MERA QIBLA TEY KA’ABA (Bhai ki yaad mein) Munazza Saleem; (in two volumes … pages 270+390); Price, not mentioned (hb); Publishers, Misaal Publishers, Raheem Centre, Press Market, Aminpur Bazaar, Faisalabad.

E-mail: misaalpb@gmail.com

<mailto: misaalpb@gmail.com>

Dr Maqbool Akhtar was a physician by profession. He was much under the influence of his maternal uncle Maj Ishaq Muhammad of the Rawalpindi conspiracy case fame whose literary debut was the foreword to Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s third collection of verse he wrote while in Hyderabad and other jails.

Both Maj Ishaq and Col Faiz were co-prisoners in the case that brought them closer. Perhaps he praised Ishaq’s deep understanding of literature, Faiz asked the Major to write the foreword. Ishaq joined Left political parties and also wrote literary pieces mainly in Urdu and Punjabi. Maqbool Akhtar got inspiration from the literary and political activities of his late uncle and not only Maqbool but his sister Munazza Saleem, a college teacher, was also under the shadows of her brother and uncle.

Bulleh Shah says that for him the Ka’aba is Takht Hazara; for Munazza, Maqbool Akhtar is her Qibla and Ka’aba.

Maqbool was not only an ideal for Munazza but he was also an exemplary figure for friends, colleagues and intellectuals. Many men of letters praised the literary, political and medical work by the late doctor.

The second part of the first volume consists of tributes paid to Maqbool by doctors, journalists, writers, politicians, civil servants, including Dr Waheed Ahmad, Syed Muhammad Afsar Sajid, Ahmad Shahbaz Khawar, Zaman Khan, Khalid Masud Qureshi and Mahmood Sana.

Dr Maqbool Akhtar was also under the political influence of Maj Ishaq and his party Mazdoor-Kissan Party which supported the Kissan Movement of Hasht Nagar (Charsada) which was not liked by feudal Khans, including the Ghaffar Khan dynasty and from there they parted their way.

The second volume includes Urdu, English and Punjabi writings by Dr Maqbool, the larger part of which is his letters to the editors of the English national dailies. One such letter is titled ‘A letter from the dead: I cannot thank you enough for your editorial’.

“I belong to the long dead city of Lyallpur. The carcass was renamed Faisalabad, Lyall became Faisal and Pur turned Abad.

You have lamented the slumber of the politicians and officers,” read the letter.

“I am ashamed to admit that you will find champions of Maulvi Sarwar amongst the doctors, lawyers and professors, the so-called elite of Pakistani society-the best among the nations, you know. For the poor departed soul of Zille Huma Usman let Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi speak:

My love is beautiful-one of her faults.

Delicate…soft…that’s two and three.

But what’s the reason people really shun her?

She is perfectly faultless, that is the sin they flee.

After Zille Huma, Salmaan Taseer became the target and the nation so far could not take a principled stand. Munazza deserves all praise for preserving Maqbool’s asset which will enlightens not the present generations but also the coming times.

******

RAMZ WAJOOD VANJAVAN DI… Punjabi poetry of Faqir Qadir Bukhsh Bedil, of Sukkur; editor Dr Nabeela Rahman; pp 383; Price Rs350 (hb); Publishers, Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture; Punjabi Complex, 1.Gaddafi Stadium, Ferozepur Road, Lahore.

E-mail: pilac@gmail.com

<mailto: pilac@gmail.com>

Most of the Punjabi poets and writers from the former Frontier province were published in Peshawar because printing presses were easily accessible there, and moreover there were irrefutable commonalities between Hindko, Pahari and central Punjabi dialect. But so far Punjabi and Seraiki poets of Sindh, their verses were published in Sindh where printing press had been installed before Punjab.

Moreover, British rulers introduced Sindhi language in schools and colleges with a script with some difference with then current Arabic script. Therefore the Punjabi and Seraiki books were also published in Sindhi script difficult to be read in Punjab where even Punjabi was sent in exile by the British. But genuine Punjabi writers like Maula Bukhsh Kushta never forgot to include such writers from Sindh in Tazkaras or histories of Punjabi language and writers. In that respect most important was Sachal Sarmast whose Punjabi poetry was edited and published by Mirza Beg in Sindh. In Punjab, in the sixties of the last century, Sachal was reproduced by Lok Virsa (with Urdu translation) and Pakistan Punjabi Adabi Board.

Sachal’s selected kafis were also published in Multan, and Bazm-i-Saqafat of Multan also published selected verses of Bedil (born in 1814 at Rohri…in Qureshi family which had migrated from Multan in connection with a mystic relation of Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed). This selection was done by Aslam Rasoolpuri. And now Nabeela, a senior teacher at Oriental College, collected the whole work of Bedil and published beautifully.

Bedil’s language and style and theme can be consumed in following lines:— STM