A Potpourri of Urdu Poetry



mujhase milane ke vo karataa thaa bahaane kitane
ab guzaaregaa mere saath zamaane kitane
- Seemab Akbarabadi

aarazuu hai vafaa kare ko_ii
jii na chaahe to kyaa kare ko_ii
- Daag Dehlvi

jo kuchh kaho qubuul hai taqaraar kyaa karuu.N
sharmindaa ab tumhe.n sar-e-baazaar kyaa karuu.N

[qubuul = accept; taqaraar = argument; sar-e-baazaar = in public]
- Anwar Shaoor

sunaa hai Gair kii mahafil me.n tum na jaaoge
kaho to aaj sajaa luu.N Gariib-Khaane ko
- Qamar Jalalwi

vo to vo hai.n tumhe.n ho jaayegii ulfat mujhase
ek nazar tum meraa mahabuub-e-nazar to dekho
- Faiz Ahmed Faiz

yuu.N bichha.Danaa bhii bahut aasaa.N na thaa usase magar
jaate jaate us kaa vo mu.D ke dubaaraa dekhanaa
- Parveen Shakir

sharm samajhe tere TaGaaful ko
vaah! kyaa hoshiyaar ham bhii hai.n
- Daag Dehlvi

us ke dil pe bhii ka.Dii ishq me.n guzarii hogii
naam jis ne bhii muhabbat kaa sazaa rakhaa hai
- Hakim Nasir

go havaa-e-gulsitaa.N ne, mere dil kii laaj rakh lii
vo naqaab Khud uThaate, to kuchh aur baat hotii
- Aga Hashr

ai husn! ham ko hijr kii raato.n kaa Khauf kyaa
teraa Khayaal jaagegaa, soyaa kare.nge ham
- Jazbi

tere ishq kii intahaa chaahataa huu.N
merii saadagii dekh kyaa chaahataa huu.N
- Allama Iqbal

merii bezubaan aa.Nkho.n se gire hai.n cha.nd katare
vo samajh sake to aa.Nsuu na samajh sake to paanii
- Nazeer Banarsi

shab bhar to un kii yaad me.n taare ginaa kiye
taare-se din ko bhii nazar aaye.n to kyaa kare.n
- Akhtar Shirani

alfaaz kahaa.N se laauu.N chhale kii tapak ko samajhaauu.N
izahaar-e-muhabbat karate ho ehasaas-e-muhabbat kyaa jaano
- Raza Qureshi

ishq nahii.n hai tum ko mujhase sirf bahaane karatii ho
yuu.N hii bahaane qaayam rakhanaa tum mere mar jaane tak
- Unknown

dil ke Tuka.Do.n se terii yaad kii Khushbuu na ga_ii
buu-e-may baaqi hai TuuTe huye paimaane me.n
- Shamim Shahabadi

Gazalo.n ne vahii.n zulfo.n ke phailaa diye saaye
jin raaho.n pe dekhaa hai bahut dhuup ka.Dii hai
- Bashir Badr

apanaa kaam hai sirf mohabbat baaqii us kaa kaam
jab chaahe vo ruuThe ham se jab chaahe man jaaye
- Jameeluddin "Aali"

adaa-e-matlab-e-dil hamase siikh jaaye ko_ii
u.nhe.n sunaa hii diyaa haal daastaa.N kii tarah

[adaa = style; matlab = meaning; daastaa.N = story]

- Daag Dehlvi

ham labo.n se kah na paaye un se haal-e-dil kabhii
aur vo samajhe nahii.n ye Khaamoshii kyaa chiiz hai

terii nigah-e-mast ne maKhmuur kar diyaa
kyaa maikade ko jaauu.N tujhe dekhane ke baad

[maKhmuur = intoxicated]

- Saeed Shahidi

nashaa pilaake giraanaa to sab ko aataa hai
mazaa to jab hai ki girato.n ko thaam le saaqii

- Allama Iqbal

tuu jo ai zulf pareshaan rahaa karatii hai
kis ke uja.De hue dil me.n hai Thikaanaa teraa

- Daag Dehlvi

mehamaan banke aaye kisii roz agar vo shaKhs
us roz bin sajaaye meraa ghar sajaa lage

[mehamaan = guest; shaKhs = person]

- Qateel Shifai

baat chalii terii aa.Nkho.n se jaa pahu.Nchii paimaane tak
khii.nch rahii hai terii ulfat aaj mujhe maiKhaane tak
- Unknown

zaKhmo.n se badan gulazaar sahii par un ke shikastaa tiir giino
Khud tarakash vaale kah de.nge ye baazii kis ne haarii hai

[shikastaa tiir = arrows which did not reach their target]

- Ahmed Faraz

is me.n ko_ii shikavaa na shikaayat na gilaa hai
ye bhii ko_ii Khat hai ki muhabbat se bharaa hai
- Iftikhar Imam

Mere chara gar ko naveed ho saf-e-dushmaan ko khabar karo
wo jo qarz rakhtey thai jaan par woh hisaab aaj chuka diya Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Usney khushboo ki tarah mujh se shinaasai ki
.....................................................
Wo gaya jab bhi magar laut ke aaya tha zaroor
baat acchhi hai yehi bus merey harjai ke Pervin Shakir

Mein kiskey haath pe apna lahoo talash karoon
tamam shehr ne pehney huvey hain dastanein Mustafa Zaidi

though canvas of urdu language is not very broad i.e extending from Wali Dakhani to the present day, yet the language evolved from Brij Bhasha in such a short span as 300-350 years at an amazing speed. Sanskirit, one of the oldest languages which is more or less a dead language like Hebrew (though Jews in Israel are busy making an endeavour to revive it) has something in common with the Pehlavi (i.e old Persian). Similarly Brij Bhasha which was the native dialect of Dravidians, came under the influence of Sanskirit, Persian, and other languages of Indo-Aryan origin like Shina, Boroshiski, and Turkish while intermingling in the Mughal Army,and produced a cocktail known as Urdu denoting a dialect springing out of the marshal environments based on an admixture of dialects spoken by people from Central Asia, the Turks, the Armenians, the Afghans, the Persians, the local Hindu Rajputs, Jats, and others.

Unlike European languages, this newly evolved language known as Urdu meaninglashkar lacked in Drama, Novel, and literary criticism, yet following the Persian Literary Tradition it excelled in a particular genre known as Ghazal for which Persian poetry was well known. Initially it specialised in masnavis (which was pure romantcism built around fictitious & superhuman characters like the ones we find in masnavi sehrul-biyaan, but later it started coming to grips with reality alongwith a tinge of romanticism while dealing with human struggle and human torment. Poets like Mir Taqi Mir wrote extremely fine romantic poetry while describing the War of Independence-1857. Similarly Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib created masterpieces of poetry embracing Indo-Asian historical legacy, philosophy,psychology, and created a World of similes & metaphors on his own on the pretext that Urdu couldn't possibly accommodate his poetic sensibilities to the extent he wanted. This pretext is explained in his verse

Ba qadr-e-zauq nahein zarf-e-tangnai-e-ghazal
Kuch aur chaahiyey wus-ut-mery biyaan ke liye

One great characteristic of Ghazal suiting the poetic genius of Ghalib was that whereas Ghazal consisted of fourteen couplets, yet each one of these couplet carried a new aspect of poetic experience. Regarding use of Indo-Aryan heritage & accepted Asiatic legend, the first verse of Diwaan-e-Ghalib

Naqsh faryadi hai kis ki shaukhi-e-tehreer ka
kaghzi hai pairhan har paikar-e-tsveer ka.
or
Naqsh-e-naaz-e-buut-e-tannaz ba-aghosh-e-raqeeb
Paei-e-tawoos-paye-khama-e-Maani mangay.
It might be clarified at this juncture, that poetic imagery consists of (i) Similes i.e poet expressing his feelings with reference to a person, idea, or thing alluding to their similarities, and (ii)metaphors wherein poet conceives and reacts through his poetic contents identifying the two without making a comparison of commonalities between them. Now looking at Ghalib's imagery

[i]Zulmat kadey mein merey shab-e-gham ka josh hai
............................................................
Dagh-e-Firaq-e-subat-e-shab ki jali hovi
ik Shama reh gayee hai so woh bhi khamosh hai
Ai taz warddan-e-nishat-e-hawai-dil
meri suno jo gosh-e-haqiqat nyosh hai
etc etc

As admitted at the outset, Novel, drama, and literary criticism are more or less of a recent origin in Urdu literature. Novel started from Abdul Halim Sharar,Urdu plays from Agha Hashar Kashmiri,and Urdu literary Criticism from Muqaddema-e-Shair-o-Shairi by Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali based on the novice approach of Maulana so far as English poetry of Wordsworth & others was concerned. late Krishan Chandar, Ismat Chughtai, and Saadat Hassan Minto, however, made a sizeable contribution to Urdu Short story, whereas late Qurrat-ul-Ain-Haider (the renowned daughter of a renowned father like Sajjad Haider Yaldrum) undertook a novel experiment of adopting Stream of consciousness technique in her famous novel Aag ka darya; which was innovation of James Joyce in his famous novel Ulysses

Similarly successful experiments in Urdu poetry were undertaken by men like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ahmad Faraz, Mustafa Zaidi, and Pervin Shakir .Faiz , Mustafa Zaidi, and Pervin Shakir have already been alluded to in the foregoing (which was restricted to one verse only in view of the shortage of space & a rather broad canvas of discussion),now let us see the complexion of Ahmad Faraz's poetry with regard to the imagery he employed.
Mein jo ashiq eik Ghazaal ka, mein faqeer dasht-e-wissal ka
jo haran ko baandh ke le gaya, woh Subuktagin koi aur hai.
Finally it must be remembered that Urdu Literature mostlyflourished in Punjab, as most of the Urdu magazines like Abdul Qadir's Makhzan, Aaj Kal, Adab-e-Latif , and Maulana Tajwar Najibabadi's Adabi Dunya (later owned by late Maulana Salah-ud-Din) were published from Lahore, whereas very few Urdu Magazines are being published from Bharat after partition. So Urdu is not only National language in Pakistan, but it has become a linguistic identity of Muslims in the entire subcontinent; whereas Hindi has emerged as lingua franca for Hindus in Bharat. Jameel Zaidi

AFTER READING SUCH A NICE WRITE UP BY MR JAMIL ZAIDI , I CAME TO KNOW THAT HE IS AN ALL --ROUNDER ---STARTING FROM THE SCIENTIFIC ISSUES , MANAGEMENTS THOUGHTS ,HR ISSUES , HE HAS SUCH A DEEP INSIGHT IN POETRY. IT IS REALLY A GREAT HONOUR TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH SUCH A LEARNED PERSON.MAY GOD BLESS HIM WITH GOOD HEALTH & HAPPINESS IN LIFE.

Khol aankh; zameen dekh, falak dekh, fiza dekh
aur Mashriq sey ubhartay huay suraj ko zara dekh
Iqbal

Dayar-e-Ishq mein apna maqam paida kar
Naya zamana naey subh-o-shaam paida kar
Iqbal

Fard qaim rabte millat sey hai, tanha kuch nahi
mauj hai Darya mein aur beyroon-e-Darya kuch nahi
Iqbal

Deen-e-kafir; fikr-e-tadbeer o Jihad
Deen-e- Mullah; fi'sabilillah fasad

neem hakeem; khatra-e-jaan
neem mullah; khatra-e-imaan
neem siyasatdaan; khatra-e-Pakistan

Hello.

gaa.Nv miT jaayegaa shahar jal jaayegaa
zindagii tera cheharaa badal jaayegaa

kuchh likho marsiyaa masanavii yaa Gazal
ko_ii kaaGaz ho paanii me.n gal jaayegaa

ab usii din likhuu.Ngaa dukho.n kii Gazal
jab meraa haath lohe me.n Dhal jaayegaa

mai.n agar muskuraa kar unhe.n dekh luu.N
qaatilo.n kaa iraadaa badal jaayegaa

aaj suuraj kaa ruKh hamaarii taraf
ye badan mom kaa hai pighal jaayegaa

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