MUHAMMAD Hamza Farooqi is one of those few researchers of ours who, despite not being associated with any academic institution, keep on reading, thinking and writing. His articles and books are usually packed with rare information and an objective analysis.
In fact Hamza Farooqi is quite different from our academicians. You may also call him a strange fellow because, unlike most of our academics and university teachers, he does not carry out research to get promoted to the next higher grade or grab a coveted position. Rather, it is his inquisitive nature and his devotion to our history and literature that keeps him busy poring over rare books and still rarer periodicals and newspapers at night when most of us are busy frolicking on social media. A rare breed in our society indeed, which faces the danger of becoming extinct! Having obtained a master’s degree in history of the subcontinent from London University, Hamza Farooqi does not only have access to western sources of research and methodology but was also able to find access to some rare documents at London’s India Office Library while studying in the United Kingdom. Those rare documents, among other material, included some unpublished letters written by some prominent sub-continental personalities, especially by Syed Sulaiman Nadvi (1884-1953).
Also, Farooqi had discovered some letters by Muhammad Ameen Zubairi (1872-1958), a controversial figure in many ways. These letters became the basis of a few articles by Farooqi, analysing certain personalities and some historical events. Among those articles, two are included in his new book Bazm-i-ahbaab-i-Nadva. The book has three long articles and many letters. The first article in the book discusses the academic co-operation and scholarly relationship between Shibli Naumani (1857-1914) and Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Shibli’s beloved pupil and true successor. But at the same time Farooqi has very skilfully and succinctly analysed Shibli’s personality and the reasons for the discord between Shibli and the members of management and senior teachers at Nadva, which ultimately resulted in Shibli’s resignation in 1913.
The second article presents Sulaiman Nadvi’s letters written between 1921 and 1942, addressed to Ameen Zubairi. Annotated and explained, these letters proffer some rare and interesting information on certain literary, academic, religious, cultural and personal matters. The third article in the book presents, with annotations, letters written by some well-known figures, addressed to Ameen Zubairi. These letters too have been preserved at London’s India Office Library.
These articles and endnotes are packed with some rare information. For instance, some pieces of rare information are:
Shibli Naumani’s books Ilm-ul-kalaam (1903) and Al-kalaam (1904) were based mainly on the thoughts of an Egyptian scholar Fareed Vajdi. Some religious scholars, especially ones belonging to Deoband, objected to these books by Shibli’s. Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi had published a letter against the books under the pseudonym of ‘Aik talib-i-ilm’ (a student), but Shibli recognised who behind the letter was.
Some of the essays published in Abul Kalam Azad’s periodical Al-Hilal, which were later published along with other works of Abul Kalam too, were in fact written by Sulaiman Nadvi, Abdullah Imadi, Abdus Salam Nadvi and Abdur Razzaq Maleehabadi.
Ameen Zubairi had played a vital role in securing the monetary support from the rulers of princely state Bhopal for Nadvat-ul-ulema and Shibli.
Later, Ameen Zubairi turned against Shibli and had published Shibli’s letters addressed to Atiya Fyzee on the suggestion of Baba-i-Urdu Moulvi Abdul Haq. Also, Ameen Zubairi’s assistant Muhammad Mehdi published a booklet against Shibli in 1925, for which Zubairi had provided him with the material.
Shibli disagreed with Sir Syed on certain religious and political issues, but, paradoxically, he was influenced by Sir Syed’s certain religious notions too and was, to a certain extent, a modernist and rationalist, just like Sir Syed. But Shibli at the same was a staunch Sunni Hanafi. Shibli, as put by Hamza Farooqi, unlike others who disagreed with Sir Syed and disassociated themselves from Aligarh, never stopped opposing Sir Syed and Aligarh till Sir Syed’s death, both through his prose and poem.
Just published by Karachi’s Academy Bazyaft, the book has some rare glimpses of some historical events and some historic personalities that helped shape our history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having won the Pakistan Academy of Letter’s award for the best prose writer last year, Hamza Farooqi indeed writes a lovely flowing prose that makes his writing even more delectable.
Shibli Naumani died on November 18, 1914. Syed Sulaiman Nadvi died on November 22, 1953.
Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2018
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