PROF Habibullah Khan Ghazanfar was among those multi-faceted diamonds that were not so rare during the first half of the last century, but are now hard to come by. A polymath, Prof Ghazanfar was a critic, researcher, poet, translator, linguist, prosodist, academic, and had an amazing command over many branches of knowledge, not to mention the religious disciplines he studied as a student of Dars-i-Nizami. His three master’s degrees in Urdu, Arabic and Persian, and knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindi that he gained from Hindu pandits, gave him a unique perspective on the literatures of these languages as well as a keen eye for etymological roots of words borrowed by Urdu from these languages.

Taking advantage of several languages he knew — including Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and English — Prof Ghazanfar translated many significant works into Urdu and English. His translations include some religious and historical texts translated directly from Arabic into English or Urdu. He lent a helping hand to Pakistan Historical Society in pre-publication reviews of several translations that were rendered into Urdu or English by different scholars at the society’s request. Some Urdu and Persian poets have versified some puzzles and riddles and this genre is called mu’ammaat, or enigmas. Prof Ghazanfar decoded all the enigmatic verses in poetry of Mirza Sauda and Abdur Rahman Jami.

According to Dr Aslam Farrukhi, Prof Ghazanfar first taught at different schools in British India and then, a couple of years before creation of Pakistan, he came to Karachi and joined Sindh Muslim College. Later on, he taught at Karachi’s Islamia College and then Urdu College. Prof Ghazanfar had ghostwritten many works, especially translations of books on history. Others took full credit for those works, paying him a pittance, wrote Aslam Farrukhi. Prof Ghazanfar’s books include Zaban-o-Adab, Urdu Ka Arooz and Hindi Adab. Born in Amroha, UP, on July 26, 1902, Prof Habibullah Khan Ghazanfar died in Karachi on Feb 15, 1973.

Prof Ghazanfar did not take his own poetry seriously. So he rarely bothered to get his verses published, though sometimes he would randomly note them in a bayaaz (notebook). Recently Prof Saeed Hasan Qadri found a handwritten bayaaz in his father Ayoob Qadri’s collection. It was bayaaz of Prof Ghazanfar’s poetry. Titled Bayaaz-i-Ghazanfar and compiled by Saeed Qadri, it has now been published from Karachi. In his intro, Saeed Qadri has described Prof Ghazanfar’s life and his works. While reading the book, I wished that proofreaders had taken their job more seriously.

Prof Ghazanfar belonged to an era that has long gone by and Prof Sahar Ansari is, perhaps, the new version of those rare gems that belonged to the past. Though Prof Sahar Ansari belongs to the present era, he is uniquely positioned to have experienced both the eras as he has met the personalities of the years yonder and himself is a literary personality, with his literary and academic career spanning over seven decades. Born on Dec 27, 1941, in Aurangabad (Deccan), Sahar Ansari migrated to Pakistan in 1950. He is a veteran poet, critic and academic. Few know that he is also a painter. Having three master’s degrees, in Urdu, English and Linguistics, he served Balochistan University and Karachi University for decades. He has served several literary and academic bodies, notably Idara-i-Yadgar-i-Ghalib, Urdu Dictionary Board, Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu and Arts Council of Pakistan.

Prof Ansari has penned hundreds of essays and research articles but most of them are buried in the files of literary periodicals. Prof Ansari, just like Prof Ghazanfar, rarely bothered to keep a record of his works. So, Muhammad Sabir, an academic and researcher from Karachi, decided to collect and compile them. Sabir dug up many articles, selected 20 and put them in a book form with annotations. Titled Nigaarishaat-i-Sahar and subtitled Mazaameen-i-Professor Sahar Ansari, the book has been published by Delhi’s Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu.

The book has a style and aura that Prof Ansari is known for: erudite, thorough and conscientious. His vast and profound reading is evident from every page of the book. Five of the articles in the book are on Moulvi Abdul Haq and paint a vivid picture of the legendary scholar. Some articles on his contemporaries, such as, Shanul Haq Haqqee, Josh Maleehabadi and Ghulam Abbas, whom he had rubbed shoulders with, definitely call for Sahar Sahib’s memoirs. As he has met many luminaries and has been an eyewitness to different eras of Pakistan’s literary and cultural history, one is sure his memoirs would make an absorbing read.

One wishes that some Pakistani publisher may consider publishing the book as finding Indian publications now in Pakistan is as likely as a snowstorm in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2026