SIR Hunt Unearths Delhi Man's 'Prophet Contest' Certificate: Why Did Hindus Learn Urdu?
SIR Hunt Unearths Delhi Man's 'Prophet Contest' Certificate: Why Did Hindus Learn Urdu? Published By, Last Updated: July 09, 2026, 13:41 IST Delhi man recalled
SIR Hunt Unearths Delhi Man's 'Prophet Contest' Certificate: Why Did Hindus Learn Urdu? Published By, Last Updated: July 09, 2026, 13:41 IST Delhi man recalled people questioning his religious-competition participation, though it felt normal in school; his kids asking "What is Seerat?" showed their different upbringing Teacher Jahan recalls pupil Surbhi scoring 35/100 initially, then reading Iqbal and Ghalib within six months after starting with the Urdu alphabet. (Representational Image) As Delhi families dig through steel almirahs and dusty trunks searching for documents amid the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, one man’s search unearthed a forgotten 1995 certificate honouring him, a Hindu student, for participating in a school competition on the life of Prophet Muhammad. Sharad Kumar Sharma, a 46-year-old senior manager at a Gurugram-based firm, began searching for old family records after failing to trace his parents’ names on electoral rolls from the early 2000s, when the family moved from Aligarh to Delhi. Instead, he found a yellowing certificate from AMU City High School, bearing the Aligarh Muslim University seal and the signature of then-principal Badrul Islam, recognising his participation in “Seerat" competitions on the Prophet’s life, according to Times of India.
What Did The Certificate Reveal About Sharma’s Schooling In Aligarh? The certificate specifically noted Sharma’s participation despite being a non-Muslim student, a detail he says he’d completely forgotten until the SIR-driven document hunt brought it back. He told TOI he wasn’t looking for it — he was only searching for proof of residency and identity. Why Were Hindu Students Learning Urdu And Joining These Competitions? Sharma explained that in that era, elementary Urdu was part of AMU’s entrance process and school curriculum, so Hindu families in Aligarh routinely hired Urdu tutors for their children, viewing it as a practical step toward securing admission rather than anything unusual. A former classmate, now a journalist with a national daily, echoed this, telling TOI he scored higher in compulsory Urdu than advanced Hindi, and that elementary Urdu remains common among non-Muslim students in the city even today because of AMU’s continuing influence on local education. What Does A Local Urdu Tutor Recall Of Teaching Hindu Students?
Parveen Jahan, who has taught Urdu from her home in Aligarh’s Upper Kot neighbourhood for years, was quoted by TOI as saying that Hindu parents sent their children to her specifically for AMU admission prospects, recalling a Hindu student who went from scoring 35 out of 100 to reading Urdu poets Iqbal and Ghalib within six months. She said Sikh families sought similar tuition too, though she has noticed fewer Hindu students participating in Seerat competitions in recent years. How Did Sharma’s Family React To The Discovery? Sharma recalled occasional questions from outsiders about his participation in religious-themed competitions, though he said it never felt unusual within school. His own children, on seeing the certificate, reportedly asked him what “Seerat" even meant — a moment he said made him realise how different their upbringing has been from his own in Aligarh. The certificate has since gone back into the same file it sat in for nearly three decades, with Sharma’s search for electoral-relevant documents still ongoing, TOI reported.
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