WHAT perturbs a student of literature, such as this writer, is that we do not have definitive editions of some of our great poets.
Take poetry of Ghalib or Iqbal or Mir, for example. Ghalib’s Urdu divan, though meticulously edited by a great scholar like Imtiaz Ali Khan Arshi, still has some issues. Iqbal’s collected Urdu works published by Iqbal Academy have room for improvement. An authentic version of Mir Taqi Mir’s Urdu divan is yet to be compiled. How we wish we could have authentic versions of some of our other classical works!
Now you may add Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s name to your wish list items: the edited and “critical edition” of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s collected works, edited by Dr Syed Nomanul Haq and published in 2019, is “not reliable as the version has many errors, omissions and lapses despite having some good aspects”, claims Ashfaq Husain in the intro to his new book on Faiz, titled Faiz Ki Mahabbat Mein. The book has just been published from Karachi by Badalti Dunya Publications (badaltidunyapublications@gmail.com).
Ashfaq Husain is a virtual PhD on Faiz. A poet and scholar, Ashfaq Husain has penned over 10 books on Faiz and his personal affiliation with Faiz has only added to his understanding of Faiz. So when he says something on Faiz, one has to be serious and attentive.
Ashfaq rightly appreciates the hard work done by Dr Nomanul Haq as the latter took 10 years to prepare a “critical edition” of collected poetic works by Faiz. Ashfaq says the standard of Urdu being used these days has fallen dramatically and even the literary works are full of errors. So it is commendable that Dr Haq took the responsibility to prepare a free-of-error and authentic version of Faiz’s collected works. Since Dr Haq has claimed to have presented a “history-making” edited version of Faiz, Ashfaq feels that the claim falls short of the expected level as the edited version is not only “incomplete” but total absence of orthographic and diacritic marks have rendered a large number of lines out of metre.
Describing the printing history of collected poetic Urdu works by Faiz, Ashfaq says the first such collection, titled Saare Sukhan Hamare was published from London in 1982. Just a little before his death, Faiz’s collected works were published from Lahore in 1984. Titled Nuskha Ha-i-Vafaa, it included his seven poetry collections and verses not included in any of seven collections were added to it under the title Ghubaar-i-Ayyaam. When pocket edition of Nuskha Ha-i-Vafaa was printed in 2006, it included text composed on computer instead of calligraphy.
Dr Haq has used this second edition, published in 2006, as basic text. Ashfaq Sahib feels that Dr Haq should have consulted all the editions of Faiz’s published works instead of just the second edition. Secondly, says Ashfaq, Dr Haq, despite his tall claims, has not mentioned: What calligraphic errors have been corrected? What orthographic amendments have been made? Which “incorrect idioms” have been set right, as claimed? What changes are made in the “disturbed sequence of poems” to put them in order? What are the verses that have been restored in their original form, as claimed? According to the principles of research and textual criticism, says Ashfaq, an editor/compiler/critic must inform the readers of such amendments and editing rules.
Ashfaq is also wary of Dr Haq’s failure to present full text of Faiz’s famous poem ‘Sar-i-Vaadi-i-Seena’, originally part of the book with the same title. The poem’s 19 lines were censured during Ayub Khan’s rule and only 16 lines could make it to Nuskha Ha-i-Vafaa, published during Ziaul Haq’s reign. Dr Haq has included the poem but has put the censured 19 lines in footnotes, although full text is included in ‘Sar-i-Vaadi-i-Seena’. Also, no editorial note is there to explain the background.
In this 767-page critical evaluation of Dr Haq’s edited version of Faiz, Ashfaq Husain has checked, collated and verified each and every line of Faiz’s poetry and thinks that though the previous editions had some errors but this new edited version is worse as the diacritical marks and orthographic signs, which were part of the previous works, have been deleted and hundreds of lines have been mutilated in this new and so-called historic version. Many of these lines are out of metre now.
Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik’s foreword to the book, too, skilfully questions certain critical notions offered by Dr Haq. Dr Nomanul Haq’s work is indeed a labour of love. But in research, everything is subject to microscopic examination and even scientific theories are accepted only provisionally.
What Ashfaq Husain should do is to prepare his own edited and annotated version of Faiz’s complete works. That would be a valuable gift to poetry buffs and lovers of Faiz.
Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2022
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