Lucknow, July 11 -- Known for his pluralistic vision and challenging political dogma, eminent Urdu scholar and author Professor CM Naim who passed away in Chicago on July 9, was an intellectual with a fearless range and remained closely attached to Lucknow and his hometown Barabanki despite spending decades in the United States, writers and other scholars closely associated with him recalled on Thursday. He was 89. Even after he became an American citizen, Naim never severed his ties with Barabanki, visiting it frequently, often staying for months at a time-especially when his mother was alive, according to noted writer and former IPS officer Vibhuti Narain Rai. "For the last five years we hadn't met, but earlier, whenever he came, he would always make time for an evening with me," Rai told Hindustan Times, reflecting on a friendship that spanned decades. Born on June 3, 1936, Naim's journey from small-town India to the University of Chicago was shaped, in part, by geopolitical currents. Rai recalled that during the Cold War era-when the USSR launched its first satellite and the US sought to expand global influence-American universities began to invest in teaching widely spoken world languages. As Urdu counted among them, Naim was appointed at the University of Chicago. But Naim's legacy went far beyond linguistic excellence. His bold stance was especially evident when he challenged Ali Mian of Nadwatul Ulama, who opposed the construction of a church in the Arab world. "If you can argue for a mosque near the Vatican in Italy," Naim reportedly said, "why deny Christians a church in Arabia?" It was this moral clarity-rooted in both logic and empathy-that distinguished Naim in both scholarship and public discourse. In Lucknow, he was a familiar face at the iconic Ram Advani Bookshop, where he often browsed and bought books during his visits. It was there that he picked up a copy of Rai's novel Shaher Mein Curfew, and later wrote to him from Srinagar, requesting permission to translate it into English. Naim was also responsible for translating the satirical works of Harishankar Parsai and lesser-known Urdu writers like Teerath Ram Firozpuri. Khalid Alvi, another associate and scholar, recalled Naim's brief stint at Aligarh Muslim University, where he was offered a professorship. "But he was disheartened by the lack of discipline," Alvi said. "He came from the structured academic culture of Chicago, and when he saw students' cycles parked outside classrooms, he reportedly threw them aside in frustration." Yet what set Naim apart, Alvi added, was his fearless intellectual range. From translating spy fiction to chronicling the Krishna devotion of Hasrat Mohani, and even writing on the Muslim League's activities in Barabanki, Naim defied academic silos. He brought nuance to every subject he touched-be it history, religion, poetry, or politics. With his death, India has lost not just a literary giant, but a cultural bridge-between continents, between languages, and between competing ideas of faith and freedom, he said. Dr Ahtesham Khan, coordinator of Language Programs, at American Institute of Indian Studies, Lucknow, said, "It's a personal loss for me, as we used to meet at Ram Advani shop in Mayfair. Today, there is no Ram Advani and No CM Naim. After completing his Master's from Lucknow University in 1955, Naim moved to the U.S., where he studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and later joined the University of Chicago. His tenure there, from 1961 to 2001, was more than academic, it was transformational. As chair of the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations (1985-1991), he mentored generations of students who now carry forward his deep, pluralistic vision of South Asian culture."...