Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts

Sunday, July 31, 2022

Generation Inspired by Khairis and Aligarh: Ahsan Hyder and his German and French Teacher Abdul Sattar Khairi

Abdus Sattar Kheiri was my father's teacher at Aligarh during 1934-35. Khairi along with his brother in 1917 had proposed the idea of Muslim state in British India. Attached is the recommendation that A. Sattar Kheiri wrote for my father Ahsan Hyder in 1939. During its transcription, I discovered several interesting links. My father had a deep respect for his teacher from whom he studied German (and French) at Aligarh University during 1934-35. He had preserved the book from which he studied German at that time, which appears to be supplemental text. It is still with me. Abdul Sattar Kheiri must have acquired his German and French language skills during his stay in Europe. He had a German wife, Mrs. Fatima Kheiri. He died in 1944. However, when my father after retirement returned back to Karachi in 1980, he found that Kheiri's German wife was old and living in PECHS. He would sometime visit Mrs. Fatima Kheiri for some verification of facts of the history of pre-partition times. She died in the late 1990s.
From 1913 to June 1917 five proposals came out about India's constitutional and administrative future but in September 1917 the two Kheiri Brothers, Abdul Jabbar Kheiri and Abdul Sattar Kheiri, played a prominent role in advancing the idea of a Muslim state in India.
[Some descendants of Khairis need to write detailed biographies. Pity I couldn't find an article on him on Wikipedia. Can someone put his picture in the comments below? I will copy and paste it here in this post]
Abdul Sattar Kheiri's Recommendation for Ahsan Hyder

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Imran Khan and Essential Leadership Requirements of a Leader

اقبال کے مطابق  کسی لیڈر یعنی "میر کارواں" کے رخت سفر کے لئے صرف تین ضروری خصوصیات ہیں: نگاہ بلند سخن دلنواز و جاں پرسوز، جن کے زریعے ایک راہنما اپنے پیچھے چلنے والوں کو جوڑ کر رکھتا ہے، ان کو منتشر نہیں ہونے دیتا:
نگاہ بلند سخن، سخن دلنواز، جاں پرسوز
یہی ہے رخت سفر میر کارواں کیلئے - اقبال

مگر بدقسمتی سے حقیقت سے کوسوں دور جزبات برانگیختہ کر کے ہیرو بنانے والی سوشل میڈیا کے زریعے ایک ایسے شخص کو راہنمائی مل گئی جو ببانگ دہن اپنے کو "یوٹرن لیڈر" کہتا ہے- جس نے پچھلے چار سال میں اپنے کردار سے یہ واضح کر دیا کہ وہ اقبال کے بتائے ہوئے رخت سفر میں سے ہر ایک خصوصیت کا متضاد ہے:

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Depressive Thoughts and Poetry- How Poetry Mellows and Enriches Social Interactions

What is the relationship between depressive thoughts and poetic expression? How poetry enables us to face hardships in our lives. 

What a mournful separation of the family members after the partition is depicted through poetry. Note the following message of eid Mubarak and its poetic response by members of the family across the divide. Also, note the level of education in the 1950s and the ability of the educated to express through poetry their feelings and experiences. Today educated can't even read poetry, let alone compose it. 



Monday, March 23, 2020

My Most Memorable Readings- Tilism e Hoshrub and Dastan e Amir Hamza

My most memorable experience of reading Urdu books was the time spent in reading of Ferozsons' Tilism e Hoshruba and Dastan e Ameer Hamza.

Ferozesons Children Urdu Novels Translated from English Novels

I would like to know if you can identify which of these books are translations of which authors of English books.
What a wonderful time that I spent with these books. I read them in Urdu before I read them in English later on. Once upon a time I used to have a collection of all these Frerozesons books that are mentioned here. I was a proud owner of "Millat Library" during early 1970s with a collection of hundreds of books that I used to rent out at 10paisa/book/day. Here are some of the translations that I have identified. Please fill the remaining ones in the comments if you can identify. I think many of these were translations of Franklin W Dixon's Hardy Boys series. At one time I recognized at least seven of these.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Far From the Madding Crowd, Hardy and Me

Today I got off from the board meeting early and my flight was in the evening. I had a few hours to kill with nothing to do. I chanced upon a YouTube video snippet of Bathsheba Everdene and Sergeant Troy's sword scene of 2011 remake of Far From the Madding Crowd. I didn't like it at all, there was no mystery, no suspense and no thrill that I remember experiencing when I first watched the scene in the original 1967  British movie starring Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Peter Finch and Terrance Stamp. Knowing me, YouTube presented the Terrance Stamp interview recorded just before the remake. He had played Sergeant Troy in the 1967 BBC movie. The interview opened a flood of memories flashing across my mind of the various times of my life when i had seen the movie and the times that I have read the book. It brought to my mind my struggle to derive meanings of various scenes. My first viewing was at a time when I had limited understanding of what was happening as our exposure to the themes discussed in the book were not discussed openly in my time. The book itself dealt with these themes in a roundabout manner making it difficult for school boys to fathom. I first saw the movie around 1977. I started going through the various scenes being presented by YouTube and connecting them with my earlier stage. Terrance stamp was saying that the original 1967 team involved in the movie consisted of luminaries of British Film making and were the who-is who of the British cinema. He predicted that it would be really difficult for the remake to break the spell weaved by the original. How true was that:

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Iqbal and Ahmedis and Qadianis

ایک پوسٹ کے جواب میں، جس میں قادیانیوں کی حمایت کی بو محسوس ہوئی،
چند نکات پیش کررہا ہوں، امید ہے ٹھنڈے دل سے غور فرمائیں گے، حالاں کہ قادیانیوں کے معاملے پر مجھے یا ملت اسلامیہ پاکستان کو مزید کسی دلیل کی ضرورت نہیں، کہ انہیں ملک کا اعلی ترین ادارہ پارلیمنٹ غیر مسلم قرار دے چکا ہے۔  سو عوام کی اجتماعی دانش پر آپ کا سوال اٹھانا سمجھ سے بالا تر ہے-


علامہ اقبال نے 1902ء میں انجمن حمایت اسلام کے جلسے میں مرزا قادیانی کے دعویٰ نبوت کو جھٹلاتے ہوئے کہا کہ:
اے کہ بعداز تو نبوت شد بہ ہر مفہوم شرک      
بزم را روشن ز نور شمع عرفان کردہ
’’سرور رفتہ‘‘ میں صفحہ 30 پرغلام رسول مہر نے ایک نوٹ میں کہا ہے کہ یہ 1902ء کا کلام ہے اور ظاہر ہے کہ اس کے لکھنے کی ضرورت مرزا غلام احمد قادیانی کے دعویٰ بروزیت کی بنا پر ہوئی۔ یعنی کہتے ہیں کہ تیرے بعد نبوت کا دعویٰ ہر لحاظ سے شرک فی النبوت ہے۔ خواہ اس کا مفہوم کوئی ہو۔ یعنی ظلی اور بروزی نبوت بھی اس سے باہر نہیں۔
1903ء کے انجمن حمایت اسلام کے جلسے میں ’’فریاد امت‘‘ منعقدہ مارچ 1903ء میں اقبال نے ایک نظم پڑھی جس کا دوسرا عنوان ا برگہربار تھا۔ اس میں انہوں نے یہ شعر پڑھا۔
مجھ کو انکار نہیں آمد مہدی سے مگر            
غیر ممکن ہے کوئی مثل ہو پیدا تیرا
1914ء …میں اقبال نے لکھا کہ قادیانی جماعت نبی اکرم ؐ کے بعد نبوت کی قائل ہے تو ہ دائرہ اسلام سے خارج ہے۔
1915ء …میں رموز بے خودی شائع ہوئی۔ اقبال نے عقیدہ ختم نبوت کا واشگاف اعلان کیا:
پس خدا برماشریعت ختم کرو             بررسول ما رسالت ختم کرو
لا نبی بعدی ز احسان خدا است            پردہ ناموس دین مصطفی است
حق تعالیٰ نقش ہر دعویٰ شکست         تا ابد اسلام را شیرازہ بست
اقبال نے 1916ء میں ایک بیان میں کہا: ’’جو شخص نبی اکرم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے بعد کسی ایسے نبی کا قائل ہوجس کا انکار مستلزم کفر ہو تووہ خارج از اسلام ہوگا۔ اگر قادیانی جماعت کا بھی یہی عقیدہ ہے تو وہ بھی دائرہ اسلام سے خارج ہے‘‘۔
1935ء…اقبال نے ضرب کلیم میں اپنی نظم جہاد میں قادیانیوں پر تنقید کی:
فتویٰ ہے شیخ کا یہ زمانہ قلم کا ہے
دنیا میں اب رہی نہیں تلوار کارگر
ہم پوچھتے ہیں شیخ کلیسا نواز سے
مشرق میں جنگ شر ہے تو مغرب میں بھی ہے شر
حق سے اگر غرض ہے تو زیبا ہے کیا یہ بات
اسلام کا محاسبہ، یورپ سے درگزر
پس چہ باید کرد 1936ء میں شائع ہوئی۔ اقبال لکھتے ہیں:
عصر من پیغمبرے ہم آفرید  
آنکہ در قرآں بغیر از خود ندید
شیخ او مرد فرنگی را مرید
گرچہ گوید از مقام بایزید
گفت دیں را رونق ز محکومی است    
زندگانی از خودی محرومی است
دولت اغیار را رحمت شمرد 
رقص ہا گرد کلیسا کرد و مرد
اقبال نے نہرو کو جو خط کا جواب دیا اس کے مندرجات بھی ملاحظہ فرمائیں-
اقبال نے اپنی ایک بیان میں نہایت مضبوط اور قطعی لہجے میں مرزائیت کے باطل ہونے کا اعلان کیا اور مرزا غلام احمد قادیانی کو جھوٹا نبی قرار دیا اور انہیں اسلام اور ہندوستان کا غدار قرار دیا۔
اس پر پنڈت نہرو نے اقبال کے نام خط لکھا، جس میں کہا کہ یہ تو مولویوں کا ایشو ہے، آپ جیسا سمجھدار، پڑھا لکھا شخص کس طرح ایسی سخت بات کر سکتا ہے قادیانی حضرات کے بارے میں ، اس پر نظر ثانی کریں۔ اقبال نے جوابی خط میں تین باتیں کہیں:
پہلے تو یہ لکھا کہ آپ لوگ یعنی ہندو، نبوت صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے مقام کی تفہیم کر ہی نہیں سکتے ، اندازہ بھی نہیں آپ لوگوں کہ سرکار مدینہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کا کیا مقام ہے۔
دوسرا رسالت اسلام کا مرکزی عقیدہ ہے، جو ختم نبوت کا قائل نہیں، وہ کافر ہے ۔
تیسری بات یہ کہ معاملہ آج کا نہیں، آج تو ہم لوگ مرزائیت کے حوالے سے دھوکا نہیں کھائیں گے، معاملہ مستقبل کا ہے۔
اگر آج اسے یعنی قادیانی گروہ کو دوسرے مسلمانوں سے الگ نہ کیا گیا تو پچاس سال بعد بہت لوگ دھوکا کھا سکتے ہیں
از افادات ڈاکٹر وحید عشرت، محمد عامر ہاشم خاکوانی
ابھی صرف اقبال کے حوالے سے گزارشات کی ہیں، امید ہے اس پر سوچ بچار فرمائیں گے- اقبال مولوی نہیں تھے- اس وطن کا خواب انہی کا مرہونِ منت ہے۔ کہیں گے تو پھر یحییٰ بختیار کی قومی اسمبلی میں تقریر بھی شیئر کردوں- وہ بھٹو صاحب کی پارٹی کی اکثریت والی اسمبلی تھی۔ بھٹو صاحب اور پیپلز پارٹی والے بھی مولوی نہیں تھے۔
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Sunday, October 14, 2018

Love of Research and Books-Prof Ahmed Saleem

I went to meet Professor Ahmed Saleem at his home library. His house is in Judicial Town near Chhattar Park in a very picturesque setting at the foot of the hill with stream flowing near by. His library consists of his personal collection of over 45,000 books and a collection of newspapers since 1947 of Jang,  Imroze, Pakistan Times etc. His room is next to the library and resembles more of a bed placed in a library room with a nearby desk-chair and a small sofa. 


The library is divided into various sections. Sections on East Pakistan, Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan had around six shelves each containing several thousands books. He has command over Punjabi (mother tongue), Pushto (grew up and did his early schooling in Peshawar), Sindhi (taught for around 5 years in Sindh University) and has a working knowledge of Balochi. There is a separate sections of Urdu literature (he taught for around 5 years at KU). There are additional sections on Iqbal, on feminist authors and their works. He also has a shelf filled with his own books. It contains a large number of research oriented works that he had produced as a researcher for SDPI,  an NGO in blue area Islamabad with which he had been associated with over 20 years. He proudly showed me some precious collection of magazines and newspapers and documents dating to mid 19th century. There are valuable issues from over hundred years of monthly Ismat and Tehzeeb e Niswan. 

I had gone there to collect articles by Mrs  Altaf Husain Fatima Khatoon. She was the mother of my late father-in-law Ausaf Husain, and she was also my father's second cousin. Apa Fatima Khatoon's  articles and poetry was published in monthly Ismat from 1950s till her death in 1983 under the name of Mrs Altaf Husain. I had around 50 articles and pieces written by her in Ismat that I got from my father's collection. In researching about her I happened to meet Ms Safoora Khairi, the current managing editor of Ismat. She connected me to Prof Saleem. My objective was to see if I can get more articles from Prof Saleem's collection.  

I managed to get 20 more pieces by Mrs Altaf Husain from Prof Saleem's library which has Ismat issues since its inception in 1908 by Allama Rashid ul Khairi till present. Prof Saleem has also published an index of all the articles published in Ismat from 1908 till 1947, a work that he got completed as part of the MPhil thesis of his student. The newly obtained articles when added with 50 that I have from my father's collection are sizable enough that  I am planning to publish in a book form (inshallah). While searching for these in Prof Saleem's library, I managed a wonderful discussion with him on his associations with literati, their works and his learning from them. 

He talked about his association with Ahmed Faraz while he was growing up in Peshawar, and his association with Faiz and his association with Ibn e Safi. He told how his parents would not allow him to read ibn e safi while he continued despite their punishments. He talked about his love for books and how he collects them. He said that he knows several second hand junk dealers. They call him whenever they get some old document that they think would be valuable for Prof Saleem. 

He mentioned that he is planning to create more space by either moving on the second floor or obtaining a place nearby. There is a need for preparing a proper catalog of all the books and the need for more space for shelving. The books did not have that stuffy smell that comes in collections that are not properly exposed to sunlight and fresh air. Both these things were there. However, since his movement to this place in recent months, the books need to be properly shelved. Given his age and his recent operation, this appears to be a tall order. He said he would be getting some full time assistant as soon as there is more space for him to be seated. He has only a daughter who lives in Rawalpindi. There is a this treasure of books that needs a proper institution for preservation and access.

Anyhow, it was such a pleasure knowing and meeting him. You should all seek him out through his employer SDPI's office in blue area. A treat to meet a knowledge encyclopedia like him. 

See Also:

Thursday, May 31, 2018

A Tale of Two Live Performances of Pastoral- 6th Symphony of Beethoven and My Musical Journey

Here I recall the two experiences of my life while attending two live performance of Beethoven's 6th Symphony, "Pastoral" and how they stimulated my love for Beethoven and classical music. The two experiences are spread apart by nearly thirty years. First was at UT Austin's Bates Recital Hall in 1989 conducted by Louis Lane and the second was at the Hong Kong's Cultural Center Concert Hall conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2018, and this is a tale of my musical journey with Pastoral.
Louis Lane, Director Orchestra atThe University of Texas at Austin from 1989-92

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

To Kill a Mockingbird: A Personal Journey

I was around 10 when I saw the movie "To Kill a Mocking Bird" on PTV in 1971-72. That was the time when I didn't focus on the dialogues but used to only concentrate on the emotions and feelings depicted. We didn't have access to Internet or magazines with briefs about the programs or movies being shown on the PTV. There used to be a flyer but often it only listed the titles but not details. However, I could sense even at that early age that what I had seen is not a typical run of the mill movie, but I had gone through a tremendous and profound experience. It would be a decade later when I would find out about how much acclaim the movie had won through a book that I issued from the American Center library. This was an attractive pictorial history of cinema and from there I discovered that this movie had won the Oscar for the best picture in 1960, and Gregory Peck had won the Oscar for the best actor.  One of his three roles that made him my all time favorite actor (the other two were in Roman Holiday and Guns of Navarone). I also read the book on which this movie was based around the same time. The book and this movie had a tremendous impact on me as described here:

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Recollection of an Unforgettable Recitation of Majaz's Nazr-e-Aligarh

Today on Facebook I saw a video of some old students of Aligarh University reciting the official anthem in New York with a great deal of energy and lilt. This brought a recollection of a day in 1990s when I was dusting the bookshelf of my father Syed Ahsan Hyder and picked "Aahang", a collection of poetry by Majaz.  My father was an aligarian of 1930s, and a contemporary of Majaz, who also used to frequent our family gatherings at Masood Manzil, hostel of our family in Aligarh, where several of my father's cousins and relatives used to stay and study at Aligarh University. My father picked up the book, took out the poem  "نذر علی گڑھ"  and started reciting it in such a beautiful manner that its rhythm and fondness still resonates in my mind. He would sometimes do this in times when he was in "vacant and pensive mood". I can still see him vividly deriving so much pleasure  from the recitation. The recitation was full of fondness of memories of an era long gone, a time well spent, friendships often recounted. I could see this recollection bringing to him that "bliss of solitude" which is associated with time and experiences associated with cherished memories. To me this recollection fills my heart with pleasure and sways with the emotions and aspirations and ethos of that time. 

Saturday, August 12, 2017

What Legal Questions Perry Mason would have raised in SC Panama Case Disqualification of PM

Why read literature and history?
It had been a great surprise for me that the lawyers representing the PM have failed to raise forcefully some basic and fundamental questions about due process of law and constitutional rights in the recent  SC disqualification of the PM in the Panama Case Judgement. Interestingly, if they had read Perry Mason and other books of literature they would have  been better able to respond to the literary challenge of Judge Khosa! Their ignorance about history and literature was also telling in their defense. The lawyers failed to raise several objections forcefully during the proceedings as well as during the JIT investigations that a laymen reading of Perry Mason could have provided. Their ignorance about Islamic and Legal injunctions about due process of law was also evident. Even in the review petition, lawyers should note that literature can only be rebutted with literature, Islamic injunctions can only be defended through Islamic Fiqh, poetry can only be rebutted through poetry, accounting issues can only be defended through accounting principles, tax returns can only be defended through tax laws, and history can only be argued with history.  Legal arguments need to be of course rebutted through constitution and law, even in that which they were seriously amiss:

Monday, May 1, 2017

Importance of Literature in Law: A Case Study of the Panama Case Supreme Court Judgement

Importance of literature in law and legal judgments and arguments in the floor is an established tradition. This post collects together various quotations from masterpieces of literature in the Supreme Court judgement on the Panama Case Scandal on April 20, 2017. It also contains the references to Quranic definitions of Sadiq and Ameen. I think universities can use this judgement to enable a deep appreciation of how matters of law and constitution are analyzed in the context of culture, literature, religion, constitution and history. This judgement is also a very good example of how qualitative research methods are employed in dissecting the arguments and then reaching a judgement.

SC judgement starts with the following attribution to Mario Puzo's Godfather and Balzac:
Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, J.: The popular 1969 novel ‘The Godfather’ by Mario Puzo recounted the violent tale of a Mafia family and the epigraph selected by the author was fascinating: 
"Behind every great fortune there is a crime." — Balzac