MUSHFIQ Khwaja (1935-2005) had become an icon of Urdu literature in his lifetime. It was his sparkling wit, encyclopaedic knowledge and command of Urdu language and literature that made him shine among his peers.

After his death, the constant flow of articles and books on him has made him a true legend. In addition to research articles and impressionistic essays, some MA and MPhil theses have been written on Mushfiq Khwaja and these include theses by Shah Nawaz Farooqi, Waheed-ur-Rahman Khan and Muhammad Qasim.

The latest among them is one by Dr Mahmood Ahmed Kavish, a dissertation on which Punjab University conferred a doctoral degree on him. Titled Mushfiq Khwaja: Ahvaal-o-Aasaar, it was published in book form by Qirtaas, Karachi, in February 2021, to coincide with Mushfiq Khwaja’s 16th death anniversary.

The first chapter captures the essence of Mushfiq Khwaja’s life and his personality. According to Dr Kavish, Mushfiq Khwaja was born in Lahore on Dec 19, 1935. His real name was Khwaja Abdul Hai. His father, Khwaja Abdul Waheed, was a scholar in his own right. In 1948, the family moved to Karachi. Here young Mushfiq Khwaja began visiting Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu (ATU) and a septuagenarian Moulvi Abdul Haq was much impressed with his knowledge about manuscripts. In April 1957, Moulvi Sahib made him editor of Qaumi Zaban and at the age of 22 he became a part of the ATU team.

The second chapter of the book discusses what research is and how Mushfiq Khwaja’s research works meet the high standard of research. One of the most prominent research works by Mushfiq Khwaja is Jaaiza-i-Makhtootaat-i-Urdu, a descriptive bibliography of Urdu manuscripts. His other research works are Ghalib aur Safeer Bilgirai and Tehqeeq Nama. His annotated and edited works include Tazkira-i-Khush Ma’arka-i-Zeba, Iqbal and Kulliyaat-i-Yagana.

But Mushfiq Khwaja was not just a scholar and researcher who could not see beyond dry and drab topics like manuscripts and descriptive bibliographies. Rather, he was a wit and this writer had many times heard his comments on literary figures that reflected his bubbling wit and gift of repartee. But he was just as kind and wholeheartedly supported the students like this scribe in their research works. Khwaja Sahib’s wit that permeated his satirical literary columns made him much popular and his columns were reproduced in several Urdu publications across our eastern borders, too. The book discusses these columns at length in the third chapter.

He was a poet too though he quit poetry after having published a collection of verses Abyaat. Some of his poems and verses remained unpublished which have been discussed in the fourth chapter.

Mushfiq Khwaja was a prolific letter-writer and, just like Ghalib, writing to friends and literary figures was one of his favourite pastimes. So far, nine collections of his letters have been published, all posthumously, and the book also takes into account Mushfiq Khwaja’s letters not collected in book form, whether published in magazines or unpublished. It is a fact that Dr Kavish has worked really hard and has considered almost all published and some unpublished sources, too.

Dr Kavish has corrected some mistakes made by some scholars who penned articles on Mushfiq Khwaja. Prof Noor-ul-Hasan Naqvi, for example, had written that Mushfiq Khwaja had discovered old manuscripts concealed in the wall of an old house in Lahore. Dr Kavish says it is incorrect. He is right but he does not give full details. Khwaja Sahib had narrated the whole episode to this writer: the old house in Lahore belonged to Muhammad Hussain Azad and was later on bought by Dr Muhammad Saadiq, who was a scholar and great fan of Azad’s. Dr Saadiq found Azad’s manuscripts hidden in a hollow wall. He dug them up and handed them over to Mushfiq Khwaja. Khwaja Sahib was kind enough to let this writer have a look at those notes handwritten by Azad.

Mushfiq Khwaja had translated Tareekh-i-Farishta from Persian into Urdu and Dr Kavish has mentioned it in the sixth chapter. But Khwaja Sahib, in a way, had concealed his identity and the translation published with the translator’s name appearing as ‘Abdul Hai Khwaja’. Mushfiq Khwaja’s translation was criticised for certain reasons. But Dr Kavish has not referred to the criticism. Also, Khwaja Sahib had written some so-called ‘social and romantic’ novels under the pseudonym of ‘Saeeda Khatoon’ — perhaps a commercial venture — but the book skips the name. It also ignores some negative personality traits of Khwaja Sahib. No doubt, Khwaja Sahib was a great scholar, but nobody is perfect. Objectively mentioning such lapses enhances a research work’s value.

Mahmood Kavish is a scholar and critic from Narowal and teaches Urdu there. He has a number of other works to his credit.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2021