Doha is the capital city of Qatar but it has yet another significance for us. This is a city which hosts the annual international awards for well-known Urdu writers - Alami Farogh-e-Urdu Adab Awards - and Mushaira - which could be regarded as an unparalleled event in the Urdu world.
The event is attended by Urdu poets and scholars from all over the world and its Annual Awards are truly international: one each from India and Pakistan for the best prose and the other - Salim Jafri International Award - which has honoured among others Chuang (Intikhab Alam), a Chinese Urdu poet, Ralph Russel and Natalia Pragrina. This year's Salim Jafri International Award winner was Prof. David Mathews, former Head of the Urdu Department, London University.
I believe that the dynamic spirit behind the Awards and Mushaira event is that of Malik Museeb-ur-Rahman. But the entire Board of Patrons of Majlis-i-Faroqh-e-Urdu Adab deserves the credit for this mega event which keeps Urdu lovers aguessing as to who were the fortunate writers to get the next year's awards. The group of poets invited to participate in the Mushaira also changes every year so one gets a fairly good idea as to what was happening in the Mushaira world.
I wonder what the enthusiasm of one person like Malik Museeb-ur-Rahman, known as Ibnul Habib Ahqar, in the literary world could do and the most interesting aspect of the whole show that he has never participated as a poet even though he has quite a ring of disciples who recognise him to be their mentor.
Having described the importance of Doha Alami Farogh-e-Urdu Adab Awards and Mushaira I would like to say a few words about this year's awardees in order of sequence.
Dr David Mathews is a wonderful figure to talk about. Born in London, he was admitted to University college after finishing grammar school in which his principal subjects were French, Greek and Latin. He gained a first class Honours degree in Classics and Comparative Philology from London University college. He was, then, invited to Downing College (Cambridge University) where he carried out research into the relations between Mycenaean Greece and the civilisations of the Ancient Nearest. For the examination of archival material it was necessary for him to embark upon a study of several ancient Semitic languages including Babylonian, Assyrian and Hebrew.
Having joined the Department of Linguistics and Phonetics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University) he felt himself attracted to Urdu. He has not looked back ever since and could be regarded as one of the best translators of Urdu literature on the international scene. He has presented numerous papers on Urdu literature.
His major publications are:
-- An anthology of Classical Urdu, Love Lyrics (with C. Shackle) OUP 1972.
-- Hayat Jawaid, a UNESCO project, 1994.
-- Introduction to Urdu (with C. Shackle) 1979.
-- God's Own Land (Translation of Shaukat Siddiqui's novel, Khuda ki Basti.
-- Iqbal - A Selection of the Urdu Verse. Introduction, translation and commentary, SOAS, London, 1993.
-- The Battle of Karbala (a Marsia of Anis). Delhi, Toronto and Karachi, 1994, 2002 & 2003.
-- Ghalib, Eight Letters + 15 Ghazals, (SOAS) London, 1994.
-- An Anthology of Undu Verse, OUP, New Delhi, 1995.
-- Umrao Jan Ada (an English translation of Mirza Ruswa's work). Rupa & Co, New Delhi, 1996 and many more publications.
Ashfaq Hussain, from Toronto introduced Dr. Mathews to the audience. Dr. Mathews passed some time in Karachi in order to acquire proficiency in Undu oral communication. He speaks Urdu so fluently that hardly a word of Undu was likely to creep into his lectures, or conversation. I met him in 1979 and am in touch with him ever since. His wife Lyudmila Mathews is a scholar in her own right and has translated K. Paustovsky and Love Lyrics of Pushkin with her husband.
Farogh-e-Urdu Adab Award Winner for 2004 from Pakistan was Abdullah Husain, a famous novelist whose first novel Udas Naslain created big waves when it published in 1963 - four years after Qurratal Ain Hyder's Aag Ka Darya. It portrays the emotional turmoil of the generation of the 'Partition' days. His novel was appreciated a great deal and there is no doubt that he is a legendary figure of Urdu fiction in our times.
Abdullah Husain's real name is Muhammad Khan. He excels in the art of otherwise ordinary looking details. One wonders at his creative imagination and unpretentious writing. He doesn't follow the conventional and beaten track to make his plot appear a monolithic structure. He allows to keep it floating and it is amazing as to how he manages to weave it into a continuous thread turning different fragments into a well-formed mosaic.
His other works are Bagh, Nashaib, Naddi, Wapsi Ka Safar, Qaid and Nadar Log.
Muhammad Umar Memon has translated some of his stories under the title Night & Other Stories. Another title of his stories, English translations is Downfall By Degrees and Other Stories.
'Udas Naslain' has been translated into Chinese by Yuan Wue Shoey and hailed as a very important novel of Urdu language.
Abdullah Husain is somewhat introvert. Knowing him as I know for the last 25 years I think that he is otherwise a soft spoken and polite person. This scribe read out a paper on Abdullah Husain's art.
Now I come to the Indian winner of this year's Alami Farogh-e-Urdu Adab Award - Dr. Nisar Ahmed Faruqi - who is one of the foremost authorities on Mysticism and Islam in India today.
Being my childhood friend when both of us acted in schoold dramas in different roles I have seen his steady progress with a feeling of glee and pride. After all who doesn't like his childhood friend rise to a high pedestal in life?
Having more than 50 books and 450 research articles to his credit, he is living a retired academic's life in New Delhi. He retired as Head of the Arabic Department of Delhi University and has been the Editor-in-Chief of India's most prestigious Arabic Journal - Saqafat (Thaqafat) al Hindi, an ICCR Journal for Dehli.
One simply cannot recount his accomplishments starting for Mir Ki Aap Beeti (1957), Ghalib Ki Aap Beeti (1998), Ghalib Namah (1969), Talash-i-Ghalib (1969), Arabon Ki Tarikh Nawisi (1972), Chishti Taleemat Aur Asr-i-Hazir Mein Unki Maanawiyyat (1981), Mir Taqi Mir (1995), Kulliyat-i-Mushafi (2003). His latest book, Shaikh Sadruddin Muhammad Yaqub Jihinda Shaheed, (2002) is a work which could be called a 'Breaking News' type of thriller. He proves that the Shaikh Saddu myth of Amroha is a fabrication to confuse and cloud.
Shaikh Sadruddin Muhammad Yaqub, the real person, is the third son of Hazrat Baba Farid Ganj Shakar, who was killed in Amroha by thugs and the tomb of Jhanda Shaheed in Amroha is actually Shaikh Sadruddin's Mazar. He was called Jihinda Shaheed, a martyr killed enroute his destination. So, Dr. Faruqi has established that there is no one as Shaikh Saddu other than Shaikh Sadruddin and all stories woven round him were false and unfounded.
Even Ghalib and Ghous Ali Shah have discussed Shaikh Saddu in a pejorative sense. Dr. Faruqi has dubbed this as nonsense and all of us will regard Dr. Nisar Ahmed Faruqi's discovery, backed by authentic books and archival record, as the 'find' of the gear.
Isn't it strange that the Doha Awards, as Dr. Faruqi said in his acceptance speech, are given to deserving writers and were not grabbed by the writers as was usually the case?
Having been a participant of the Doha literary event and witness to its immaculate arrangements, I believe that our academies will do well to emulate the fairness of the Majlis Farogh-i-Adab Awards in this regard.
Amjad Islam Amjad's 60th Birthday
Another event in Doha was the commemoration of Amjad Islam Amjad's 60th birthday anniversary along with the launching of the Birthday celebration publication, Sitarey Mere Hamsafar. The Majlis has also published Malikzadah Manzoor Ahmed's autobiography Raqs-i-Sharar and Mairaj Faizabadi's collection of poetry, Namoos, this year. Quite a new beginning.
The speakers of the evening were Ashfaq Hussain, this scribe, Abdullah Husain, Dr. Gopi Chand Narang and Dr. David Mathews. Amjad Islam Amjad has achieved a level of popularity and productivity which entitles him to many more of such celebrations.
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