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Sarwar Alam Raz was born on March 16, 1935 in the central Indian city of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh (then Central Provinces in British India) in a reputable Muslim family with a long history of active interest in Urdu literature and poetry. His grand-father the late Hafiz Mohammad Jafar "Hafiz" was deeply intersted in Urdu poetry and occasionally wrote some himself. He kept a journal which contains, among other things, some of his Ghazals which attest to his considerably acumen in the field of Ghazal writing. His father, the late Abul Fazil Mohammad Sadiq "Raz" Chandpuri was a disciple of Maulana Seemaab Akbarabadi of the Dagh school and was a renowned poet and writer of his time.

Sarwar received his early education in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India and later moved to Aligarh in order to pursue his education at the famous Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). He earned his baccalaureate from AMU in Sciences (1956)as well as in Civil Engineering (1959) and later joined the University as a Lecturer in Civil Engineering.

In 1964 he proceeded to the U.S.A. to pursue higher studies in Civil Structural Engineering at Louisiana State University and North Carolina State University. He later resigned from AMU and emigrated to the USA in 1971.After working as a Senior Civil Structural Engineer for various international consulting engineering firms over many years, he took early retirement in 1995 in order to pursue his first love- Urdu literature. He currently resides in Carrollton (a small town next to Dallas), Texas, USA where he devotes his time and energies to furthering the cause of Urdu language and literature.

Sarwar received his training in Urdu poetry and literature from his illustrious father, the late Abul Fazil "Raz" Chandpuri. In poetry Sarwar is primarily interested in Urdu Ghazal wherein his style favors and reflects the styles and ideas of the old masters like Ghalib and Meer. His interests, however, also include Urdu short stories (afsaane) as well as literary criticism. He is widely published in Urdu magazines in India as well as Pakistan.

To date Sarwar has written nine books on various subjects. They are listed below:

(1)"Analytical Methods in Structural Engineering": a text book in Civil Structural Engineering- 1974

(2)"Structural Design in Steel": a text book in Civil Structural Engineering- 1996

(3)"A Handbook of Hajj and Umra": Published in 1999 by Islamic Book Services of U.K., the book provides a detailed guide to the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The book is in English and is available on the internet also at

(4)"A Handbook of Muslim Burials": was publishedn in 2002 and is also available on the internet at .

In addition, he has published four collections of his Urdu Ghazals. A collection of his Urdu short stories (afsaane) also has been published. Additionally, Sarwar has written a comprehensive introductory cum critical study of his father's poetry:

(5) Shehr-e-Nigaar:A collection of Ghazals published in 1993

(6) Rang-e-Gulnaar:A collection of Ghazals published in 1999

(7) Durr-e-Shehwaar:A collection of Ghazals published in 2004

(8) Teesraa Haath: A collection of Urdu short stories: 2001

(9) Baaqiyaat-e-Raz: A book on a critical study of the poetry of his father and mentor "Raz" Chandpuri: 2000.

(10) Gulshan-e-Shiraz: A collection of Ghazals published in 2010

Sarwar is also the author of a large number of articles on various aspects of Urdu literature. A collection of his articles is currently also under preparation.

Sarwar is deeply involved in various Urdu literary activities on the Internet and devotes a large part of his time and energy to helping new and relatively inexperienced writers and poets improve and hone their skills. He has recently developed a comprehensive system of Roman Urdu (Urdu in Roman script) writing which takes into account almost all of the finer points, details and niceties of Urdu :imlaa and talaffuz: and is eminently suited to literary purposes.

Sarwar is married to Qaisar Razi and has two wonderful children (Saba Razi-Syed, MD, and Salman Sarwar Razi, MD). He has four beautiful grand-daughters and two :grand:-sons.