SAUDI ARABIA

Reception dinner and literary evening in honor of Dr. Khurshid Rizvi

July 27, 2017

By Muhammad Mujahid Syed

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – ‘’Rumi is the best and most loved poet. We can make an educated guess of the popularity of his work by considering the fact that his works have been translated into nearly all the major languages of the world,’’ said Dr. Khurshid Rizvi while addressing a literary evening, hosted by Fizaur Rahman, a noted Indian socialite.

Speaking about Rumi he said, ‘’His works are one of the most important and leading ones in Persian poetry and Islamic philosophy.’’ Furthermore Dr. Rizvi went on to ennumerate about the literary achievements of the famous poet. He said, ‘’Although Jalal Al-Din has produced many works, the most celebrated and significant of them is the series of six books of poetry, Masnavi-i Ma’navi.’’

After extolling the achievements of Rumi, he went on to speak about the influence of the great man. ‘’Rumi’’, he added, ‘’has had considerable influence of his ecstatic poetry in the wide and different world of the West. It has created an American Rumi renaissance. Different books about him have been translated to 23 languages.’’

‘’Iqbal was very much impressed by Rumi. He got inspiration from Rumi’s poetry and philosophy. He always had a vision ahead of time,’’ Dr. Rizvi explained.

Dr. Rizvi spoke at length about different manuscripts of famous Persian and Urdu poets. He lavished praise on Ghalib and other figures of Urdu poetry too. Dr. Rizvi, a oted Pakistani poet and linguist himself, kept into consideration the importance of scripts of any language. He said that if a language loses its script, it loses its significance, identity and the connection to its history.

A line of the verse of classical Urdu poet Shaikh Imam Bakhsh Nasikh from Lucknow School of poetry was given to compose upon. Poets of the evening were Farooq Moonis, Athar Abbasi, Mujahid Syed and Khurshid Rizvi. The intellectual audience comprised of Muhammad Irfan, Amir Khurshid, Muhammad Ashfaq, Syed Tariq, Zeeshan and Fizaur Rahman, host of the evening, who welcomed and thanked everyone for their gracious presence and participation. Some examples of couplets that were recited are below:

Farooq Moonis: He recited a short poem [of blank verse], “Bekal Sapne” about dreams and reality.

Athar Abbasi:

Saia dil tere irfan e muhabbat ke tufail

Maikade mein aa gaya chashme ghazalan chhod kar

Haai aaghaze mohabbat ke haseen sham o saher

Dil kahan uljha hua hai zulfe jaana chhod kar

Mujahid Syed:

Ulfate jaanan mein jaan ka khauf bhi dekha nahin

Kooe jaanan ko chale aahoo biyaban chhod kar

Zindagi, ai zindagi,ai zindagi,ai zindagi

Hum adam ko jaa rahe hain naqshe imkan chhod kar

Khurshid Rizvi:

Jo dame shamshir par chal pae wo rakkhe qadam

Jaadae tahqeeq par deene buzurgaan chhod kar

Mere dil ki wus’aton ne kar liya sub ko aseer

Khud adoo daman se aa lipte girehban chhod kar

When asked to recite his favorite ghazal, Dr. Khurshid recited the following verses:

Aafiyat kahti hai phir ek sitamgar ko bulaen

Rege sahil ki tarah apne samundar ko bulaen

Kharzaron ka safar hai to pareshani kya

Aankh ko band karen aur gule tar ko bulaen

Once again Fizaur Rahman thanked everyone for attending the evening.


July 27, 2017
29 views
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
25 minutes ago

Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan discuss climate action cooperation

SAUDI ARABIA
46 minutes ago

Saudi chamber forms national committee for military industries  

SAUDI ARABIA
6 hours ago

FDI inflows to Saudi Arabia jump 16%, reaching over SR13 billion in 4Q of 2023