I feel really privileged to write on Maulvi Abdul Haq (16 November, 1872-16 August, 1961) as he was the real promoter of Urdu language and its literature. He was the first to introduce Dakni literature among the discerning class of Urdu language and literature unearthing its many rare manuscripts from the corpus of Dakni literature that remained unattended for centuries. A time when Urdu readers knew Wali Dakni being the only poet of Urdu from Dakan and Muhammed Hussain Azad also reckoned him to be the first poet of Urdu in his magnumopus Abe-hayat. Before the pioneering research of Maulvi Abdul Haq in Dakni literature, poets and prose writers of its kind of Urdu remained unknown. It was the Maulvi Abdul Haq who worked hard to make Dakni literature familiar with the masses in order to enrich the language of Urdu as much as any developed language can be. He edited many rare manuscripts with scholarly forwards such as Meraajul Ashqeen (1924), Zikr-e-mir (1928), Bagh-o-Bahar, (1931), Sab Ras (1932), Nikat-u-shoara (1935), Nusrati (1938), Qutub Mushtari, (1939) and many more. Albeit Abdul Jabbar Khan Malka Puri in his Tazkira-e-Shoara in (1912) introduced many poets from Dakan declaring that Sultan Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah, Sultan Muhammed Qutub Shah and Sultan Abdullah had produced poetry almost one and half century earlier than the poets from Dehli, many luminaries of Urdu literature particularly from Dehli did not know it then.
Maulvi Abdul Haq was also a critic, linguist, lexicographer, editor, compiler, translator, etymologist, biographer and grammarian. His entire life can well be attributed to make Urdu being the national language of Pakistan and it should also be used officially all over Pakistan. Owing to his hard work, Urdu language has been able to provide equivalents of many fields of knowledge such as medical sciences, arts, computer, environment studies, business, mathematics, accounting, economics and others. But being an easy-going nation, the people of Pakistan in general and their incumbent government and subsequent governments don’t show courage to use Urdu words where necessary.
I want to draw the attention of the people of Pakistan to use our national language as many developed nations do. The youngsters must avoid unnecessary use of English words in their routine conversation and ought to stand by the spirit of Maulvi Abdul Haq who spent his entire life for the promotion of Urdu language and its literature because every language has its origin immersed in its traditions.
JAWED AHMED KHURSHEED
Karachi
