One of the last masters of Ilm-e-Arooz passed away

Posted on Friday January 21, 2011 at 9:29am

By Iftikhar Chaudri

Renowned Urdu poet and one of the last masters of the technical aspect of poetry writing (Ilm-i-Aroos), Raghib Muradabadi passed away on Wednesday. in Karachi. He was 93. 

Born in 1918 in Delhi, Raghib Muradabadi graduated from Delhi College and learned the art of composing poetry from the likes of Yas Yagana, Safi Lakhnavi and Maulana Zafar Ali Khan. After partition, he came to Karachi where he was made the head of the rehabilitation committee for migrants by former prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan. He contributed a great deal to the betterment of the migrant community.
He wrote 40 books which include a collection of ghazals, nazms, naat, a collection of poetry in Punjabi and translations in verse of Quranic Ayats and Ahadees. His collection of ghazals Rag-i-Guftar was received with critical acclaim as did his naats, Midhatul Bashar .
After Josh Malihabadi, whom he knew very well, Raghib Muradabadi was considered the best writer of rubaai (quatrain). One of his books titled Maut has 500 rubaais on the topic of death. 

Iftikhar Chaudri

The foreword to the book is written by Allama Talib Jauhri. He also penned his thoughts on the issue of terrorism. His compilation of Josh`s letters, Khutoot-i-Josh Malihabadi , and a book titled Mukalmat-i-Josh-o-Raghib speak for his closeness to Josh Malihabadi. Raghib Muradabadi had thousands of shagirds (pupils) the most prominent of which was the popular poet Habib Jalib. It is believed it`s Raghib sahib who suggested to Habib that he adopt Jalib as his pen name.

Raghib sahib was quite fluent in the Punjabi language. Talking to Dawn in an interview last year, he explained what had inspired him to learn the language.
“I had developed friendship with a Hindu girl back in India. Once she remarked that `jay tusi saday naal pyar karday ho tay, sadi zaban naal vee pyar karo.` (If you love me, you should love our language also.) I accepted the challenge, listened to Punjabi programmes on the radio, read Punjabi books and acquired such mastery over the language that I began composing poetry in it.”