Ahmed Faraz's 5th death anniversary passed quite silently in the midst of political turmoil the country is facing nowadays. Ever since the TV channels have started running Death Anniversary notices of eminent man of letters the literary programmes on the TV screens are not as common as they used to be a few years ago.
It is not a good sign. I believe that even the Urdu Departments of our universities are not as active as they should have been. It is only the literary pages of the newspapers which keep on reminding the readers about the literary events.
However, a newly launched literary journal "Collage" brought out by Iqbal Nazar and Shahida Tabassum, has devoted one lengthy article to Ahmed Faraz's 5th death anniversary. The writer of this article Ashfaq Hussain who is credited with laudatory books on Faiz Ahmed Faiz has revised his article published soon after Ahmed Faraz's death but it is better that "Collage" has atleast remembered Ahmed Faraz.
"Collage" is definitely a commendable venture. It has made available good sections on poetry, criticism and short stories. Iqbal Nazar has given a good account of his editorial finesse and the magazine's front page is undoubtedly a fine artistic piece which announces the advent of a new literary magazine. It is plausible to place Collage, along with other magazines, as the enterprising hub of Urdu literature. It is a good sight that the list of contributors includes names of some eminent persons including Shan ul Haq Haqqi, Intezar Hussain, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, Dr Salim Akhtar, Dr Zafar Iqbal, Dr Jeed Jamal, Muhammad Asim Butt, Dr Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, the Turkish academic Dr Khaliq Tuqar, Asghar Nadeem Sayed, Maqsood Elahi Shaikh, Dr Aashiq Husain Al-Badvi, Dr Salahuddin Haider, Ghazi Salahuddin, Rasheed Butt and Iqbal Nazar etc-etc.
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's introduction of Shmshad Lucknavi's Diwan, Khazana-i-Khayal proves that Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's real forte is Mahasin-o-Maaib of classical Urdu poetry and the time given by him to 'Modernity' was merely an adventure duly acknowledged by the sudden closure of 'Shab Khoon' a few years ago. Out of hundreds of modern writers he introduced and patronised only two or three have made a mark and are literally 'alive' today and they, too, by diverting themselves from the 'Shab Khoon' variety of poetry and short stories. Modernity cannot be taken as an alibi for retrogressive mindset which it used for a long time to cut off three generations of Urdu writers from Edward Said, Chomsky and Frantz Funnon's concept of modernity.
Shamsur Rehman Faruqi is undoubtedly a scholar but a scholar who would rather applaud Maulana Ashraful Haq Thanvi's brand of criticism of Mansur Hallaj's poetry. The way Faruqi finds a way out to have a dig at Josh Malihabadi's Nazm 'Shair ka Dil' while comparing a ghazal-i-Musalsal of Shamshad Lucknavi proves that he couldn't reconcile with the last two couplets of Josh's Nazm as they conveyed Josh's mindset which Faruqi doesn't like.
One should respect Faruqi's interpretation even though it appeared out of tune or retrograde but calling it 'Be Lutf' shows what was the meaning of 'Lutf' for Shamsur Rehman Faruqi. 'Collage' has many important pieces for Urdu readers and one hopes that this new journal has come to stay on the scene.
DR JAMAL NAQVI'S BOOKS Dr Jamal Naqvi, an upcoming Urdu writer has given us a crop of new works of Taraqqui Pasand Nasr Ka Irteqa, a Ph.D dissertation, Armaghan-e-Mumtaz, a collection of poetry, Dhanak Rang, with translations in other languages and Taraqqui Pasand Tehrik Ka Safar, Pas Manzar Aur Pesh Manzar, Faiz Ahmed Faiz Ka Fikri Iblagh, Panj Rang, Taraqqui Pasand Tehrik and Adab Aur Sajjad Zaheer, Jamal-o-Kamal, Kahaniyan Des Des Ki, and Naqd-o-Shakhs etc etc.
The above books cover the period 2005 to 2011 and the list of his books doesn't end here. One may not agree with his views expressed in the above books but it is commendable that Dr Jamal has worked incessantly and proved his commitment to literature in an admirable manner.
Some 30 literary books have came from his pen and it is, by all means, an admirable record to place oneself for critics' evaluation. His work on progressive movement has made him an essential writer for reference purposes. Nowadays he is updating his Taraqqui Pasand Tehrik Ka Safar upto March 2012 when the first elected body of PWA came into being in Lahore alongwith Taraqqui Pasand Ke Maimar. I can recommend his works to any student who wants to work on the Progressive Movement.