Naat as a Literary Genre of Urdu:Some Questions - Dr. Rauf Parekh

Dr.Rauf Parekh-Karachi Naat as a Literary Genre of Urdu:Some Questions Sabeeh Rahmani seemed a bit disappointed and perturbed at the Karachi Arts Council's recently held International Urdu Conference and he had reasons to be so. He was speaking during the session on naat and expressed his displeasure in overt terms that when naat poets and other scholars working on naat had such luminaries as Intizar Hussain,Kishwer Naheed and some others from India and Pakistan as audience,it was a wonderful opportunity for them to discuss naat as a literary genre purely on a scholarly basis and convince them of their point of view but they engaged themselves in expressing emotions and excessive religiosity. As a poet and editior,Sabeeh knows that the authors and even the scholars of Urdu are very fond of using adjectives and their superlative degrees.Repetitive and cliched verbosity is yet another peculiarity that ails many writers of Urdu and it was on its height on that day.So his disturbance was justified,but he very sensibly ended it on a positive note and expressed the hope that next year it would be better. It was the second year in row when naat took the centre stage at the Arts Council's literary conference.It Shows that the contribution of naat poets___ and researchers and critics working on naat as a literary genre_____ is finally getting acceptance and recognition. "About a quarter of a century ago,naat was considered just a religious phenomenon and its litreary or aesthetic value was generally not given much importanc,"writers Mubeen Mirza,the guest editor of the 25th issue of Naat rang,the Karachi based literary magazines specialising on naat and edited by Sabeeh Rahmani. In his editorial titled'Naat aur Urdu ki she'ari tehzeeb'Mirza sahib stresses that "in the past,in literary and critical discussions thorough naat did come under review,the trened was barely noticeable.Today,different literary,social,regilious and cultural aspects of naat are talked about and naat is considered a literary genre.This owes much to Sabeeh Rahmani. Sabeeh Rahmani is a well-known naat poet of Urdu and his naat recitation,too is appreciated.Some two decades ago,he made it a mission of his life to promote naat,not only as a religious text but also as a literary genere with all its critical aspects.He established a Naat Research Centre and thus began a journey of a lone traveller that has now become a huge caravan.With its invaluable library a journal regularly published and over 40 publiacations,the centre has become a source of information and inspiration for those working on naat. Sabeeh Rahmani launched Naat Rang,the centre's journal,with a view to provide the lovers of literature and naat poetry with a platform to share their views,discuss the related and keep every one informed about the arrival of new works on naat.The first issue came out in April 1995 and it is still going strong.Naat rang's 25th issue has been published and it coincides with the Rabi-ul-Awwal celebrations. The 25th issue of different sections which,in addition to naats and book reviews,include research and critiacal papers on the genre of naat.But Dr.Moinuddin Aqeel's Paper titled'Teheeqi-naat:soorat-i-haal aur taqaaze'(the research on naat:present situation and exigencies)deserves some serious attention as it offers some insights and invites the lovers of naat poetry to some introspection.He has raised some serious questions about general research on naat and the research work so far carried out on naat as genre of Urdu potery.He say's for example."a few dissertations written on naat for obtaining a Ph.D are truly thought provoking informative and comprehensive",Dr Aqeel adds that"atleast theses have been written on Maulana Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi's naat poetry.We must ask:was the topic so vast and deep that eight different scholars had to research it?And if yes,what was the outcome and what new aspects were discovered each time"? Similarly,according to Dr.Aqeel many topics realeated to naat on which Ph.D's were awarded were not worth it,either the topics was to o narrow or the dissertations was not up to the mark.What he has emphaised is the relevance,importance and utility of research topics and an avoidance of emotionality. Other scholarly pieces included in Naat rang are by Dr.Riaz Majeed,Dr.Aziz Ahsan and Dr.Afzal Ahmed Anwer.So Sabeeh Rahmani's ire on scholors failure to come up with relevent,unemotional and schloarly papers under standable.He has pratically shown in the shape of Naat rang's new issue what he was looking for:some serious,sterling and scholarly pieces on the great poetry known as Urdu naat. (Dawn News Paper : December 21,2015)