The word ‘islah’ can loosely be translated as correction, modification, remedy, reform, rectification, improvement, amendment or revision. But in Urdu poetry it has a different connotation. In the lexicon of Urdu rhetoric, the word ‘islah’ refers to the act of correcting or improving the text of a specific piece of literature, especially the one composed by a student or a junior.

One who ‘gives islah’, as Urdu idiom goes, or improves the poetry of a junior, must have command over prosody, rhetoric, grammar, idiom and lexicon. He must be a veteran himself and a well-read person as ‘islah’ demands of him to be able to point out logical or philosophical follies, if any, and to make the piece presentable. Sometimes some connoisseurs of poetry or some veterans find some interesting aspects in the poetry of their contemporaries and suggest, maybe out of erudition or sheer professional jealously, amendments that make a very interesting reading.

Urdu has a long tradition of ‘islah’, both solicited and voluntary. The tradition was borrowed from Persian. This interesting practice of making amendment in poetry has produced a rich and very interesting, at times even hilarious, literature both in Urdu and Persian. In Urdu, it began as early as in the Deccan era of Urdu poetry, that is in the 17th century. But such instances in the early period were sporadic and it was in the 18th century that the tradition took roots and it goes on even today.

Surveying such a long history of ‘islah’ in Urdu poetry was a tremendous job and, considering the length of period and abundance of Urdu poets, demanded someone like Suhail Abbas Khan (who has now added another suffix to his name, Baloch), deeply engrossed in classical Urdu literature. Having drunk deep from the fountain of Urdu poetry and prosody and having annotated ‘Bagh-o-bahar’, he was just the kind of person who could handle the ‘deluge’ of ‘islah’ that our classical poets produced. So he decided to carry out research on the topic that had been haunting him for long.

And it was really fortunate for readers like me since there are not many experts of prosody and rhetoric left to tackle the topic and rarely a new book is published on such a typically classical subject. The result is the dissertation, ‘Urdu shaeri mein islah-i-sukhan ki rivayat’, just published by Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab, Lahore, that earned him a PhD.

In the introductory chapter, Dr Suhail says that the practice of making corrections in the poetry of others is not restricted to Arabic, Persian and Urdu only, but in western literature, too, we can find such instances. One good example is T.S. Elliot’s famous ‘Wasteland’, considered among his masterpieces. But it was Ezra Pound who added some masterly strokes to it as finishing touches and the poem became immortal, though earlier Elliot himself and his first wife, Vivien, had suggested many amendments to it.

In the preceding chapters, we see the history of ‘islah-i-sukhan’ unfold before us, with examples and commentary and one feels that Dr Suhail has ‘enclosed the sea into a jar’, as goes the Urdu expression. The various anecdotes he has quoted from the history of Urdu poetry are really interesting.

He is of the view that the ‘correction’ was an institution unto itself and it contributed a lot not only to enhancing the standard of Urdu poetry but also to the Urdu language. It trained Urdu poets for centuries but, he says he believes, this institution suffered from a decline as the impetus that promoted it – mushairas, royal courts and the status of a poet laureate – was missing in the later period. Another reason for the decline of the ‘islah’ tradition, according to him, is the fall of poetry in present times from a high pedestal that it had occupied for centuries. Secondly, it became mechanical and commercial.

While I agree with him, I cannot help saying that this tradition is still alive, though it has become more mechanical and more commercial. But still there are some veterans who do it dutifully and out of sheer love for it.The Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab has added yet another good book to its list of publications by bringing out this book. The Majlis, which hibernated for about a quarter of a century, has now been reactivated by its new chief, Shahzad Ahmed. He has revived the institution’s quarterly literary magazine ‘Saheefa’. And new books are coming out in a steady trickle.

— drraufparekh@yahoo.com