(Dr) Maulana Mohammad Farman Nadvi is a professor of language and literature at the University of Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow. Hailing from the neighboring country Nepal, he is an alumnus of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema. An expert in the language of Islam and Quran – Arabic and the language of Islamic history and heritage in the subcontinent – Urdu, he is engaged in traditional scholarship and authored and translated a number of books. The prestigious responsibilities of the Islamic seminary Nadva, for instance, the Deputy Imam and Khatib of Jama Masjid within the campus of the university have been assigned to him. Since we at MOI (www.muslimsofindia.com) are concerned to bring the works of Nadvi Fraternity to masses, some words on the works of Maulana Farman Nadvi are as per below:

“Babul Marasi min Diwanil Hamasa”

To understand the holy Book of Islam, having a sound knowledge of Arabic Language and Literature particularly ancient texts is paramount. Realizing this reality, Ml Farman Nadvi worked on a valuable book “Babul Marasi min Diwanil Hamasah”. Hamasah is a famous anthology of Arabic Poetry by Abu Tammam probably compiled around AD 835, while the complier was staying at Hamadan. 

19^th Century. Although there are a number of books on a literary genre Hamasah, the anthology of Abu Tammam is widely appreciated and adopted in the curricula of Arabic language. Kitab al-Hamasah is divided into ten books and the second book deals with Marasi “Elegies” and the book of Maulana Farman Nepali deals with this very book of Kitab al-Hamasah. The anthology contains a total of 884 poems, most of which are short extracts of longer poems, grouped by subject matter. The selections date back to pre-Islamic, Islamic and early ‘Abbasid times. It has the status of a classic work.

Allama Shibli Nomani: A Pioneer of Renaissance of Modern Education

This book has been translated from Urdu into Arabic

Anthology of Poetry for Memorizing and Reciting

This book is an anthology of Arabic Poetry, which has been published under the supervision of Ml Farman Nadvi

Arabian Peninsula

Jaziratul Arab has been written by the rector of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Hazrat Maulana Rabe Hasani Nadvi on the geography of Arabia and it is the part of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulaman, whic has been rendered into Arabic by Ml Farman Nadvi.

Efforts to Reform Belief ….

This is the translation of the book written by Hazrat Maulana Rabe Hasani Nadvi into Arabic.

Khutbat-e-Juma (Urdu)

Maulana (Dr) Farman Nadvi Nepali is the Deputy Imam and Khatib of Jama Masjid in the campus of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama. This is the Urdu version of his Khutba delivered on the occasion of Friday Prayers.

Mata-e-Fikro wa Fan

This book authored by Hazrat Maulana Dr Farman Nadvi Nepali is the collection of biographical sketches of the prominent personalities in Urdu.

Mufradataul Quran

The book of Allam Syed Suleman Nadvi “Alfaz-e-Quran” has been translated by Ml Farman Nadvi into the Arabic Language.

Nadwatul Ulama: Exclusive Methodology of Education and Training

This book in Urdu language deals with the salient features of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama.

Nurut Tafseer

This is the translation of and commentary on 23 small surah of the last chapter of the Holy Quran.

Al- Khutbatud Diniah al- Membariya

This book is the collection of Arabic Sermons delivered by the Deputy Imam and Khatib of Jama Masjid of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama on the occasion of the Friday Prayers.

Al-Hidaytul Quraniah …

This book written by Hazrat Maulana Rabe Hasani Nadvi in Urdu has been rendered by Maulana Mohammad Farman Nadvi into Arabic. This book deals with the Quranic guidance in reference to human salvation.

Taammulatun Fi Surah Shoara

This book is the commentary of Maualan Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi on Surah Shoara, which has been translated by Mohammad Farman Nadvi.

In addition to teaching, editing, authoring, translating books and delivering sermons on the occasion of Friday Prayers, Hazrat Dr Ml Farman Nepali Nadvi is also active in religious journalism, preaching and reforming the society. We pray for his long life and blessing in both the worlds this world and the world hereinafter.

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My name is Khalid Nadeem Budauni. My father was Abdul Majid Siddiqui. I was born in Mohalla Sahukara Gate, Budaun on 15^th June, 1958. I was brought up and nurtured by my grandfather Late Abdul Hadi Siddiqui and Phuphi Shamim Bano. My father was Head Constable of Police, so he resided outside due to his employment. I got my primary education in Madrasa Aaliya Qadriya, Budaun under guidance of my grandfather and Phuphi. Thereafter, I passed the Intermediate exam from Islamia Inter College, Budaun and completed Masters in Urdu from Rohilkhand University, Bareilly U.P. and got associated with the Department of Primary Education (Basic Education, U.P. Government) as a teacher after completing B.T.C. I met with my respected teacher Late Shafi Ahmad Khan ‘Payam Kakralvi’ in 1974 while I was studying in Islamia Inter College. I was fortunate enough to receive guidance in Urdu Poetry from Payam Sb. Dr Asad Budauni, Husain Ahmad Farid Chand Sheikhupuri and Khalid Budauni (Resident of Biri 92).

It was the age of nurturing literature and realm of poesy. There were prominent poets, in whose presence I recited poems frequently in poetry symposiums and I was blessed to acquaint myself with literary nuances and subtleties. I also launched an Urdu Magazine “Monthly Roshan”, which could last only for three years. However, my love for poetry pursuits continued advancing. I could avail the training of the respected Teacher only for four springs but my endeavors continue till date. To which extent I have succeeded, it may be judged by the men of letters.

I am eldest of six brothers. By the grace of God (AST) my mother is alive but my father passed away eighteen years back. My three brothers are settled with their businesses in Delhi. The names of my brother respectively are as follow: Mohammad Tariq, Mohammad Aleem, Mohammad Kaleem, Mohammad Yusuf and Mohammad Azeem.

I got married in 1980 to my cousin Ambar Jahan and blessed with five sons. All the Five sons Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Faizan and Mohammad Saud are settled in Mumbai with their businesses. All praise be to the Almighty Allah, my four sons have got married but one son is yet to be married. Unfortunately, I do not have any daughter.

That apart, I am serving language and literature as a servant of a literary organization “Fankaar Academy, Budaun”. My following books have been published or going to be published.

(1)    Muhsin-e-Kaunanin (Naat Collection),

(2)    Zad-e-Akhirat (Naat Collection),

(3)    Anware Karbala (Manaqib Collection),

(4)    Anwar-e-Sabir (Manaqib Collection),

(5)    Shan-e-Ala Hazrat (Manaqib Collection)

(6)    Anwar-e-Usaid (Manaqib Collection),

(7)    Fankar Academy Ke Tarhi Mushaire

(8)    Taqleed-e-Hassan (under publication),

(9)    Ghazal Collection (under preparation),

(10) Fankar Academy Ke Online Tarahi Mushaire

(11) Anwar-e-Saleheen (Under publication).

     Dr Siraj Ajmali, Naz Pratapgarhi, Afsar Amrohvi, Samar Budauni, Dr. Sohrab Kakralvi, Dr Ilyas Naved Gunnauri, Wasiq Pusganvi and a host of other literary personalities have expressed their impressions on my works. I have attended numerous poetry symposiums and gatherings (Mushaira). I have also participated in All India Mushaira of Bangaluru, Agra, Mumbai, Aligarh, Delhi, Varanasi, Lucknow and Bareilly. I am deeply associated with some of the contemporary poets, Riyaz Saghar, Hameed Gauhar, Jalil Nizami Hyderabad, Zahoor Zahirabadi, Alok Shrivastava, Sagar Tripathi, Alam Nizami, Shakir Husain Islahi, Ishrat Saghir Shahjahanpuri, Noor Kakralvi, Fahmi Budauni and others. (Khalid Nadeem)

I would like to share one of anecdotes pertaining to my journey into the realm of creativity and poesy. I was at the start of my initiation in the world of poesy in the poetic classes of my mentor and teacher. One stanza of Ghazal was the subject of composing other stanzas on this very pattern. The respected teacher asked me and Asad Budauni and Husain Faridi Chand to compose couplets on this pattern. The respected teacher was inhaling Hukkah and we were engaged in composing couplets on this pattern. I (Khalid Nadeem) succeeded in composing a couplet within three – four minutes and presented the same to the respected teacher. My other fellows also composed couplets but my stanzas were preferred and all other persons endorsed it. That lyric (ghazal) was given to a budding poet Zamirullah Budauni. The couplet to be imitated was:

My literary composition on this was:

The immediacy of the stanza puzzled even Dr Asad Budauni despite being one year senior to me. I was honored to attend my first poetry symposium in presence of my respected teacher. On the third day of the demise of Abr Ahsani Gunnauri, one All India Mushaira was convened, which was attended by more than 80 poets and this Mushaira lasted for two complete days. I (Khalid Nadeem) was on the eighteenth number of the list of the first day. My ghazal garnered immense success. Subsequently, I got opportunity to vent my feelings in poesy in the poetry symposiums at Moradabad and Rampur when invited. My poetry lineage reads as below:

• Shafi Ahmad Khan Payam Kakralvi
• Abr Ahsani Gunnauri
• Ahsan Marehravi
• Dagh Dehlavi

I belong to the eighteenth generation of my ancestors in view of settlement in Budaun. My great ancestor Hakeem Muhammad accompanied the father of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya when he migrated here from Mashhad-e-Muqaddas to preach Islam. The illuminating tomb of Hazrat Syed Ahmad Bukhari Mashhadi is still in existence at Sagar Taal, Mohalla Khera Nawada in Budaun, which is visited by masses.

At present, some poets of Budaun migrated from here and some others have passed away. There is dearth of poets in Budaun nowadays. Sadiq Alapuri, Samar Budauni, Ayyub Budauni, Dr. Shadab Zaki, Anwar Qasmi, Raunaq Rahi, Surendra Kumar Naaz, Dr. Pramod Darpan are continuing the glorious tradition of literature and all of them have appreciated me in glowing words. Fankaar Academy, a brain child of mine (Khalid Nadeem) aged 20 years now, organizes on regular basis poetry symposiums and get-togethers and the literary Carwan continues its journey to the destiny.

The illness has taken toll on me (Khalid Nadeem) and I have not remained as strong as I would have been in the past and it has impacted the movement as well. Now I have more concerns to get my books and that of my friends published and nothing else concerns me greatly right now. I seek blessing from the Almighty God for achieving these targets.

Many organizations have honored me with awards. I attended twice in the poetry symposium of Urdu Academy, Uttar Pradesh. I (Khalid Nadeem) frequently face the audience through Radio & Doordarshan Kendra Rampur and Bareilly and Lucknow. I have chaired several poetry symposiums too. Currently I am posting my Video collection on my YouTube channel and Facebook account. I recited my works Online numerous times during lockdowns and I do it constantly every second or third day by the Grace of Allah Subhanahu wa Taala.

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Bhartendu Harishchandra was born in Kashi. His personality was an embodiment of patriotism and revolution oriented. In the very childhood, he had realized the misery and abysmal condition of the country.

Bhartendu Harishchandra was an unequalled hero of the renaissance consciousness. He had a special association with Ishwarchandra Viddhasagar, a prominent figure and the famous sage of the Bengal Renaissance. His mind was restless to illuminate the Hindi sphere with the light of modernism and realization of freedom. To materialize his aspirations, he encouraged and motivated the likeminded men of letters. He established Tadiya Samaj, published magazines and journals and created literatures in various genres. He launched a magazine named Kavivachansudha and edited Harishchandra Magazine, which started to be published in the name of Harishchandra Chandrika.

For the women education, he published Bal Bodhini magazine. He translated the dramas in the Bangla language as well, out of which Dhananjay Vijay, Viddha Sundar, Pakhand Vidamban, Satya Harishchandra and Mudra Rakshash are prominent. His important dramas are – Vaidiki Hinsa Hinsa Na Bhavti, Shri Chandrawali, Bharat Adarsh, Andher Nagri, Neel Devi etc.

Hindi began a new shape in 1873 as per the perception of Bhartendu Harishchandra. This shape was absolutely new in craft and sensibility. The journey of Hindi in prose of Khadi Boli had started being animated with caste sensibility, which Bhartendu Harishchandra and his contemporary authors gave the desired momentum by their accomplishes.

The tradition of Hindi dramas and prose writing starts from Bhartendu. The impacts of Bhartendu are visible on his contemporaries. His contributions in the development of the modern Hindi prose are significant. He did not only lead his contemporary authors but he also worked as torch bearer for the authors to come. It is said that he also went to Delhi Darbar on behalf of Maharaja of Benares to request for a legal ban on cow slaughter. He also drew a petition on the same later with 60,000 signatories and was submitted to Lord lytton but no action was taken so he was given the title “Vir Vaishnava” 

• Ram Chandra Shukla, Author of the masterpiece “History of Hindi Literature”
• Siyaramsharan Gupt, A Prominent Hindi Writer
• HARIVANSH RAI BACCHAN
• Some Dohe of Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khana

Harivansh Rai Bacchan is a well known name in India and abroad in reference to Hindi Literature and Bacchan Family. Born 1997 in Allahabad, he has contributed memorable and highly acclaimed literary works to the Hindi literature. Madhushala (1935) Madhubala  (1938), Madhukalash (1938) Nisha Nimantran, Ekant Sangeet, Akul – Antar, Milanyamini, Satrangini, Arti and Anagre, Naye Puurane Jharokhe,  Tooti – Phooti Kadiyan (Poetry collection); Kiya Bhulun Kya Yaad Karun, Need ka Nirman Phir, Basere se Door, Dashdwar Se Sopan Tak (Autobiography in four volumes), Hamlet, Jangita, Macbeth  (Translation); Parwasi Ki Diary (Diary) are testimony to his enormous achievement in the field of language and literature. Mr Bacchan left for heavenly abode in the year 2003 in Mumbai.

              Harivansh Rai Bacchan was a Professor in the University of Allahabad from 1942 to 1952. He was associated with the literary programs of Akashwani. Then he was appointed as Hindi Expert in the Foreign Ministry of India. Mr Bacchan gave voice to the disheartened mind of the bewildered middle class between both the world wars.  He used simple and sensitive idioms and phrases to express his thoughts and feelings instead of cumbersome and loaded tough tongue. The sincere expression of the events happened in the personal life emerged as poetry by Mr Bacchan. This is the basic reason for his popularity in the realm of Hindi poetry. We find echo of inebriation of the middle ages Persian Poet Umar Khayyam in the early poems of Harivansh Rai Bachhan particularly in Madhushala. One drop of a poem is a drop of life. We find strains of mysticism in the poetry of Mr Bachhan.

              Although we know Harivansh Rai Bacchan as a poet but he has also authored stories, dramas, diary and others in addition to a marvelous autobiography, which continues a popular read as it contains honest confession with lucid style.

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Siyaramsharan Gupt (4 September, 1895 – 29 March, 1963) was one of the distinguished Hindi writers. He was the younger brother of another Hindi literature doyen Maithilisharan Gupt.

Biography

Siyaramsharan Gupta was born in the family of Seth Ramcharan Kanakne in Chirgaon, Jhansi. After completing his elementary education, he learned Gujarati, English and Urdu languages ​​at home. In 1929 AD, he came in contact with the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi. He also stayed in Wardha Ashram for some time. In 1940, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was welcomed in Chirgaon. He also came in contact with Saint Vinoba Bhave. His wife and sons had died untimely, so he became a poet of sorrow and compassion. In 1914 he wrote his first work, Maurya Vijay. In 1910, his first poem ‘Indu‘ was published.

Literary Service

Due to the passing of childhood in Chirgaon (Jhansi), his love for Bundelkhand’s valor and nature was natural. Guptji’s personality developed from the Vaishnava rites and Gandhism. Gupt was a self educated poet. The poetry of Maithilisharan Gupt and his era was adopted by Siyaramsharan as it is. Therefore, all his poetry is based on the Dwivedi era Both the Gupt brothers, being influenced by the new Hindi movement Chhayavad, have preserved their historical poetic form. Even from the point of view of thought, Siyaramsharan Ji, like the elder brother, was influenced by Gandhi’s sorrow, patriotism, world love, world peace, change of heart, truth and non-violence for life. His poetry is actually a verse attempt to express Gandhian loyalty.

Gupt Ji’s language style is simple, simple literary Khariboli Hindi. He has used practical terminology in his writings. The style of his compositions is realistic, succinct, descriptive, thought-provoking, pictorial and emotional.Gupt Ji’s Maurya Vijay (1914 AD), Anath (1917), Durvadal (1915-24), Vishad (1925), Ardra (1927), Atmotsarga (1931), Mrinmayi (1936), Bapu (1937), Unmukt (1940) (Maurya Vijay and Nakula)  and others are narratives in verse. In the rest also the thread of the story is visible in some form or the other. The personal sorrow of the poet due to human love, being one with the social sorrow is described. In the nostalgia the poet has expressed in the description of his widower’s life and the pain arising out of the death of his daughter Rama in Ardra, which are not less poignant, but not as artful as Bachchan’s Priyaviyoga and Nirala ji’s “Sarojsmriti”. Thus, because of the sincerity of his heart, his works on subjects like the poverty of the public, anger against evils, world peace, described by Gupt Ji can teach a lesson to any progressive poet. For pure sentiments in Hindi, the compositions of Gupt Ji will be remembered. They could not depict the makeup and fierce aspects of life, but the simple and direct method on which the sense of compassion towards life has been expressed in Gupta ji has made for him a special place in Hindi poetry. He is a representative poet.

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• Trilochan Shashtri

Trilochan Shashtri original name Vasudev Singh was born in 1917 in Chirani Patti District Sultanpur UP. The important works Trilochan Ji authored are “Dharti, Gulab Aur Bulbul, Digant, Tap Ke Taye Huwe Din, Shab, Us Janpad Ka Kavi Hoon, Rrghan, Tumhen Sonpta Hoon, Chaiti, Amola, Mera Ghar, Jine Ki Kala, Desh Kal, Roznamcha, Kabya and Arthbodh, Muktibodh Ki Kavitayen (prose). He has contributed enormously in editing several dictionaries of Hindi language. He has been honored with awards of Sahitya Akademi, Shalaka Samman and Mahatma Gandhi Puruskar (UP).

Trilochan Shashtri is famous as the prominent poet of the progressive poetry movement. He is a renowned linguistic being a poet of high quality, therefore he is also called as Shashtri. However, this scholarship of his is not a burden for his composition of poetry. Trilochan Ji is a poet of the rhythm of life. A lot of things are placid in his creation compared to the intense emotion.

As regards the diction of Trilochan Shashtri, it is free from romantic traits and it is linked to the realities of rural life. Trilochan Ji is also known for establishing sonnet in Hindi.

Trilochan Shashtri gives new horizon to poems making the vocabulary precise and dramatic. The presentation is as such that any difference of the form and content does not exist. The poetic sense in him does not leave any variance among them.

One of his poems namely Chanpa Kale Kale Achhar Nahi Chinhati is collected in his poetry collection “Dharti”. The adjective black has been used for letters in the poem, which highlights the paradoxes in the educational system one the one hand; it brings to us that reality which is the cause of broken family. The heroine in the poem Champa written of Trilochan Shashtri stands up unintentionally in the backdrop of the exploitative system where she has unknown apprehension in her mind.

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Past the monsoon puddles and rows of ramshackle houses, sits an old two-storied decrepit building. Inside, old men bend over a table where albums of photographs, many barely surviving the ravages of time, are scattered. They pick up a black-and-white group photo and try to identify themselves. Young, dreamy-eyed boys fed on the heavy gruel of Marxism, they look eager for newness and change. A change which many say remained a chimera.

The old men are members of Awami Idara, a library-cum-cultural centre of the mill workers of Muslim quarter of Mominpura, Madanpura, Kalapani and Sankli street in Central Mumbai. Like the men, the Idara too is a shadow of its former self.

Gone are stirring speeches, the passionate poetry which instigated workers of the world to unite and break the chains of capitalism. Since capitalism rules the roost everywhere, the old comrades at Awami Idara too have reconciled to it. Recently the Idara called some leading Urdu writers of Mumbai, appealing to them to save one of few relics of the city’s `progressive’ past.

“It is difficult to engage the youth for a communist cause,” rues Javed Kamil Idara’s secretary. Perhaps Mumbai’s only Urdu library founded (1952) and run entirely by mill workers, Idara was, for decades, a Mecca for mill workers. After toiling at their looms and spinning machines, the workers repaired to the Idara to read, listen to writers and watch plays of Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA).

Abdul Qadir, 67, was member of the IPTA’s troupe and still remembers a few stirring songs. “Much before Prem Dhawan and Kaifi Azmi became popular lyricists, they would pen songs for us. We looked upon them as our ideals,” recalls Qadir who, after a stint in the Air Force, has dedicated himself to the Idara. It was Kaifi who had named the then small, fledgling library Awami Idara (public institution). Since it was a hub of communist writers and intellectuals, the Idara naturally came close to the House of Soviet Culture, the former USSR’s propaganda wing in Mumbai. The culture house helped the Idara in several ways, including lending it a projector and a screen to show Russian films to the toiling, mostly hungry masses.

Members recall the huge crowd at film screenings at the Idara. After the USSR suffered the seismic pulls of perestroika and glasnost in the 1990s and its culture house in Mumbai closed down, the Idara received a letter reminding it to return the projector and the screen to its owner.

“The projector was lent to us when USSR was alive. We will return it after communism is back in Russia,” tersely replied Idara’s the then secretary Comrade Maqsood. Poet Abdul Ahad Saaz remembers attending mushairas and soirees as a child. “Then mushairas at Awami Idara attracted big names like Kaifi, Majrooh, Sardar Jafri and Sahir Ludhianvi. Now these are things of the past,” says Saaz.

Just as heated discussions and grooming of idealists through progressive ideas and literature are. Writer-journalist Sajid Rashid was a regular visitor to the library in the 1970s. “If I had not visited Idara so religiously, perhaps I would never have become a writer,” admits Rashid, a classmate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim at Ahmed Sailor High School in Nagpada area. Rashid says while progressive literature saved him, it didn’t attract Dawood who gradually drifted to the world of crime.

Interestingly, Idara has sailed against the tides of a different kind. It grew amidst hordes hamlets populated by the Ahle Hadees who practise a puritanical Islam, dreaming to restore the faith to its pristine glory. The essentially Godless Idara never clashed with the Ahle Hadees who have a massive mosque in the vicinity, built with a generous endowment of a Saudi King. Rashid says the Idara faded also because it came under the influence of the orthodox. But the Idara’s members swear by communism.

“We never discuss religion here. Both the communists and the orthodox have worked together,” claims Idara’s bearded president Rashid Ahmed, even as loud sermon of a cleric from the nearby mosque drifts in the room.

More than religiosity, the eight-year-long strike led by trade unionist Datta Samant in the 1980s, spelt doom for the Idara.

Now being run with the donations from some of the boys who benefited from the Idara and are now well-settled in the Gulf, the Idara fights its ideological irrelevance through charity. It distributing books and notebooks among poor children and organises health camps. It holds talks and mushairas while Labour Day (May 1) is still a big day in its calendar. That day the red flag gets hoisted at the decrepit building even as a motley group of old and tired communists sing songs of revolution: “Jaaga naya insaan zamana badlega/Utha hai jo toofan zamana badlega (The new man has awaken to change the world/the rising storm will change the world.)

Attributing it, progressive writer Sajjad Zaheer had once likened the Idara with Taj Mahal of the Mazdoors (workers). In the Idara’s visitors’ book, celebrated writer-film director Khwaja Ahmed Abbas remarked on May 1, 1975: “The Idara will go higher than the soaring Qutub Minar.” Perhaps the Idara survives on such lofty dreams.

By Adab Nawaz, NewAgeIslam.com

Only you are not the Expert of Rekhta (early Urdu), they say that there was a Meer in the bygone era as well. Mirza Ghalib had told it about Meer Taqi Meer, who is regarded as the God of Poetry. It was the Rekhta who motivated Ghalib to compose poetry in this very language giving up writing in the Persian Language. However, some other poets of the age such as Sauda, Mazhar, Nazeer Akbarabadi and Dard had started composing poetry in Urdu but the influence of Meer was greater.

       Ali Sardar Jafri observes in ‘Diwan-e-Meer’ “Although Ghalib and Iqbal are more famous in popularity and their books are sold more compared to ‘Kulliyat-e-Meer’. Their couplets are recited more frequently and their influence is more. Nevertheless, we can find such persons who deny the greatness of Ghalib and Iqbal but the greatness of Meer is accepted by all.

              Meer Taqi Meer has written about himself in ‘Zikr-e-Meer‘. Prakash Pandit who has written extensively on the Indian Poets writes about Meer: “The Ancestors of Meer had migrated from Hijaz ‘the land of the Prophet Muhammad, to India. First they came to Hyderabad from where they set for Ahmadabad and finally settling in Akbarabad (Agra).    

              The father of Meer Taqi Meer was a Faujdar and his childhood was not a happy one.  Due to loan constrains and in search of the job, Meer Taqi Meer had shifted to Delhi and here Nawab Samauddaula fixed Rs. 1/- per day for his livelihood.

Only after five years, Nadir Shah attacked Delhi in 1739. Samauddaula got killed. Meer Taqi Meer returned to Agra where he fell in love with the daughter of Khan Arzu so deeply that he forgot everything and his poetry gained the ground. After Nadir Shah, Ahmad Shah Abdali plundered Delhi and all the persons of letters and arts deserted the city and settled somewhere else.

              During this period, Meer Taqi Meer roamed about hither and thither aimlessly. He changed his abode visiting the places of Allahabad, Bengal, Bharatpur and Delhi in between and when he got bored of all places, Meer adopted Lucknow. At the time, Nawab Asifuddaula was the ruler there. It was a desired destination for almost every artist but Meer went to Lucknow on the insistence of Nawab in the year 1782.

The end of the Mughals and the plundering of Nadir Shah made the Persian strange. Urdu grew in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century. Urdu is called to be the language of the army because the language which grew in the gathering of solders became Urdu. Writing of Meer and Urdu to become a language happened almost in the same time. Urdu became young by degrees moving ahead while holding the hands of Meer under his patronage.

       In his book “Sher-e-Shorangez”, Shamusur Rehman Farooqui writes that we find the influence of Meer on Ghalib many times. Meer wrote total six poetry collections. The first one was published about in 1752 and the last one in 1810. He composed about 13 thousand couplets.

There is a misconception that Meer was a poet of common folk. His diction is colloquial. His ideas are sublime. He has used Arabic and Persian words as well. The language of Meer has directness. The poetry of Meer is simple as well as moving but he applies ambiguity as well sometimes. We find love and agony after its failure in the poetry of Meer. He died on Friday, 21 September 1810. The marker of his burial place was removed in modern times when railway tracks were built over his grave.   

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