The Department of Persian is independently functioning since 1988. Before this, a combined department of Arabic, Persian and Islamic Studies was setup in the year 1968 under the name of the Department of Islamic and Arab Iranian Studies.
From the inception of the department of Persian, the founder HOD Prof. Shoib Azmi has undergone lots of hardships and made ceaseless efforts to develop the department making it one of the most reputed Persian departments. After his retirement Prof. Qamar Ghaffar and Prof. Iraq Raza Zaidi have taken keen interest to develop the department. Now Prof. Mohammad Iqbal has taken over the charge of HOD w.e.f. 24-05-2010, performing his duties actively to promote the teaching and research of Persian language and literature.
The department of Persian has developed its own seminar library having more than one thousand important Persian books. The department has been enriching with its constant efforts for benefiting students. Beside that it has TV, VCP, Tape Recorder, a number of DVD & CD.
Activities of the department are not limited to teaching alone. The teachers and students have been organizing other academic activities like organizing seminars, holding memorial lectures talks on relevant topics related to Persian language and literature in the Department. Teachers and Research scholars are invited from the department of Persian from the various Universities throughout the India and abroad to participate in the lectures, Seminars, Conferences to share their views and opinion on the steps to be taken for the development of Persian language and literature in India.
The department is going to organize an International Seminar on “Naziri Nishapuri, a renowned Persian poet during the reign of Mughal in India”. It’s scheduled to be held on 27-29 February, 2012.
The department has also a Subject Association in which students function as office bearer under the guidance of a teacher of the department and the head of the Department as an Ex-officio president of the Subject Association. The Association organizes academic program and study tour etc.
It is a matter of honour for the department that the president of India had awarded the “Certificate of Honour” to Prof. Shoib Azmi (retired) and “Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman” to Dr. Abdul Halim and Dr. S. Kaleem Asghar to recognize their contribution in Persian.
Recently, in the year 2011, the President of India has awarded “Certificate of Honour” in Persian to Prof. Mohammad Iqbal, head department of Persian, JMI, in recognition of substantial contribution in the field of Persian language and literature, on the occasion of 65th Independence Day of India.