Iqbal and Ghalib are two Urdu poets the critics and scholars have written most about. Hardly any aspect of their lives and art has been left untouched. Still never does a year go by without books being published on these two most accomplished and celebrated poets of Urdu. Why this fascination with Ghalib and Iqbal? The reason, perhaps, is that their poetry is timeless and strikes a chord with the readers even today.

Prof Dr Farman Fatehpuri is also one of the scholars fascinated by both Ghalib and Iqbal and has written a lot about them. Actively pursuing academic interests with vigour even at the age of 80, Farman Sahib has come up with yet another work on Iqbal. It is Awwaleen Kulliyaat-i-Iqbal or the first collection of Iqbal’s poetic works in Urdu.

In the first quarter of the 20th century, lovers of poetry were spellbound by Iqbal’s works. Though Iqbal had published three volumes of his Persian poetry till 1923 -- Asraar-i-Khudi (1915), Rumooz-i-Bekhudi (1918) and Payam-i-Mashriq (1923) -- no collection of his Urdu poetry had been published. His fans had been collecting his Urdu verses. Many wanted to publish them on their own. Among those devotees of Iqbal’s, two were more enthusiastic and actually published Iqbal’s Urdu poetry before Iqbal had done that. They were Ahmed Deen of Lahore and Moulvi Abdur Razzaq of Hyderabad (Deccan).

Ahmed Deen was a close friend of Iqbal’s. In 1923, he published a collection of Iqbal’s Urdu poetry, titled Iqbal, to give Iqbal a surprise. But Iqbal was not amused. He wanted to do it in his own way and he had been preparing a manuscript to publish the first collection of his Urdu poetry titled Baang-i-Dara. Ahmed

Deen burnt down almost the entire edition because of Iqbal’s displeasure. Just a few copies were spared. Mushfiq Khwaja edited one of those rare copies and Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, Karachi, published it in 1989. Ahmed Deen got his book published again in 1926, after Iqbal had published Baang-i-Dara in 1924.

Moulvi Muhammad Abdur Razzaq was an officer in the finance division of Deccan’s princely state. He was a poet also, with a pen name, or takhallus, Raashid. He adored Iqbal’s poetry and had been collecting it for long. He wrote a lengthy and scholarly preface to Iqbal’s poetry. His preface provided the readers with the necessary background against which the poems were set. It evaluated Iqbal’s poetry with the command of an erudite critic. By the end of 1923, he was all ready to get it published. And, as notes Dr Faman Fatehpuri in his introduction, Iqbal wanted to dissuade him, too. Moulvi Abdur Razzaq did not want to bring out his version of Iqbal’s poetry before Iqbal’s own version appeared, but somehow both could not communicate properly and Iqbal’s first Kulliyaat, edited by Abdur Razzaq, was published in 1924.

Farman Sahib had a copy of this rare edition and to share it with other scholars, he has brought it back to life by the courtesy of Beacon Books, Multan. He says three early versions of Iqbal’s poetry should be compared and evaluated as it would help increase our understanding of Iqbal and the evolution of his poetry and personality.

For the lovers of Iqbal’s poetry, it may be mentioned here that Iqbal’s verses appeared in myriad magazines and newspapers and are scattered, in some cases buried, in some little-known publications. Even some well-known Urdu magazines of the early 20th century have become obscure today. But researchers have dug up most of those precious verses published in magazines such as Makhzan, Soofi, Paisa Akhbar, Inqilab, Zamindar, Khadang-i-Nazar, Zamana, Kashmiri Gazette and Watan Akhbar.

There was a huge number of verses that Iqbal omitted and did not include them in any of his Urdu collections. At the time of Baang-i-Dara’s publication, Iqbal discarded about half of his published Urdu verses. Then there was about five to 10 per cent of the works which Iqbal had no record of. These discarded and omitted verses, too, could not escape the researchers’ eyes and they collected and published them.

In the preface to his Kulliyaat-i-Baqiyaat-i-Shaer-i-Iqbal, Dr Sabir Kaloorvi of Peshawar University has given a list of such collections, which are nine, and if his own collection is included, they would be 10. Compiled by scholars such as Dr Gian Chand Jain, Ghulam Rasool Mehr, Abdul Vahid Moeeni, Anwer Haris and Faqeer Waheeduddin, these collections show how highly regarded and loved Iqbal the poet had been. With the addition of Farman Sahib’s reprinted edition, compiled by Abdur Razzaq, the understanding of Iqbal as well as the fascination with him may reach new heights.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com