SHAHID Ali Khan served Delhi’s Maktaba-i-Jamia for about half a century. He also edited their literary Urdu monthly ‘Kitab Numa’. Then he launched his own quarterly journal ‘Nai Kitab’ from Delhi in 2007. But it was not just another Urdu literary journal. Rather, it set a style and standard of its own and especially emphasised taking on board writers and poets of the new generation. This was particularly important because it is sometimes feared that since Urdu script is not taught in India at school, the new generation might feel alienated from Urdu and its literature.

Shams-ur-Rahman Farooqi, one of India’s foremost critics, researchers and intellectuals, heads the board of the editors of ‘Nai Kitab’. In the very first issue, Farooqi Sahib had declared that ‘Nai Kitab’ “would not be a begging bowl that would recklessly collect all and sundry, whether old or new. Neither would it be a grocery store that has to offer everything”. The intension of the editors was to bring out a literary journal that would not do a run-of-the-mill job and would avoid the ‘formula’ that we often see in literary journals and to which Farooqi Sahib is allergic. He had pointed his finger at that formula saying that “a few short stories, a few poems, quite a few ghazals, a cursory essay, a review or two and a few pieces of literary news such as awarding of a PhD to someone” were the ingredients. The editors of ‘Nai Kitab’ intended to bring out a literary journal that would be not a partisan one, would steer clear of the articles and book reviews unduly praising someone (which sometimes border on flattery) and emphasised the theoretical aspects of criticism instead.

Now that the magazine has successfully completed its six years of publication and the 21st and 22nd issue (combined) dated April-September 2012 has come out (it’s a double issue due to the editor’s protracted illness), let us see if they have delivered what they had promised.

The issue under review has a rich section of articles. Keeping in line with the journal’s tradition, this section has some very informative and research-based pieces. Another speciality of ‘Nai Kitab’ is that from its inception some of the topmost critics and researchers have been contributing to it. The current issue too includes critical and research articles by well-known scholars. Shams-ur-Rahman Farooqi in his article on Iqbal has, as usual, raised some pertinent and thought-provoking questions. He asks, for example, why is Iqbal not as popular among our youth as he should be? Why do we expect only poetry “to instruct and to delight”? Why not other branches of fine arts such as music and painting are asked “to instruct”? Then he takes on to some of the objections raised against Iqbal’s poetry and his message, successfully defending Iqbal.

One of the most erudite articles in this issue is by Tehseen Firaqi. Evaluating Prof Renold A Nicholson’s English translation of ‘Kashf al-Mahjub’, Firaqi has been as meticulous as ever. Written by Abul Hasan Ali Bin Usman Al-Hajvery and said to be the oldest Persian treatise on Sufism, Kashf al-Mahjub was translated by the renowned orientalist Nicholson in 1911. Firaqi has not only compared the English translation with the original Persian finding it to be excellent except for a few minor lapses but has also summed up the key facts about the book, its author, the translator, book’s printing history and the important aspects of the translator’s prefaces to both the first and the second editions.

Firaqi says that Nicholson in his preface has drawn a very fine comparison between ‘Kashf al-Mahjub’ and ‘Al-Risala al-Qushairiyya’, another treatise on Islamic mysticism by Abul Qasim al-Qushairi, which had appeared just before ‘Kashf al-Mahjub’. Firaqi has ably discussed some of the Sufi terms and their translations by Nicholson as well as he has analysed the translation. Equipped with knowledge of modern Persian and an eye on the Islamic mysticism, Firaqi was in a perfect position to evaluate and compare the original and the translation.

Another scholarly article is by Moinuddin Aqeel and it introduces a rare manuscript of Mir Taqi Mir. ‘Majmooa-e-Niaz’ is a selection of poetry carried out by Mir Taqi Mir but some scholars, including the renowned orientalist Aloys Sprenger, believe that its attribution to Mir lacks authenticity. Aqeel Sahib found its manuscript in one of the collections at Kuala Lumpur’s Islamic University.

Other articles that are quite absorbing and informative include the ones written by Shamim Hanafi, Yahya Nashet, Ali Ahmed Fatemi, Zubair Rizvi and some others equally well-known and respected scholars. For want of space these pieces cannot come under discussion here. But an article by Abdus Sattar Dalvi must be taken notice of. Though Dalvi Sahib is a senior scholar and has a good reputation, this particular article of his which discusses Iqbal’s presumed love-affair with Atiya Fyzee is quite misleading. Some scholars love to believe that Iqbal had an affair with Atiya Fyzee, which began during their stay in England. Since this topic needs elaborate discussion, going into details here is not possible. In a nutshell, there is not enough evidence that Iqbal had fallen in love with Atiya Fyzee. In fact, Iqbal’s letters addressed to her do not have any such clue. Neither did she hint to any such thing in her book ‘Iqbal’. Both were good friends and though her intellectual qualities indeed enticed Iqbal, it can in no way be described as love. What is questionable about this article of Dr Dalvi’s is the fact that he has not bothered to give even a single reference or footnote and seems all too willing to believe the flimsy and anecdotal evidence which is quite old and is oft-repeated by unscrupulous and immature scholars. Had this article carried any new research material or evidence, it would have carried some weight. In the present state it does not meet the standard of ‘Nai Kitab’ and does not merit an inclusion. The authenticity and scholarship of the paper can be judged by the fact that Dalvi has mentioned some commonly known dates incorrectly. For instance, it is a well-known and recorded fact that Atiya Fyzee died on Jan 4, 1967. But Dalvi thinks it was Jan 2, 1947, and gives no reference.

Aside from other pieces, Mujtaba Hussain’s hilarious essay ‘Ghazal supplying and manufacturing company (private unlimited)’ is a subtle satire on the commercialisation of literature and mechanical approach to it in modern age.