Photo by White Star

KARACHI: A book on poet Josh Malihabadi’s revolutionary ideas titled Tasavvur-i-Inqilaab aur Josh by Dr Alia Imam was launched at the Arts Council on Tuesday evening.

Justice Salahuddin Mirza, who presided over the event, said he was fond of Josh from the time he had learned to read. He said when he was a young man, a publisher used to print a book series, 100 Sher, containing 100 couplets of noted poets; and he bought the one that had Josh’s 100 couplets in it. He said in one of the exams that he took as a student, he mentioned Josh as his favourite, disputing the claim that Hali was a revolutionary poet.

Dr Pirzada Qasim, who was the chief guest, first thanked Dr Imam for writing a book on Josh that from its title to the last page carried valuable information. He lamented that the culture of writing books was waning here indicating that ours was an anti-knowledge (ilm dushman) society.

On the merits of the book, Dr Qasim said it had three important aspects — Josh, Josh’s concept of a revolution and Dr Alia Imam herself. He argued that the hallmark of a good book was that it made people think about its subject, and Dr Imam’s was one such book. He said her work had a strong element of research in it, and one could disagree with its contents as well, which was a good thing because the topic raised many questions and Dr Imam had provided answers to those queries. He said the book would enable the readers to understand Josh’s mindset.

Speaking on the concept of a revolution, he quoted Dr Imam: “Inqilab aik scientific aur paicheeda amal hai” (revolution is a scientific and complicated process) and added that under its surface lay economic puzzles.

Dr Imam said she had written the book complying with the wishes of her brother the late Syed Mohammad Mehdi and her husband the late Kazim Imam. She remarked that Josh’s ideas were based on a scientific approach to life. According to Josh, she said, the more knowledge a person had, the more responsible he was in the annals of history. On Josh’s political ideas, she commented that imperialism (samraj) tended to seek control over weaker countries’ markets and followed it by creating divisions among its people. With reference to the business community and Josh’s views on it, she quoted a few verses, one of which was:

Ik kahani waqt likhey ga naey mazmoon ki
Jis ki surkhi ko zaroorat hai tumhare khoon ki

[Time will write a new story
Whose title needs your blood]

Dr Imam said Josh believed that leadership required individuals to have high ideals in order to bring about a revolution. Commitment to an ideology was also important for a leader, along with a clear vision (nazar ki safai), she said. Trying to explain Josh to the younger members of the audience, she said in English, “Moving is not important, but what’s important is that which direction you are moving in.”

In the end, she demanded the president of Pakistan establish a university named after Josh in Karachi.

Allama Zameer Akhtar said that of all the people present at the venue, he knew Dr Imam for the longest period of time. He bemoaned that those elders who contributed to Dr Imam’s personality were no more in this world. He told the attendees, who had showed up in a decent number, that Josh was a friend of Dr Imam’s father. He appreciated the fact that the chapters on some important personalities — Ali Sardar Jafferi, Mohammad Hasan Askari, Dr Imam, etc — which hadn’t been published in Josh’s famous book Yadon Ki Baraat, had now been published. He then went down memory lane, telling delightful stories of the time when Dr Imam was doing her PhD from Lucknow. He also read out an interview that Dr Imam transcribed of some friends and admirers’ meeting with Josh in Delhi, in which the poet expressed his candid views on life and some important personalities of the subcontinent.

Mehtab Akbar Rashdi lauded Dr Imam’s writing prowess and her eloquence as a speaker. She told the audience that Josh was the one who called Dr Imam Bulbul-i-Pakistan (Pakistan’s nightingale).

Tabassum Jaffery and Ahmed Shah also spoke. Anjum Rizvi read out a poem by Josh. Suhail Ahmed conducted the programme.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2015

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