An anthology of Urdu verses and proverbs, all on eyes, was launched recently
Eyes are a mirror of the soul, it is said. Some eyes are sly and roguish, some serene and shining, a few, seductive and mysterious. Prod Dr Abdul Moiz Shams and he reels out details about a variety of eyes and their intrinsic worth. He should know considering he is an ophthalmologist by profession, but then Dr Shams also has a keen eye for Urdu poetry.
During his long service as an ophthalmologist, he has looked into innumerable defective eyes holding a little flashlight. While restoring vision, he has also looked beyond, into the soul. And what he has come up with is a book titled Aankh Aur Urdu Shayeri.
Inki aankhen ye keh rahi hain Faraz
Ham pe tasneef ek kitab karo
(Her eyes tell Faraz
Write a book on us)
Dr Shams has compiled a 389-page book containing couplets of different shades and emotions on eyes. It’s a treasure trove for connoisseurs of poetry. From Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal to Meer, Sauda, Shaad, Faiz, Majaz, Jigar Muradabadi, Ali Sardar Jafery, Parveen Shakir — a whole lot of Urdu poets and their verses on aankh have been listed.
The book is divided into three parts — the first one contains couplets beginning with aankh, the second one has verses which are allegorical in nature and the third part has proverbs containing the word aankh, listed topic-wise. The book is a ready reckoner of sorts, on eyes. This is perhaps the only book of its kind where all the pages are full of verses on one body part.
Right from his student days Dr Shams had a love for poetry and when he became an eye specialist, his passion took a different turn. He started focussing on poetry of eyes. It’s no wonder that he has four other books to his credit: Hamari Aankhen, Jism-o-Jan, Jism-Be-Jan and Aab-e-Hayat.
“The eye is the jewel of the body. Its function is not just to see but to look beyond and sense colour, form, light and movement. That’s why I started collecting couplets on eyes,” says Aligarh-based Dr Shams who released his book in Hyderabad.
The insightful couplets are real eye-openers. Sample this couplet of Parveen Shakir.
Aankh ko yaad hai wo pal ab bhi
Neend jab pehle pehal tuti thi
Full-length ghazals of Ali Sardar Jafery, Khaisar Siddiqi, Hasrat Mohani and Basheer Badr, all on eyes, make for delightful reading.
Gulab aankhen, sharaab aankhen
Yehi to hain lajawab aankhen
Aankhen uthen to dard ke chashme ubal pade
Palken juhken to payar ka badal baras gaya
One can get an eyeful of couplets in this book which was released at the recent two-day National Urdu Science Congress at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University. “There is no dichotomy between science and literature. In fact they complement each other,” says Dr Abid Moiz, who is also a good humour writer.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Book / by J S Ifthekhar / March 06th, 2019
His poetry reflected his passionate love for his country and his goal of total freedom from the British rule.
B.R. Ambedkar with Maulana Hasrat Mohani at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s reception in 1949.
On our 72nd Independence day, let us remember the freedom fighter, revolutionary, the poet, the maulana, and the Krishna bhakt: Maulana Hasrat Mohani and celebrate the diversity of India in all its glory.
If the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the United States was fuelled by ‘We shall overcome’, in India that honour would go to ‘Inqilaab Zindabad’ coined by Hasrat Mohani (1875 – 1951). It became the chant of Indian revolutionaries.
Though Mohani is remembered today for his romantic ghazal Chupke chupke raat din, his poetry reflected his passionate love for his country and his goal of total freedom from the British rule. He along with Ram Prasad Bismil got the proposal for Poorna Swaraj (complete Independence) accepted by the Indian National Congress in 1921.
Rasm e jafa kaamyaab dekhiye kab tak rahe,
Hubb e watan mast e khwaab dekhiye kab tak rahe,
Daulat e Hindostan qabzah e aghyar mein
Be adad o be hisaab dekhiye kab tak rahe!
(How long will tyranny succeed, let us see
Till when will freedom be a dream*, let us see
Hindustan’s riches are in the clutches of plunderers
Till When will this continue, let us see.)
[*dream here alludes to awakening of Indians from their slumber]
Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a very complex but extremely interesting personality. He was born in a zamindar family in Mohan near Unnao (Uttar Pradesh) in 1875, and was named Fazlul Hasan. ‘Hasrat’ (longing) was his nom de plume or ‘takhallus’ and Mohani as he hailed from the village Mohan. His early education was in his village and he matriculated from Government High School, Fatehpur. He went on to join the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College, Aligarh (now Aligarh Muslim University).
Hasrat Mohani was a very active participant in the freedom struggle and was jailed many times. A lot of his poetry is composed during his imprisonment.
Hasrat Mohan was an ardent supporter of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and when he died, the poet penned these lines:
Jab tak wo rahe dunyaa meN raha ham sab ke diloN par zor unka
ab rah ke bahisht meN nizd-i-khuda huro’N pe kareNge raj Tilak –
(As long as he stayed in this world he ruled our hearts
Now in Paradise, closer to God, the houris will be his court.)
Although Hasrat was a romantic poet, he was an active member of the Indian NationalCongress, the Muslim League and the Communist Party of India.
One of his popular verses is:
Gandhi ki tarah baith ke kaate’nge kyun charkh
Lenin ki tarah de’nge duniya ko hila hum
Why should we sit and spin yarn on the ‘charkha’
Like Lenin we will shake the world.
The revolutionary was also a romantic poet and today no ghazal mehfil is complete without a rendition of his evergreen couplet:
“Chupke Chupke raat din aansoo bahana yaad hai
Ham ko ab tak aashiqii kaa vo zamaanaa yaad hai”
(Shedding tears in silence, day and night, I remember
Those days of being in love, I still remember.)
His appeal across nations can be judged from these two stamps by India and Pakistan.
We often talk about his role in the Independence Movement, and his romantic ghazals but rarely do we talk of his devotion to Shri Krishna. According to Prof C.M. Naim, he wrote his first poem on Krishna in Urdu, when he was in Pune during Janmashthami in 1923.
Hasrat Mohani also wrote many verses in praise of Shri Krishna in Bhasha. He visited Brindaban as many times as he went for Hajj to Mecca (11 times) such was his devotion to Shri Krishna.
So while on the one hand, he wrote:
Mose cheR karat nandlāl
lie Thāre abīr gulāl
DhīTh bha’ī jin kī barjorī
auran par rang Dāl-Dāl
ham-huN jo de’ī lipTā’e-ke Hasrat
sārī ye chalbal nikāl
Nandlal keeps teasing me without end;
There he lurks, ready to pour colors on me.
Having safely sprayed others so many times,
He is now set in his bullying ways.
But what if I should embrace him, Hasrat,
Then squeeze him dry of his fancy tricks?
( verse and translation C M Naim’s article ‘the Maulana who loved Krishna )
On the other hand, he wrote innumerable naats and munajats in praise of Prophet Mohammed.
Khyaal e yaar ko dil se mita do Yaa Rasool Allah
Khird ko apna diwaana bana do Yaa Rasool Allah
Remove all thoughts of any other than you O Allah’s Prophet
Make my intellect, crazy for you O Allah’s Prophet
(The answer can be found in his Sufi leaning and learning. Sufism is the path of Bhakti, which has bound Hindus and Muslims together in a syncretic culture, which we call Ganga Jamuni.)
He was a disciple of Hazrat Shah Abdur Razzaq Farangi Mahalli in the Qadria Sufi Order. Sufism believes in losing oneself in the Beloved to achieve salvation and the love of Radha Krishna is a beautiful example of the same.
We can find the answer in the “Iintroductory note to Divan 7) where he refers to the god Krishna as Hazrat Srī Krishna ‘Alaihi-Rahma and claims that in doing so he is follow- ing the path of his spiritual mentors, particularly Hazrat Sayyad Abdur Razzaq Bansawi, whom he mentions.”
Hasrat’s poetry written near Makkah for pilgrimage:
ek khalish hoti hai mehsoos rag o jaan ke qareeb
Aan pahunche hai magar manzil e jaana’n ke qareeb
(A strange pain near my jugular vein I can feel
I have reached my destination near my Beloved)
The music we hear comes from one source, it’s just that we are unable to hear beyond the first few notes. Let’s pause and listen today. To my heart, to your heart and our beloved nation’s heart. I am sure they all want the same thing: peace, prosperity and glory of our great nation where we can live without fear and hatred.
Rana Safvi is an author, historian, blogger and is engaged in documenting of India’s Syncretic past.
source: http://www.newscentral24x7.com / News Central 24×7 / Home / by Rana Safvi / August 15th, 2018
In a glittering ceremony, two books on the Muslim community’s contribution to the Indian freedom movement were launched in Patna last week. The function was presided over by Harsh Mander, former IAS officer and human rights activist.
The books ‘Muslim Freedom Fighters: Contribution of Indian Muslims in the Independence Movement’ and its Urdu version ‘Muslim Mujahideen-e-Azadi aur Tehrik-e-Azadi Mein Unki Khidmat’ have been authored by well-known Delhi based author and journalist Syed Ubaidur Rahman.
The two books try to fight the oft-repeated allegations that Muslims are anti-national and have not contributed for the freedom of the nation. The books nail the lie and prove that Muslims not just participated in the freedom movement, they went on to lead the freedom struggle for a long time. The first war of Independence or Mutiny of 1857 was led by Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi and Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow.
The Independence Movement in the first two decades of the twentieth century was led by Mahmud Hasan and ulama of Deoband and they had respect and support of everyone including Hindus and Muslims.
If anyone has any doubt about the Muslim contribution in the freedom movement, the fact that the Indian National Congress had as many as nine Muslims as its president till the year 1947 will remove such doubts.
While speaking on the occasion, Harsh Mander said that the divisive forces in the country are trying to divide the nation on the basis of religion and faith. He said that the danger from such forces for the national fabric and its unity has become grave.
Mander added that the threat to the communal amity in the country was never so high as is today as divisive forces are doing every thing to pit one community against the other and create a fear psychosis among the majority community prompting it to turn it against minorities.
Khursheed Mallick, a Chicago based urologist, philanthropist and director of IMEFNA said that the book is a timely reminder to the nation that Muslims and Hindus both sacrificed for the nation and this fact must be clearly told to our young generation. He said Muslims sacrificed heavily for the cause of the freedom of the nation and efforts must be made to tell the history.
Syed Ubaidur Rahman, the author of the two books, while speaking on the occasion said Muslims have been rather loath to write about the sacrifices they have made for the cause of the Independence and freedom. He said Muslims suffered badly throughout the freedom movement. They were the worst suffers in the wake of the mutiny of 1857 and its aftermath when Muslims were hounded across North India and beyond. Tens of thousands of Muslims lost their lives for the freedom.
Syed added that ulama of Deoband played a stellar role in the freedom movement. Unlike the common perception, they were secular to the core and when they established a government in exile in Kabul in 1915, they appointed Raja Mahendra Pratap as its President and Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali as its Prime Minister.
The book documents the lives of forty renowned Muslim freedom fighters including, Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmud al-Hasan, Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Dr Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Ashfaqulla Khan, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Maulana Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari, Asaf Ali, Husain Ahmad Madani, Aruna Asaf Ali (Kulsum Zamani), Peer Ali Khan, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Mohammed Abdur Rahiman, Captain Abbas Ali, Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, Prof. Abdul Bari, Moulvi Abdul Rasul, Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur, Rahimtulla Mahomed Sayani, Syed Hasan Imam, Sir Syed Ali Imam, M.C. Chagla, Yusuf Meherally, Justice Fazal Ali, General Shah Nawaz Khan, Allama Fazle Haq Khairabadi, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Syed Mahmud, Maulana Mazharul Haque, Badruddin Tyabji, Col Mehboob Ahmed, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Maulana Shafi Daudi, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri, Batak Mian .
The book launch function was organized at Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu and was presided over by Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, chairman of Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu Bihar.
Syed Ubaidur Rahman is a New Delhi based writer and commentator. He has written several books on Muslims and Islam in India including Understanding Muslim Leadership in India.
source: http://www.sify.com / Sify.com / Home> SifyNews> National / by SIFY.com / Friday – December 22nd, 2017
