Prof. Khurshidul Islam (Born 21st July 1919, died June 2006) He belonged a prominent family of Seohara in District Bijnore but his great-great-grandfather relocated to Umri in District Moradabad. The family produced luminaries like Dr. Abdur Rahman Bijnori, Maulana Hifzur Rahman, Hafiz Ibrahim, Prof. Riazul Islam, Prof. Maulana Saeed Akbarabadi and Nihal Seoharavi. Prof. Islam completed all his higher education at Aligarh Muslim University and also worked there in the Urdu department on various posts save for some years. Immediately after retirement, he went to Oxford to complete the work on the dictionaries but returned to the Aligarh Muslim University for further two years on re-employment from which he resigned in 1981. He became a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (FRAS). He constructed a house in Aligarh in 1981 but frequently travelled to England and remained academically active till 1992. After prolonged illness, he passed away at his residence at the age of 86 on 17th June 2006. He remained an uncompromising and a committed Marxist till his last days. Prof. Khurshidul Islam is buried at the Aligarh Muslim University Graveyard, the Minto E. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, four sons, nine granddaughters and four grandsons. (See details at http://khurshidulislam.org)