Ghazal is, perhaps, the most popular genre of lyric poetry in Urdu. Borrowed from Persian, which in turn adopted it from Arabic, ghazal is a centuries’ old form of poetry in Turkish as well. Today, it is popular in Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi. Even some modern Czechoslovakian poets, according to some critics, have written ghazal.

Despite being disproved and attacked by critics from Altaf Hussain Haali to Kaleemuddin Ahmed, ghazal could not be dethroned from the high podium it has occupied for so long. Many factors have contributed to the ghazal’s unrivalled popularity but its form and mood that allow a highly flexible, even contradictory array of thoughts to be expressed within the span of very few couplets, have given it an advantageous position over other genres.

As a result of this flexibility and assortment, ghazal’s topics can be as varied as life itself. From an amorous couplet, for instance, the poet can move on to a Sufi thought in the very next line, and yet the next couplet may sing of the joys of spring while in fact referring to a progressive revolt using spring as an allusion.

A maestro such as Ghalib, Iqbal or Faiz can turn every couplet of a ghazal into a short poem unto itself. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of couplets and lines of Urdu and Persian poetry that are quoted as aphorisms. A great many of them have become proverbial.

The objections raised on ghazal, other than moral and ethical for its being erotic, are about its restricted diction and monotony of thought. Twentieth century poets such as Iqbal, Faiz and Josh demolished the assumed periphery of ghazal with their vibrant thoughts and a vocabulary that drew heavily upon classical poetry but gave new nuances to words such as purwaz (flight), zindan (prison) and bahar (spring) etc.

That gave ghazal a new lease of life and its ever-increasing popularity reached the pinnacle as it made ghazal a tool of expression vis-à-vis the contemporary milieu.

In the later half of the twentieth century, the chaos emanating from industrialisation and brutal commercialisation gave way to frustration and depression. The woes of the modern era broke down the man. In Pakistani literature this was reflected, among other genres, in ghazal as well. The experimentation with different literary forms was but a manifestation of this chaos. It gave way to anti-ghazal, the biggest practitioner of which was Saleem Ahmed.

Saleem Ahmed’s un-ghazal like ghazals, later termed anti-ghazals, had a totally changed diction and thought. Anti-ghazal was not only a revolt against traditional Urdu poetry or the stereotyped imagery of Urdu ghazal, it was a reflection of the times and Saleem Ahmed’s own personality.

Saleem Ahmed was born in Barabanki, UP, in 1927 and started composing poetry when he was 17. During the Pakistan movement he was a student at Meerut College and a supporter of the Khaksaar Tahreek.

When Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Usmani, a leader of the Muslim League, came to Meerut, Saleem Ahmed met him and was convinced of his pro-Muslim League arguments. Saleem Ahmed participated in the Pakistan Movement with an ideal state in mind.

After independence, he migrated to Pakistan and in 1950 joined Radio Pakistan Karachi as a producer. He was a critic, a dramatist, a poet and a columnist but above all, he was a thinker.

An ardent supporter of the Traditionalist school of thought and eastern civilisation, Saleem Ahmed was an idealist who was a disciple of Rene Guenon and considered Hasan Askari and Prof Karrar Hussain his mentors. He wanted to see the east succeed in all its endeavours and his long poem East mirrors the agony with which he declared that “the east was defeated.” This poem, says Dr Jameel Jalibi, is the epic of Saleem’s soul.

His disappointment over the topsy-turvy path along which the new Islamic state of Pakistan was making its journey grew when he saw Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Usmani crying over the state of affairs in the promised land.

His disillusionment with the so-called Islamic government of General Ziaul Haq and his disgust with the regime, which he initially supported, broke him down emotionally and mentally.

The east was defeated yet again and with it Saleem Ahmed’s ideals. When he died on September 01, 1983, he was suffering from his third nervous breakdown. The first two had left him drawn and drained and tranquilisers were taking their toll.

Saleem Ahmed differed in opinion with the Jamaat-e-Islami but nevertheless supported it.

He was against joining the Zia

government yet he became the information adviser during that government. He was a Traditionalist but he revolted against the traditional ghazal.

This conflict within was a strong trait of his personality and, perhaps, the very reason for his nervous breakdown.

Anti-ghazal got currency for a while and Saleem Ahmed influenced many of his contemporaries, notable today among them being Zafar Iqbal, a

poet from Okara whose twisted diction and tendency to toy with language has now reached new heights.

Saleem Ahmed has fourteen books to his credit. A collection of his poetry Kulliyaat-e-Saleem Ahmed appeared from Islamabad in 2003.