Behzad: another chapter of Urdu comes to an end!

The language of decency, Urdu, has been celebrated yet again. This time the literary forum of celebration took place overseas.  The Majlis Froghe Urdu Arab, Qatar, had organized this forum. The whole forum was dedicated to the noted Pakistani poet Azm Behzad, who died of a heart attack in Karachi on 4^th of March.

Behzad was one of the prominent members of the Majlis Froghe Urdu Adab, who conducted different programs for the improvement and promotion of the language on an international level. He has served the forum for nearly four years.

The popular personalities, in “the tribute to the Behzad”, were poet and scholar Ata ul Haq Qasmi and Syed Fahimuddin Hashmi, Zawwar Hussain Zair, Aziz Nabeel, Ijaz Haider, Shafiq Akhtar and Ashfaq Qalaque. They all saluted the services of Behzad.

Mohammad Atiq, chairman of the board of patrons of the Majlis, paid special tribute to the great poet by recalling his contribution towards the promotion and improvement of Urdu language and literature. Behzad was amongst the gems of Urdu language and poetry whose loss cannot be replaced. Urdu poetry will have hardships in recovering from such loss.

Apart from being one of the leading poets, Behzad was also a great human being. His recitation of poetry is still the hot topic of any Mushaira.  With Behzad another beautiful chapter of Urdu has come to an end. There will be always new faces coming in, but olds can never be replaced, as they say “old is gold”.

Urdu Hindi Through Different Controversies

Language is a source of recognition for all nations. Language is not just about the medium of communication, it depicts the culture and ideology of nations.  Every nation is always over protective to their languages; this makes a language a collective heritage of its speakers.

Urdu is national language of Pakistan and official language in some of the parts in India. In India Urdu Hindi controversy is a big dilemma, time and again people are exploited over the Urdu Hindi disagreement to set political gains.

Nineteen century was more controversial when Hindus raised a movement to practice Hindi as National language in all parts of India. To counter this attack, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan led Urdu movement to defend the subsistence of Urdu language in the subcontinent.

Most of the people have point of view that Urdu Hindi controversy had become the source of separation between Pakistan and India. However, it is not clear which single difference initiated the resolution for a separate nation.

Even until now, despite the declaration of Urdu language in some of parts, Indian Government has failed to ensure the application in real sense

Urdu Hindi controversy has long history but one thing is pretty apparent that Urdu has succeeded in preserving its versatility and unique expression through all years. Its speakers are motivated and are defending their language at different platforms with aim to keep its strong presence and popularity with users.

This controversy is more about the exploitation of subject for the political gains, but it is responsibility of speakers to preserve its beauty even through the tough times.

Allama Iqbal Brought Urdu The Recognition that it deserves!

Urdu is one of the most beautiful and decent language in the world. This language has been properly organized and established. The literature of Urdu is so vast and amazing that you get so astonished and you start exploring more of it. Urdu literature is full of famous and remarkable poets and prose writers. These writers and poets’ do even have national recognition but they are enjoying the edge of international fame.

 Urdu books have been translated into to different languages across the world. This shows the peak of popularity that Urdu literature is gaining through out the world. You would find diversified writers and poets in Urdu literature, and it is not even fun to read them but these pieces of writing are full of knowledge and wisdom.

The most prestigious personality of Urdu literature is Allama Muhammad Iqbal, whose piece of writing is equally famous all over the world. He is not just considered as a poet but his words are taken as a perfect guideline to lead a stable life. People read Allama Iqbal in order become acquainted with the mystery of life and reality of things. Millions of researches have been done on his books at international level. The poetry of Allama Iqbal is also being studied in majority of universities and school across the world. People find it an honor to study his words and to develop in-depth understanding to his poetry. Even his poetry played an important role in raising deep interest in religion. In addition, he has a great contribution in making Urdu language internationally recognized and appreciated.        

The Urdu–Hindi Relationship!

Languages are the attributes of culture, which represent cultures at different levels. After the phenomenon of globalization, cultural war has started between different cultures, through media. The dominant cultures enjoy an edge and thus, they tend to imperialize other cultures using their dominancy. Urdu is also suffering from this.

Urdu and Hindi have been similar languages and above all, these languages belong to the same areas. Both of these languages were spoken in subcontinent. After the partition, Urdu traveled to Pakistan because it has always been attributed to Muslim cultures. Hindi on the other hand side was restricted to India only. 

These two languages have been in controversy for many years, in fact many decades. Hindi and Urdu are supposed to be the dialects of same language. Other school of thought is that Urdu is derived from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, which are the languages of Muslim nations. Therefore, Urdu enjoys the status of being a religious based language rather than cultural.

Urdu has been a popular language of south Asia. It is still spoken, written, and read in different areas of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Urdu came to South Asia with the advent of Mughals in this region. The controversy, on the other side, started few years back. Both the languages have deep impact on each other.

Hindi and Urdu share many common grounds. The ways these are spoken commonly but the writing style is completely different, this controversy is mostly the media created controversy.

Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi: The Legendry Urdu Poet And Writer!

One of the legends that the Urdu language has produced is Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi.  Ahmed Nadeem had a command on English and Urdu poetry as well. He was by profession a writer, a great journalist, an enormous literary critic, out of the world writer and very noble human being. This legend of Urdu was born on November 20, 1916.

Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi has written over 50 books on poetry, fiction, criticism, journalism and all this made him a major figure in the contemporary Urdu literature, plus a legend for all times. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi is amongst those, who have made their names eternal in the literature of Urdu.

Qasmi had a long career in writing and editing. He had been serving as an editor in prominent literary journals including Phool, Tehzeeb-i-Niswaan, Adab-i-Lateef, Savera, and Naqoosh. Qasmi was selected as the secretary general for Anjuman-e- tarakkey-e-Pasand Musanndifien (progressive writers movement), in the year 1948. There are unlimited services of Qasmi in the Urdu literature, which cannot be jot down easily at one place.

1968 was the year when this great poet and writer got a pride of performance award along with a lifetime award. In the same year, he was also awarded country’s highest civil honor, sitar-e-imtiaz for his contribution in literature. Qasmi’s masterpieces included :

• Jalal-o-Jamal
• Shola-i-Gul
• Kisht-i-Wafa
• Chopaal, Sannata
• Kapaas ka Phool
• Bagolay, Tal-o-Gharoob
• Sailab-o-Gardab, Anchal
• Ghar se ghar tak..

 This great personality died on the 10^th of July, 2006 due to the complications of asthma, in Lahore.