KARACHI, July 22 Scholars appreciated the quality of research work while speaking on Thursday at the launch of a book titled Pakistan kay naat-go shuara, compiled by Syed Mohammad Qasim.

The ceremony was organised by the press and publications committee of the Arts Council on the council's premises. Dr Hilal Naqvi presided over the programme while Sindh Auqaf Minister Abdul Haseeb was the chief guest.

The programme began with poet Syed Iqbal's rendition of hamd-o-naat.

Writer Rizwan Siddiqui said Syed Mohammad Qasim had undertaken a mammoth task of researching and compiling the Naats (poems in praise of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]) of writers of Pakistan, and even 100 years from now researchers would benefit from it.

Prof Ali Haider Malik highlighted two vital points in the book naat and tazkiray (life sketches of poets).

He said the Holy Prophet was praised by God Himself, so those who wrote naats showed their love, affection and devotion to the Prophet. He then talked about the detailed tazkiray of all those poets whose naats were in the book and commended Syed Mohammad Qasim for undertaking the painstaking research. He said not only the names and dates of birth and death of the poets were mentioned in the compilation, but each poet's background, and even the village or district he was born in was mentioned. He said Syed Mohammad Qasim was a reclusive individual who didn't know the world of PR, so the launch of the third edition of the book had become necessary because no fewer than 500 poets' work and lives were discussed by him in his books.

He lauded the efforts of Hasan Imam Siddiqui, the chairman of the press and publications committee, for making the event possible.

He said probably many people didn't understand the importance of Pakistan kay naat-go shuara, but with the passage of time they'd acknowledge its worth.

He lamented that in our country individuals (Jamil Jalibi, Hilal Naqvi and Syed Mohammad Qasim) often performed the task that's supposed to be the institutions' duty.

Syed Mohammad Qasim thanked all those who helped organise the book launch.

Fatima Surayya Bajia reminisced about the time when in the '70s she was asked to write a milad for PTV. She said initially she found it difficult to do so, but then she started hearing the recitation of durood shareef which made her write the milad. She said Syed Mohammad Qasim's effort was a way of expressing his extreme love for God and the prophet.

Provincial Minister Abdul Haseeb said Syed Mohammad Qasim had performed a difficult task and his success lay in the fact that he'd done so with sincerity of intention and passion.

Dr Hilal Naqvi's paper was a scholarly one.

He began by touching on the essential requirements for research, dubbing it an extremely arduous and profound responsibility. He said religious literature, like religion itself, was analysed with a narrow-minded approach. He said this wasn't the case with literary giants such as Shibili Naumani and Mir Anees who didn't belong to the same sect but if Shibili hadn't unravelled the finer points of Anees's poetry, things wouldn't have been different.

He said people were usually familiar with poets and critics, but not with researchers. Researchers' job was difficult because unlike poets they're accountable to the readers.

Dr Naqvi claimed that in the realm of literature, researchers were the most mendacious lot. He said while perusing a researcher's effort, it was important to consider what approach to life he had.

He appreciated the way with which Syed Mohammad Qasim had done the hard work of compiling the works of so many naat poets. He said he had never met Mr Qasim before the book launch, but it seemed he's a reclusive and taciturn kind of a person, traits which were essential for research work.

The programme was conducted by Shoaib Nasir.