I think that there are always some persons, who being themselves poets and writers of merit, shy away from presenting themselves as creative artists. Majeed Malik was surely one of them.
The historians of modern literature are aware of the influence he commanded over some younger literary luminaries such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Taseer and not so young contemporaries - artist Abdul Rahman Chughtai and Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum.
He was the creator of the very famous poem.
Mujhe tujhse ishq, nahin nahin
Magar ae hasina - e - nazneen
Tu Ho Mujhse door agar kabhi
Tujhe dhondti ho nazar kabhi
To jigar mein uthta hai dard sa
Mera rang rahta hai zard sa
Magar ae hasina - e - nazneen
Mujhe tujhse ishq, nahin nahin
The above poem had three stanzas with the refrain couple tucked above and below each stanza and was so rhythmic that it rivaled in popularity some popular hits of Indian film industry. This poem and many others exhibit Majeed Malik's outstanding control over diction. He also wrote some good play in a book form under the title Jawab and some literary article.
Well-known writer, poet and research scholar Mushfiq Khwaja deserves our congratulations for giving us a book containing all that Majeed Malik wrote under the title Khirman-e-Jaan. Published by Idara-i-Yaadgar-i-Ghalib which has published more books on Ghalib than any Ghalibean body, it is an apt tribute to a writer who was so unassuming that he did not think it proper to publish his collection of poetry during his life-time.
Born in 1902 in Lahore, Majeed Malik got his education in Lahore and Aligarh. In the 30s he began his career as a member of the editorial team of Weekly "Muslim Outlook". Later on he became this weekly's editor. Afterwards he went to Bombay and worked there with the Reuters news agency and Associated Press of India. In 1940 he joined the G.H.Q. of the British Indian Army as a staff officer, the first Indian to get this post. Subsequently he became a colonel and worked as Deputy Director of the Inter Services Public Relations Department. This department enjoys the distinction of having the services of some eminent Urdu writers as Chragh Hasan Hasrat and Zamir Jafri.
Earlier Majeed Malik had the distinction of editing "Karavan", a literary monthly which could not have a longer lease of life but as the leader of Niazmandan-i-Punjab his literary duel with the writers of U.P. (Ahl-e-Zaban) is an interesting episode of the literary history of modern Urdu. Now there is no U.P - Punjab controversy any more and it is a fact that the services of Punjabi writers are being generously acknowledged by all. Yes, whoever wins the race for the acquisition of mastery over a language is the winner. The present day Punjabi writers - on both sides of the border - are in the ascendant. Even the religious literature of Hinduism and Sikhism in the two Punjabs has had Urdu as a language of communication. Two most important Urdu autobiographies have been written by Sikhs, Deewan Singh Maftoon and Shatir. Who can ignore the contribution of Rajinder Singh Bedi, Balwant Singh, Rajinder Singh Verma, Rajan Singh and Ajeet Coure if we choose to single out a few writers from the Sikh community. The moment you move towards the contribution of the Hindus, the list is pretty longer. Tulook Chand Mehroom, Jagan Nath Azad, Malik Ram, Hari Chand Akhtar, Krishan Chander, Mahender Nath, Sirla Devi, Kanhaiyya Lal Kapoor, Jogender Paul, Ram Lal, Har Charan Chawla, Surendar Prakash, Balraj Manra, Hukum Chand Nayyar and the film icon Gulzar come to one's mind immediately. The list is very long.
Malik Ram, it is a common knowledge, had embraced Islam but, taking his cremation as a fact of life it doesn't matter if he is considered a Hindu scholar. However the fact remains that very few Muslim scholars of Hadith and Jurisprudence could outsmart him. His editing of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's works proves his competence. I would like to believe that it was difficult to have Malik Ram's peer in the field. Malik Ram's work on Ghalib is simply outstanding. What a scholar and what a man!
Majeed Malik was fortunate enough to live in the 20s and 30s when the Punjab was blooming. The euphoria of Pak-Britannia was never so exciting elsewhere as in that province. Its middle class had never it so good. Urdu literature has also benefited from this atmosphere and we see Punjab's enthusiasm to go after any new literary fad, form and movement. It seemed as if every thing new had to be welcomed there. Perhaps the ferocity of tradition - loving people in that part of the world could be traced back as a reaction to this fervour.
Anyhow Khirman-i-Jann is a book which gives us a good glimpse of that fervent fervour. Majeed Malik appears to be as a guardian spirit of Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Majeed Malik, very few people know, had resigned from the army service in 1946 and joined All India Muslim League as its Public Relations Officer. He was perhaps the only Muslim officer - who even after his retirement was occasionally summoned by Lord Mountbatten for consultations - a rare confidence in a person who was Muslim League's P.R.O.
He served the Government of Pakistan as Principal Information Officer. He retired in 1959 and joined PPL as its managing director. He had to see the day when Faiz Ahmed Faiz was put behind bars as a result of the government's taking over of the PPL. The world is surely a very interesting place because such things are possible.
The publication of Majeed Malik's literary writings has given a lease of new life to a person whose role as an outstanding literary editor and poet-writer had, for long, totally eclipsed and today he is known more as Amna Majeed Malik's husband than for his literary acumen.
POVERTY ERADICATION AND LITERATURE
At a recent meeting of Poverty Institute the role of literature in the eradication of poverty was discussed. A speaker, Mir Jawed Iqbal, thought that poverty was in direct proportion to the barrenness of mind. Unless the human mind was equipped to make more effective use of human energies it is difficult to bring about a qualitative change in our lives.
After all we should appreciate like Henry Grady Weaver did, that the Roman Empire collapsed in famine. The French were dying of hunger when Thomas Jefferson was President of the USA. In 1846, the Irish were starving to death; and no one was particularly surprised because famines in the Old World were the rule rather than the exception. It is only within the 19th century that Western Europeans have had enough food to keep them alive - soup and bread in France, fish in Scandinavia, beef in England.
It is ever since man has created wholly new defences against weather, conquered pain and disease, made attacks on space and entered the age of power - and now that of micro-electronics - that the benefits of inventions and discoveries have helped the mankind to turn the corner.
Now famines are not the rule but the exception.
The speaker asked the writer why couldn't they make the ordinary people realize that they could do wonders and change their destiny provided they had faith in their destiny and were aroused to surpass the utmost imagining of previous time.
Literature could definitely excite the imagination and enrich the human faculties of innovations as it deals with the ideals and realities of the times.
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