“DESPOTIC, feudal and semi-industrial societies do not tolerate philosophy or social sciences because these subjects nurture historical and political consciousness as well as critical thinking, something unacceptable to the state that intends to maintain the status quo and ensure the dominance of a specific ideology,” writes M Khalid Fayyaaz.

Elaborating his idea, Fayyaaz says “Critical thinking can expose the exploitative and despotic powers, laying bare the shallowness of their thinking. This can also give awareness of basic human rights to people, which is like poison to dictatorial atmosphere”. To avoid this, the youth from lower and lower-middle classes are kept from critical thinking, they are deprived of getting education in philosophical and social sciences, such as, history, political science, sociology, psychology and anthropology, adds Fayyaaz.

Fayyaaz appreciates the tradition of translating scholarly and philosophic works into Urdu but is wary of lack of standardised technical terms in Urdu. One of the debates in translation studies is whether to use the English terms in Urdu translations as they occur in the original English text or translate them into Urdu, says Fayyaaz. He cites certain examples of both the cases from some invaluable and unforgettable Urdu translations, such as: Immanuel Kant’s The Critique of Pure Reason, or Tanqeed-i-Aql-i-Mehz, by Dr Abid Husain; Plato’s The Republic, or Riyaasat, by Dr Zakir Husain; Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy, or Falsafa-i-Maghrib Ki Tareekh, by Prof Muhammad Basheer; James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough, or Shaakh-i-Zarreen, by Syed Zakir Ejaz and Fredrick Hegel’s The Philosophy of History, or Falsafa-i-Tareekh, jointly translated by Naseem Ahmed and Iqbal Afaqi. These translators have mostly refrained from giving in brackets the terms used in English and have given their Urdu equivalents, often coining technical and philosophical terms on their own. This has created an occasional confusion as in certain cases the equivalents of philosophical terms coined or used in Urdu are not mutually agreed upon and may be translated in different ways by some other translators, says Fayyaaz. But he is all praise for the abridged Urdu translation of Arnold Toynbee’s The Study of History, or Mutal’a-i-Tareekh, by Ghulam Rasool Mehr as Mehr has taken great pains to write detailed footnotes to explain the historical examples and allusions used in the text, compensating for not giving the English terms.

While naming some other remarkable Urdu translations of great books, for instance, Karl Marx’s Das Kapital by Syed Muhammad Taqi, what Fayyaaz wants to convey is the fact that translating literary texts is quite different from translating scientific or philosophic works as literature deals with feelings and emotions, but scientific and philosophic texts discuss ideas and ideologies, inevitably using certain technical terminology. Fayyaaz’s article, titled ‘Urdu Mein Falsafa Aur Samaaji Uloom Ke Tarajim’, or translations of philosophy and social sciences in Urdu, is included in the latest issue of Zeest — a literary Urdu magazine published from Karachi — under the editorship of Dr Ansaar Sheikh, who teaches Urdu at the University of Karachi.

This issue of Zeest, numbered 22, offers some other pieces of translated prose, too. For example, Urdu translation of celebrated Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s interview in the issue tells some interesting facts about Murakami’s life, works, his work style and the backdrop against which his writings are created. Najmuddin Ahmed has translated the interview into Urdu from English. Norwegian author John Fosse won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023. Urdu translation of Fosse’s novella, Aliss at the Fire, is included in this issue of Zeest. Mubashshir Ahmed Mir has rendered it into Urdu from English and it is titled Aliss Aag Ke Saamne. Translations of short fiction from Sindhi, Hindi and Chinese, too, have made it to the issue making it a special one.

Another magazine presenting translations is Pakistani Literature. Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL), Islamabad, has been publishing this English language journal since 1992. But its appearance has often been patchy. Its latest issue, numbered 30, has been brought out after a lapse of a couple of years, though the contents somehow compensate for the tardiness.

Edited by Asma Mansoor, the issue proffers some translations of short fiction and poetry into English from Pakistani languages, such as, Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi, Brahui, Pashtu, Hindko, Saraiki and Urdu. One hopes that under the able guidance of Dr Najeeba Arif, PAL’s energetic chairperson, the publication would come out regularly as translating Pakistani literature into other languages, especially English, is one of the main objectives of the PAL, notwithstanding the fact that the flow of funds to the literary bodies like the PAL has been obstructed badly and PAL also suffers from an acute shortage of staff.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2025