Syed AfsarSajid
Title: Fikr-o-Khayal
Author: Prof. Dr. Sh. Muhammad Iqbal
Pages: 304 – Price: Rs.500/-
Title: Deedban
Compiler: Shahzad Beg
Pages: 184 – Price: Rs.2,000/-
Prof. Dr. Sh. Muhammad Iqbal (from Sargodha) is an acclaimed educationist, intellectual, and a trilingual writer, poet, and critic besides being an avan-gardist of the White Cane Safety Movement in lthe country. Fikr-o-Khayal comprises his miscellaneous essays in Urdu and Punjabi, Urdu short stories, translations from English to Urdu, and two essays in English. Shahzad Beg is an experienced poet and writer from Faisalabad. He has ventured to memorialize some 58 deceased writers and poets connected to Faisalabad (Lyallpur of yore) in the near or remote past, in his semi-biographical publication titled Deedban.
Fikr-o-Khayal
Prof. Dr. Sh. Muhammad Iqbal is a learned man with a keen but perceptive awareness of comparative world literatures. This book is divided into six parts — the first part contains introductory notes (self-exclamatory or elucidatory) by the author himself; this reviewer; famed surgeon, writer and poet Dr. Mohsin Maghiana; and noted advocate, writer, and editor Syed Shahid Bukhari.
The second part of the book carries expository/reflective/critical essays in Urdu on Faraz (1931-2008) and his poetry of resistance; Faraz as a poet of ghazal; Shahid Bokhari as a living ‘aazaad mard’; radio as a friend and confidant; disabled persons — tours de force of Nature; special education defined; a cursory look at Shakespeare’s play Macbeth; and a close study of his play King Lear.
In the next part, the author has elected to compose quasi-descriptive essays on Shakespeare (1564-1616), Milton (1608-74), Wordsworth (1770-1850) and the play King Lear, in Punjabi.
The fourth part is dedicated to short stories, twelve in number — crisp and concise but homely in tone and tenor. The content of the stories is mostly related to personal experiences empathetically designed as fiction.
In the penultimate portion of the book, the writer has incorporated lucid Urdu translations of Max Shulman’s (1919-88) ‘Love is a Fallacy’, Helen Keller’s (1880-1968) ‘Three Days to See’, Edgar Allan Poe’s (1809-49) ‘Tell Tale Heart’, and James Joyce’s (1882-1941) ‘Araby’.
The concluding part consists of two essays in English, titled ‘Iqbal’s View of Struggle in the Making of Life’ and ‘Ahmad Faraz: A Lover and a Poet’, that are self-explanatory and reflect the writer’s ability to discreetly analyse and assimilate divers literary issues including intricate poetic concepts and their practical formulations. It is hoped that the book will attract the readers for its informative content and congenial style.
Deedban
Eminent literary versatilist Dr. Riaz Majeed has aptly remarked that this book can be regarded as a classic reference to the literary history of Faisalabad. Noted poet and writer Dr. Waheed Ahmad terms it as a galaxy of deceased creative writers of ‘Dabistan-e-Lyallpur’. Veteran intellectual-cum-litterateur Prof. Ghulam Rasool Tanwir likens it (Deedban) to a ‘literary Big Bang’ and correspondingly a valuable addition to the literary history of Faisalabad. All of them have contributed eulogistic introductory flaps to the book in addition to Prof. Dr. Shabbir Ahmad Qadri’s well-worded but concise foreword.
Shahzad Beg, like an assiduous researcher, has initiated a kind of a monologue here in which he has attempted to survey the literary scenario of Faisalabad from when it was a small newly founded bustling town known as Lyallpur. He has focused on the evolution and growth of ‘mushaira’ in town, as a popular literary recreation, and has also mentioned some individuals as well as institutions whose patronage caused the promotion of the literary arts in town with poetry and poetic concerts as major attractions.
In the current book, the compiler has succinctly brought out a semi-biographical catalogue, in alphabetical order, as mentioned elsewhere, of as many as fifty-eight late poets who in their respective life span participated in or led the caravan of poetic creativity in town right from its inception.
The format is quite simple though convoluted. It encloses the name of the late poet at the top with the years of his birth and death in the succeeding line, followed by the location of his residence, name(s) of major publications, and a reference to his profession. After this brief intro, specimen of a late poet’s noted work has been contextualized with a view to enabling the reader to judge and appreciate him properly.
The illustrious list of such poets includes, among others, Asif Bashir Chishti, Ahsan Zaidi, Ahmad Riaz, Ahmad Shahbaz Khawar, Arshad Javed, Ashraf Yusufi, Iftikhar Nasim, Afzal Ahsan Randhawa, Anwar Mehmood Khaid, Sanaullah Zaheer, Javed Anwar, Jamil Rampuri, Hafiz Ludhianvi, Habib Jalib, Hazeen Ludhianvi, Khawar Zaidi, Khaliq Qureshi, Sahir Qidwai, Salim Betab, Shahzada Hasan, Shauq Irfani, Talib Jalandhari, Abeer Abuzari, Adeem Hashmi, Azmatullah Khan, Fazal Hussain Rahi, Faiz Jhanjhanvi, Qayyum Nasir, Meem Hassan Latifi, Mehmood Sana, Murli Dhar Shad, Masroor Badayuni, Manzar Mufti, Manzoor Ahmad Manzoor, Manzoor Abbas Azhar, Nadir Jajvi, Naz Khayalvi, Nazar Javed, Nasim Shaukat Akhgar, and Naqsh Lyallpuri.
A few names like Prof. Taqi-ud-din Anjum, Akhtar Sadeedi, Shafqat Hussain Shafqat, Wasil Hashmi, Ameer Nawaz Ameer, and Prof. Muhammad Arif Raza do not find mention in the book, maybe due to an oversight on the compiler’s part. Viewed as a whole, the book is an appreciable effort to unfold the poetical aspect of the literary history of Faisalabad, to the advantage of an average reader as much as one who is well initiated in the literary art.
