Poets-writers do not function in a vacuum, they belong to a milieu, have a circle of friends and rivals and an audience of listeners and readers.

Momin Khan Momin was Ghalib’s contemporary, a friend one might say, a peer whose poetry Ghalib admired. Unfortunately, Momin died accidentally at the age of 51 from a fall in 1851. Ghalib went on to live until 1869. I had wanted to write a book on Momin for some years. I finally began work on the project this summer. In spite of having a somewhat fleshed out proposal with ideas for chapters, I found myself stuck and going in circles.

Momin was born in Delhi in 1800/1 and died in 1851, well before the Revolt of 1857. He was barely three years old when the British East India Company’s forces under Lord Lake defeated the army of the Marathas and marched into Delhi. The Mughal ruler had already been reduced to a pawn and pensioner, whose authority existed in name only. The British were astute not to disturb the status quo.

Negotiations were carried out with Shah Alam II, the Mughal ruler whose privilege to rule was signified by coins issued under his name and the khutba read in the mosque on Friday. All this remained unchanged. Shah Alam II was succeeded by his son, Akbar Shah II. A relative period of peace followed. Not many changes were introduced until 1830.

Momin belonged to a family of famous hakeems who had moved to Delhi from Kashmir. In 1761, during the rule of Shah Alam II, two brothers — Kamdar Khan and Namdar Khan — travelled from Kashmir to Delhi. They were employed at the court of Shah Alam II and awarded the jagir of Narnaul. Hakeem Namdar’s son, Ghulam Nabi Khan, was Momin’s father. When the Company took over the administration of Delhi, the pargana [district] of Narnaul was taken away. In lieu of that, a stipend of 1,000 rupees annually was awarded to the dependents. Momin’s father received 45 rupees.

Hakeem Ghulam Nabi Khan was a mureed of Shah Abdul Aziz, son of the Sufi-reformer Shah Waliullah, who founded the Madrasah-i-Rahimiyah. Thus, when Nabi Khan’s son was born in 1800, the venerated Shah Abdul Aziz was requested to suggest a name and recite the azaan in the newborn’s ear. Shah Abdul Aziz suggested Muhammad Momin Khan as the name for the child.

Momin went on to study at the Madrasah Rahimiyah, where he became proficient in Persian and Arabic. He learned the practice of Unani [Greek] medicine from his father and uncle and became a hakeem. Momin’s affiliations with Shah Abdul Aziz did not end. He was a staunch Sunni and became a follower of Shah Ahmad Barelwi.

Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born and grew up in Agra in the last decade of the 18th century. Ghalib’s father was a soldier who was killed by a stray bullet while in the service of Raja Alwar while Ghalib was very young. His uncle (father’s brother), Nasrullah Beg Khan, joined Lord Lake with his own forces and was rewarded with the revenue of the parganas of Sonk and Sonra. He was married to the daughter of the highly influential Nawab Ahmad Bakhsh Khan of Firozepur-Jhirka and Loharu.

Nasrullah Khan’s accidental death in 1806 deprived Ghalib once again of paternal mentoring. The British took back the land and conferred a pension of 10,000 rupees, to be shared among the dependents of Nasrullah Beg from Nawab Ahmad Bakhsh Khan’s estate. The latter reduced the pension to 5,000, of which he gave half to another dependent. Ghalib and his brother’s share came to Rs 1,500 per annum.

Ghalib moved to Delhi permanently after his marriage to Umrao Begum, the daughter of Nawab Ilahi Bakhsh Ma’ruf. The latter was the younger brother of Nawab Ahmad Bakhsh Khan. Ma’ruf was a poet with leanings towards mysticism. Unfortunately for Ghalib, his father-in-law’s unworldliness left him in the uncomfortable state of having in Nawab Ahmad Khan a powerful wealthy relative who deprived Ghalib of his rightful share of his uncle’s pension. Ghalib’s move to Delhi occurred sometime between 1813-16. It is said that he never owned a house in Delhi and always lived in rented places — the last was in Ballimaran, rented from Hakeem Mahmud.

Thus, though Ghalib and Momin were contemporaries who shared a literary milieu, yet we cannot assume that their lived experiences of Delhi were similar. How different was Momin’s Delhi from Ghalib’s Delhi? My aim is to examine Momin’s Delhi through the network of his profession as a hakeem and also his affiliation with the mujahideen of Ahmad Barelvi.

What was the status of hakeems in Delhi’s society? To what extent did they represent the literate elite of society? What were the institutions of learning? What was the equation between the secular and the sacred?

My initial research shows that hakeems were among society’s elite. The Unani system of medicine travelled first to southern India via trade relations with Arabs. Here, it was infused with the Ayurvedic practice of medicine. However, the influx of hakeems from Persia in notable numbers occurred during Mughal rule, along with poets and artists. Hakeems enjoyed the patronage of the royalty and the nobility, as did poets. But the nature of their profession brought them closer to the seat of power. Medical practice of the Unani style necessitated at least some knowledge of Arabic. Reform movements of the Wahabi style advocated a return to the scriptures and doctrinal texts in Arabic.

In Momin, I found a scholar of Arabic, Persian and Urdu with a strong leaning towards classical arts. He composed ghazals that featured direct engagement with emotions; he did not shy from expressing love in its physicality in his masnavis. Momin’s persona was romantic — his flamboyant style of dress, long, curly hair falling on his shoulders, and smouldering eyes caught the fancy of tazkirah writers.

Ghalib, in spite of the fame he acquired in his lifetime, and more so afterwards, is more of a tragic figure. He suffered injustices — the unfair allocation of pension, the death of his infant children, his brother Yusuf’s madness and death, the humiliation of being jailed for gambling, most likely embittered him.

[To be continued]

The columnist is professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia in the US. X: @FarooqiMehr

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, August 17th, 2025