May 17, 2020
Urdu Academy pays tribute to Raees Amrohvi
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The Urdu Academy of North America held a literary event on May 17, 2020 via Zoom. The event was dedicated to the life and work of prominent Urdu poet and writer Raees Amrohvi.
.Dr. Maheen Adamson was MC of the event. She presented a well researched maqala on the poetry and other literary work of Raees Amrohvi whose real name was Syed Muhammad Mehdi.
As usual a number of Urdu enthusiasts recited the poetry of Raees Amrohvi: Abdus Sattar Ghazali, Bano Vijaypura Sapna, Mehboob Alam (joined from Pakistan), Mukesh Kackar, Hatem Rani, Kausar Sayed, Zeba Rizvi and Dr. Ghazala Ansari.
Raees Amrohvi was elder brother Jaun Elia who was also a prominent Urdu poet. His family is regarded as family of poets.
Raees Amrohvi was known for his style of qatanigari (quatrain writing) which he wrote for Jang newspaper for several decade. He was born on 12 September 1914 in Amroha, India. He migrated to Pakistan on 19 October 1947 and settled in Karachi.
He also published a number of books on the topic of metaphysics, meditation, and yoga. He also intended to translate the Bhagavad Gita into standard Urdu.
He was assassinated by virtue of his faith on 22 September 1988 by an extremist religious militant group.
Zeba Rizvi, perhaps stole the show with her presentation of Raees Amrohvi’s poem Urdu ka janaza hai zara dhoom say niklay (It is the funeral of Urdu, carry it out with fanfare).
In 1972 Sindh Sindh Assembly passed The Sind Teaching, Promotion and Use of Sindhi Language Bill in 1972. Raees Amrovi wrote his famous poem Urdu ka janaza hai zara dhoom say niklay.
The Jung newspaper of Karachi published his poem on front page which apparently started language riots in Karachi and several towns in Sindh. After nine days of rioting the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto visited Karachi and announced that Urdu and Sindhi will both be official languages of Sindh. The making of Sindhi as an equal language to Urdu for official purposes frustrated the Urdu-speaking people as they did not speak the Sindhi language. Read More about language riots of 1972
Here is the list of Raees Amrohvi’s literary and other work:
Poetry books:
Alif, Masnavi Lala-e-Sehra (1956), Pase Ghubar (1969), Qattat - I (1969), Qattat - II (1969), Hikayaat (1975), Ba-Hazrat-e-Yazdaan (1984), Malboos-e-Bahar (1983) and Aasaar (1985)
Other books: Muraqabah, Ma'badun-Nafsiyaat (Parapsychology),
Nafseyaat-o-Mabaad-an-Nafseyaat (3 vols), Ajaib-e-Nafs (4 vols), Le Sans Bhi Ahista (2 vols),Jinseyaat (2 vols) and Aalam-e-Barzagh (2 vols)
