Daily Times

Literary magazine Lowh by former Ravian has seen the light of day after six months. Mumtaz Ahmad Sheikh’s efforts are seen once again in its July-December 2018 issue.

It contains the latest literature in its all domains. Mumtaz states in the introduction Harf-e-Lowh that many the magazine’s readers both from Pakistan and abroad advised him to go for advertisements in the magazine otherwise its continuity shall leave him penniless. He informs us that all the efforts from collection of material to its printing of the very last line are taken care of by Mumtaz himself. This effort gives him satisfaction.

Apart from the usual Hamd-e-Bari Ta’allah and Naat-e-Rasool-e-Maqbool in separate sections, Mumtaz always keeps submissions from his alma mater as published earlier in a section Mader-e-Ilmi Kei Liya’ (for Alma Mater). This time, the first submission is by Ahmad Shah Patras Bukhari titled ‘Kutab Aur Aalami Saqafat’ (Books and international culture). Unlike today, in those days, the greatest problem was abundance of books and the problem of selection for reading. Read in a conference, this essay was provided to the editor by none other than Mirza Hamid Beg. The 1961 issue of Government College’s magazine Ravi contains an article Iqbal Ka Falsafa-e-Mazhab (Iqbal’s philosophy of Religion) by Syed Karamat Hussain Bukhari. According to Iqbal, the path of both science and religion is the same as the aim is similar; discovering the truth. Science looks at human being’s experiences psychologically and deep down, its experimentation and religion looks at inner experiences. Psychology only helps in temporary experience but religion discovers the concept of Khudi (discovering oneself). Iqbal clarifies that Khudi does not mean ‘seeing’ but it is ‘happening’.

According to philosopher Muhammad Khaliq of Aligarh University, “In Asrar-e-Khudi, Iqbal has explained his philosophy of Khudi or self. Iqbal’s use of term Khudi is synonymous with the world of Ruh as mentioned in the holy Quran. Ruh is that divine spark which is present in every human being and was present in Adam for whom Allah ordered all the angels to prostrate in front of. However one has to make a great journey of transformation to realise that divine spark which Iqbal calls Khudi. A similitude of this journey could be understood by the relationship of fragrance and seed. Every seed has the potential for fragrance within. But to reach its fragrance, the seed must go through all the different changes and stages.”

Obituaries form contents of a chapter namely Takreem-e-Raftagan Ujalti Hei Kutcha-o-Qariya (Remembering past lit lanes and habitats). Rasheed Amjad remembers well-known novelist and humour sketcher and commemoration writer Najamul Hassan Rizvi. Not opposed to modern approach in writing, he believed in balance. In the 1980s, writers Mansha Yaad, Ejaz Rahi, Sami Ahuja, Ahmad Daud, Hamid Beg and Ahmad Javed used to meet in Shalimar, Rawalpindi. Najamul Hassan

Rizvi believed more in narrative style rather than use of metaphors. Dr Akhtar Shumar remembers Athar Nasik in his essay ‘Kisse Da Yaar Na Vichre’ (Hope no one loses their beloved). Dr Akhtar met him in Multan in his emerging days as a poet. It was Nasik who advised Dr Akhtar to approach Bedil Haidri for guidance. Nasik was the editor of a literary page of the daily Aftab where Dr Akhtar started contributing first.

Sadaf Mirza contributes an essay on Fahmida Riaz. Like European writers who wrote on how the society looks at women, what a man wants from her and how a women resolves the problems of other women, Riaz was the first vocal name after Ada Jafri to carry out this concern further.

Television viewers of the 1970s must be familiar with a black and white video of a singer Rubina Badar who rendered Asad Muhammad Khan’s poem “Tum Sung Naina Laage Maane Na Hi Jia Ra” in Khalid Nizami’s music. In this issue of Lowh, Asad says that he belonged to a tribe Alif Zai in Aurangzeb’s era linked with many legends. The tribe fought the tyranny and created a couple of states. Fifty odd years ago, some of the tribe members moved to Pakistan. This tribe was considered as a group of polished people. Asad started writing prose and poetry simultaneously.

According to philosopher Muhammad Khaliq of Aligarh University, ‘In Asrar-e-Khudi, Iqbal has explained his philosophy of Khudi or self. Iqbal’s use of term Khudi is synonymous with the world of Ruh as mentioned in the holy Quran’

Mubeen Mirza has analysed the short stories of Asad in detail. He observes that initially his characters resembled the actual life-like figures but later it was realised that such characters only became large when they were close to reality. A short story’s reality becomes larger than the actual life itself. This is very a exhaustive analysis of Asad’s short stories’ writing. Dr Safia Sultan also contributes her analysis on Page 95.

In the line ‘Sun Tau Sahi Jehan Main Tera Fasana Kaya’, the word Fasana has been changed to Afsana to make title of Afsana (short stories). Twenty-one short stories have been included in this section. A Khayyam’s story System highlights the plight of illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom. Those who lie and try to deceive the system are caught like character Abdul Qadir who is handed over to the police by a prostitute. Forty days is symbolic in a man’s life; creation and demise. Imam offered this theory while accompanying a funeral. The story is Agahi by Abdul Samad – Page 126. A foetus turns into flesh in 40 days and 40 also remain stuck to a dead body. The deceased had an inclination of his final day as he started meeting all his dear ones 40 days before the accident in which he dies trampled by a moving train. He had even returned Rs 50 he had borrowed from a man a few months ago. All the other stories have unique themes as well; by Rasheed Amjad, Ahuja, Anwar Zahidi, Muhammad Hameed Shahid, Zoqi, Hamid Siraj, Khalid Fateh Muhammad, Neelam Ahmad Bashir, Shamail Ahmad, Nighat Salim, Shahnaz Shoru, Ajmal Ejaz, Shakeel, Zain Salik, Rabia, Tabbasum, Seemi, Humera and Munnaza.

A large section is reserved for poems from Page 243 to page 323. The title of the section is Nazm Likhain Tujhe Aise Keh Zamane Wa Haun (a poem should be written in a manner that eras are uncovered). Essays are covered in the section Laga Raha Hun Mazameen-e-Nau Kei Anmbaar (New essays are piling up). Many personalities and topics are covered in this section; Faiz by Shamsur Rehman Farooqi and Dr Rabia Sarfraz, Yousaf Zafar by Fateh Muhammad, Hagi War Asa Kotaru by Dr Moinuddin Aqeel, Shakaib Jalali by Abu al Kalam Qasmi, Dagh by Nasir Abbas Nayyar, Khawaja Mir Dard by Dr Muhammad Iftikhar Shafi, Anwar Sajjad by Umar Farhat, Quratul Ain Haider by Dr Nuzhat Abbasi, Ghalib by Qindeel Badar and Siraj Aurangabadi by Sadia Mumtaz.

A large section presents Ghazals – Page 525 to Page 583 by poets, new and old. What interests this reviewer is a chapter from Mustansar Hussain Tarar’s new novel Mantaq Alateer, Jadeed. The initial lines describe the state of a man who is wondering about his existence until he looks at the sky and finds birds flying over him; they seem to have spotted him and stood still also. These birds were of varied colours and eras. The oldest of the bird that seemed to have been burnt asks the man his name.

Musa, came the reply. The bird says that it was because of its persistence to find him that his wings got burnt. The bird had a lot of complaints to be made to Musa; why did he not let bonfire lit on Toor Mountain every night? Why did he leave his wife and sheep and left with a stick in his hand? Then the bird complained that it lost its wings that got burnt when fire broke in shrubs. Now he could not fly like a normal bird. It was a bird that was the first soul that came into being when God created light in vacuum and it raised the slogan ‘Ana al Haq’. This is a very beautiful start of Mustansar’s novel which shall be an interesting philosophical reading. This section of Lowh also contains second chapter of Muhammad Ilyas’s novel Preet Na Jaane.

The section on translations includes contributions by Mirza, Dr Auragzeb Nixon and Naseem-e-Sehr. Humour has been contributed by Dr SM Moeen Qureshi and Dr Aziz Rehman. Sketches have been contributed by Muhammad Arif and Kafian by Sarmad Sehbai.

This reviewer has contributed a profile of music composer M Ashraf in the section titled Ab Do Aalam Sei Sada-e-Saaz Aati Hei (It is music that is played in the two worlds) – Page 647. Out of 417 films, Ashraf composed music for, in his film career, 28 movies were made as duo Manzoor-Ashraf. The duo’s debut film was ‘Superan’ followed by ‘Sukh Ka Sapna’ and ‘Bulbul-e-Baghdad’ in 1961.

The movie ‘Aaina’ was a hit with popular songs such as “Tum Hi Ho Mehboob Mere Main Kyun Na Tumhain Pyar Karun” sung separately by Masood Rana and Irene Parveen in the same music composition.

After separation from Manzoor, Ashraf’s first film as independent music composer was ‘Sajda’ in 1967 followed by ‘Shaula Aur Shabnam’. In 1968, Ashraf bagged three movies namely ‘Sangdil’, ‘Katari’ and ‘Doosri Shaadi’. ‘Sangdil’ was a great success. Ashraf climbed the ladder of success in the 1970s. It was that time that he reached the peak of his film career and composed music for many big banners. This climb continued in the ’80s also despite that the trend of producing Urdu films that lost momentum to Punjabi films being produced more, after the trend set by movies such as ‘Maula Jutt’.

Talking of spending Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 to watch a movie for entertainment, one spends couple of hours to achieve this aim. Why not spend this amount to have three months long sojourn with literature, philosophies, stories, poetry and music in the form of Lowh at your bedside! Not a bad bargain.

The writer can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, January 29^th 2019.