Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri (25 December 1901 – 30 December 2015) was an
Indian independence activist,
Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians.
Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...
and a physician of the
Unani system of medicine.
He accompanied Gandhiji in the
Salt March of 1930 and was a prison mate of the Indian leader when they were incarcerated by the British regime at Cuttack jail.
He was the founder of a medical magazine, ''Hikmat-e-Bangala'' and was among the group of people who founded the Calcutta Unani Medical College and Hospital.
The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the
Padma Bhushan, in 2007, for his contributions to Indian medicine.
Biography
Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri was born on 25 December 1901 to Mohammad Mohibbudin, a Unani practitioner, at Kumrava of
Nawada district
Nawada district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. Nawada is its administrative headquarters. The district is the easternmost district of the Magadh division, one of the nine administrative divisions of Bihar. The ...
, in the Indian state of
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
.
His family moved to Calcutta when he was in the mid-thirties where he spent the rest of his life. Learning
Unani medicine from his father, he assisted his father in his practice. During this time, he was also involved in the Indian freedom struggle and participated in the
Salt March in 1930, along with
Gandhiji
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
and was jailed.
He continued his association with the freedom activists and when
Rajendra Prasad, who would later become the first president of India, fell ill due to respiratory problems, Quadri assisted his father in treating the future president.
Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri
opposed the two-nation theory that advocated for the division of colonial India.
Quadri was the founder of '' Hikmat-e-Bangala'' a medical magazine focused on Unani system of medicine, but the magazine eventually was closed doen due to paucity of funds.
In 1994, he assisted Syed Faizan Ahmad in founding the Calcutta Unani Medical College and Hospital. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the
Padma Bhushan in 2007.
He died on 30 December 2015, at the age of 114, at his Ripon Street residence in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, survived by his seven children.
See also
*
Salt March
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quadri, Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in medicine
1901 births
2015 deaths
People from Nawada district
20th-century Indian medical doctors
Unani practitioners
Indian independence activists from Bihar
Gandhians
Men supercentenarians
Medical doctors from Bihar