KARACHI: “The love of books is among the choicest gifts of the gods,” said Arthur Conan Doyle. Friends and admirers highlighted this bibliophilic aspect of Mushfiq Khwaja, who had a personal collection of about 18,000 books and magazines, at the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu on Saturday.

They also spoke about his scholarly accomplishments, gift for witty repartees and quiet philanthropy. However, it was his book mania that was emphasised as his collection of rare literary Urdu journals are being digitised in collaboration with the University of Chicago and the American Institute of Pakistan Studies.

Dr Syed Nomanul Haq recalled his close association with Mushfiq Khwaja which came about when Dr Haq was given a grant by his university in the United States to do a survey of the libraries and personal collections of books in Pakistan. “I visited him first with Naseem Fatima, the librarian of Karachi University, and he met us very warmly. Later, when Anwar Moazzam of the Urdu Documentation Centre, Hyderabad, India, came to Karachi, we visited him nearly daily and discussed ways to acquire his collection.”

Dr Haq said Mushfiq Khwaja had one of the largest and finest trove of Urdu books and periodicals in the country. “He had meticulously catalogued all the books and even photographs. I have come across very few people who are so detail-oriented and he was certainly one of them.” Dr Haq said that even though he was happy that Mushfiq Khwaja’s collection was being digitised and some of it was available online, it would be even better if one could go on to the website and do a search by word.

Dr Haq also highlighted Mushfiq Khwaja’ definitive work on Mirza Yas Yagana Changezi, Kulliyat-i-Yagana. “This work by Mushfiq Khwaja is monumental in Urdu literature.”

Earlier, Prof Sahar Ansari spoke about Mushfiq Khwaja’s scholarly works and his warm-heartedness and affable personality. “His works on less prominent but important Urdu scholars such as Jaswant Singh Deewana, Mohabbat Khan Mohabbat, Safeer +Bilgrami, editing of Saadat Khan Nasir’s Tazkirah-i-Khush Marakah-i-Zeba are significant.” Prof Ansari said that when he was working on Nasikh, he knew that only Mushfiq Khwaja would have some of his rare poetical works such as Tazkirah-i-Ibn-i-Toofan and Siraj-i-Ameer-i-ibn-Nazm. Mushfiq Khwaja was parsimonious when it came to lending his books, said Prof Ansari. “He would only lend it if he was certain that the person was a serious researcher and would return his books.”

The professor even shared a couple of hilarious anecdotes about Mushfiq Khwaja. “Once we were at a function and as we were leaving a man walked up to him and said he wanted to give him his book. To which he replied: “Rehnay dijeye, main do murday utha nahi sakta! (Please don’t bother; I can’t carry two dead bodies.) He was a sweet man who made tea for his guests who visited him, said Prof Ansari. Later, Prof Ansari told Dawn that Mushfiq Khwaja loved photography, picnics and meeting his contemporaries such as Ada Jaffery and Akhtar Hussain Raipuri and their families with his wife Amina Mushfiq.

Responding to a query on what books could provide as an introduction to Mushfiq Khwaja’s works, the professor recommended the collection of his columns titled Khama Bagosh, collection of letters that he wrote to his friends, and his poetry collection, Abiyat.

Others who spoke at the gathering included Rashid Ashraf (presented a short biographical sketch of Mushfiq Khwaja that included his association with the Anjuman for nearly 16 years) Talat Mustafa (her fond memories of a father-like figure), Mobeen Mirza (delighted the guests with several hilarious anecdotes of his mentor, including one about a couple visiting from Aligarh who were intimidated by the fact that Mushfiq Khwaja was a Punjabi but he appeared ‘normal’ like them! To which the self-effacing scholar replied: wait for a couple of minutes and my behaviour will indicate this aspect), Shakila Rafiq (a short-story writer based in Canada) and Naushaba Siddiqui (who droned on and on about her first meeting with Mushfiq Khwaja and her speech was more about her tears than a tribute to the great man.)

Finally, Dr Fatema Hassan of the Anjuman announced a book on Mushfiq Khwaja titled Naabgha, Anjuman, Idara was being compiled by Dr Haq.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2015

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