Mohsin Aziz

Hui pahloye amna se huwaida

Dua e Khalil aur naveed e masiha

Wo Nabion main rahmat laqab paney wala

muraden gharibon ki bar laney wala

musibat main ghairon ke kaam aney wala

wo apney praye ka gham khaney wala

faqiron ka malja gharibon ka mawa

yatimon ka wali ghulamon ka mola

(Hali)

Who has not heard these immortal lines from Musaddas e Hali. Maulana Altaf Husaain Hali’s Musaddas-e-Madd-o-Jazr-e-Islam commonly known as Musaddas-e-Hali (Musaddas on the ebb and flow of Islam) is perhaps one of the most read and recognizable urdu poems. It was first published in 1879 in Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq as well as in book form. The poem recalls Islams glorious past and mourned its decline in India. A poem which Hali called “dry, insipid, plain and simple poem” (Shackle & Majeed, 1997 ) took the Urdu speaking public with a storm (Sadiq, 1995).

The poem was written at the request of Sir Syed who felt that there is a need for a poem which laments the demise of Islam in India just as there was qasidah lamenting the demise of Muslims in Al Andalus (modern day Spain).

Hali first met Sir Syed at a scientific society meeting at Aligarh in 1867. It was Shaifta who brought Hali along with him to the meeting. The second meeting of Hali with Sir Syed was at Lahore. In 1888 Hali travelled to Aligarh at the invitation of Sir Syed and stayed in Aligarh for few months (Khursheed, Ata, 2015). Before meeting Sir Syed, Hali had some reservations about him. But after meeting Sir Syed, Hali was convinced of Sir Syed good intentions and became his supporter. Hali support for the cause of Sir Syed flourished with time and continued even after the death of Sir Syed. Sir Syed requested Hali to write a marsiya on the death of a community after 1857. Hali obliged and wrote Musaddas e Hali and as they say, the rest is history.

It was most probably the reading of Al Rundi’s famous Rithā’ al-Andalus, lament for the fall of seville (TIGNOL, E. 2016) that prompted Sir Syed to request Maulana Hali to write on the sad decline of Muslim community in India. Sir Syed told Hali that “there used to be mourners for Andalus but that our times are such that no one until now has mourned the condition of our community”. Sir Syed told Hali “God, my master, gave you a tongue but you do not speak; God gave you the marvelous ability to narrate but you do not use this miracle ; God fills our eyes with tears through rain bearing clouds but you do not let them flow one!” (Aligarh Institute Gazette, Aligarh, 26 Jan. 1878, p. 105.)

Sir Syed was mighty pleased with the musaddas and opined that “with this Musaddas begins the modern age of Urdu poetry (Ross Masud, 1931) and famously said in a letter to Hali that “When, on the Day of Judgemtn, Allah will ask me, “What deeds have you brought”? I will say “I only made Hali write musaddas and nothing else’ (Letter from Syed Ahmad Khan to Hali, Shimla, Park Hotel, 10 June 1879, In M. A. Mannan (2007). This shows that Sir Syed thought that Musaddas is good enough to get salvation for him on the day of judgement. There can not be a better appreciation of a book.

The affect of musaddas was electrifying to say the least. Even stage shows were made on it and the impact was such that people would burst into tears by the end of the drama. A series of poems imitating the style of the musaddas as well as parodies based on it are testimony to both its popularity and impact. Hali was

Ram Babu Saksena (1927) in his survey of urdu literature writes that “It was a revelation, a landmark in the literary history of Urdu language. A new star swam into the ken of Urdu poets. It gave a lead to the national and patriotic poems of India. The poem was printed and distributed and sung in assemblies, pulpits, mosques, and conferences”. In fact Hali is forerunner to Allama Iqbal and Shikwa and jawab e shikwa are without doubt culmination of musaddas hali.

Musaddas had 296 stanzas containing 6 lines each. Hali traces the journey of Islam since its birth in Arabia. It tells how Muslims made tremendous progress in all walks of life and their contribution to the world. It then moves to the fall of Muslims in India from position of power to penury and powerlessness.

It is worth mentioning that Hali gave the copyright of the Musaddas to the college so that the money collected could be used by the college fund. Sir Syed never let go of any opportunity to collect funds for the college. However this was different. It is to the credit of Sir Syed that he refused and told Hali that the Musaddas belonged to the community and the college would have no copyright over it. It is to the credit of Hali that despite paucity of money, he did did not keep copyrights and did not earn any royalty from its sale. Hali dedicated the Musaddas to the nation and to the community and gave open permission for it to be published and distributed by anybody (Hussain, S.A., 1986). For those who do not know urdu, several english translations of the musaddas are available.

References:

C. Shackle and J. Majeed, Hali’s (1997) Musaddas: the flow and ebb of Islam. Delhi: Oxford University Press

M. Sadiq, A History of Urdu Literature (Delhi, 1995), p. 347.

Ross Masud (1931) Khutut e Sir Syed, Ed. Ross Masud: Badayun  

M. A. Mannan (ed), Selected Letters of Sir Syed Ahmad, Aligarh, 2007

TIGNOL, E. (2016). A Note on the Origins of Hali’s -e Madd-o Jazr-e Islām. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 26(4), 585-589. doi:10.1017/S1356186316000080

Ram Babu Saksena (1940) A History of Urdu Literature, pp. 215-216, Allahabad.