Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui needs no introduction, at least in literary and academic circles. Apart from being on the editorial boards of various literary magazines and contributing columns in English and Urdu newspapers he has given us four books in as many years about epoch-making personalities namely Sir Syed Ahmed Khan "Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Aur Jiddat Pasandi"; Allama Iqbal "Talash-e-Iqbal|", Ghalib "Ghalib Aur Aaj Ka Shaoor" and finally about Josh "Josh Malihabadi, ek mutualea".
Let us take up the last one. The first four chapters 1) Josh ki Fikri our Shaeri Riwayat. 2) Josh ki Romanvi Shairy ka Passmanzar; 3) Josh, Urdu Shairy ka Naya Mor; 4) Josh aur Azmat-e-Insan. As the title of the book suggests, he has dealt it comprehensively keeping in view the thinking process and psychological make up of the era and conflicts in those days, social and political changes and their impact on the creative minds resulting in the change/development in expression in various art forms and also the content.
In the second part of the book Dr Siddiqui has divided the published works of Josh Malihabadi into three periods ie from "Rooh-e-Adat" to Samoom-o-Saba, from 'Tulu-e-Fikr' to Nujoom-o-Jawahir and the posthumous publication 'Mehrab-o-Mizra'. 'Josh ki Marsia Nigari' is dealt separately.
As an honest and committed critic, Dr Siddiqui has probably read minutely every line of all these collections of Josh's poetry. Simultaneously, being a social scientist, he has tried to understand and explain all the works with reference to time, place, social and political environment, their impact on the poet's thought process and his artistic reaction.
He is convinced that Josh was an epoch-making poet like Ghalib and Iqbal - He has enriched the language by his command over the language and the capacity to coin words in his poetry as well as prose. Dr Siddiqui laments that Josh, if not ignored, has not been properly appreciated. By doing so the academics have not and cannot harm Josh, rather they are depriving the Urdu literature of richness.
Dr Siddiqui has not blown Josh's image beyond proportion. He has portrayed Josh as he was, the man with all the merits and demerits of a human being. A man brought up in feudal rather tribal tradition, imbibing the habits of that culture, he developed into an intellectual rejecting many old concepts, dreaming of and aspiring for a new world wherein man could live with dignity.
The book also contains prefaces Siddiqui wrote for "Hamaray Josh Sahib" by late Khursheed Ali Khan. 'Khatoote Josh' compiled by Raghib Muradabadi. In addition to that there is an article by Shahid Ahmed Dehlavi against Josh and Josh's reply to that article. To sum up, the books enable the serious reader to understand Josh's personality and appreciate his writings, both prose and poetry.