SOURCE material is authoritative stuff or evidence utilised in research. There can be three kinds of source materials that researchers depend on for their research: primary, secondary and tertiary.
Though these terms are basically used by historians, they are applied in the study of literature as well. Primary sources are considered the most important and authentic ones in historical and literary research.
They include manuscripts, documents, artefacts, photographs, interviews, diaries, recordings, letters, original works of literature or any other original source of information.
The secondary sources include bibliographies, indexes, dissertations, research articles, critical reviews, biographies and autobiographies. Tertiary sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias, are usually in summarised or condensed forms.
All sources are important, but historians, literary researchers and critics consider primary sources more reliable and authentic. Diaries and personal letters are personal texts that record important events, dates and a specific point of view. Though these can be very subjective, they are, at the same time, candid, open and reflect the true feelings of an individual who lived in a specific culture and time.
Thus letters give clues to social and political facts and historical events as well as the personal lives of the persons exchanging letters. Letters also reflect the social conditions and cultural aspects of a society. The historical value of letters can never be underestimated.
In literary research, letters sometimes prove to be a treasure-trove of information. Ghalib’s letters, for instance, let us know not only the great bard’s point of view on certain issues but they are also a contemporary source on — and an eyewitness account of — some events of the 1857 war of freedom as well as what happened in its aftermath. Ghalib’s letters are an invaluable source on his life, works and thought, too. In addition, they are pieces of lovely and flowing literary Urdu prose.
With the passage of time letters became a recognised literary genre. For obvious reasons, literary researchers became much interested in letters written by the writers and poets and in the West, too, there was a flood of edited and annotated versions of collected letters of notables in the 20th century, though they had been popular in the 18th and 19th centuries as well. In Urdu, too, a gradual rise of interest in letters, their preservation and publication was witnessed: Ood-i-Hindi (1868), the first collection of Ghalib’s letters, was published four months before his death and Urdu-i-mu’alla (1869), the second collection, 19 days after his death.
Allama Iqbal’s letters too attracted much attention and many different versions have been published with annotations. Syed Muzaffar Hussain Barni compiled and published Iqbal’s letters in four voluminous tomes. Maulana Maudoodi’s letters, published in several volumes, offer certain features that attract scholars and general readers alike. Letters of both Iqbal and Maudoodi keep on surfacing from time to time and scholars edit and publish them with the new information that is dug from these letters. Certain letters are packed with different pieces of information and thus add to the body of knowledge shared by humanity. Therefore, editing, annotation and publication of letters of well-known figures is considered an important part of research.
The latest issue of Ta’beer, the research journal published by Allama Iqbal Open University’s (AIOU) Urdu department, is named Maktoobaat number, or special issue on epistolary genre. The journal’s new issue carries some rare and hitherto unpublished letters, including one letter by Allama Iqbal, four by Imtiaz Ali Khan Arshi, 24 by Maulana Maudoodi and five by Dr Syed Abdullah.
A large number of letters written by 24 different scholars and addressed to Dr Mahmoodur Rahman too are part of the journal. Abul Kalam Azad’s five letters, earlier published in Ma’rif, have been included with intro. What is important is that all these letters are accompanied by rich, detailed and scholarly annotations and explanatory notes, which have made these letters all the more valuable. Some new information and invaluable source material has been brought to light through these letters.
Though Iqbal’s newly discovered letter is very brief, another letter that has a reference to Allama Iqbal is of interest. Written by Fernando de los Rios — a Spanish scholar and politician and the then minister of public instruction and art — the letter introduces Allama Iqbal to Miguel Asin Palacio. Palacio was a Spanish scholar and Catholic priest. A learned man having profoundly studied Islamic Studies and the Arabic language, Palacio was known for his research on the sources of Dante’s Divine Comedy, which said that Dante had extensively benefitted from Muslim theology and certain concepts of hell and the Hereafter. These letters and notes shed new light on Iqbal’s travel to Spain and his stay there. Similarly, Maudoodi’s letters addressed to Prof Khursheed Ahmed have some valuable information and clues.
In his editorial Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Sahir, the head of Urdu department and chief editor, has succinctly described the importance of letters and their historical and literary value. Ever since Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqi has taken over as the vice chancellor, the AIOU has done a commendable job. Being a research scholar himself, Dr Siddiqi understands the importance of research and encourages research activities. The publication of the special issue of Ta’beer is but one manifestation of the research-oriented approach that the AIOU is trying to promote.
Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2017
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