Articles in Urdu

Mahmood Farooqui wrote - I have been reading Ibn-e Safi and thinking about one of the last pieces written by political scientist and activist Arvind Das in the Biblio. He was reviewing a book called, I think, the modern invention of work. Arvind had posited, roughly, that work can coexist with pleasure but what distinguishes it from a pleasurable pursuit is the discipline of work, its regimented structure, it’s time-bound, task-related and its operation in a restricted-space. One may enjoy picking newts off a plant, but it becomes work when one has to perform the task regardless of desire or mood. It is the element of compulsion, the taking away of one’s will that distinguishes work from pleasure. I was thinking of it especially because Ibn-e Safi was a great favourite when I was young but I was now re-reading him after years, at great speed, foraging the novels for ideas. In part because I was meeting a deadline and in part because I was reading him for a particular purpose,...

ایک زمانہ تھا کہ دنیائے ادب میں "اسرار ناروی" کا نام بڑا مقبول ہو رہا تھا۔ اس جیسے ابھرتے ہوئے شاعر سے نقادانِ فن کو خاصی توقعات وابستہ ہو چلی تھیں۔ اور بقول مجنوں گورکھپوری : خانوادہ نوح ناروی کے اس سپوت کی اُٹھان بڑی خوش آئیند تھی ! عین اسی زمانے میں ، جبکہ "طغرل فرغان" کے طنزیہ و مزاحیہ شہ پارے بھی قبولیتِ عام کی سند پا رہے تھے کہ اچانک یہ دونوں نام (اسرار ناروی اور طغرل فرغان) دنیائے ادب سے ناپید ہو گئے۔ یہ ہندوستان پر سے برطانوی اقتدار ختم ہونے سے کچھ دنوں پہلے کی بات ہے۔ مندرجہ بالا دونوں نام ختم ہو جانے کے بعد ایک تیسرا نام ابھر کر سامنے آیا : ابن صفی (بی۔اے) جو جاسوسی کہانیوں کے سلسلے میں بڑا مشہور ہو رہا ہے۔ یہ تینوں نام : اسرار ناروی ، طغرل فرغان اور ابن صفی ۔۔۔ دراصل ایک ہی شخص "اسرار احمد" کے قلمی بہروپ تھے۔   پہلے دو ناموں کو اسی شخص کا تیسرا قدآور نام "ابن صفی" نگل گیا۔ صرف "ابن صفی" ہی کہنا کافی نہیں ، "بی۔اے" کا دُم چھلا بھی ساتھ لگا ہوا ہے جو ایک طرح کا تخلص ہو کر رہ گی...

This was a long overdue post and was delayed due to unavoidable reasons. The seminar on Ibn-e-Safi was held in Delhi sometime back. Eminent Urdu scholar from Germany, Christina Oesterheld said that the characters of Ibn-e-Safi’s novels live a Western lifestyle but are quintessentially Oriental when it comes to their behaviour towards women. The main characters Imran and Faridi don’t look at women as an object of sex, rather for them a woman is a symbol of purity and dignity. They treat her as equal in all regards. Dr Christina, who is the senior lecturer at Institute of South Asian Studies, Heidelberg, Germany regretted that Ibn-e-Safi’s writing was not given enough attention in comparison to so-called serious literature. The Sahitya Akademi president Dr Gopi Chand Narang questioned why ‘Jasoosi Adab’ is not considered literature and if it is not literature then why the word ‘adab’ (literature) is attached to it, during such seminars. He said that Ibn-e-Safi was published in D...

One of the greatest writers in history, Ibn-e-Safi, (ابن صفی) who took Urdu fiction and detective writings to dizzy heights in the decades of 50s, 60s and 70s, would be remembered at a function organised by India’s premier literary organisation, the Sahitya Akademi. Ibn-e-Safi, not only created great characters but took detective writing in Urdu to a stage where it was acknowledged internationally. For years, it was debated whether Jasoosi Adab could be termed as Adab. But it seems his immense contribution is now being recognised. Christina Oesterheld will deliver the guest lecture on Ibn-i-Safi’s novels. She is from Institute of South Asian Studies (Heidelberg) Germany and the event would be held in the Academy auditorium on March 16 at 6 pm. Asrar Ahamd Narvi alias Ibn Safi BA who wrote under several pen names wrote over 240 novels and was solely responsible for the survival of Urdu readership in Northern India after partition when Hindi was patronised and Urdu banished from s...