I am sorry I do not have any relation to the late Peer Nawab Ali Qureshi- I do not even known about him. My father’s maternal uncle was named Nawab Ali Qureshi but he was not a peer but in fact retired as IG Prisons Punjab during British time before partition and I do not think you are referring to that person.

Thanks for trying… and God bless.

Please follow the link

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/Ideas/lika/cover.html

Well Ammar…. i read your post with interest… and you are right. This jhagda of who “Ahl-e-Zubaan” is.. has psychological roots. it would need me 2-3 pages to fill.. to comment. I do not claim to be an expert ! My knowledge is very limited…I am an ordinary guy (infact, less than ordinary !). This is not modesty – its the truth. But i would want to say what i wish to.

My insight : After loss (erosion) of political power and the perks appended thereto, the EGO needs a staff to lean on ! UP had been the major “Theatre” in the struggle for Independence (Indo/Pak/Bangla). The Muslims as a community were consolidated on the basis of : (1) Religion and (2) Language… In the former, there were fissures and sectarian fights … and in language too… it displayed the similar trait. Why ?

I was speaking to a family elder who is a scholar. we were talking about the sectarian fights (sunni/shia/etc). He told me… we would have fought ANYWAY.. if not on this,. on some other issue ! Man’s inherent nature is to seek differences and fight over THEM. Hence “Ahl-e-zubaan”.. my urdu us gr8.. yours is not… i am the “inheritor” of a heritage… you are not… ultimately the root cause is : “Love for one-self”… or “Holier-than-thou mindset”. Why do we fight so much…. Why is there so much “Jhagda”. The whole of the indian sub-continent (indo-pak-bangla) is about 30% of Australia (in area). The whole of the so-called muslim-countries (combined)., are smaller than Australia + Canada (in area).. Why so many Jhagdas then ?

Reason : Too many people – too little resources.. leading to cut-throat competition for survival.. and hence animal instincts take over and civility is thrown out of the window. The beast is aroused when the belly is empty.

So the bottom-line is to go to the grass-roots. The Punjabi fellas Iqbal,Faiz ; the UP walla Bhaiyya [Afridi Pathan Josh] ; the Hyderabadi (AP) Bahadur Yar Jung (orator)… and the Bengali (Kolkata) Abulkalam Azad… were masters at Urdu Poetry, Speech and Writing (respectively).. There is a long list of names., but im at work..so i wanna wrap up the argument with minimum names.

So.. while i love the “Mehrab” (Baghdadi Arch); the “Taaq-chaas” in the walls ; the earthen Suraahi… the Chilman… the Huge havelis… (that we could not maintain.. the typical “Asset-rich Cash-poor syndrome”)… The dress… the Sherwani.. The Gharara… The Khada-Dupatta… The Jewelry… The incence.. The Food.. The Literature.. The language.. and the CAPSULE of it all.. The Culture.

Culture that led to the making of a personality. That personality reflected a CHARACTER. Character was the End Result. Language (Urdu) and Architecture (Mihrab) are SYMBOLIC things… But symbols are important… cuz they are VISIBLE signs. Yeh sab cheezen ek shaqsiyyat ko banaati hain.. aur us se CHARACTER (Kirdaar) emanate hota hai.

Nation-building ke liye.. Language aur culture kee zaroorat hai. Aur saath mein ECONOMIC muscle bhee ho. I love Urdu from The Master “Daagh” right upto Ghalib via Sadat Hasan Manto and Ainie Haider.. It binds us… We mock at each other’s accents… and FIGHT more with each other FOR the simple reason that we cannot fight SOMEONE else. So we take our anger on each other ! Yeh ek majboori hai.. jo zavaal kee soorat mein aa jaati hai.. Qaum`on (aqwaam) ke andar.

Qissa taweel ho gaya.. and i lost in the forest of thoughts.. Vision blurred ho gaya. Grass roots kaam hona chaahiye. We need Rich People like Warren Buffett (and not the Sheikhs of Dubai)… and good governance in our societies. Individually we cannot do anything. (In the 56 so-called muslim countries., 98% of them live in dictatorships … under the American Viceroy). Qissa taweel ho gaya.

Maulana Mohammed Ali’s essay : Fight for the Turks… read it… and if you find it.. email it to me.. I wanna read it too.

What is the one-liner of Sarojini Naidu- I do not think I know about it or may be it is alluding my mind at the moment- can only tell once you inform me about it!

The % of Muslims in UP was quite low- that much I know as it was a minority state of Muslims- I think it wont be high than 35-40%. Yes their influence was enormous not only on Urdu culture but also Muslim politics. UP along with Bengal was the driving force between Pakistan movement.

I am also free of regional bias and have no problems in conceding that people from UP- Ahle-Zaban- as they are called speak Urdu better than people from other regions but that does not mean that people from other regions cant do equally well in Urdu if not better. Although I do not one to sound suffering from regional bias- but if you look at the last 100 years- Iqbal, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Faiz- the three greatest Urdu poets of the last century- were not from UP or were not Ahle-Zaban. I wonder as to what can be the factors which contributed to decline of standards. Although faiz did face competition from Josh ( who was a great poet and definitely had better command over the language) but Faiz trumped him in terms of following and status. Similaly Iqbal had no peer in whole of India ( excluding Tagore but then he was a poet in Bengali not Urdu)…During the last 100 years, Lucknow, Delhi or UP or Karachi ( where most of the Ahle-Zuban settled after 1947) did not produce a poet of the stature of Iqbal or Faiz… any thoughts about this particular aspect.

Ammar.. this is for you.. There is something called “Indo-Muslim Culture”. I am sure you knwo Sarojini’s one-liner on this… Its very true. By the way i am not from UP. I am totally free of bias… BUT…. yes… people do have provincial bias. it is the reflection of an immature mind.

Urdu + UP… is one problem… and Urdu + Muslim is another problem. The former part was damaged in 1902., when Devnagri became the language replacing Persian and Urdu in UP. Pls. re-collect Sir Syed’s anger at this. That was THE turning point. The second severe blow was rendered in 1947. Pls dont forget that Pakistan was made for “islam in danger + urdu culture in danger”. What is Urdu Culture ? It is the product of centuries of refinement…. the luxury that history afforded India… and its muslims.

Basically it is the “Iranian” cultural influence… in matters of language, architecture, dress, food, accessories, jewelry, music, literature, and so on. The iranian domes (Gumbad)., mehraab (arches).. the Baghdadi Arch (which i love)…. the Moroccan Arch, the Moorish (AL Hambra) Arch, The Christian Arch….the SYMBOLISM of it all. The inner court-yard for example.. Urdu is a by-product of this CULTURE…. this environ. It was a beautiful product.. but unfortunately.. got trampled by the bull-dozer of communal politics.

Ammar.. pre-1947, what was the population % of muslims in UP ? Do you know that ? Yet, what was the cultural INFLUENCE of Indo-Muslim Culture in Indian (United India) life. This is the question…

Urdu is a very beautiful language…. BUT…. right now…. in India… 160 Million Muslims (more than all the Arabs put together) are facing a crisis ! Under the present circumstances, it is my endeavour that we must adopt ENGLISH and FRENCH en`masse. We need to build the economic life of the community… the basic questions of survival. Jaan Hai.. to Jahaan hai.. (aur language bhee hai). Jaan ko mazboot karnaa hai. Jaan means the body and the mind. So… lets head off TO English.. .and French… with a vengeance. After 200 years, after we had built ourselves, we can always revert back to Urdu Persian and Arabic. Right now… our priorities are different. I know… this is a sacrifice. Sacrifice is inevitable… and we are giving it… Do not care for the next election.. or generation.

One must have a 300-year vision ! English is a beautiful language… as beautiful as Urdu.. or Persian or Arabic. So lets adopt it. After English, French is next… Engilsh and French are so beautiful. Love them… and they will love you too. Love begets love…

Change starts from the elite segment of a society and then “trickle-down effect” comes into operation. Initially there would be criticism.. So be it.