IS online information about writers of Urdu a boon or bane? While internet has made access to information easy, quick and inexpensive, some online articles on Urdu literature and writers may be misleading.

Incorrect information may not be as great a problem as the tendency to believe that every information available online is authentic. An incorrect piece of information sometimes becomes an indelible impression, spreading the error as fact and ultimately becoming a part of history.

One such misconception is that Nazeer Ahmed Dehlvi (1830-1912) was Urdu’s first novelist and his novel Mirat-ul-Aroos (often mispronounced as “Uroos”) (1869) is the first novel ever written in Urdu. But the fact is Khat-e-Taqdeer (1862) is Urdu’s first-ever novel. Penned by Moulvi Kareemuddin (1821-1879) — the author of famous Tabaqaat-e-Shuara-e-Hind and Kareem-ul-Lughaat — Khat-e-Taqdeer had become quite popular. As mentioned by Dr Mahmood Ilahi in his intro to the novel, at least three editions of Khat-e-Taqdeer had appeared till 1865. Mirat-ul-Aroos is indeed a famous work but it is not Urdu’s first novel, albeit its popularity had eclipsed Khat-e-Taqdeer.

Khat-e-Taqdeer is an allegory written against the backdrop of the state of affairs and events unfolding in the aftermath of 1857 freedom war. Exhorting his fellow country folks to be realistic and to adapt to change, Kareemuddin in his novel emphasises to forsake the traditional learning and learn from the British how to live life, instead. So Kareemuddin’s novel (1862) was concerned with the overall reform of the society, while Nazeer Ahmed in his novel (1869) was more concerned with the education of women in society in general and his daughters’ education in particular. But one can discern which way the wind was blowing and what course of events was likely to develop as Indo-Pak subcontinent’s intellectuals and writers, educated and brought up in typically traditional environs, were being influenced by new social and cultural ideas arriving from the west.

Another oft-repeated misconception is about Moulvi Nazeer Ahmed Dehlvi’s year of birth. It is generally believed that Nazeer Ahmed, one of the pioneering novelists of Urdu, was born in 1836. This incorrect year was first mentioned in Hayat-un-Nazeer, Nazeer Ahmed’s biography written by Iftikhar Alam. But Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Siddiqi in his veritable research work titled Moulvi Nazeer Ahmed Dehlvi: Ahvaal-o-Aasaar (1971) has proved Nazeer Ahmed was born in 1830 in Rehar, which was in those days a very small town in district of Bijnor, UP.

Moulvi Nazeer Ahmed Dehlvi, often unduly referred to as “deputy” Nazeer Ahmed, was a multi-faceted personality. A man of many talents, he was a novelist, feminist, reformist, translator, historian, poet, religious scholar and an ally of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, though his association with Sir Syed and Aligarh Movement was not without differences and he had criticised the movement on many occasions.

When Nazeer Ahmed was four, his father moved to Bijnor where Nazeer Ahmed was sent to a traditional maktab (oriental school). Having studied basic Persian and Arabic at Bijnor, Nazeer Ahmed was sent to Delhi in 1842 where he lived and studied at a mosque called Aurangabadi Masjid. Here scholars like Moulvi Abdul Khaliq and Allama Syed Nazeer Husain taught Quran and Hadith. In January 1846, Nazeer Ahmed was admitted to Delhi College with a scholarship.

Delhi College was in fact a madressah established in 1792 by Ghaizuddin Hyder. Here British India’s government had introduced teaching of English, science, mathematics and literature along with religious and oriental studies. Some renowned scholars taught there and in 1843 a Vernacular Translation Society was established at Delhi College that began translating modern scientific works into Urdu. Here Nazeer Ahmed’s major subjects were Arabic language and Arabic literature. Scientific studies at Delhi College helped Nazeer Ahmed get rid of old notions about science, universe and philosophy. At Aurangabadi Mosque and Delhi College was laid a solid foundation upon which Nazeer Ahmed later on built his tremendous reputation as a scholar and writer that became envy of many.

At Delhi College, Nazeer Ahmed passed through a period of scepticism and heresy: his teacher Master Ram Chandr had embraced Christianity and Nazeer Ahmed, too, according to his own account, was much inclined towards Christianity. It was his inquisitiveness that had led him that way but his deep theological studies helped him restore his faith in Islam. But a positive result of this inner conflict was that Nazeer Ahmed became a Muslim who would not blindly follow the rituals and would rather weigh and judge, not afraid to interpret Islamic teachings in the face of new realities.

His profound study also turned him into a reformer deeply dissatisfied with his society and cultural norms. His novel-writing, too, is but a manifestation of a desire to reform the society and the plight of women especially pained him.

Nazeer Ahmed Dehlvi died on May 3, 1912.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023