BOOK REVIEW
A Serious Literary Journal
Review by Dr Afzal Mirza
al-Aqreba
(Annual Issue 2006)
Editor: Syed Mansur Aquil
Publisher: Al-Aqreba Foundation, Islamabad
Pages: 204
Price: Rs 70
It goes to the credit of former
bureaucrat Syed Mansur Aquil that magazine al-Aqreba
is being regularly published dot at time without
compromising its literary and aesthetic standard.
The present issue is the ninth annual issue which
possesses all the ingredients of a serious literary
journal.
In the last few issues the editor had started writing
some profound editorials on various literary issues
but this time he has justifiably taken up the earthquake
and its aftermath as his subject. It becomes far
more relevant because the magazine is published
from Islamabad which was also severely hit by the
quake and this had a deep impact on the psyche of
the literati of that area. This is the reason why
he has earmarked a separate section in the magazine
on the writings pertaining to this devastating happening
under the heading “Qahar Aashob.” The
section includes some passionate contributions by
Muhammad Shafi Arif Dehlvi, Naeem Fatima Alvi, Mahmood
Akhtar Saeed and moving poems by Amin Rahat Chughtai,
Saifur Rehman Saifi and Shahida Lateef. Both the
short stories in the section, especially the one
by Mahmood Akhtar Saeed entitled Koi School Ki Ghanti
Baja De, evokes compassionate feelings for the victims
of the tragedy:
As usual this time as well the section Maqalat -o-
Mazameen is the strongest and the contributors are
Dr Mohammad Mueezuddin, Dr Ghulam Shabir Rana, Dr
Shahid Hasan Rizvi,Dr Khayal Amrohvi, Dr Muzammal
Bhatti,Qamar Raeeni and Prof Mashkoor Huasain Yaad.
In his article Dr Mueez has described the importance
of Iqbal and his philosophy and poetry in present-day
Persia. The writer rightly points out that Iqbal’s
interest in Iran could be seen from the subject
of his thesis “Development of Metaphysics
in Persia”. He has also tried to explain the
reason why Iqbal did his research in Cambridge but
got his doctorate from Munich University. Why didn’t
he submit it to Cambridge University for his PhD?
He puts to rest various earlier speculations that
it was not of the desired standard for a doctorate
degree by saying that before 1921 Cambridge had
not started awarding PhDdegrees, that is why Iqbal
submitted the thesis to Munich University and learnt
the German language to defend it. He has however
not explained what Iqbal was doing at Heidelberg
University. He also reveals that Iqbal switched
to writing poetry in Persian language on the suggestion
of his friend Sir Abdul Qadir.
Dr Muzammal Bhatti has contributed an interesting
article on Islamic Calligraphy. He has traced the
origin of Islamic Calligraphy to the times of the
holy Prophet when his companions jotted down God’s
message. This art then reached Medina from Makka.
The first calligrapher was Zaid ben Harris and the
first to write Bismillah was Khalid bin Saeed Abu
Al-Aas. He also points out that Hazrat Ali was also
a good calligrapher of the Koofi script. Among the
present day calligraphers he has given the names
of Aslam Kamal, Zawwar Husain,Abdul Wahid, Sadequain,
Gul Jee and others forgetting to mention Haneef
Ramay. Syed Intikhab Ali Kamal’s lengthy article
on Allama Seemab Akbarabadi is also worth mentioning.
He has shed light on hitherto unknown aspects of
the personality of this popular poet of the third
half of last century. Seemab Sahib got his poems
corrected by Daagh Dehlvi and among his well-known
protégés was famous poet Saghar Nizami.
Abdul Hamid Azami who retired from a senior position
in Radio Pakistan a few years ago now devotes most
of his time in research .Last time he had unraveled
the mystery of Maulvi Madan. This time he has dug
out the background of Mian Miskeen, a poet and rival
of Mirza Rafi Sauda whom Sauda had mentioned in
one of his Hijvs in the line: ”Phir koi na
pooche Mian Miskeen kahan ho” He writes that
Miskeen was a prolific Marsiya writer who migrated
to Calcutta when Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was interned
there.
In the poetry section one finds the names of Abdul
Aziz Khalid, Shabnam Roomani, Muztar Akbarabadi,
Saifur Rehman Saifi, Dr Khayal Amrohvi, Karamat
Bokhari, Amin Rahat Chughtai and Anwaar Feroze.
Poet Owais Jafrey who lives in America has written
a meaningful poem entitled Mere Qabeele Mein Aane
Wali .The poet has addressed this poem to an American
white girl who has married a Pakistani Muslim and
has beautifully described to her the character of
the person she has married and the shape of the
social structure she would be entering which was
totally different from the one she had been living
in. The magazine also carries the critical reviews
penned by Syed Mansur Aquil on the latest books
of Rabia Burney, Khayal Afaqi and Mashkoor Husain
Yaad.
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