Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar (BUQ) recently organised an informal literary session over lunch at Asiana Restaurant.
Canada-based physician, prominent Urdu scholar, researcher, writer and intellectual Dr Syed Taqi Abedi was the chief guest. Dr Abedi had flown in from Canada to participate in Iqbal seminar organised by Iqbal Academy Middle East, and Faiz Seminar and poetry symposium organised by Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar.
Dr Abedi has authored more than 37 books on different subjects of prose, poetry, and critiques with creative research in Urdu, Persian and English languages. His compilation in Persian language includes two volumes of poetry of eighteenth century noted poet Mirza Ghalib.
Dr Abedi has researched and compiled work of Mir Anis and Mirza Dabeer, two most prominent poets of Lukhnow school of poetry. Also, he has done encyclopaedic work on the life and philosophy of Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
In Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar’s session, Dr Abedi spoke about Mirza Salamat Ali Dabeer (1803–1875), a noted Urdu poet who excelled and perfected the art of Marsiya writing. Marsiya is an elegiac poem written to commemorate the martyrdom and valour of Imam Hussain, and his comrades of the Karbala. The word ‘Marsiya’ is derived from the Arabic word ‘Risa’, meaning a great tragedy or lamentation for a departed soul. He is considered the leading exponent of marsiya writing along with Mir Anis. Dr Syed Taqi Abedi presented a review of Dabeer’s poetry. He claimed that Mir Anis and Mirza Dabeer had used more words in Urdu poetry than any other poet. He said Nazir Akbarabadi had written 8,500 couplets, whereas Dabeer’s tally was 120,000, and Anis’s 86,000. Dabeer, along with Anis, left an everlasting influence on Urdu literature and marsiya in particular. Marsiya, in its content and matter, allowed the two masters to demonstrate their artistry and command of Urdu language and idiom.
This special sitting with Dr Abedi was attended by noted literary personalities in Qatar including Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar’s Chairman Faisal Hanif Khayal, president Mohammed Rafiq Shad Akolvi, General Secretary Iftekhar Raghib, Abdul Ghaffar, Syed Abdul Hye, India Urdu Society founder president Jaleel Nizami, vice president Ateeq Anzar, Zafar Siddiqui, Aligarh association president Ali Imran, Ashraf Siddiqui, Bazm’s communication officer Wazir Ahmed Wazir, Bazm’s vice president Feroz Khan, Afsar Asemi, Abdul Majeed, Shamsul Haq Azad, Ghufran Siddiqui, and Bazm’s media secretary Roase Mumtaz.

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