PAUL Hazard, the renowned French scholar, once wrote: “England could be reconstructed entirely from its children’s books”. He exaggerated a bit, perhaps, to emphasise the importance of children’s literature.

But when it comes to Urdu, those who write in Urdu for children are hardly considered writers in the first place. Though the famous quote in Urdu goes: “bachchon ke liye likhna bachchon ka khel nahin hai” (writing for children is no child’s play). One of the great writers of Urdu who contributed enormously to children’s literature is Ismail Meruthi. He wrote in a planned manner to enhance children’s basic language skills through his poems and graded readers to which many of our elders owe their reading and writings skills. Though hardly available in market, these easy and well-conceived early readers of Urdu can still be of immense value.

But this great benefactor of Urdu language and an expert in early learning is almost forgotten and so far no programme or plan is heard of to commemorate his 100th death anniversary, which falls on November 1, this year. It seems that Ismail Meruthi’s centennial will pass unnoticed. This sad state of affairs itself is a commentary on the state of children’s literature in Urdu.

Jameel Jalibi had it right when he wrote in his Tareekh-i-adab-i-Urdu (vol. IV) that Ismail Meruthi was born to follow the path that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had chosen, but Ismail Meruthi conveyed Sir Syed‘s message — and the culture that Sir Syed, Altaf Hussain Hali and Mohammed Hussain Azad had carved out — to the young generations through his poetry and textbooks. Sir Syed’s emphasis on reality reflected in Ismail Meruthi’s poetry as Ismail Meruthi’s poems, especially the ones written for children, are deeply seeded in realism and teach moral values in a simple yet lovely parlance. But at the same time, these poems are not drab or dry as they are not devoid of poetical touch and have certain literary merits. In fact, some of his poems are good example of what was then called ‘natural poetry’.

Moulvi Mohammed Ismail Meruthi was born in Meruth on November 12, 1844. Just after completing his early education, he joined the education department in 1860. He was barely 16 at that time when he had begun composing poetry too. Ismail Meruthi began his career in the field of education and remained affiliated with it almost for his entire life. Almost all of his books were somehow associated with teaching and education. Many of his books, such as Urdu qaida, Qand-i-Parsi, Tuzk-i-Urdu and Qavaid-i-Urdu were prescribed by the textbook boards, especially in pre-independence era. For teaching the teachers he wrote Urdu course for Normal School. His five books, Urdu ki pehli kitab through Urdu ki panchveen kitab were most known, taught, read and prescribed of Urdu textbooks. In the early years of Pakistan, too, these books were prescribed in many schools. Still, a number of his poems are part of syllabi at schools in Pakistan.

Ismail Meruthi’s book Savaad-i-Urdu was a textbook that included some selections from Urdu prose and poetry. Some of his own writings too were made part of. This book was prescribed for teaching Urdu to British officers as well. Jalibi Sahib thinks this book not only reflected Sir Syed’s influence on Ismail Meruthi, but also played a vital role in moulding the taste of new generations, making them fond of simple, natural and realistic poetry instead of classical ghazals, such as by Daagh Dehlvi, that sang of the beauty of the beloved alone. Many of Ismail Meruthi’ poems that were originally written for textbooks became so popular that some of their couplets and lines got currency as proverbs. Most of these poems were made part of Kulliyat-i-Ismail Meruthi, compiled by his son Aslam Saify. Correct Urdu usage, natural and realistic poetry, modern thoughts and moral values are some of the marks that Ismail Meruthi’s works left on the minds of the young students. Though written for the young readers, the impact and influence of his poems was beyond age and time. In a way, Ismail Meruthi was carrying out the message initiated by Sir Syed.

Modern Urdu poetry owes much to Ismail Meruthi. He introduced new themes in Urdu poetry and portrayed local culture and rustic scene with great ease and confidence, something that had always been rare in Urdu. He experimented with the form of the poetry and was one of the pioneers of blank verse, or the poetry without rhyming words. After Mohammed Hussain Azad, Ismail Meruthi wrote blank verse in Urdu, something unusual and totally against the literary tastes of Urdu as ‘qafia’ or rhyming word was considered essential part of poetry in those days.

Ismail Meruthi died in Meruth on November 1, 1917.

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Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2017