August 15, 2004

Laeeq Ahmed Babree was born on September 28, 1931 in Lahore and died in June 2003. Recalling his childhood he would say, “I used to go to the mosque and was a regular listener of Maulana Hanif Nadvi’s dars. He was a very learned man. Religious scholars from all over the subcontinent came to visit him and my father.”

Laeeq Babree was eight years old when Allama Iqbal died and remembered the funeral. Babree did his BSc in chemistry. But, he became interested in languages and joined the F.C. College, Lahore, for a master’s in English. He joined French evening classes and got a diploma in French in 1953, and obtained the first position.

“I am probably the first Pakistani to have shown such madness for French at a time when no one else spoke it here!” he smiled. I was interviewing him in April 2002 at his home in Islamabad. Laeeq was greatly inspired by Julio Sanchez Lucena who was a Spaniard, teaching French. He would say, “Languages my friend are like houses, you must live in them.”

Laeeq reminisced fondly. “I was very lucky, I had such wonderful and dedicated teachers.” Julio Sanchez Lucena and Etiemble were among those who influenced him most. “How did you meet Etiemble?” I asked. “I met him during my stay in Paris between 1957 and 1960. Etiemble was my professor and also my guide for my thesis titled ‘Indo Pakistani thought and religions in French poetry’.

“In 1957, in my early twenties I went to Paris, on a Pakistan government scholarship to learn French. I went by sea on an Italian ship and reached Paris in two weeks. We went by the Suez Canal which had opened a short while after the 1956 war. I went by ship till Naples in Italy, and from there by train to Paris. When I reached Paris, I knew no one. I just had a letter of introduction from my father to Professor Hamidullah, who was a great scholar known to my father. Prof Hamidullah had translated the Quran into French. He knew twelve languages and was a great authority on Islam. He was a strange man. I was amazed to see how he lived in Paris. I saw him walking on foot everywhere; he had no telephone, no car, and was an embodiment of simplicity. I wrote an article on him, ‘Hamidullah as I saw him in Paris’. In that article I wrote that ‘he was a man of the Muhammadan mould, living in the present times’. He never married, and lived alone all his life. Once when I visited him in his small room, I found him having his meal, just some vegetables, and wearing simple clothes. When you saw his eyes, you saw that these had a magnetic shine in them.

“When I met Etiemble I told him that when I read French I am so touched by the beauty of the language that I have tears in my eyes. And he said, ‘Gentleman, you are made for literature. Here in Europe, hearts have ceased to fabricate tears.’

“Etiemble was the person who emphasized to me my own individuality. At the same time he made me realize that I am a person beyond frontiers, and that I belong to the planet. He also inspired me to go back to my roots and study the sources of my own culture. He appreciated the value of the existence of all minority languages.

“After completing my masters in French in 1959, I came back to Pakistan and began studying the poets and saints of the East, wrote several books on them and translated these into French.

“Iqbal believes that you come across the oceans but you must always keep your identity. This is what the poetry of South Asia does, it is universal in approach, but keeps its individuality. It is written in local languages and has universal thought. Etiemble tells the European intellectuals that every language on earth has a right to be recognized and appreciated. He was against Euro-centrism. And it is with the modern current of anthropology that his point was more understood. Etiemble’s name became famous in France especially through his book entitled Parlez-vous Franglais? (Do you speak mixture of French/ English?). Etiemble died recently at the age of 92.

“Also in Paris, I came across one of the greatest historians of religions George Dumezil. I wrote to him, and he replied and invited me to visit him.

“Among the eastern spiritual authorities, I used to see a saintly person Hazrat Ahmed Ali Lahori (who had met Allama Iqbal). He told me how a man can acquire a sort of a communion with the Beyond and be at peace.

“I came towards mysticism through my study of literature — especially through existentialism. This study made me conscious of the anguish of existence and the agony of modern life. But it did not offer any solution. I found the solution in the writings of the saints Hazrat Ali Hajveri, Data Ganj Bakhsh and Hazrat Mian Mir. And then I found the way to emancipate myself from the slavery of matter. It is the soul which is important.”

How did he get interested in Punjabi?

“It was the French people’s questions. They would ask me, ‘You speak English but what is your mother tongue?’ I would say, I did not know how to read or write it.

‘This is what you lack! They would tell me.

“I came back and studied Punjabi literature. And I wrote Sukhan kay Waris (Trustees of the poetic language). They are Baba Farid Gunj Shakar, Shah Hussain, Sultan Bahu, Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah. I discovered them all and translated them into French. And when the Frenchmen read these books, they were dazzled by the beauty of imagery in them. They could understand verses like:

Allah chambay di bootie murshid man which lai hoo Andar bootie mushk machaya jan phullan par aaiy hoo

God is like the jasmine plant
My master has planted in my heart
Inside there’s a tempest of the perfume,
of this jasmine plant, when it comes to blossom

“This concept of getting your identity from your motherland and mother tongue was initiated by Jean Paul Sartre. He and Iqbal are two of the greatest philosophers of the era. (And I have attended the funerals of both!).

“I wrote my first Punjabi poem in Paris called ‘Kalli Koonj’. My book Ghugu Ghoray became very popular.”

What should be the language of education in our country I asked.

“English, because it keeps us in contact with the whole world. Urdu should also be used. Urdu has its own charm, its own heritage. Our society is a multilingual society. Languages grow, they cannot be imposed. The native languages should be given their right to prosper. So much has been written in Urdu. And for languages one should have open arms. Pakistan is just a bouquet of different languages. Despite human diversities which God has made, man should have unity of purpose.”

What was his message to the youth?

“Love, not aqal but ishq for everything. Because too much of aqal is diabolic.”

Aqal tamaam ‘bu lahab
Ishq tamaam Mustafa

How can we get peace in this life? I ask.

“Meditation. Linking ourselves with the Divine. We need to link ourselves with the spiritual world. This is what we need. Material wealth can never bring happiness to the world. It has never brought it. People die of affluence, not of hunger.”

“I translated Iqbal’s Zarb-i-Kaleem into French for Unesco. (Earlier, I had translated Faiz Ahmed Faiz). How Iqbal makes us conscious of what life really is. He belongs to the darvaish tradition of the East which believes that only those people can survive who link themselves with the heavens. Only they can have peace. The peace that Iqbal suggests can only be attained through the purification of the heart.

“This is unfortunate that Iqbal was not understood and appreciated by his own people. Iqbal used to go and meet Louis Massignon - one of the greatest interpreters of Islam in Europe. And Annemarie Schimmel is a disciple of Louis Massignon. I spent about three weeks with Louis Massignon.”

Laeeq Babree received his PhD in French literature from Sorbonne, University of Paris, in1968. Among other prestigious posts he held were lecturer of French in the Government College, Lahore (1960-1973), acting head of the French Department in the Punjab University (1972-1973), Director of the National Institute of Modern Languages 1974-1979, and professor of French in Umm-Al-Qura University, Makkah (1982-1988).

He was given the award of “Officier-de-Palme acadamique” 1992, by the government of France. And “Grand Prix de Fracophonie” in 1999 on behalf of the heads of state of French speaking countries. He was writing Paris say Makkah tak (From Paris to Makkah) when he passed away last year. Men like him are very rare, and need to be appreciated, even if it has to be after their death.

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