The International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) organised a seminar on Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib to promote Urdu literature and highlight the work of Ghalib, one of the pioneers in Urdu poetry and prose. Rector Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik presided over the ceremony in which Dr Khalid Masood was the chief guest at the event organised by the Urdu Department of the varsity. Speaking on the occasion, Prof Malik said Ghalib was not a poet of inaction but that of action. Ghalib was a poet of all ages, he added. Allama Iqbal took Ghalib’s vision forward and a separate country for the Muslims of the subcontinent came into being, he opined. He remarked Iqbal was a river of Ghalib’s ocean while Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ahmad Nadim Qasmi were waves on this river. He said a new river like Iqbal was the need of the hour.
Dr Khalid Masood said modernity was linked to humanity and it should be taken as a unit with no discrimination among religions. He said Ghalib gave rebirth to ‘Tasawaf’. Prof Aziz Ibn-ul-Hassan said Ghalib removed ancient wrongs of Urdu prose and made it a comprehensible language for all. Dr Abdul Aziz Sahir said Ghalib’s writing was influenced by experiences of real life.
He added Ghalib had made his poetry appealing to all and sundry. He had not confined his poetry to Wahdat-ul-Wajood, he pointed out. Prof Qaisera M Alvi, director, Women Campus, said that people had failed to understand Gahlib. She said critics were bound to note that Ghalib’s poetry was better than others. Dr Sadia Tahir presented her paper on Ghalib.
