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March 30, 2003
Review: In a hornet’s nest
NAHEED Qamar is a budding poet whose poems have been published in important literary journals of the country. This book is based on her Master’s thesis which she has expanded to add more substance to it. The subject assigned to her was “The sketch-writing of Mumtaz Mufti” and during the course of her investigations she met and came close to the octogenarian author who was one of the important fiction writers to emerge on the subcontinent’s literary scene in the 1940’s. His contemporaries were Manto, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Krishan Chandar, Ismat Chughtai and other fiction writers of the progressive movement.
Mufti, however, distanced himself from the progressive writers’ movement and wrote fiction under the influence of Freud, mostly analyzing the behavioural aspects of sensual liaisons. Sex was the dominating theme in his writings which remained so till he turned to mysticism under the influence of Qudratullah Shahab. Along with Shahab, Ishfaque Ahmad, Bano Qudsia and Masood Qureshi, he founded a separate school of sufi thought. He authored around twenty books including Alipur ka Aili consisting of 1118 pages which is considered to be the most voluminous novel of Urdu literature.
Besides fiction, Mufti wrote four collections of sketches and Naheed Qamar’s thesis is a critique of Mufti’s sketch writing. It has been difficult for Naheed to take an objective view of her subject as she felt deeply involved with Mufti, which is evident from the facsimile of his letter printed on the back cover of the book. The letter reads, “Naheed! I don’t need your formal felicitations. Don’t write formal letters. We have come very close, very close. Guide me if I am wrong or ineffective or a fraud. Show me the way.”
Dr Abdal Bela who has written the foreword of the book has also pointed out this fact.
To begin with Naheed has discussed sketch writing in the light of the views of various critics and sketch writers to develop a unanimous definition of a sketch. The writers quoted by her include Muhammad Husain Azad, Hafeez Siddiqui, Rafiuddin Hashmi, Abul Khair Kashfi, Dr Saleem Akhtar and Muhammad Tufail. Then she proceeds to look at sketch writing from a historical perspective.
There was Mirza Farhatullah Baig who is supposed to be the first sketch writer (1927). Then came Dr Abid Husain, Rashid Ahmad Siddiqui, Maulvi Abdul Haq, Chiragh Hasan Hasrat, Abdul Majid Salik, Ashraf Saboohi, Ismat Chughtai, Saadat Hasan Manto, Shahid Ahmad Dehlvi and Muhammad Tufail besides others. Naheed Qamar rightly points out that Manto gave a new dimension to the genre of sketch writing with his two books Ganje Farishte and Loud Speaker.
A few years after Manto, came Mumtaz Mufti with his books Piyaz ke Chilke, Aukhe Loag, Aur Aukhe Loag and Aukhe Avalrre. Mufti has experimented with the language by inserting Punjabi words in his Urdu narrative. This also emerges from the titles he chooses for his books of sketches. The personalities caricatured in these books are Mira Ji, Manto, Ibne Insha, Qudratullah Shahab, Pir Hussamuddin Rashdi, Bano Qudsia, Ishfaque Ahmad, Muhammad Tufail, Fikr Taunsvi, Ada Jafri, Ahmad Bashir, Masood Qureshi and Anwar Sadeed.
Quoting Dr Jamil Jalibi, Naheed Qamar writes, “Mumtaz Mufti’s sketch writing is different from other sketch writers because to reach the truth he peeps into the inner self of a personality. This is surely a difficult task for a sketch writer but Mufti’s ingenuity makes it possible for him to do this meticulously.”
Mumtaz Mufti himself points out that “no one can write about the human personality fully. It is like inserting one’s hand in a hornets’ nest.” But Naheed believes that in spite of this Mufti’s sketches manage to capture the essence of the man he writes about. To prove her point she has quoted profusely from his sketches.
In addition to a detailed discussion on his sketch writing Naheed has also included her comments on the other books of Mumtaz Mufti. She provides the summary and history of each book and highlights their salient features. She has written an exclusive chapter on sketch writing in Mufti’s books Alipur ka Aili (novel) and Alakh Nagri (autobiography).
The author concludes her book with two poems dedicated to Mumtaz Mufti. This hardbound book seems to be slightly overpriced.
Rang Saaz Mumtaz Mufti (A study)
By Naheed Qamar
Ferozsons, 60 Shahrah-i-Quaid-i-Azam, Lahore. Tel: (042) 630 1196-8 277 Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi Tel: (051) 556 3503. Mehran Heights, Main Clifton Road, Karachi.
Tel: (021) 583 0467 UAN 111-62-62-62
183pp. Rs250
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