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Literary symposium held on Iqbal Day in US
By: Raja Zahid Khanzada
DALLAS: In the waves of organizing Urdu Mushairahs in every big city of North America, very few organizations are offering research conferences and symposiums on serious literary, cultural and political issues in Pakistan these days.Awan-e Urdu of Orlando, Florida, however, has a distinction of organizing programs on thought provoking topics on a regular basis. It offered an academic and literary symposium “Jashn-e Iqbal” in Sheraton Safari Hotel in Orlando on April 23.
Prominent scholars and poets from across the United States including Dr. Wasiullah Khan, Chancellor of East West University in Chicago, Dr. Qaisar Abbas, Assistant Dean of University of North Texas in Dallas and Mamoon Aiman, a prominent poet and scholar from New York participated in the program with their papers on Allama Iqbal’s poetry and thoughts.
Dr. Qaisar Abbas, who was also the Chief Guest of the program, spoke on the relevance of Iqbal’s thoughts and poetry to the contemporary Muslim world in the 21st Century.
He said Iqbal rejected factional identities in Islam and opposed senseless violence in Muslim societies. Dr. Wasiullah Khan who presided over the event, Said Muslims today should deeply analyze international political environment in the light of Iqbal’s philosophy and poetry. Mamoon Aiman provided a poet’s view of how Allama Iqbal promoted the concept of transnational Muslim Ummah.
Faryar Kohzad discussed popularity of Aqbal in Afghanisatan, Sabir Hussain Sabir analyzed Iqbal’s poem on Qurtaba Mosque and Salahuddin Siddiqui presented his analysis of Iqbal’s philosophy. Aijaz Malik, Abid Zahid, and Dr. Sarfaraz Ahmed recited Iqbal’s poetry in between the presentations.
The evening concluded with a Mushaira with local and visiting poets from different U.S. Cities which was presided over by Mamoon Aiman. Dr. Qaisar Abbas, from Dallas and Mamoon Aiman from New York were the visiting poets while Zulfiqar Agha a senior poet, Latif Kasu, Muzzammil Yousafzai, Ahmed Tanha, Arif Zaheer, Shaikh Aijaz and Sabir Husssain Sabir were the local poets.
Organizers of this event Arif Zaheer and Ahmed Tanha presented awards to participants and volunteers who helped organize this successful event.
Courtesy www.geo.tv