Is Urdu a religious language? by Syed Mohsin Naquvi

Syed Mohsin Naquvi has penned a polemical and debate provoking article on this very controversial subject.

While some major writers and intellectuals have tried to propose that Urdu is a language of Muslims of India and by corollary a religious language.

At the same time there have been major Urdu scholars who steadfastly opposed this point way.

The article by Syed Naquvi invites debate. Readers may get it from the following:

http://tinyurl.com/ly6pjt

Articles on Urdu Prosody at Columbia: Frances Pritchett website

This link leads to several useful resources on Urdu Prosody.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urduhindilinks/pybus/pybus.html

An article on Urdu Prosody

Hello Friends,

I came across this excellent group of articles on Urdu Prosody. One of its kind in English about the essentials of the system of Urdu poetry.

It is definitely educational.

http://www.geocities.com/roshbaby/prosody/basics.html

Saqi Farooqi's Jaan Mihammed Khan Safar Aassaan NahiN

Saqi Farooqi can be considered as one of the finest contemporary Urdu poets . His poem Jaan Mohammed Khan safar aasaan nahiN, is among the classics of modern Urdu poetry.

I share it with all. Please click the link:

http://tinyurl.com/kmb2ce

Aik Soor Say by Saqi Farooqi

I read Saqi Farooqi's poem Aik Soor Say, and share it with all:
http://tinyurl.com/lnk287

Munshi Prem Chand : Adab ki Gharz o Ghayat

Munshi Prem Chand, one of the greatest writers of Urdu literature, delivered a historic address at the inaugural session of the Progressive Writers Association (Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanifeen) in 1936.

This was later added the the collection, Tarraqi Pasand Adab edited by Qamar Raees and Ahsoor Kazmi on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the association in London.

I am enclosing the link to this address which can be considered among the classic writings of Urdu literature. Please select the full screen view when the Ipaper is presented. It is located on the top right hand tool bar on the Ipaper display.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/4fdd8847-407e-491a-9520-5fe7932a9b5b/Adab-ki-Gharz-o-Ghayat---Prem-Chand--1936

http://tinyurl.com/kvoef2

The blogosphere slugfest

The blogosphere slugfest
http://tinyurl.com/n89chd

By Amir Hamid Jafri

Monday, 15 Jun, 2009 | 02:35 AM PST |

FREQUENTED and animated mostly by people of our subcontinental diaspora, The Writers Forum is an internet discussion site out of Toronto. The forum is the brainchild of my friend Munir Saami who over the years has tried to shepherd the written discussions towards literary greens rather than letting them veer into the more belligerent badlands of political brinkmanship or, worse, into the narcissistic pools of personal posturing by self-styled au courant contributors. A recent flurry of exchanges about the substance and style of postings on the forum got me thinking about the two positions: literary expression and, the more voguish, blog-fest. Some members, basically, accused the moderator of being Nero-ish by insisting on writings with literary merit while, they reminded him — vehemently in some instances — that Swat was burning, citizens were being killed indiscriminately, children kidnapped, foreign cricket teams, hotels and police academies blasted by rocket launchers. You get the idea. Evidence suggests that, unlike Nero, Saami is neither fond of the fiddle nor did he torch Swat as the famed emperor is rumoured to have done in Rome. If his commentaries are any evidence, like most of us he is rather distraught by the devastating conflagration in our homeland. The Nero reference, in my view, may demonstrate the limitation of arguing by analogy but still carries strong pathos, a powerful emotional force for addressing the increasingly dire exigency that glares at us Pakistanis. So should we all who are affected by the calamitous situation react in frenzied abandon or contemplate and consider in sacred inner spaces, and then express ourselves in language becoming to the gravity of the situation? I am a sucker for the polemics of the day but in this case I found myself sympathetic to those who thought, no matter how dire the political situation may be, our forum shouldn’t degenerate into the rapidly emerging hyper-animated blogosphere slugfest. The lowest common denominator in any such free-for-all is, invariably, the ad hominem attack which, if nothing else, is a sure recipe for taking one’s eyes off the essential problem. According to Plato, the highest arguments are those that derive their rhet orical force from genus or definition where the assumption is that certain mutually exclusive classes or essences inhabit the world, classes on which there is consensus, a classification already established and accepted in the mind of the audience. Since The Writers Forum is a literary forum rather than a music or cricket or, yes, political forum, in my view the issue of definition and the forum’s content should be a settled matter. Except that we are still left with the age-old nag about taste and quality in matters literary. As in most such areas, here too Aristotle provides some guidelines. In Poetics he asserts that literary work should concern itself with form, material, technique and purpose. Surely, all postings on our modest forum cannot live up to these Aristotelian ideals. So, to expand the notion, I thought the contributors might be asked to delve into commentary and informed criticism about the concerns of the day, and literature. Now, literary criticism may be among the most exalted and edifying of human impulses but Matthew Arnold held it to be “a baneful and injurious employment.” I have a suspicion Arnold wanted to add ‘potentially’ in there somewhere but I am not sure. Since Faiz’s weltanschauung and, more importantly, poetry have been a formative influence of my own stance towards life and literature, I take heart from the fact that literature can subsume politics. Simply put, issues of politics and ideology can be and have been elucidated in literary ways. For us, the way Faiz utilised the metaphor and diction of Urdu ghazal for such purposes is as piquant an example as can be of this conjecture. Hikmat, Neruda, Darvaish, to name a few, also infused their aesthetic expression with the anguish of their times. As is being done by, I am sure, by men and women who are expressing themselves with tender intelligence, pointed arguments and passionate words in Pushto, Punjabi, Sindhi, Seraiki, Potohari, Balochi, Urdu and a host of other languages spoken amidst the mayhem in our hapless land. Even though we have seen that political writings can aspire to the condition of literature, they are by definition utilitarian. The use of language in such enterprises is primed to explain, prove, predict and control rather than to express and touch emotions. In political writings, even if language makes appeals to the emotions it does so with the calculated aim of co-opting its readers to its arguments. Literature, however, can address political issues within the ambit of the relevant aesthetic criteria; it does not have to stoop to political writing or media-speak in order to sustain itself or to delight readers. In our immediate context, I am quite sure people like Intizar, Qasmi, or Faiz — all newspapermen at one time or another, and rather good ones at that — would prefer to be remembered as litterateurs rather than journalists or political writers or even patriots (for by definition, I believe all poets are cosmopolites, their passions and concerns transcend the arbitrary nature of political boundaries). I know my uncle Ali Sardar Jafri, a giant of literary criticism and political commentary and one of the finest literary orators of Urdu, identified himself as a poet; a poet sensitive to the angst of the collective but a poet nevertheless. The key difference between the plethoric outpourings on the blogosphere and the leisurely pursuit of literature is well demonstrated by Ezra Pound’s pithy comments about literature being news that remains news. Literature, as the cliché goes, has shelf life. Literature’s magic lies in its potential to enlighten and enrapture, to enthral the soul on each immersion. Such magic eludes polemics. Not too many among us, for example, browse newspapers from the times of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia but some do, still, dedicate their summers to a wholesome immersion in the vivid narrative of War and Peace or the fragrant byways of Remembrance of Things Past. Quratul Ain Haider defined news as that which is hard to sell the next day — it is, she said, hard to dispose of today’s fresh newspapers as raddi (from rud, literally reject) the next day. But Homer sells. So do Tolstoy and Proust. Hafiz of Shiraz and Mirza Nausha of Delhi remain perennial bestsellers. Immanuel Kant, always a trusted guide in the labyrinths of aesthetics, pointed out that all art aspires to the condition of music. To which let me hazard that all writings, even political writings, aspire to a condition of literature. Some like Faiz’s attain sublimity and become literature. The writer teaches at Kutztown University in the US and is the author of Honour Killing: Dilemma; Ritual; Understanding. amirj5@hotmail.com

Tarraqi Pasand Adab

Tarraqi Pasand Adab, Munir Saami's article read at the Writers Forum.
Please click the link below to download and read the PDF file.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/17b303b9-7102-4721-b5fb-e2c20f08c458/Tarraqi-Pasand-Adab

http://tinyurl.com/op5e53

Munir Saami on Faiz

Hello Friends,
Please allow my to humbly share my intro speech that I delivered at the Faiz
Tribute organized by the KAMA Reading series of World Literacy Canada. It
was written for a learned Canadian Audience of over 350 people.

Canadain author Anne Michaels, Past President of Pen Canada Reza Baraheni,
Faiz's transaltor Naomi Lazard, and Writers Forum President Nuzhat Siddiqui
also spoke.

We are getting a video of the event and will be able to send it to those
who wished to receive.

Thanks and best regards. Munir
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Writers_Forum/message/793
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Writers_Forum/message/1186



-----------------
Friends of Kama Reading Series,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Writers_Forum/message/1460

It is a great honour for me to stand before this learned assembly to
introduce one of the major poets of not only Urdu and Pakistan, but a poet
who according to Edward Said was among the great poets of the last century.

Before I do that, I take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank my
fellow Pakistanis who have joined us today from far and wide in this
tribute to one of their best.

Faiz once wrote that, the bonds of our pains are so strong that every one
will come when my name is taken.

To introduce Faiz Ahmad Faiz in a very short time is, as William Blake
said, to put the world in a grain of sand, or as Ghalib said, is like
squeezing the ocean into a drop of water.

But I will try, and I will try to introduce Faiz to you in several
perspectives.

Faiz’s ideals are also the ideals of those who are honoring him
today. Removal of Ignorance and spread of literacy has been a major
mission of Faiz.

He wrote a dedication of his works to all the disadvantaged of the world,
and I share these lines;

To the seekers of knowledge,
who with extended hands,
went to the doors of their lords,
begging for books and pens,
and never returned.


Those naïve little souls,
who in their innocence,
with lanterns in their hands
went seeking light,
where only the darkness
of unending night
was their destiny.

Faiz had a special bond of love with Mahatma Gandhi.

At the time of Mahatma’s death, the Indian sub continent was burning in a
fire of religious hatred between the citizens of India and Pakistan.

Defying major objections, Faiz flew over that fire to attend the funeral of
Mahatma Gandhi. And that is why this tribute to Faiz is also important.

He later crossed another river of blood, and went to Bangla Deshis after
their independence to embrace them with love.

And there is a Canadian literary perspective. Great scholar Northrop Frye
has discussed the myths of concerns and myths of freedom in literature.

Faiz’s narrative was the narrative of freedom. Freedom from ignorance, from
tyranny, from religious dogma, from injustice, and freedom from imperialism
were always the underlying currents of his poetry.

His archetypes and metaphors were the archetypes and metaphors of love, and
hope, and peace, and harmony. He wished and hoped for all the humanity.

There is also a relationship of Faiz with the Canadian literary tradition.

Faiz chose the forms of Ghazal, as well as free verse for his expression.

It is interesting to note that Canadian poet John Thompson introduced the
form of Ghazal to the Canadian literary community.

And later Phyllis Webb drew upon the Ghazal tradition of great Persian
poets, Rumi, Saadi, and Hafiz .

The latest poetry collection of renowned Canadian poet, Lorna Crozier
consists of 41 Ghazals. These are inspired by the same traditions and the
tradition of Urdu poet Ghalib. This was also the tradition and inspiration
of Faiz.

Students of new forms of poetry in Canada may greatly benefit by choosing
Faiz as the model of modern Ghazal, in their works and discourses.

Lorna Crozier also recognizes the efforts of Agha Shahid Ali for promoting
Ghazal in North America.

Agha Shahid Ali has also published his translation of Faiz under the title
of, Rebel’s Silhouette. He was inspired by Naomi Lazard in translating Faiz.

Faiz came Canada twice. Once in 1978 during a self imposed exile against
the dictatorship of Gen. Zia ul Haq. And later as a guest at the Shastri
institute.

He was free to visit Canada but was barred from entering the US on many
occasions.

Faiz could draw from the finest Sufi traditions of love in Islam and also
joined the company of those who would drink wine and recite Khayyam and Rumi.

In one of his visits to Canada, he left an autograph on a bottle of whiskey
that is the prize collection of a restaurant at the Roncessvalles in Toronto.

In the international literary context, Edward Said equates Faiz with Garcia
Marquez, in his ability to evoke appreciation by the literary elite and
popular acceptance by the masses.

Edward Said also finds a synthesis of sensuality of Yeats and power
of Naruda in Faiz’s poetry. I take the liberty of adding Adonis, and
Mahmoud Darwish’s, names for comparison of Faiz’s verse.

Faiz possessed a universal vision. He filtered the thoughts of Socrates and
Mansur Hallaj, and invoked the pain of Karachi as well as Karbala. He stood
for truth and justice for all.

To prove this, he sacrificed his anti imperialist principles by joining the
British Imperial army to fight against the Nazis and the Fascists.

He also had a special closeness with the struggle of the Palestinians and
before his death he spent several months in Beirut with the beleaguered
Palestinians.

He wrote songs for Mandela and the elegy for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg at
their execution.

Faiz was born in Sialkot in the pre partition Punjab in February 1911.

It is the same town where Mohammed Iqbal the Philosopher poet of Pakistan,
who was one of the greatest Urdu and Persian poets, was also born.

Scholar Eqbal Ahmad in his interview with David Barsamian said that,
Mohammed Iqbal brought Urdu to the center of the history and Faiz Ahmad
Faiz took it to even greater heights.

Eqbal Ahmed also finds that Mohammed Iqbal’s inspiration came from
Nietzsche and Rumi. And Faiz found his inspiration in Marx and Ghalib.

After acquiring education in English and Arabic literature, Faiz became the
editor of major literary journals and also taught for a few years.

He was also one of the members and organizers of the Progressive Writers
Association. Some of the finest Pakistani and Indian writers evolved under
the socialist philosophy of this association.

After partition he decided to live in Pakistan and became the editor of
Pakistan Times. He promoted a socialist vision for the newly founded country.

His lyrical and musical poetry inspired the masses without any hint of
slogans.

He was arrested on the charges of treason in 1951 under the threat of death
sentence, and was jailed for four years.

Faiz spent most of this time in solitary confinement. He wrote some of
his most influential poems during these lonely times.

After his release he became the unofficial poet laureate of Pakistan. Some
of the finest Pakistani singers sang his poetry.

Even the army dictator General Ayub Khan recognized his stature and was
compelled to present his name as a major poet whose work should be
translated by UNESCO.

That was the time when his first English translations were rendered by
Victor Kiernan. His poetry was also translated into Russian, Hindi, and
other languages. He won the Lenin Literary Prize in 1963.

More than 10 collections of English translations of Faiz have been
published. Victor Kiernan, Naomi Lazard, and Agha Shahid Ali are his
principal translators.

Like Northrop Frye, Faiz believed in an Educated Imagination, and founded
several major cultural institutions of Pakistan.

He spent some of the final years of his life as the principal of a college
in Layari-Karachi, one of the poorest sections of the commercial capital of
Pakistan.

He died in 1984. After his death Pakistan finally conferred its highest
honor Nishan e Pakistan on him.

Faiz knew that the tyrants have a habit of pulling the sweeter tongues, and
crushing the softer hands of scribes under stones. He conquered them with
his disarming smiles and melodious songs.

In the end allow me to share these lines from one of his finest poems.

He said,:

Let us also raise our hands,
we who have forgotten the ritual of prayer,
we who do not remember any God, any Idol
Let us pray that our poisonous days
be filled with the sweetness of tomorrow.

Thank you.