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Raqs-i-Yani
By Mahmood Shaam
Atlantis
ISBN: 978-969-601-574-1
183pp.
Raqs-i-Yani is a collection of 50 ghazals by Mahmood Shaam, a veteran journalist who has spent decades observing the world and its people. In this book, however, he is not writing as a newsman but as someone who has fallen in love.
It seems like he has fallen in love with someone, perhaps real, perhaps imagined or with something beyond this world. The foreword for the book is written by poet Dr Ambreen Haseeb Amber, who has expressed her views about the book in detail.
Every ghazal in the collection carries a full-page illustration by artist Mehtab Ali. The images reflect the mood of the poems and add to the book’s aesthetic beauty. The collection in this sense is both literary as well as visual.
Each ghazal is written in the same behr [metre] and each couplet ends with the same word: “yani”, which roughly means ‘that is to say’. This repetition gives the poems a unique rhythm. But ‘yani’ is more than just a rhythm, as it turns every line into an attempt to explain something difficult or out of reach. So ‘yani’ does not have one meaning. It holds various interpretations for the reader.
Senior journalist Mahmood Shaam’s collection of Urdu poetry, a collection of ghazals written in the same metre, is an attempt to explain something difficult or out of reach
The collection has multiple themes, as is mostly the case within the tradition of the ghazal, such as romantic love, praise of the beloved, expressions of suffering, criticism of violence, anarchy etc. One prominent theme, however, is ishq, a word which is often translated as ‘love’ but which here carries a deeper meaning. It is not just love, passion, obsession and surrendering to the beloved, often understood in a Sufistic/mystical sense. It is ishq that overpowers logic and can grasp higher truths which aql [reason] cannot. This tension between ishq and aql runs throughout the book.
As Shaam writes:
“Jo haqiqat hai nihaan rehti hai
Aankh ki hadd hai ayaan tak yani”
[What reality is, remains hidden/ The eye’s limit is only what is visible]
It means that seeing is not the same as knowing. Vision has limits, while feeling/passion does not. This is a common theme in Sufi thought: that love brings us closer to truth and reason/rationality traps us only in the surface of things.
“Garmi-i-ishq se paani paani
Aql hai barf ka gaala yani”
[In the heat of love, reason melts like water/ This reason is like a block of ice]
Love here is fire while reason is ice, and the intensity of love is such that reason just melts in front of it. Despite such themes, however, politics and violence are never far away from Shaam’s writings. Many couplets speak of the violence and pain of cities in Pakistan, particularly Karachi. As the poet writes:
“Har gali taaza lahu ki khushbu
Maut ka raqs hai ghar ghar yani”
[Every street smells of fresh blood/ Death dances in every house]
This is not exaggeration and not a metaphor. It is just how the world feels to someone who has lived through its crises and turbulences. And then he says:
“Keh gayi mauj-i-saba chupkay se
Zulm hai zulm ko sehna yani”
[The morning breeze quietly whispers/ It is oppression to tolerate oppression]
Here, the breeze is carrying a message that doing nothing in the face of cruelty is itself a form of cruelty. It’s a line that stays with the reader.
The book also touches on the issues of sectarianism and its harmful effects. As Shaam says:
“Firqa-wari mein bohat mushkil hai
Ilm-o-danish ka panapna yani”
[In sectarianism, it is very difficult/ For knowledge and wisdom to grow]
This is a fair point; where there is division and dogma, better sense and thought cannot flourish.
Shaam also writes about romantic love, longing, loss and the emotional damage caused by unrequited love. In two couplets in one ghazal, he says:
“Chal gaya husn ka afsun yani
Main bhi ik said-i-zabun yani
Har taraf teri hi shabahat paoon
Kaisay is kaif se nikloon yani”
[The charm of (your) beauty has enchanted me/ I’ve become its helpless prey/
I see your face everywhere/ How can I break free from this feeling?]
In another couplet, he speaks of the torment of the memories of his beloved:
“Zehen hojata hai chhalni chhalni
Yadein ban jaati hain keelein yani”
[The mind becomes like a sieve/ Memories turn into nails, that is to say]
It is a painful image that is perhaps familiar to everyone, especially those who have loved and lost. There are many more couplets of this sort, where Shaam praises his beloved. Nevertheless, most of the ghazals in the collection are quite common and predictable/familiar, as they struggle to make any striking effect on the reader. Most of the metaphors and comparisons are also those commonly used in Urdu poetry. Despite this, however, the expressions are original and this is something which should be noticed. Shaam’s strength lies in his honesty. He neither pretends nor tries to impress, but simply expresses what comes from within his self.
Raqs-i-Yani is not a great book of poetry but it is a good, honest and thoughtful collection. It speaks in a low and clear tone and the voice belongs to a man who has seen much and who still believes that love can make this world a better place. Not every couplet may be special and striking but there are many that stay with the reader. And that, perhaps, is enough.
The reviewer is a member of staff.
Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, August 3rd, 2025
