KARACHI, Aug 16: Literary scholars and critics on Friday paid tribute to Maulvi Abdul Haq’s commitment to the Urdu language.
At an Anjuman-i-Taraqi Urdu Pakistan function marking the 41st death anniversary of Maulvi Abdul Haq, honorary secretary Jamiluddin Aali deplored the fact that despite his remarkable achievements, the government had been extremely ill disposed towards Maulvi Abdul Haq, who had taken upon himself the daunting task of making Urdu the official language of Pakistan.
“Even when Maulvi Abdul Haq had been declared Baba-i-Urdu in recognition of his services to the Urdu language, officials of the prime minister’s secretariat used to berate Maulvi Abdul Haq and tease him in many ways. The government subsequently took many measures to upstage Maulvi Abdul Haq,” he recalled.
Poet Himayat Ali Shair recalled an Urdu College mushaira, at which his poems had been well received by the audience, somebody announced that Himayat was unable to take the intermediate exams because he did not have the money to pay the fees. “Hafeez Jallundhri, who presided over the mushaira, announced that he would pay my fees, but I walked out, saying that I had taken a dim view of the manner (in which) my destitution had been advertised. Afterwards Maulvi Abdul Haq quietly paid my fees and got me to take the exams.”
Noted critic Farman Fatehpuri said that among his contemporaries, who were all literary stalwarts in their own right, Maulvi Abdul Haq stood out. “I am not talking about literary pygmies. I am talking about people like Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauher, Hasrat Mohani, Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Syed Sulaiman Nadwi, Rasheed Ahmed Siddiqui and others.”
Mr Fatehpuri said that Maulvi Abdul Haq had compiled manuscripts of various old poets “without which no complete history of Urdu literature could be written.”
Dr Farman Fatehpuri said that Maulvi Abdul Haq was fully conversant with the principles of English grammar which he applied to Urdu grammar. “Maulvi Abdul Haq’s book on Urdu grammar, titled Qwaid-i-Urdu, is very simple and easy to understand. The first edition of the book came out in 1914,” he added.
He recalled that Maulvi Abdul Haq had written prefaces to various monumental classic works, bringing to light their praiseworthy points. “Maulvi Abdul Haq wrote a preface to Bagh-o-Bahar as well.”
Dr Mumtaz Ahmed Khan deplored the fact that Urdu was fast losing its significance to the English language. “Various TV channels are promoting a language which is an unhappy mixture of Urdu and English.”
Raees Fatima and Aftab Ahmed Khan also spoke on the occasion.