Of Gujarat, Wali Dakani and Qazi Ahmed Mian Akhter Junagarhi
When Naseerudin Hashmi wrote Dakan main Urdu and tried to prove that Deccan was the birth place of the language, it generated a good many scholarly responses and a flurry of books and research papers tried to prove that Urdu was not born in Deccan but in Punjab, or Delhi, or Haryana, or Meruth, or Sindh. Not to be left behind, scholars from other areas of the sub-continent such as Mysore, Bengal, Bhopal, Bihar, Nagpur and even Bombay, presented many literary pieces after sifting through the ancient manuscripts that were, in their opinion, the oldest available samples of written Urdu.
Gujari or Gujarvi was among the myriad names that were given to Urdu, the others being Hindi, Hindvi, Hindustani, Khari Boli, Dehlvi, Dakkhani, Rekhta, Urdu-i-Moalla and, of all the titles under the sun, Moors. Prof Dr Moinuddin Aqeel has beautifully summed up the plethora of theories in his new book, Urdu tehqeeq: Soorat-e-haal aur taqaze, published by the National Language Authority, Islamabad. What I want to emphasise here is that the contribution of Gujarat in shaping the Urdu language and Urdu literature was comparatively understated and underestimated, though Wali Dakani, the father of Urdu poetry, belonged to Gujarat. The notion that Urdu may have originated in Gujarat is quite plausible as Gujarat was one of the regions of India that first came under Perso-Arabic influence.
It was Qazi Ahmed Mian Akhter Junagarhi who wrote a series of scholarly articles to prove that Wali Dakani was in fact Wali Gujarati and that the word ‘dakhin’ or ‘dakan’ or Deccan meant the south, as opposed to ‘uttara’ or ‘uttar’, or the north. Qazi Sahib also proved that back then the area of Gujarat was considered a part of Deccan as it, too, was in the south and its history and geography were interlinked with Deccan. Arab geographers and the rulers of Delhi referred to Gujarat as Deccan or a part of Deccan. Qazi Sahib established that Wali was a citizen of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and not Aurangabad, Deccan. Interestingly, he mentions in one of his articles that until the early 20th century, the letters sent to Ahmedabad were addressed “Ahmedabad, Deccan”.
In other scholarly writings, Qazi Sahib proved that poets from Gujarat were composing poetry in Old Urdu, known as Gujari, as early as after the eighth century Hijri. After that, however, they migrated to Deccan because of the fall of the dynasty and there is no trace of Urdu poetry written by Gujarati poets of the later era. This, according to Qazi Sahib, is one of the reasons why a great number of words, phrases and idioms of the Gujari language assimilated into the Dakani language and it misled many scholars into mistaking Gujari for Dakani.
He was born into an aristocratic family of Junagarh (Kathiawar) in 1897. Having migrated from Thatta, Sindh, centuries ago, his ancestors had settled in what was then known as Surashtra and now forms a part of the Indian state of Gujarat. He was amongst the richest persons and big aristocrats in the princely state of Junagarh, in British India. Strangely enough, however, and quite uncharacteristically of the landlords, Qazi Sahib was at the same time an author, a poet, a researcher and a scholar of Islamic history and Islamic culture. He knew many languages including English, French, German, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati; spoke Persian and Arabic fluently and penned many books and articles in Urdu, Gujarati, Persian and English. He is also credited with writing Urdu’s first sonnet.
He was very close to the Prince of the Junagarh state and the prince often confided to him many state affairs and took his advice. Though he remained busy with the running of his own vast tracts of lands and took active part in Muslim politics, leading local chapters of political bodies such as the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, it did not prevent him from reading, writing and collecting books. His personal library boasted thousands of books in many languages.
Gujarati was the language of his birth place but Urdu had become the mother tongue of Qazi Sahib’s ancestors as Gujarat had for centuries been a place where Urdu took shape and flourished, and where many classical literary pieces of Urdu were created. He showed an early interest in literature and having read the classics and well-known Urdu literary magazines such as ‘Makhzan’, ‘An-Nazir’, and ‘Muaarif’, Qazi Sahib began contributing to these journals and then launched his own literary magazine ‘Shahab’ from Junagarh in 1933.
Qazi Sahib was the vice president of Kathiawar Jamiat-i-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, a political organisation akin to the Muslim League. When the Quaid-i-Azam visited Junagarh to raise funds for the Muslim League, Qazi Sahib – as the Mayor of Junagarh – welcomed him and presented him with a welcome address. After the proclamation of independence, the princely states were given the right to choose their annexation to either of the two newly-created countries. In a meeting held at Qazi Sahib’s residence in Junagarh, attended amongst others by Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s father and ‘divan’ or minister of the state of Junagarh, it was decided unanimously that the state of Junagarh was to annexe with Pakistan. The government of India did not accept this accession and Junagarh was surrounded by Indian troops. Given his status as a prominent Muslim leader who played a vital role in the annexation decision, orders were issued for the arrest of Qazi Akhter Junagarhi and he was left with no choice but to seek safety and security for his family and himself.
In those days, in addition to Goa there were two other areas on the south-west coasts of India administered by the Portuguese government: Damman and Diu. The latter was an island very close to the shores of Junagarh. Qazi Sahib was given political asylum, along with his family, by the Portuguese administrator of the island of Diu. It was after about a year and a half that his friend I. I. Chundrigar, who would later hold important posts in the Pakistan government including that of prime minister, albeit for a few weeks, arranged Qazi Sahib’s passage to Karachi on a teetering motorboat.
In Karachi, he went through some very bad patches but never complained. Only once did he remark, “Those who watched my eyebrows once, now do not look me in the eye.” Realising his calibre, Baba-i-Urdu Moulvi Abdul Haq asked Qazi Sahib to join the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, where he proved his worth by running the Anjuman quite efficiently. He had to edit four magazines each month, in addition to performing managerial and administrative duties. Yet slowly but surely, life limped back to normality for him and he resumed his scholarly pursuits. In 1953, Hyderabad’s Sindh University offered him the post of Professor and Chairman of Islamic History which he accepted, although Baba-i-Urdu accepted his resignation from Anjuman with great pain and reluctance.
Qazi Akhter Junagarhi’s books include, amongst others, Maqalat-e-Akhter, Mazaameen-e-Akhter Junagarhi, Zar-e-Gul, Islam ka asar Europe par, Islami kutub khane, Iqbaliyaat ka tanqeedi jaeza, Hayat-e-Nizami Ganjvi, Sir Syed ka ilmi karnama and Si para-e-dil. He translated several well-known works from English and Arabic, while Studies in Islamic and oriental is his original work written in English.
Qazi Ahmed Mian Akhter Junagarhi died in Hyderabad, Sindh, on August 6, 1955. He was buried in Karachi.
drraufparekh@yahoo.com
Foreign Office pusillanimity baffles many
Getting an opportunity to cover high profile events like the recently concluded 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit is always helpful in witnessing the summits first hand, the negotiations, understanding the intricacies of diplomacy, the crystallisation of issues and understanding the positions of influential countries, but at times it also exposes one to the hard realities that could otherwise be incomprehensible.
I too had somewhat similar experience, when in Colombo, I probably found answer to the often-heard issue of Indian dominance in the media particularly the Western. More than the West’s inclination towards India, it is the dynamism of the Indian lobbyists that provides them better standing in public opinion as opposed to the meekness of Pakistan’s media managers and diplomats.
The pusillanimity of the Foreign Office in responding to the allegations levelled by India and Afghanistan during the course of the Colombo Summit left many baffled not only among the public but also in the government circles.
Although, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in his statement on arrival back home boasted of having achieved major success at the summit by easing tensions with India and Afghanistan, it was very much clear that this ‘success’ had more to do with the international pressure than the adroitness of the army of diplomats accompanying him. The Pakistan delegation as a whole struggled with the public relations game at the summit as Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made rings around the Pakistanis by merrily providing juicy morsels to the media and making India dominate the headlines.
Indian foreign secretary held two formal media briefings in addition to media interaction by other Indian officials.
Surprisingly, there was no one from the Foreign Office contingent who could breast the tide of Indian propaganda.
Because of this mismanagement, Indians succeeded as puppet-master with the media.
However, the Pakistani diplomats cannot be alone blamed for such unresponsiveness; Prime Minister Gilani himself did no better. When President Karzai lashed out at Pakistan saying terrorism and terrorist sanctuaries were strengthening their grip on Pakistan. Additionally alluding to allegations against ISI of fomenting unrest in Afghanistan, the Afghan president had said terrorism was drawing ‘institutional support’.
Mr Gilani, who spoke after Mr Karzai, did not even make the slightest of the efforts to put up Pakistan’s defence case before the international audience.
Later the same evening when Mr Gilani called on Mr Manmohan Singh, Pakistan side again did not bother to give detailed briefing to the journalists. It was then left for the journalists to get hold of Mr Gilani by themselves and seek details of the meeting. But, once again the unimposing prime minister missed yet another opportunity of presenting Pakistan’s case and felt content by just telling them that he had come to build bridges and that he would meet Afghan president.
As expected, the Indians spilled the beans at a subsequent press conference by the foreign secretary and that was what made the headlines.
This rang up alarms in Islamabad and the government’s media gurus called up one of the aides of the prime minister asking the Pakistan camp to launch counter propaganda and to reveal to the media Pakistan’s reservations concerning India.
But, to utter surprise of those in Islamabad, a message was communicated on behalf of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that whatsoever was happening should be left alone. The media managers back home were told to promote a statement made at the inaugural session for making South Asia a major granary of the world, knowing well the entire focus was on what transpired at the meeting between the two leaders.
As if it was not left only to Afghanistan and India to do Pakistan bashing, US Under-Secretary of State Richard Boucher also contributed his share through an indirect hit at Pakistan’s intelligence agencies as he said US hoped that Pakistan had good intelligence services that worked single-mindedly and in close step with other institutions. Many interpreted his remarks as having pointed out those intelligence outfits of Pakistan were pursuing an agenda different to that of the government.
Probably, the Foreign Office needs to understand the importance of proactively projecting country’s position on different issues rather than keeping to itself. It needs to learn the strategy of turning tables on cheeky opponents like India and Afghanistan by propaganda war.
Many in PM’s camp defended the docile approach in Colombo as a diplomatic strategy and hoped dividends to come their way.
In the midst of all these intense diplomatic engagements on which the future of this region greatly depended, Prime Minister Gilani made sure that he found enough time to greet his Sri Lankan teacher Brother Emanuel, who had taught him Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in Lasaal Missionary High School, Multan, back in 1966-68.
The teacher had come to know of his former student’s presence in Colombo after seeing his pictures in newspapers and reading about him. He then contacted Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir through the Pakistan High Commission. When Mr Gilani learnt about his teacher’s desire to see him, he ordered a car to pick him knowing his old teacher may face difficulties in reaching him in the high security zone.
The emotional reunion between the student and the 79-year-old teacher after four decades saw them hugging and recalling their memories.
The prime minister humbly told his teacher that he had been greatly inspired by him to go for lofty goals in the life.
Brother Emanuel, who holds doctorate in learning and development from Columbia University NY, offered his student some ‘valuable advice’ and prayed for his success in his role of leadership of his nation.
The prime minister gave some gifts to his teacher as a token of his respect and reverence and invited him to visit Pakistan.
Now that the Saarc summit has finally ended the residents of Colombo have a heaved a huge sigh of relief because they would be able to enjoy greater freedom now to move about in their own city, which had come to a standstill with the climax of the two day event.
Over 19,000 police and security personnel had been deployed to protect some 400 delegates that had converged on the city for the summit.
The city adorned with beautiful buntings, flags and welcome banners gave a quite look with only permitted vehicles and people allowed to enter the high security zones of the city. Traffic along other routes in the city also remained restricted to facilitate VIP movements. Train services in the city had remained suspended in the city.
Because of the strict security not only did lesser people turn up for work, but the business of cinema houses and eateries also suffered because of fewer clients.
A diplomat in Pakistani delegation surprised by the deserted look of the dead city commented to his colleague that Colombo appears to be plaque stricken city with not a single soul in sight.