GHALIB and Iqbal are two poets of Urdu who can truly be called evergreen. Not only has their poetry been popular among poetry lovers long after their passing away, their personalities and works, too, have been attracting the attention of critics, scholars, researchers and compilers. Hardly a year goes by when a new book on these two giants of Urdu and Persian poetry is not published.

This year also we have come across a number of new books published on Iqbal. Though the publication of new works on Iqbal’s life, thought and art is commendable, and I am going to briefly introduce a few of the new books published during 2014, every year on Iqbal’s birth and death anniversaries a disturbing question stares us in the face: ‘Do we have an authentic, reliable version of Iqbal’s complete poetic works?’

About a couple of decades ago Rasheed Hasan Khan, one of Urdu’s most respected (in some cases most feared) researchers and critics, had written an article emphasising the need for compilation and publication of an authentic and definitive text of Iqbal’s Persian and Urdu poetry. He was convinced that there was not a single collection of Iqbal’s Persian or Urdu poetry that could truly be called definitive. What he stressed was that we needed a research-based edition of Iqbal’s authentic text with annotations and not one eulogising him or evaluating his poetry.

According to Rasheed Hasan Khan, all the editions of Iqbal’s poetry, including the one published by Iqbal Academy, Lahore, did not meet the required standards of authentic texts. Since orthography was one of Rasheed sahib’s favourite subjects, he especially criticised the incorrect orthography found in different editions of Kulliyaat-i-Iqbal. He was also critical of the fact that no edition of Iqbal’s works mentioned the changes that Iqbal had made to texts, especially to the preface and text of a few verses of Asrar-i-khudi. Similarly, according to him, the title page of Zarb-i-kaleem published by Iqbal Academy showed slightly different wordings than the edition previously published. He also criticised the version of Baal-i-Jibreel published by Iqbal Academy, which is a replica of the edition published by Javed Iqbal, saying that the sequence of verses was different than in older editions. Rasheed sahib had asked what right anyone had to change any text that had been first published in Iqbal’s life.

Though the editions of works of Iqbal published by Iqbal Academy are much better than the ones published by other publishers, it is a sad fact that we do not have texts of Iqbal’s Urdu and Persian poetry that can be truly called authentic, reliable and definitive. Though Ghalib often termed his life ‘miserable’ and indeed he lived a life that cannot be called enviable — especially when compared to how Iqbal lived his life — Ghalib was luckier at least on one count: he found researchers who meticulously researched his entire Urdu poetry and came up with definitive versions. Among them the text known as Deewan-i-Ghalib: nuskha-i-Arshi, compiled and annotated by Imtiaz Ali Khan Arshi, is considered the most authentic. In fact, Rasheed Hasan Khan had mentioned ‘Nuskha-i-Arshi’ as an example to emulate while stressing the need for Iqbal’s definitive text. One hopes we will find a scholar of Arshi’s stature to compile Iqbal’s complete works.

Now let’s take a look at some of the publications on Iqbal published this year.

Doctor Vazeer Agha bataur Iqbal shanas: Dr Vazeer Agha (1922- 2010) was a prominent critic, researcher, essayist and poet of Urdu. He had written a large number of articles on Iqbal. Dr Haroon-ur-Rasheed Tabassum has compiled those pieces of Dr Agha in the book chronologically. But it is not a mere compilation. In addition to Vazeer Agha’s life and other works, Dr Tabassum has described Vazeer Agha’s works on Iqbal in detail in his introductory articles. Published by Book Corner, Jhelum, the book is invaluable for those who seek Vazeer Agha’s essays on Iqbal.

Allama Iqbal and English newspapers of Pakistan: A huge number of articles remain buried in the old issues of Pakistan’s English language newspapers. Dr Nadeem Shafiq Malik carried out a research on such articles published between 1947 and 1958. He was awarded a PhD for this commendable work, written in English. Based on his thesis, the books analyses the articles. Lahore’s Bazm-i-Iqbal has published it.

Iqbal ka harf-i-shireen: Dr Abdul Haq, professor emeritus of the department of Urdu, Delhi University, is prominent among the Indian scholars known for their love and critical evaluation of Iqbal’s poetry. The book, just published from Delhi, is a collection of his articles on different aspects of Iqbal’s thought and art.

Iqbal shanasi aur mahnama Nigar (from 1922 to 2008): Nigar is prominent among the literary magazines that have left their mark. The magazine has published a large number of articles on Iqbal from its inception in 1922. Prof Shahnaz Parveen carried out a research on the role Nigar has played in understanding Iqbal. Karachi’s Idara-i-yadgaar-i-Ghalib has recently published the book.

Iqbal aur sciensi tasavvuraat: Muhammad Ejaz-ul-Haq has tried in this book to capture the scientific thoughts that Iqbal has expressed in his poetry. Surprisingly, he has been able to trace several theories related to physics, biology and mathematics in Iqbal’s works, including Einstein’s theory of relativity. Let’s us hope someday some scholar finds in Iqbal’s poetry the atomic formula as well as the solution to the problem of load-shedding. Lahore’s Daru-un-navaadir has published the book.

Ibarat’s Iqbal number: Edited by Anwaar Ahmed Zai and Masroor Ahmed Zai and published from Hyderabad, Ibarat is a literary magazine that began publication some two decades ago and soon earned respect for its contents. Some of its special issues are considered important sources on the topics. The latest issue of Ibarat is Iqbal number and it includes some excellent new and old articles on Iqbal.

While welcoming and appreciating these new works on Iqbal, the nation must ask: ‘When will we have an authentic, reliable and definitive version of the poetic works of a poet who is called Pakistan’s national poet?’

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2014

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