BIHAR is a region that has produced a large number of scholars, poets, writers and critics. Bedil Azeemabadi, the great Persian poet of the subcontinent, also belonged to Bihar. Shad Azeemabadi, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Masood Alam Nadvi, Akhter Oranvi, Kaleemuddin Ahmed and Mukhtaruddin Ahmed are only a few names among scores of intellectuals hailing from Bihar.

But Qazi Abdul Wadood is one of the most prominent among them. He is the one known for his meticulous research works, unsparing critical writings and stringent standards that he set for himself and other scholars of Urdu.

Besides his research and critical works, what gave him renown was his meticulousness and rather strict attitude when it came to assessing the literary works. He had set very high standards of research and would not forgive even minor lapses of writers and researchers. His own writings indeed met the highest standards and even today he is acknowledged as a researcher of Urdu whose works are referred to as authentic.

Though people often complained about Qazi Sahib’s harsh criticism, the fact was he was among a few scholars who helped raise the standards of Urdu research, the other being Hafiz Mahmood Sherani. Both believed in calling a spade a spade. Qazi Sahib was so strict that he did not spare anyone, be it research students or professors, critics or writers.

He was not afraid to criticise big names, including Ghalib, Muhammad Hussain Azad, Moulvi Abdul Haq, Shad Azeemabadi, Masood Hasan Rizvi Adeeb, Malik Ram, Abul Lais Siddiqi, Akhter Oranvi and Prof Khwaja Ahmed Farooqi, for their lapses on issues related to research.

Despite Qazi Abdul Wadood’s perfectionist approach, his style was very drab and dry. His cold and logical arguments, plain language, frequent use of abbreviations or symbols and random way of describing facts make his writings difficult to read. But the crux of the matter that he brings to light is such that one has to bear with his steely style of writing.

With facts described in his slightly sarcastic tone and iconoclastic style, readers see before their eyes the idols of Urdu literature falling from grace. This paradox of Qazi’s writings is often referred to as an impressive castle whose gold walls are studded with pearls and rubies but whose design and architecture is so bad that it is an eyesore.

Qazi Abdul Wadood was born into a religious family in 1896, in Kaku, Bihar, India. His father, Qazi Abdul Waheed, wanted his son to lead taraveeh prayers during Ramazan and in addition to educating him in Arabic and Islamic studies, he made his son memorise the Quran. But Qazi Abdul Wadood was destined to become an Imam of Urdu research and to lead researchers.

His father died and young Qazi decided to study English. Having done his BA from Patna, he left for England to obtain a degree in law from Middle Temple and Tripos in economics from Cambridge University. While in India, he had learnt — in addition to Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Hindi — German and Latin and during his stay in England, he studied English literature and also learnt French.

Taking full advantage of his stay in London, he studied Urdu and Persian manuscripts preserved at British Museum and India Office Library. He completed his studies but his health fell and after returning to India, he could not begin a career in law.

Since he had inherited some property that his brother looked after, he preferred to devote his life for research and spent most of his time in reading, researching and writing. A voracious reader as he was, Qazi Sahib devoured books on linguistics, lexicography, grammar, history, criticism, poetry and what not. Studying and writing about rare manuscripts and old tomes, especially Urdu and Persian Tazkiras, were his forte.

Qazi Sahib’s favourite topics, on which he often wrote, include Ghalib, determination of correct dates, chronological study of poets or writers and discovering the actual creators of famous Urdu couplets that had become proverbial but whose poets were either unknown or they were attributed to some poet other than the real creator.

This series of articles, titled ‘Aavara gard asha’ar’ had become very popular and proved to be a trend-setter, encouraging other scholars to work on the same lines. But Ghalib was his most favourite topic of research and criticism.

Qazi Sahib launched three literary journals — Meyar, Muaasir and Tehqeeq. He used to write book reviews in these journals but his reviews were unorthodox and kind of ‘irreverent’, which infuriated many writers but telling the truth was more important to Qazi. He used to say that not criticising the bad ones is injustice to good ones.

Qazi Abdul Wadood’s research and critical works include Jahan-i-Ghalib, Ushter-o-soozan, Ayaristan, Urdu sher-o-adab: chand mutal’e, Zaban shanasi, Tehqeeqaat-i-Wadood, Aavara gard asha’ar, Urdu mein adabi tehqeeq ke bare mein, Tazkira-i-shuara, Qaat’e-i-burhan, Tazkira-i-musarrat afza, Divan-i-Joshish, Qita’at-i-Dildaar, Armughan-i-Bihar, Maasar-i-Ghalib and a large number of articles and research papers.

Dr Ata Khursheed has compiled a descriptive catalogue of the works of Qazi Abdul Wadood, which has been published by Ghalib Institute, Delhi. Ghalib Institute, Delhi, has also published a book on him. Titled Qazi Abdul Wadood: tehqeeqi-o-tanqeedi jaaeze, it was compiled by Prof Nazeer Ahmed and was later reproduced as the January 1987 issue of Ghalib nama, the institute’s magazine.

Qazi Abdul Wadood died on Jan 25, 1984.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2015

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