“Culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world”, said Matthew Arnold in the preface to 'Culture and Anarchy'.
Dictionary says that culture is the manifestation of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively and that the 'human intellectual achievement' includes the customs, ideas and social behaviour of a particular group. Since literature reflects the cultural background peculiar to the society in which it has been created, to understand the literature in its true perspective it is imperative to comprehend its cultural background.
The question of Urdu literature's cultural background is not new. Much has been written on it but most of it concerns the classical period of Urdu literature. Dr Muhammad Hasan's book 'Delhi mein Urdu shaeri ka tehzeebi aur fikri pas manzar', for instance, gives a detailed historical account of Delhi's cultural milieu and the impact that it left on Urdu poetry. What we needed was exploring the cultural backdrop against which Urdu literature was created in the early era of the newly created country. There have been some sporadic efforts and the study of political and social stimuli that has affected our thought process and its reflection in our literature has been the topic of interest to many a scholar. But what is needed now is a full-scale study of such background and its impact on our literature. The cultural background of Urdu poetry written after the independence has been discussed in many dissertations but the need for a detailed study of Urdu prose's impetus is often felt.
Therefore, when Dr Farman Fatehpuri announced that the keynote address of Allama Niaz Fatehpuri Memorial Lecture this year would be on the topic of 'The cultural background of Urdu literature in Pakistan', many felt that it was much needed. The lecture organised by Halqa-i-Niaz-o-Nigar has been a prominent feature of Karachi's cultural and literary life for the last 26 years and every year literary grandees from all over Pakistan, sometimes even from abroad, attend the lecture. It is one of the much-talked about literary gatherings of the city and the attendance is almost always remarkably high.
The lecture was delayed by a couple of months this time round and was held last week but the deliberations were all the same enlightening and thought-provoking. However, the keynote address, delivered by Prof Dr Syed Javed Iqbal, Chairman of the Sindh University's Urdu department, left much desired as he chose not to read out the full text of his paper and only an abstracted form was presented before an audience who included many luminaries. The paper seemed to be very informative and Dr Javed Iqbal emphasised the innate metaphysical and Sufi disposition of Urdu literature and felt that the tradition has continued and has left its impact on the Urdu literature created after 1947 in Pakistan. He later informed this writer that his source material and notes would cover almost a book-length research paper and due to paucity of time he decided to present only a sample of the paper which is due to be published in full form soon.
Prof Sahar Ansari succinctly reviewed the life and literary services of Allama Niaz Fatehpuri, giving a background and the objective of the lecture, reminded the audience that it was in the same enlightening spirit of the renowned scholar that these lectures were organised.
The inauguration of the latest and special issue of Nigar, dubbed 'Quaid-i-Azam' Number', also coincided with the lecture. Introducing the special issue, Prof Dr Zafar Iqbal, Chairman of the Karachi University's Urdu department, stressed that certain burning questions were staring Pakistani nation in the eye.
He said that Nigar's special issue included some very vital articles discussing answers to those questions. In his address, Jameeluddin Aali was all praise for Farman Fatehpuri for his life-long commitment and services to Urdu literature.
Prof Dr Peerzada Qasim, Vice-Chancellor of Karachi University, paid tributes to Niaz Fatehpuri, Farman Fatehpuri and Nigar, and stressed the need for a deep study of the impact that Niaz and Nigar have had on our cultural and literary milieu. He offered every possible help from the University of Karachi for the continuation of the tradition of enlightenment that Nigar and Niaz Memorial Lecture had come to epitomise.
— drraufparekh@yahoo.com