AN interesting debate that usually ensues in classrooms — during discussions on what poetry is and what really makes a great poet — is about Urdu’s greatest poets. While most agree that Ghalib, Iqbal, Meer and Anees are the greatest of them all (not necessarily in that order), it is often asked who can be ranked after them?

Some say Hali and others prefer Akber Allahabadi (1846-1921). Some think Faiz or, maybe, Josh. I do not intend to drag myself in this endless debate as a preference for a poet depends largely on one’s own temperament and the philosophy that one may follow. Secondly, poets and writers should not be ranked like a classroom test wherein someone has to stand first and then others are ranked accordingly.

But what I would like to emphasise is that Akber was indeed one of the greatest poets of Urdu. It is quite unfortunate that he is generally tagged as “retrogressive”, “anti-Western” and “misogynist”. This misunderstanding has led to a general apathy towards him and Akber has generally been ignored by modernist and progressive critics. Even Akber’s elegy penned by Allama Iqbal, included in the first edition of his Payam-i-Mashriq (1923), has been axed from the succeeding editions of the book for unknown reasons. Akber’s centenary year, that is 2021, is slipping away quietly and not much has been published nor have many gatherings been arranged to remember him on his 100th death anniversary.

It is a pity that complete poetic works by Akber Allahabadi have not so far been published, although a number of Kulliyaat-i-Akber, or Akber’s complete poetic works, have appeared, none can truly be called so as a considerably large number of Akber’s verses remain uncollected and unpublished. The fourth volume of Akber’s poetry was published simultaneously from Karachi and Allahabad in 1948, some 27 years after his death, but still many verses were left out.

Prof Ahmed Mahfooz of Delhi University has been compiling and editing Akber’s entire poetry and so far three volumes have been published. When complete, it would truly be Akber’s Kulliyaat.

Rashid Sheikh has narrated how an admirer of Akber belonging to Allahabad had collected in a hand-written notebook some of Akber’s unpublished verses. He had handed it down to one of his relatives in Karachi. But the notebook was, by mistake, sold to a waste paper dealer with the junk. The story describing the whole episode had appeared in the September 5, 2007 issue of daily Jang, Karachi. Aside from that, heartbroken and lonely, Akber would write verses and would toss them aside, as he was not much interested in preserving them after the death of his wife and beloved son.

Akber was a prolific letter writer, too, and especially during the last couple of decades of his life, he wrote letters in a great many numbers. Though some research and critical works on Akber have been published and a few collections of his letters too have appeared, such as Khutoot-i-Akber, Makateeb-i-Akber and Maktoobat-i-Akber, none covers the entire body of Akber’s letters.

Fortunately, Muhammad Rashid Sheikh has just come up with a research-based, voluminous collection of Akber’s letters. Sheikh has done a great job by procuring, editing and annotating these letters meticulously.

Rashid Sheikh in his foreword has described how Mukhtaruddin Ahmed (1924-2010), a scholar from India, had been collecting Akber’s letters for long but could not finish the job. Sheikh received the manuscript from India but it lacked many letters and annotations were incomplete. Akber’s hundreds of letters are preserved at Karachi’s National Museum and Rashid Sheikh not only acquired their copies but took great pains to procure as many more letters as possible, including the published ones. It took Sheikh many years to complete the task.

Sheikh, however, has admitted that it is not the entire collection of Akber’s letters and there must have been more letters that have either been destroyed or could not be traced. Hence, he has not named it Kulliyaat-e-Makateeb-e-Akber’, but Majmoo’a-i-Makateeb-i-Akber. The subtitle claims that it is the most comprehensive collection of published and unpublished letters by Akber and very rightly so as it proffers 1,400 published and previously unpublished letters. It makes it by far the largest such collection. Sheikh has written notes on addressees as well as some points needing explanation. This has increased the value of the book.

Idara-i-Ilm-o-Fan, Karachi, has published it and the 600-page book is a labour of love. Had it been proofread more carefully, many of the typos could have been avoided.

Akber was not only a poet, but he was a thinker also. That is why his letters offer many gems on history, culture, language and literature and must be analysed thoroughly.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2021