Marathon mushaira in Jubail wows Urdu lovers

Celebrated Indian and Pakistani poets from different cities in the Kingdom and Bahrain regaled an eclectic gathering of Urdu-speaking expatriates at the Al-Noor Compound in Jubail at the weekend.
The event was dubbed “Jashn-e-Naeem” to celebrate the presence in Jubail of Saudi Arabia’s first officially recognized Urdu poet Dr. Naeem Hamid Ali Al-Hamid. He is known in the literary circles for his scholarship and for maintaining and owning an outstanding Urdu library.
Well-known alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University, Dr. Wajahat Farooqui, organized the mushaira in close coordination with Nafis Tarin, Mohammad Saquib Jaunpuri, Mohammad Farooque Shahbandri and Shuja Anwar Sambhali.
There were nearly 40 poets and the mushaira went on for six uninterrupted hours. Such was the interest among the assembled guests that everyone remained in their seats till the vote of thanks was read out at 3 in the morning.
The star of the evening was, of course, Dr. Naeem Al-Hamid. It was he who set the ball rolling with his chaste couplets that left the audience in a bind. There was then no looking back.
Poets after poets recited their work and charmed the listeners with their incomparable craft. Whether it was a good turn of a phrase or a good idiom or a careful romantic thought woven in silken words, all of that was met with an instant approval and repeated wah-wahs.
The cold weather and the starry night added to the beauty of the evening. “It was a superb mushaira,” said Adil Mustafa of the Dhahran Poetry Group.
“It was an unforgettable evening,” said Dr. Syed Nehal Ahmad of Jubail Industrial College. “The couplets that were recited at the evening were thrilling and scintillating.”
The main attractions of the evening were the stylish and established Dr. Saleem Paracha (Alkhobar), the magnificent Iqbal Ahmed Qamar (Dammam), the wonderful Sohail Saquib (Dammam), the matchless Dr. Hanif Tarin (Riyadh), the hilarious Shaukat Jamal (Riyadh), the elegant Yousuf Ali Yousuf (Riyadh), the informative Dr. Shafiq Nadwi (Riyadh), the scholarly Dr. Syed Sajjad (Jubail), the brilliant Iqbal Tareq (Bahrain), the wonderful Afzal Khan (Dammam), the tactful Equbal Wajid (Jubail), the artful Shiraz Mahdi (Dammam), the dashing Asif Muzaffar Sahl (Dhahran) and the rib-tickling Syed Abdul Mujeeb (Dammam).
Among the poets from Jubail who received wide applause for their creative work were Mohammad Saquib Jaunpuri, Shuja-ur-Rahman Anwar Sambhali, Zafar Hashmi, Baqar Naqvi, Saeed Gustakh and Sarwat Zaidi Bhopali.
Rafeeq Akolvi (Dammam), Ayub Sabir (Dammam), Sarfaraz Zia (Dammam), Riyaz Shahid (Bahrain), Abdul Waheed (Dammam), Khalid Siddiqui (Alkhobar) and Alamgir (Najran) received equal appreciation for their presentation.
Longtime Indian expatriate Professor A.U. Malik, who works as the director of research and development at Saline Water Conversion Corporation in Jubail, was the guest of honor. He, along with Mohammad Jameel Khan, Dr. Suhail Ahmad, Anis Bakhsh, Dr. Ahmad Khan, Parvez Askari, Azeemuddin Peerzada and Mir Shahnawaz Ali Khan, was among those who enjoyed the evening till the last couplet was recited by event’s chief guest Dr. Naeem Al-Hamid.
Arshad, the son of the late Pakistani Urdu poet Mohsin Bhopali, who is based in Dammam, recited some of his father’s famous couplets and took the evening into a new realm. Everyone was excited as Arshad worked the magic of his father’s poetry: “Nairangee-e-siyasat-e-dauran to dekhiye/Manzil unhe mili jo shareek-e-safar na the.” He was a big hit.
Dr. Naeem Al-Hamid was in his element. He presented his couplets in a unique style. His language, phraseology, diction, idiom and medium, all were classic. Among his many couplets, the ones that were on everyone’s lips long after the evening was over were:
“Khuloos-e-dil ka zamaane me kaal hai ke nahi/Phir is daur me jeena kamal hai ke nahi?//Khizaan ka daur sahi, ye batao ahl-e-chaman/Yaqeen-e-aamad-e-fasl-e-bahaar hai ke nahi?”
In the words of Wajahat Farooqui, the chairman of the organizing committee, it was a marathon mushaira.