Urdu Academy Jeddah, proposed the vote of thanks.
