THE fiery collection of Urdu short stories titled Angaray is now regarded as the starting point of the Progressive Writers’ Movement in Urdu. But ironically, of the four participants of the collection, Professor Ahmed Ali was the only one, who in later years emerged, as a leading writer, both in Urdu and English. The others lagged behind. As for Sajjad Zaheer, he thought fit to dismiss all that he had written earlier. Instead, he preferred to play the role of a political activist leading the progressive movement.

Ahmed Ali, in spite of his valuable contribution to Urdu fiction, suffered from two ambiguities. Firstly, was he primarily an Urdu writer, who also chose to write in English, or vice versa? Secondly, even after bidding goodbye to the movement, should he be treated as a progressive or labelled a reactionary? This two-fold confusion about his literary position cost him dearly. The progressives started ignoring him, while he in bitterness withdrew from Urdu’s literary scene and became more active as an English writer. Eventually, he receded into oblivion as far as his position as an Urdu writer was concerned.

It is after a long period that an Urdu researcher, following a serious study of the man and his works, has brought out a book on Professor Ahmed Ali. It may well be seen as an attempt to bring Ahmed Ali back into the limelight. The book has been published by Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, Karachi, under the title Professor Ahmed Ali: Hayat Aur Adabi Khidmat. The author is Dr Mohammad Kamran, who is associated with Oriental College, Lahore, as head of the Urdu department. Jamiluddin Aali, in the capacity of honorary secretary of the Anjuman, has welcomed this valuable research work in his preface to the book.

Dr Kamran, while surveying the life of Ahmed Ali, has traced back to Ali’s first literary attempt, which was a short story in English titled, ‘When the Funeral was Crossing the Bridge’. It was published in the journal of Lucknow University in 1929, when Ahmed Ali was a student at the institution. In 1931 he started teaching at the same university. It was during those years that he met Syed Sajjad Zaheer. The first short story that he wrote in Urdu was ‘Muhawaton Ki Aik Raat’. This story was published in 1932 in the annual number of Humayun.

Ahmed Ali and Sajjad soon became friends and planned to bring out a collection of short stories — Angaray. But this friendship did not last long. Of course he was among the founders of the Progressive Writers’ Association. Dr Kamran quotes him as saying: “The intention of the sponsors then (in 1933) was a literary one with no forecast of any affiliation with any political ideology or thought.”

The differences cropped up when Sajjad Zaheer insisted on incorporating Marxist ideology in the policy of the Anjuman. “Then I,” says Ahmed Ali, “said goodbye to the movement. From then on I stopped writing in Urdu and started writing in English.”

It was now easy for the progressives to ignore Ahmed Ali’s contribution to the progressive movement and to Urdu literature in general. Ahmed Ali was happy to see himself being recognised in the literary circles of English. More particularly his novel, Twilight in Delhi, brought much praise for him.

So Ahmed Ali himself paved the way to being ignored in his own language and among his own people. And the Urdu world cared not to see that it had lost a writer who had contributed so much to Urdu literature. Ahmed Ali’s short story, ‘Hamari Gali’, had already won recognition as among the finest pieces of fiction written during the ’30s and ’40s.

Dr Kamran has in detail surveyed all that Ahmed Ali wrote in Urdu as well as in English. His survey shows that Ahmed Ali was the first fiction writer who employed the modern techniques in Urdu, which the 20th century brought in its wake. Dr Kamran has also cared to note Ahmed Ali’s contributions in the fields of poetry and literary criticism.