SAMUEL Huntington, the famous American political scientist, had predicted that world’s future conflicts would be based on cultural and religious identities.

Though Huntington had written about his theory of clash of civilisations in the early and mid-1990s, it is said that before him several writers and intellectuals had expressed similar views. And it is claimed that the basic idea of Huntington’s famous book and even the phrase “clash of civilisations” were taken from a 1926 book, which in turn was derived from the phrase “clash of cultures”, already popular in colonial times.

But a poet of Urdu, known primarily for his witty and satirical poetry, had expressed his views on the clash of civilisations — already based on cultural and religious identities — as early as the late 19th century. The poet, one of the earliest in modern Urdu literature to have used humour and satire as a weapon in the cultural conflict, was none other than Akber Allahabadi.

Though Akber did not use the phrase “clash of civilisations”, a huge chunk of his Urdu poetry deliberates on the idea of how the rising British influence was undermining the local culture, religious traditions and moral values and how detrimental this subjugation was for Muslims who had ruled India for about a thousand years. His apparently funny poetry bemoans the deteriorating norms that the traditionalist society of Indo-Pak subcontinent had cherished for centuries. A civil servant in British India, Akber could not openly criticise the government’s policies and growing British influence on local culture, but he very subtly used some symbols for satirising what he perceived as deviation from the value system that was so dear to him.

Akber thought that the new British ways were colliding with our traditional values and this cultural conflict was funny and tragic at the same time. The symbols that Akber wittily used in his poetry to portray the cultural conflict are: miss (British girl in India), mosque (traditional Islam), sheikh (orthodox Muslim), Brahman (orthodox Hindu), ‘syed’ (local Muslim co-operating with the British, like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan), cow (sacred to Hindus), camel (with a symbolic value for Muslims, pointing to their Middle-Eastern roots), ma’am (the British lady, modern and domineering), ‘gora’ (white man, the ruler), kala (native Indian, the ruled), school or college (modern western education), railways (modern scientific inventions), council (the British political system replacing Muslim rulers). One can understand at a glance with the help of these symbols the nature of the conflict. It is clearly religious, moral, racial and political.

Some critics would love to have us believe that Akber was against modern education and scientific inventions. In fact, what he criticised most was blindly following the West in matters related to culture and religion. Aping the western standards, especially in religion and mores, was ridiculous to him. He himself had acquired western education and rose to the post of a judge in the very British Indian government. He had sent his son, Ishrat, to England for higher education.

Akber is normally perceived as an adversary to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his Aligarh Movement. The reality is Akber had quite friendly personal relationship with Sir Syed. But he thought that just following the western education system, which is based on worldly knowledge alone and which prepares the students for seeking a job and material progress, was not enough. Blindly following the West not only reeks of a deep sense of inferiority but it would also deprive the Muslims of their identity, integrity and spirituality, he thought. He had realised quite early that the conflict between the British, an occupying foreign power, and the local Indians, both Hindus and Muslims, was in essence the conflict of interests. He simply refused to believe, unlike Sir Syed, that the interests of the British and the interests of native Indians could go hand in hand. It was a reality that dawned on many quite late.

Akber Allahabadi was born in 1845 in Bara, a small town near Allahabad. He had to struggle to continue his education because of poverty. But determined to fight his way, he learned English as well as Persian and Arabic, passed judicial exams, became a lawyer and finally was made a judge. When Oudh Punch, a humour magazine from Lucknow, was launched in 1877, Akber joined its team of humorists who had a distinct political, moral and religious stance, just as its editor Munshi Sajjad Hussain did. From here Akber’s poetry took a new turn and he began writing humorous verses as well as traditional love poetry.

Though some online sources mention a different and incorrect date, according to reliable sources Akber Allahabadi died in Allahabad on Sept 9, 1921.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2018