Urdu flourishes in Saudi Arabia.

[Kompromat]

‘Happy to see Urdu flourishing in Saudi Arabia’

Muhammad Mujahid Syed
Saudi Gazette



JEDDAH — Ghazal’s charm has compelled Dr. Afaq Fakhri to devote his life to it.

Among the 13 participants of the Annual 2014 Mushaira, Fakhri made his mark with his thoughtful poetry and his serious tone. His simplicity and factual expression attracts the attention of his audience.

Fakhri has poetic traditions in his family. His father Fakhir Jalalpuri is a famous poet whose personality and contribution to Urdu poetry is a topic of research in Banaras Hindu University.

Born in 1957 in Jalal Pur, Ambedkar Nagar UP, Fakhri is knows Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi and English.

He spoke with Saudi Gazette about his poetic career, literary background and latest developments in Urdu language and poetry.

Dr. Fakhri, who was a student of the famous Shibli College, Azamgarh, has many literary works to his credit and even holds a doctrate in Urdu literature.

His research work “Fikre Iqbal Ke Sarchashme” was published in 1993. His collection of essays “Naqd o Nava” got published in 2009 and another collection of critical essays “Infiradiayat Ki Talash” was published in 2013.

In the meantime his collection of Ghazals “Sukhan Aasaar” appeared in 2011. Fakhri has been teaching Urdu in Ashrafiyah College, Mahul, Azamgarh for 26 years.

He had participated in Mushairas and literary seminars in UK, Dubai and the Gulf countries.

“I am not disappointed with the future of Urdu language in India and in other countries. Without much government support Urdu is developing almost everywhere. A language is like a river. As a river passes from different terrains same is the case of language. Sometimes it looks like an ocean and some other time it seems to be a small rivulet. Time to time Urdu too had gone through this process but Urdu language has great potential to survive. It has seen grand royal courts, battlefields and the spiritual atmosphere of fakirs and mendicants. It has served people well and I hope it will continue doing the same,” Dr. Fakhri said.

He added: “If we make a comparative study of Indian and Pakistani Urdu poetry, India seems to be progressing. In many respects our poetry is better. In Pakistan, Urdu is a national language and everybody is learning Urdu, so if there seems any development in this field, it has government support and share too. Pakistani Ghazal is impressive but our poets too are writing so many great things. In India, we, the Urdu poets and writers most of the time do volunteer work. Without much government support a lot of literary work is going on in every nook and corner of India. Our work in the field of research work, criticism, novel and short stories is great. We serve Urdu according to our circumstances and means. It’s a miracle. If Indian government supports Urdu language, there would be national integration and development.”

Children should be taught Urdu at any cost not only in India but everywhere. “This Annual Mushaira 2014 has opened my eyes. If Mushaira audience in Jeddah can keep Urdu alive in their homes why can’t we do it India. This is the moral lesson of this Mushaira for me,” said Fakhri. Fakhri, who likes composing Ghazals, is fond of Meer, Ghalib and Momin, and drives inspiration from Makhmoor Saeedi, Shahryar, Iftekahr Arif, and Irfan Siddiqui. In the 20th century, Fakhri is impressed with the works of Asghar, Fani and Jigar.

The Indian poet lauded the Indian Consul General BS Mubarak and Press Consul, Information and Culture Dr.Irshad Ahmad for organizing the Mushaira in Jeddah.

“The quality and standard of the audience of Annual 2014 Jeddah Mushaira has impressed me. I am very happy to see that Urdu is flourishing in Saudi Arabia and this language is proving itself as a bridge between different nations and cultures,” he said.

Couplets from Dr. Afaq Fakhri’s poetry:

Mujhe laga labe izhar kholte bhi hain
Kabhi kabhi daro diwar bolte bhi hain

Dil se rooh tak jiske silsile bhi hote hain
Zindagi men kuchh aise hadese bhi hote hain.

Aaj kal ka me’yare adl kya kaha jaye
Mujrimon ke manchahe faisle bhi hote hain

‘Happy to see Urdu flourishing in Saudi Arabia’ | Kingdom | Saudi Gazette

Next goal is to make Saudis wear Shalwar Qameez

 

[Jaanbaz]

Next goal is to make Saudis wear Shalwar Qameez

I

 

[Kompromat]

I

Imagine @Yzd Khalifa dressed in Shalwar kameez, Peshawari Chappal, Sindhi topi, Balochi wool sherwani, and Kashmiri shawl... doesn't get anymore Pakistani than that.

 

[ای ایران]

South Asians have already overwhelmed UAE and Qatar with their numbers. Bahrain is also full of Indians and Pakistanis. It is only fitting that Saudi Arabia is next. Maybe one day they will have to rename it to Saudi India, . That would actually be better for stability and World peace if Pakistanis/Indians replace the Arabs in their own peninsular and moderate their behaviour with more peaceful Urduness.

 

[ای ایران]

Interesting article. I applaud the establishment of permanent South Asian communities in the Arabian peninsula and the spreading of their language and culture there.

Urdu language is flourishing in the Arabian peninsula and rightfully so. Without the South Asians the desert sands of Arabia would be devoid of modern cities and civilization and the Arabs would still be sleeping next to their camels under the open night sky.

Indians and Pakistanis have built the little sheikhdoms into what they are today and they are now obviously never going to leave their new found homeland. They are already the majority in the UAE and are fast taking over Qatar and Bahrain too with their numbers. Peninsula Arabs better get used to the sound of Urdu and would do well to start learning this language which will one day become their new mother tongue anyway.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

South Asians have already overwhelmed UAE and Qatar with their numbers. Bahrain is also full of Indians and Pakistanis. It is only fitting that Saudi Arabia is next. Maybe one day they will have to rename it to Saudi India, . That would actually be better for stability and World peace if Pakistanis/Indians replace the Arabs in their own peninsular and moderate their behaviour with more peaceful Urduness.

Pakistanis in Bahrain aren't even Urdu speakers ... Most Bahrainis of Pakistani origin are Baluch ..(although they do speak n understand Urdu)... The emigrants are mostly from other parts of the country like panjab,KPK etc .. Who speak Panjabi or Pashtu ..

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

Al-Hasni's pissed everyone retreat.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Permanent?

Flourishing?

You do realize that large areas of the Arabian Peninsula are not only more fertile than your militarily, religiously, culturally and linguistically conquered shithole but are home to much older civilizations and continuously inhabited cities/settlements?

They have built nothing. It's Western firms and local firms that have built 99% of the new infrastructure. Like elsewhere in the Muslim world.

I suggest that you worry about your bastardized dialect of Arabic and worry about your slums and government handouts farsi:

Why mock the poor ? Just to get even with a troll ?

 

[Cyberian]

Urdu news on Saudi TV lauded | Nation | Saudi Gazette

 

[ای ایران]

Pakistanis in Bahrain aren't even Urdu speakers ... Most Bahrainis of Pakistani origin are Baluch ..(although they do speak n understand Urdu)... The emigrants are mostly from other parts of the country like panjab,KPK etc .. Who speak Panjabi or Pashtu ..

What difference does any of that make? Arent they all Pakistanis and isnt Urdu your national language?

Urdu language is flourishing in the Arabian peninsula according this article and that should be applauded. Millions of South Asians have gone to the deserts of Arabia and pulled this impoverished land of nomadic desert dwellers into the modern World by working hard and building infrastructure never before seen by the poor Afro-Semites of the peninsula.

After having built up UAE etc into what these little sheikhdoms are today it is only fitting that the South Asians and their culture permanently establish themselves and that their Urdu language flourishes there.

This Al-Qaeda fellow may object, but the millions of Pakistanis and Indians that built these sheikhdoms are not going to leave and nor should they. South Asians are the new majority in much of these sheikhdoms and the few desert terrorists that object better change their attitude and accept the reality that South Asians have a right to permanently settle in the cities that they have laboured long and hard to build.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

What difference does any of that make? Arent they all Pakistanis and isnt Urdu your national language?

Urdu language is flourishing in the Arabian peninsula according this article and that should be applauded. Millions of South Asians have gone to the deserts of Arabia and pulled this impoverished land of nomadic desert dwellers into the modern World by working hard and building infrastructure never before seen by the poor Afro-Semites of the peninsula.

After having built up UAE etc into what these little sheikhdoms are today it is only fitting that the South Asians and their culture permanently establish themselves and that their Urdu language flourishes there.

This Al-Qaeda fellow may object, but the millions of Pakistanis and Indians that built these sheikhdoms are not going to leave and nor should they. South Asians are the new majority in much of these sheikhdoms and the few desert terrorists that object better change their attitude and accept the reality that South Asians have a right to permanently settle in the cities that they have laboured long and hard to build.

It is .. Yet the mother tongue of roughly 8% Pakistanis.. And like 1% Indians..

 

[al-Hasani]

That farsi Gypsy is hilarious. Someone give him a gold medal for his effort. It seems to me that all his brain cells are working at their maximum capacity when he writes on PDF.

I guess this can happen considering what his militarily, religious, cultural and linguistic masters did to him. Basically they are our former slaves in the literal form that changed his shithole forever.

Now those former slaves are kneeling down daily towards our lands and worshipping our dead ancestors.

Sad but true.

 

[ای ایران]

It is .. Yet the mother tongue of roughly 8% Pakistanis.. And like 1% Indians..

Ok then so Balouchi and Panjabi and Hindi etc should flourish in Bahrain, Saudi India etc Whatever the language is, the South Asians are rightfully putting down roots in the Arabian peninsula which they have built and are becoming the majority there. This is to be celebrated, not opposed like this mentally deranged al-Qaeda fellow is trying to do.

 

[The Unnamed]

And like 1% Indians..

 

[The Unnamed]

How many Indians on PDF can speak or read or write Urdu ..