Urdu newspapers have a long history and were published from there before the partition of Hindu-Pak.
As everyone knows that in the past newspapers were written and published which took a lot of effort and time. As time went by then newspapers started to be printed by printing machine, later computer era came and printing of newspapers gained speed.
But can you imagine that even in the age of artificial intelligence, a newspaper is written and published somewhere? You might be thinking that it is not possible.
Yes! India’s oldest Urdu language newspaper for 88 years and possibly the world ’s only handwritten newspaper, The Musalman has kept history alive for decades.
Syed Arifullah, editor of India’s only handwritten newspaper ‘The Muslim’, provided the details of this newspaper. This 88-year-old Urdu-language newspaper based in the city of Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has had a modest staff of three reporters, three calligraphers and an editor.
Khaleej Times While giving an interview, Syed Arifullah said that following the death of his father Syed Fazlullah in 2008, he took over the post of editor.
The daily ‘The Muslim’ was started in 1927 by Arifullah’s grandfather Syed Izzatullah. He said that running a newspaper was his grandfather’s dream and that’s why he chose it as a career.
According to the report of Khaleej Time, the staff working in the said daily have been performing their duties for regarding 30 to 35 years. There is no staff but everyone works like a family. If someone makes a mistake, everyone comes together to help. No one points a finger at anyone.
Arifullah told Khaleej Time that our newspaper has three male reporters who cover all aspects of news – be it political, cultural and even sports. Two of the three calligraphers have been women.
The newspaper has been mailed to readers on a daily basis across India, including Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta, apart from Chennai. Its readers include not only Muslims, but also Hindus and people of other religions.
According to the editor of the daily, Arifullah, 35,000 copies of the daily have been published and its price has been only one rupee 75 paisa in Indian currency.
He said that a scribe takes 2 hours to write a page of a newspaper with a pen. Sometimes it also happens that if the scribe makes a big mistake, the whole page has to be rewritten.
Arifullah says my calligraphers are experienced, they have been doing this work for the last 25 to 30 years. Nothing goes wrong.
He said that the newspaper is divided into four sections, the front page contains local and national news . Page number 2 has international news and editorials. Quotations from the Holy Quran are placed on the third page. While the fourth and last page usually contains other local news and advertisements.
The newspaper also has a Facebook page on the social media spectrum, but it has been inactive since 2012.
Arifullah further said that he will work till the end like his father in The Muslim Newspaper. He said he did not know what the future held or who would be next to carry on the family business.