Zamin Ali

Syed Mohammad Zamin Ali Naqvi (1893–1955) popularly known as Zamin Ali was an Indian poet, author and educator. He has been referred to as "Baba-e-Urdu" or father of Urdu by Firaq Gorakhpuri and others.

As an educator, he established the first Urdu department in un-divided India in 1924 at Allahabad University, systematized Urdu education from the primary to the PhD levels across India through the creation of curricula and textbooks, ensured Marsiyas were recognized as an art-form besides their religious content, and was an important contributor to Hindustani Academy's effort to establish Hindustani as a dual-script language based on Mahatma Gandhi's vision.

As a poet, with the pen-name "Zamin", he belonged to the Lucknow school of poetry and is a leading exemplar of Urdu poetry of his times. His poetic works include Ghazaliyat-e-Zamin, Kalaam-e-Zamin, and Majmua-e-Qasaid-o-Salaam. Ghazaliyat-e-Zamin was re-published by Rekhta Publishers and released by Javed Akhtar at the Jashn-e-Rekhta festival in 2024.