Jehaat e Hasrat

Edited by Syed Jaffar Ahmed.

Pakistan Studies Centre, Jamia Karachi.

Year of publication 2008

Price Rs. 300.

Pages 237

Usually love poets are considered too sensitive to have revolutionary ambitions.

A poet defied these hasty conclusions

Hasrat Mohani has been an unlikely presence among our line up of significant poets. He was both a man of action and a man of letters – a combination that is not easy to find in a tradition where the two have been kept apart except for few intensely politicized phases like the one that Hasrat Mohani was involved in.

There have been many political leaders and activists who have laid claim to being poets or men of letters and, vice versa, there have been many poets who have aspirations of leading political movements that would have a huge impact on the man's destiny but the combination where both strands retain their individuality is rare to achieve.

Iqbal was a great poet but, as a politician, tilted more towards political philosophy than being a practitioner while Faiz' case was peculiar. And if the poet has been an activist his poetry has tended to be too direct as in the case of Jalib. But the list is rather short. For especially during our classical periods to be sympathetic to an idea, a movement or an ideology was kept away from actually agitating and participating in dissent. The poet by his very nature was considered to be too engrossed in the world of "rung o boo" and too possessed by "nazuk khiyali" to have the temperament for an active life. Then the poet feels and thinks too deeply that makes him to accept a bipartisan attitude in life, indulging varying shades, a wider spectrum in the entertainment of numerous possibilities inherent in a situation.

There may have been more active participation by our poets in what we call politics but the information regarding their biographical details are so sketchy that the pieces do not fit into a cohesive account. We have anecdotes of poets having the temerity to speak up to mighty monarchs but those instances are more as examples of personal daring or courage rather the drawing upon the strength of an ideology. In the last hundred odd years the poets with a more overt consciousness of objective reality discarded the ghazal and opted for the nazm either as free verse of the mussadass.

From amongst the very few men of letters who have also been active in life, like also actively participating in the causes that they believed in. Hasrat Mohani wrote good poetry and suffered on account of participating in political activity. Now a collection of articles has been published Jehaat e Hasrat edited by Dr. Syed Jaffar Ahmed which throws light on the immense contribution of Hasrat Mohani as a poet and as a political activist. It comprises a number of articles which have been written from time to time and some updated for the present collection while a few have been written specifically for this purposes of being included in the collection.

These articles have been divided into four sections to encompass the range of activities that Hasrat was involved in: literature, politics, journalism and religion. The articles on the literary output of Hasrat have been penned by Farman Fatehpuri Muhammed Aqeel, Muhammed Ali Siddiqui, Shafqat Rizvi, Khalid Fayyaz, and Bilal Naqvi.

On the love poetry of Hasrat Mohani it is usually said that he wrote in the style and idiom of the old usatiza (the masters) but there are many aspects of this poetry which are new and are not found in the poetry of the masters. It was usually said by the likes of Hali and his friends that everything about love had already been written and anything added to it was no more than mere repetition, but Hasrat through his poetry made us realize that the depth of love remains unfathomed and the experience has the ability to cast colours and hues which are still unexplored. The poetry of Hasrat may not have the depth of Mir but it was not based on imaginary relationship but firmly grounded in flesh and blood. The love poetry had become a cliché because the classical idiom was being over employed in times that had changed tremendously. The classical ghazal idiom had its own ripple effect that touched a whole set of ideas from the earthly to the spiritual but when stated in the twentieth century appeared to be a depiction of a physical relationship, ironically that was only imaginary. Hasrat seemed to be more inspired by the sincerity of Wali and cast his verses in the passion and the immediacy that the apogee of human relationships require. It is being said now that Hasrat provided the missing link in our poetry between the early "ashiqia shairi" of Hali and of Akhter Shirani. On the other hand, his nazm showed the way to Josh's impassioned charge. The main thrust of his poetry, however, remained the ghazal and the political and the personal seem to exist side by side, without the two lines crossing into each other.

Hai mash e sukhan jaari , chaki ki mushaqqarkt bhi

Ik turfa tamasha hai hasrat ki tabiyat bhi.

He was hugely inspired by socialism and his ideological conviction often landed him in trouble, even behind bars, and he sought the dispassion to fight for freedom within the sufic tradition

Darveeshi o inqilab masluk

hai mera

Soofi momin hoon ishtiraki

muslim.

Hasrat started his journalistic career or his career as an editor very early and it could be divided into four phases. The first phase was represented by Urdu e Mualla, first published from Aligarh in 1903, which was both a literary and a political magazine. He wrote against the isolation of the Muslims from mainstream politics of India and wanted them to shun the apolitical approach which had been propagated by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and join politics which was anti-imperialistic. He was hugely influenced by Tilak and Aurobindo Gosh.

He also included in his magazines the poems and literary pieces of many new and young writers and poets who became famous later or became famous for only what was published in Hasrat's magazine.

Pakistan: Social and Cultural

Transformation in a Muslim Nation

Author: Mohammad A. Qadeer

Publisher: Routledge,

London, United Kingdom

Pages: 322

Price: £75 (hardback)

There is no dearth of political and economic histories of Pakistan, but social history has so far been a neglected field. In this book, his third, Mohammad A. Qadeer focuses on this hitherto neglected area of inquiry and charts for the readers a social history of Pakistan since independence.

Qadeer is a renowned and respected figure among sociologists and planners. After doing MA in Sociology from the Punjab University, Lahore the author switched to Community Planning and carried out postgraduate studies in Regional and Urban Planning at prestigious universities in Greece and the US. His first book Urban Development in the Third World – Internal Dynamics of Lahore gives policy prescriptions for a planned development of the provincial metropolis while his second book, which he co-authored with Gerald Hodge, deals with the towns and villages in Canada.

The author is settled in Canada, where he has taught Urban and Regional Planning at Queen's University, Kingston for over thirty years. He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners. But he has all along been concerned about Pakistan, his country of origin; and the book under review is his labour of love for the country where he grew up.

The book is a culmination of Qadeer's lifelong study of evolving social institutions and cultural patterns in Pakistan. For this, he has conducted an exhaustive research from all available resources. He has relied on sociological surveys, anthropological profiles, media analysis, studies of demographic trends and socio-economic development. Additionally, he has frequently visited Pakistan, where he has had long discussions on Pakistan's socio-economic and political scene with friends and colleagues. Combined with this is the inquisitive author's experience of growing up in Pakistan and working there as a Consultant with Pakistan Institute of Development Economics and the Pakistan government. The work, therefore, is rich in the author's personal vignettes.

Muslim societies worldwide are presumed to be stagnant and resistant to change. Not so, says Qadeer; and in this insightful book, he tells the readers how Pakistani society has transformed since independence. Starting with Muslim nationalism, the Pakistani society moved to Islamic socialism. Since 1977, it has been espousing the ideal of an Islamic state working for the enforcement of Sharia. More recently, because of Pervez Musharaf's slogan of 'enlightened moderation,' some areas are witnessing a shift toward a liberal Islamic society, while others are in the throes of Islamic revivalism.

The author ably elucidates how these shifting focus have embroiled the society in a tussle between national democratic on the one side and puritanical Islamic on the other. He also explains how these divergent visions and commitments are tearing apart an already fragmented society. Combined with this fragmentation, he maintains, is Pakistan's peculiar political history, which has inhibited the emergence of a social consensus about its national purpose and identity as a society.

Qadeer sees Islamic revivalism as a parallel force of social change in Pakistan. In the chapter "Islam and Social Life," he explains how Islam has affected social life in Pakistan and how the social life in turn has affected the structure of Islamic discourse, including both conceptions and actions, in Pakistan.

The book is unique in that it initiates a meaningful historical inquiry into the country's social organisation, political development, economy and ideology in the context of family, community, class, civil society and everyday life. In addition to studying Pakistani society and culture at the institutional planes, the author inquires into the prevailing social trends and cultural patterns with reference to the kaleidoscope of personal behaviour, daily routine, beliefs and modes of thought, leading to a better understanding of the ever-changing society. An empiricist by both temperament and training, the author describes the people's experience of living in the community in concrete terms rather than in abstract and generalised theories.

The author provides a comprehensive study of Pakistan's various ethnic groups, its countryside and cities, religion and community, popular culture and identity, thus bringing home to the readers a marked social diversity in the Pakistani society. He also points out a widening chasm between the imagined and lived cultures in Pakistan.

In addition, the author discusses the role of social mobility, migration and globalisation in transforming Pakistani society in recent times. Delving in the wide difference between agrarian and urban ethos, the author explains how the still potent agrarian ethos, with its support for custom and personal / tribal relationships, is interfering with the process of modernisation. Emphasising that modernisation is a functional necessity of societies that are growing, urbanising and developing, the author lays down imperatives of collective utilities and services for all and a civic order for an urbanising society. He also stresses the importance of responsive governance, representative government, equality, human rights, freedom and rule of law as prerequisites to raise incomes, reduce poverty, increase productivity, accelerate technological advancement and improve health, educational and nutritional standards in the society.

In the concluding chapter "Whither Pakistan," the author reiterates his well-thought-out and succinctly-formulated yet irrefutable finding that simultaneous forces of modernisation, indigenisation and Islamic revivalism are giving birth to divergent lifestyles in a stressed and turbulent society. He then goes on to sum up his multi-layered and nuanced analysis and gives the readers his prognosis of likely socio-cultural changes in near future.

A happy combination of a sociologist and a development planner, Qadeer has disciplined and much honed mindset of a social scientist and his empirical approach is manifest in his analysis of Pakistan's social imbroglio. A similar approach is also visible in his precise expression and choice of exact and well-defined words. He has presented his ideas in an unambiguous and lucid manner.

The book is an important resource for anyone who wants to understand contemporary Pakistan; and apart from being rich in illuminating content, it is a pleasure to read also because of its meticulously crafted prose, having both clarity and exactitude.

In one man's genius

One exclaims: light upon light!'

(Daud Rahbar)

One of my sharper drama students, who shows more than a passing interest in the physical appearance of the characters he is asked to portray, was cast as Amir Khusro in an in-house production. Not content with the rather faded image of the poet in a brochure printed in Delhi to mark Khusro's seven hundredth birthday, he sought the aid of Internet.

He approached me one morning and, with heavy sarcasm, said that he had, at last, come to know what Amir Khusro looked like. He then handed over to me a page he had down-loaded from an Indian website known as iloveindia.com. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that at the bottom of the page, titled, AMIR KHUSRO, there was a picture of Mirza Ghalib. And it saddened me to note that he was listed in the section marked 'Urdu Poets'.

Khusro was only six years old when his father, a native of Turkistan, who had sought refuge in India, died in a skirmish. Khusro was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Imad-ul-Mulk. Imad-ul-Mulk was a Hindu who had converted to Islam. Khusro's mother, who had connections with her Hindu relatives, shared much of these associations and her Hindu sensibilities with her son. The exceptionally gifted boy cherished his mother's Hindu culture as much as he cherished his Turkish Muslim culture. Feeling quite at home in two spiritual climes, Khusro blossomed into a great mediator between two major cultures.

We remember Amir Khusro largely because of the many playful riddles and romantic bridal songs attributed to him, but his literary output – poetry and prose – was enormous. He produced more than 200,000 verses in Persian – ghazals, long narrative poems, panegyrics, quatrains and some other forms of verse not so familiar to the average reader. In the Persian speaking world Khusro earned the nickname of Tooti-i-Hind (the Singing Parrot of India).

The pre-eminent singability of Khusro's poetry makes him unforgettable and has placed him in the ranks of such saints as Kabir, Tulsidas, Mirabai and Baba Farid. But Khusro ventured beyond the conventions of poetry in his times and took a step toward modernity by writing poems on chosen topics such as river, boat, candle, paper, pen and particular varieties of flowers. His six book-sized narrative poems treat episodes of contemporary history, themes from the lore of legendary love, and mystical experience. He wrote in Persian, Brij Bhasha and Arabic. (He knew Sanskrit as well but chose not to write in it).

The 19th century critic and historian, Shibli Nu'mani, thinks that "in the last six hundred years after his passing away Hindustan has not known anyone with his kind of personal versatility." In his writings on Khusro, Shibli mentions an incident that took place in the 17th century. A court singer was rendering a ghazal of Amir Khusro to entertain the Mughal emperor, Jehangir. When he sang the following verse:

"Tu shabena mee numai ba

barreh ki boodi imshab

Ki henooz chashm-i-mastat

asar-i-khumar daarad"

(You have a nocturnal look

about you.

In whose lap did you spend

the night?

Your eyes are heavy with

hangover. )

the emperor raised his right hand in indignation and bade the singer to stop. Making humble obeisance, a minister enquired what the cause of the royal displeasure was. Jahangir said, "Oh the shameless lover! What man of honour will thus be able to keep his cool and casually ask his beloved, 'in whose lap did you spend the night?' "

With ready wit the minister responded in these words, "Resort of the world, this is a verse of Amir Khusro. He is addressing in it his mentor Khawaja Nizamud-din. The meaning of 'lap' here is entirely metaphorical and mystical." Hearing this answer, good cheer returned to the countenance of the emperor, and he gave signal to the singer to continue with his singing.

In his poem 'A Tribute to Amir Khusro,' Daud Rahbar writes:

"Your songs enlivened alike

The scenes of Benares and

Mecca

They pleased the natives of

India

And delighted the people of

Iran."

Khusro had the remarkable knack of switching from his highbrow poetry in Persian to light-hearted, even frivolous, verse that he wrote in Hindavi. It was his work in this language, that marked him as a 'people's poet' and made him into a household name. Many of the verses (and songs) which have become part of our folklore, are written specially for women and children. The poetic forms are known as: paheli, anmil, dahkosla, do-sukana and keh-mukarni.

A keh-mukari is a stanza in four lines, not necessarily with alternate rhymes, composed to become a conundrum. The literal meaning of keh-mukari is 'going back on one's word'. It is a singing game played mostly by unmarried girls. The first three lines, all sung – sometimes spoken – are meant to puzzle the players; the words expressed describe attributes usually assigned to Sajjan (the loved one). When the rest of the players sing the first half of the fourth line, "Tell us, friend, is it the beloved?" the player denies it and gives the answer to the riddle. Here is an example: (Translation will not give you the delightful play on words)

There will be a wedding when

he comes

No one can compare with him

His utterances are dulcet'

"Tell us friend, is it Sajjan?" "No", says the player triumphantly, "it is the dhol". (drum)

It would take several columns to write about the quality of Khusro's genius as a musician and musicologist. He gave the world of music khayal and taraana, two of the most vibrant forms of classical singing; he created qawwali, which today enjoys greater popularity than it ever did in the last seven hundred years; he invented Taals (metric cycles) and he created new ragas which are still in vogue. Mohammad Hussain Azad was quite right when he said that "composers composed thousands of tunes and singers sang them, but those tunes were hits for no more than a day and passed into oblivion a day later." Khusro's ragas have survived over seven centuries and they continue to delight us season after season.

He may not have been the glass of fashion but he was a courtier, a scholar, a soldier and much more. What intrigues me most about Amir Khusro is not that he was able to compose profound poetry at the same time as he was creating a new Raga, writing highly philosophical prose or practicing martial arts, but that he continued to do so during his associations with the royal empires of more than seven rulers of Delhi. Some of these rulers were despotic; others were infelicitous or graceless, but all of them were capricious, prone to dismiss – or behead – any of their advisers on a whim. Amir Khusro could only be summed up as 'Light upon Light'