WHEN Moulvi Nazeer Ahmed Dehlvi died, his student Mirza Farhatullah Baig wrote his pen-sketch titled ‘Nazeer Ahmed Ki Kahani, Kuchh Meri Kuchh Un Ki Zabani’.
The pen-sketch was much popular and when Waheeduddin Saleem read it and met Farhatullah Baig, he told Farhat: “You have immortalised your teacher through this sketch. I wish I had a student like you who would write such a sketch of mine.” Farhat, being a humorist first and foremost, quickly replied: “Go on, die, I promise I will write your sketch, too.” Farhat regretted those words of his own when Saleem died. Though Farhat did write a sketch of Saleem’s, he could not surpass the standard that he himself had set with the Nazeer Ahmed’s sketch. What has immortalised Nazeer Ahmed and his sketch is indeed a perfect example of how to put together an acute observation and a deep sense of cultural values with literary flair and in a flowing, idiomatic prose. Nazeer Ahmed’s sketch by Farhat became a milestone in the history of not only Urdu sketch-writing, but in Urdu prose, too.
Known for his lovely colloquial and everyday Urdu — peppered with generous sprinkling of humour — Mirza Farhatullah Baig Dehlvi was a prose writer, sketch writer, researcher, humorist and poet. Some of his works are so well-known that they immediately flash in mind at the very mention of Farhat’s name, for instance 1261 Hijri Mein Dehli Ka Aik Mushaera (also known as Dehli Ki Aakhri Sham’a) or Bahadur Shah Aur Phool Walon Ki Sair.
Mirza Farhatullah Baig’s different dates of birth have been quoted in different sources, but Farhat himself had mentioned his correct date of birth in December 1942 issue of Sabras, an Urdu literary magazine published from Hyderabad (Deccan). According to his own account, he was born on 3rd of Zilquad, 1303 Hijri, which corresponds to Aug 3, 1885. As was in vogue in those days, Farhat received his early education first at home and then at a madressah and later on was admitted to a school. He passed his intermediate examination from Delhi’s Hindu College and graduated from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College in 1905.
While at college, Farhat did not fare well in science subjects so his friend Ghulam Yazdani, nicknamed Dani in Nazeer Ahmed’s sketch, suggested that he should opt for Arabic. To seek help learn Arabic, both of them approached Nazeer Ahmed, one of the great scholars of Arabic and one of the most celebrated novelists of Urdu in those days — though the modern critics’ views are by far less flattering when it comes to Nazeer Ahmed’s novels. Thus began the journey of knowledge under the tutelage of a great scholar, which in a way was the collecting of raw material for Farhat’s famous sketch.
In this sketch, Farhat at one point says that sometimes Nazeer Ahmed would show pride in his Urdu translations, citing the use of idioms. According to Farhat, he would disagree at that point and would say that the use of idioms in his (Nazeer Ahmed’s) writings was forced and excessive. One may agree with Farhat here, but at times one feels that the same objection may be raised to Farhat’s use of idioms which sometimes sounds not extempore or spontaneous, but laboured.
In 1917, Farhat went to Hyderabad (Deccan) and began working at a school as headmaster. Later on, he was made a sessions judge and spent the rest of his life in the princely state of Deccan. Though Farhat spent about half his life in Deccan, he was born, brought up and educated in Delhi. So Farhat was a ‘pakka dilli wala’ (confirmed native of Delhi) who took pride in Delhi, its past, its relics and, of course, the peculiar dialect of Urdu spoken and written in Delhi. That is why Farhat has intentionally recorded Delhi, its history and culture in a language typical of Delhi in his essays as well as other works.
Aside from his popular works, Mirza Farhatullah Baig’s humorous essays too had made him very popular. These essays, while making you smile, record peculiarities of Delhi, its people and culture. Collected in seven volumes, named Mazaameen-i-Farhat, Oxford University Press has published them again.
Farhat had a zest for literary research and two of his books show that he could have made a name in research as well. One such book is Insha, though a brief account of Insha Allah Khan’s life and poetry, it is one of the early works on the classical poet of Urdu. The other is Divan of Ina’amullah Khan Yaqeen that Farhat had compiled.
Farhat also composed poetry in Urdu and Persian and has described his journey in the realm of poetry in his book Meri Shaeri, along with his verses, though he did not consider himself a poet. Meri Daastaan is an autobiographical account of his careers in which he has described details of, as put by himself, “34 years of rigorous imprisonment”.
Farhatullah Baig died on April 27, 1947, in Hyderabad (Deccan).
Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2020
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