Neither an obituary of Toheed Ahmed nor a review of his work, this column — appearing on his 70th birth anniversary — is simply an expression of the wonderment one feels after being introduced to the literary passions and academic pursuits of a truly remarkable man and the possibility he creates for the celebration of knowledge and inquiry.

Born in Lahore on Oct 15, 1947, and passing away earlier this year, Ahmed was an author, translator, cultural critic and bibliophile. A career diplomat, after a short stint as a journalist, he retired from being Pakistan’s ambassador to Ireland in 2007. I confess my sheer ignorance about his work until I received his Kitab Shanasi: Chund Darasaat [Introduction to the Book: Some Readings], consisting of translations and compilations on the history of books with a particular emphasis on our own tradition.

In this increasingly intolerant and highly polarised society, our best scholars and most talented artists are finding it hard to think and function at a higher civilisational plane. The maximum most of us attain is a position that falls within the remits of a political ideology or literary theory. There is a range where, on the one end, art and scholarship are created and applied to uplift the poor and transform society, and the other end is where art is emphasised as a free-floating signifier and scholarship is encouraged to remain indifferent to the contemporary human condition. While many continue to take extreme positions within this range and a few fall somewhere in between, the majority associated with both art and scholarship have shamefully limited concerns. As a consequence, slogans and jingles take precedence over quality verse, soaps and teleplays over serious fiction, and an enlightened and informed debate is becoming impossible.

Umberto Eco said that discussion between people can take place on the basis of a shared encyclopaedia. In a conversation with two fellow writers he argued, “I could prove to you that Napoleon never existed — but only because all three of us have learned that he did. This is what ensures that dialogue can continue. It is this intercourse that allows for dialogue, creativity and freedom.” In our case — us being products of an amalgamation of Vedic, Persio-Arabic and Western civilisations — little importance is attached anymore to creating, nurturing and consulting this shared encyclopaedia. Subsequently, an understanding of our civilisational moorings is absent and a grossly incestuous conversation leading towards more bigotry and ignorance is encouraged.

It is mind-boggling that so few of our younger artists and scholars trained in the English language or even otherwise would know that the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, includes hymns of Baba Fariduddin Ganj Shakar. Likewise, that poet Brij Narayan Chakbast’s version of Ramayana in the Urdu language was used as the basic script for adapting the epic for Hindi television. Or that Newal Kishore Press, run by the Hindu entrepreneur Munshi Newal Kishore in 19th century Lucknow, published some of the most important original works and translations — from its time and before — in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Punjabi and Pashto.

Ahmed is among the few in contemporary Pakistani intellectual discourse who see engagement with the larger world non-negotiable while being deeply rooted in their own culture. His wide embrace becomes possible because of his command over seven Eastern and Western languages. His love for knowledge and literature, a desire to bring his own people at par with intellectual advancements in the world and a passion for cross-cultural dialogue made him translate some seminal works of Erasmus, Alvin Toffler and Susan Bassnett into Urdu, besides writing articles on themes of comparative literature and cultural diplomacy. He also encouraged and supported others to translate between languages.

Toheed Ahmed was a civilisational man. We need many more like him.

The writer is a poet and essayist based in Islamabad

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, October 15th, 2017