PREFACES in most cases are redundant. Intelligent readers often skip them, jumping directly to the book. But this is not always so. The preface by Qurratulain Hyder to Maira Pagham Muhabbat Hai, a collection of poems by Begum Nafisa Itaat Hussain, is a must-read. Only after going through it will the reader be truly introduced to the personality presented and be in a position to understand the significance of the poems collected in the volume.

As understood and explained by Hyder, in the aftermath of 1857, Indo-Muslim society was undergoing significant changes due to many factors. She refers to Sheikh Abdullah in Aligarh and Karamat Husain in Lucknow, who pleaded for female education and founded schools with that purpose in view. The landed Muslim gentry paid little heed to the conservatives’ opposition to this move and sent their daughters to the newly founded educational institutions. Their Aligarh-returned sons were already in the race to seek government posts which could aid them in acquiring honourable places in the newly emerged colonial culture. In consequence, a new Muslim class emerged in contrast to the conservatives. It had a feudal background with a mix of colonial culture, which imparted to it the glamour of modernity. What added to this glamour was the emergence of a group of educated women who, with their enlightened outlook, stood as a sign of female emancipation in Muslim society.

Such was the background of Begum Nafisa. Maira Pagham Muhabbat Hai may be seen as a tribute to her affectionate personality. It begins with a biographical note from Naushaba Burney, followed by glowing tributes by Zehra Nigah and Fahmida Riaz. And then an exhaustive introduction penned by Hyder, a portrayal of an Indo-Muslim society which vanished with the passage of time.

As pointed out by Nigah, Begum Nafisa belonged to the cultured family portrayed in Hyder’s Kar-ai-Jehan Daraz Hai. The family came from Nehtaur, a town in the district of Bijnor. Begum Nafisa was born there. Her father, Syed Sagher Husain, was a landlord and deputy collector. One of her uncles, Syed Sajjad Haider Yaldaram, is a well known Urdu writer and Qurratulain Hyder was her cousin.

Qurratulain tells us that the family, along with its ancestral feudal culture, was also under the influence of western colonial culture. Their daughters, including Begum Nafisa, studied in convent schools. Later she married a bureaucrat who migrated to Pakistan after Partition. He came to be known as Khan Bahadur Itaat Husain and served as Pakistan’s consul general in San Francisco. With this background, Begum Nafisa, along with the other anglicised women of her family, represented colonial culture as adopted by Muslims.

But in spite of all this, says Hyder, Begum Nafisa remained faithful to the literary tradition she had inherited from her elders and was a fine poet. “However, she never participated in mushairas. She represented a different culture,” says Hyder. Almost half of the book is Begum Nafisa’s poetry. Selected poems have been presented which speak of her deep emotional attachment to her family. On every happy occasion, be it a marriage or the aqeeqa of a new born child, she expresses her feelings in the form of a poem.

Taken together, these poems bring before us a happy family with deep ties. Though Partition physically divides the family, the bond remains intact.

To quote Nigah, these poems are an example of “innocent poetry”. They may not have poetic embellishments, but the very simplicity of expression speaks of a feeling of sincerity.