Safi Jannaty
DAMMAM — In continuation of its endeavors to preserve Urdu language and literature, HADAF (Human Abilities Development & Advancement Foundation) organized a literary discourse on Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, a legendary poet of the 19th century at Rose Restaurant here.
HADAF had invited Dr. Faisal Hanif, an Urdu language scholar based in Qatar, to present the discourse as a keynote speaker. Dr. Faisal Hanif, founder of several literary organizations in Qatar, has worked quite extensively on Mirza Ghalib and other legendary Urdu poets. He is currently composing a book to reflect the true essence and meaning of the enigmatic work of Ghalib for English readers and critics. He leads discourses in Doha with his peers and students to fathom and understand different dimensions of the poetical works of Ghalib.
Throughout his lecture, Dr. Hanif emphasized that Ghalib had incredibly high degree of imagination and creativity which made his work so appealing and attractive not only to Urdu people, but also to others. He reiterated that Ghalib used to say that poetry is not just composition or weaving of words or putting them in certain order; but, it has more to do with the expression of creative imagination in a meaningful form. Dr. Hanif narrated several anecdotes related to Ghalib that demonstrated his power of understanding and creativity.
Besides developing his own thoughts and imagination, Ghalib had immense ability to understand the works of other poets in dimensions not even initially considered by the poet. His poetry is unique and he was never influenced with the previous poets or thoughts. Not just the great Urdu poets who preceded or followed him, Ghalib could be compared to international legends like Goethe. No wonder that the poetry of Ghalib has consciously and mostly unconsciously entered into the common psyche and different people relate themselves with his verses in different situation.
Dr. Hanif asserted that the beauty of Ghalib’s work lies in his ability to devise unique phrases by combining different odd words to assign meaning to his intense thought process.
He also dealt on the letters of Ghalib to demonstrate that although the world knows Ghalib more as a poet, yet, he was equally adept in prose and his letters to different people reflects his unique style of address.
Earlier, the founder of HADAF and an eminent linguist, Nayeem Javed enlightened the audience with the biography of Ghalib and narrated a few incidents that reflected respect and admiration, which Ghalib commanded from his followers including the legendary poet, Sir Mohammed Iqbal. In his usual eloquent manner, he dealt upon the beauty of Urdu language and re-emphasized the need to gain command over the language whose treasure is wide and diverse. He introduced the keynote speaker to the audience and later anchored the Question and Answer session.
Ehsan Ahmed, the Youth Wing In-charge of HADAF, mesmerized the audience with his rendition of two famous ghazals of Ghalib. The president of HADAF Jaweed Masoud thanked Dr. Faisal Hanif for sharing his invaluable views on Ghalib and enriching the knowledge of the audience. He also expressed gratitude for the members present at the session and requested them to support the mission and vision of HADAF. Safi H. Jannaty, vice president of HADAF opened the session and delivered the welcome address and gave a brief introduction about Mirza Ghalib.
HADAF is a not for profit organization engaged in championing the socio economic causes of the downtrodden sections with special focus on education.
