Khaleel Ur-Rehman Azmi (1927-1978) was a prominent poet, great critic and a beloved professor of students of Aligarh Muslim University. He named his house  in  Aligarh "Urdu Bagh". He was still a student of B.A when his critical essay on Atish's poetry was published in a prominent journal of that time "Nigar", in installments.He has many books to his credit. His book "Progressive Literature movement in Urdu" holds an important place in literature. Its English  version  has been published by his daughter, Huma Khaleel by the name of "Many summers apart".
During riots of 1947, he was pushed out of the train by rioters while travelling from Delhi to Aligarh. Baqar Mehdi, the famous poet and critic who had accompanied him at that time, jumped out off the train as well and they were brought to the Jamia Millia Islamia relief camp, which was visited by Gandhi ji on a daily basis, who would come to see the affected people.

Ali Sardar Jafri, who was an important pillar of progressive literature in Urdu and was famous for his communist ideas, started his affair with Urdu poetry at the age of fifteen or sixteen with religious poetry. To that end, Sardar Jafri prolifically wrote Salam, Qasidas, and Marsiyas, adopting the pen-name Hazeen for the latter.
During the gatherings of Muharram, Sardar Jafri used to sit on the pulpit (Mimbar) in the Imam Bargah of his house, reciting Marsiyas with great pathos. At 15 or 16, he wrote his first Marsiya in 1928 or 1929. This Marsiya is carefully preserved in his own handwriting in his ancestral ‘Basta’ – a dedicated folder keeping safe a family’s handwritten papers. Later in 1975, he got it published in the monthly "Aaj Kal" in Delhi. 

Shakeel Badayuni, the famous song-writer, was famous as ‘Shayar-e-Shabab’, or poet of youth. Shakeel, who stole Mushairas with his Ghazals and unique recitation, received five rupees as his first ever compensation. It happened in 1937, when he was doing BA from Aligarh Muslim University, a noble from Ichhra district organized a Mushaira, and Shakeel was showered with praises, and was handed over five rupees in an envelope.
Many years later, Shakeel quit his job in Delhi at the invitation of filmmaker Kardar and went to Bombay, stirring the film industry with his songs. Shakeel and music composer Naushad’s duo was a huge hit, and Naushad never wanted him to work with anyone else. Naushad would give him five thousand rupees for each song. With each film being a hit, Naushad would increase his own remuneration but not Shakeel's. As Guru Dutt entrusted Abrar Alvi to direct the film ‘Chaudhavin Ka Chand’, he brought in Shakeel as the lyricist. When Guru Dutt asked about compensation, Shakeel simply asked for Rs. 5,000 to write a song. Guru Dutt smiled and offered him Rs. 25,000 for each song. Along with the success of film songs, Shakeel was also a coveted performer in Mushairas. He was invited to so many Mushairas that he had grown sick of them. In a private letter of his from 1958, he writes, “Ab ye aalam ho gaya hai ki Mushairo.n ke naam se chiD jata hun. Shayar ban kar khud ko public property samajhne lagaa hun”.

The fact that Prem Chand wrote his celebrated Urdu short-story ‘Kafan’ overnight while sitting in the campus of Jamia Milia Islamia, is another feather in the hat for Jamia. Moreover, the story was first published in the university’s magazine ‘Jamia’. It was the 4th of April, 1935, when Prem Chand was returning to Banaras, after trying his luck in the film industry and being dejected at its capitalistic atmosphere in Bombay. On his way back, he stayed with his friend Professor Aqil, who was also the editor of the magazine Jamia, at the Karol Bagh University Campus in Delhi for two days. Until then, Jamia Milia Islamia had not moved to its modern-day campus in Okhla. 
Aqil Sahib requested Prem Chand to write a story then and there so that the latter’s visit to Jamia would forever become memorable. And that very night saw the genesis of Prem Chand’s masterpiece ‘Kafan’. The next day in a gathering of teachers and students of the university, Prem Chand read this story. It was adored by all and discussed widely. The story was published in the December 1935 issue of the magazine Jamia.

Wajid Ali Shah's life was filled with interesting events. Born in 1822 in Lucknow, Shah was 10th and last Nawab of Lucknow holding the position for 9 years.  He was not only an open-handed patron of music, dance, drama, and poetry, but was himself a poet and gifted composer. Famous market of Aminabad in Lucknow is named after his teacher Amin Ud Daula Imdad Hasan. The Nawab was exiled to Garden Reach in Metiabruz, where he spent the last 31 years of his life. Some historians say that even in the time of exile, he received an annual stipend of Rs ₹11 Lakhs. When the British were taking him to Metiabruz from Lucknow, he said with sorrow-stricken glance at the city : 

Dar-o-deewar pe hasrat se nazar karte hain,
Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham toh safar karte hain