Mumtaz Husain, better known as Mumtaz Mufti ( ur, ; September 11, 1905 – October 27, 1995), was a writer from Pakistan.Recalling Mumtaz Mufti: LAHORE LITERARY SCENE
Dawn (newspaper), Published 10 November 2001, Retrieved 4 September 2017 Initially a religious skeptic influenced by authors like

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

Havelock Ellis Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in ...

Alfred Adler Alfred Adler ( , ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, family constellation and birth orde ...

and

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

, he would eventually come back to Islam through

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

. Critic Nasir Abbas Nayyar described his writing style as psychological realist.

Early life

Mumtaz Mufti was born Mumtaz Husain in

Batala Batala is the eighth largest city in the state of Punjab, India in terms of population after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Mohali and Hoshiarpur. Batala ranks as the second-oldest city after Bathinda. It is a municipal corpo ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

(now in India). He was the son of Muhammad Hussain and his first wife Sughra Khanum. He was employed as a civil servant under

British rule The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, having earlier started his career as a school teacher. Soon after partition in 1947, he migrated to Pakistan with his family.Biography of Mumtaz Mufti on urduadab4u.com website
Retrieved 4 September 2017

As a writer

Mumtaz Mufti started writing

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

short stories while working as a school teacher before 1947. In the beginning of his literary career, he was considered, by other literary critics, a non-conformist writer having liberal views, who appeared influenced by the psychologist

. Pakistan's famous writer Ashfaq Ahmed was one of his close friends. According to Ashfaq Ahmed, Mufti used to read unpopular literature by a Swedish writer before 1947. Mufti initially did not like the 1947 partition plan of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, but changed his views later to become a patriotic Pakistani. In his later life, he used to defend Islam and its principles. His transformation from Liberalism to

was due to his inspiration from a fellow writer Qudrat Ullah Shahab. Despite all the changes in his viewpoints, he did manage to retain his individual point of view and wrote on subjects which were frowned upon by the conservative elements in the society. The two phases of his life are witnessed by his autobiographies, '' Ali Pur Ka Aeeli'' (1961) and '' Alakh Nagri''. According to forewords mentioned in his later autobiography, '' Ali Pur Ka Aeeli'' is an account of a lover who challenged the social taboos of his times, and '' Alakh Nagri'' is an account of a devotee who is greatly influenced by the mysticism of Qudrat Ullah Shahab.Biography of Mumtaz Mufti on goodreads.com website
Retrieved 4 September 2017 The book ''Talaash'' ("Quest") was the last book written by Mumtaz Mufti. It reportedly highlights the true spirit of Quranic teachings.Mumtaz Mufti interviewing folk singer Tufail Niazi at Lok Virsa, Islamabad event on YouTube
Published 5 April 2013, Retrieved 4 September 2017

Awards and recognition

* 1986:

Sitara-e-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

(Star of Excellence) Award by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Profile of Mumtaz Mufti on samaa.tv website
Published 27 October 2011, Retrieved 4 September 2017 * 1989:

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

Award (a literary award from India)

Legacy

His son, Uxi Mufti, a literary critic himself, created a ''Mumtaz Mufti Trust'' after his death in October 1995. This trust has been observing Mumtaz Mufti's death anniversary events in different cities of Pakistan. His friends and admirers, including Ashfaq Ahmed, Bano Qudsia and Ahmad Bashir have appeared as speakers at these events. Another famous writer Kishwar Naheed comments in one of her book reviews that Mumtaz Mufti had plenty of human weaknesses but also has appreciated him as a learned critic. There is a road named after him in the city of

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the olde ...

, Pakistan.

Books

Short stories

* ''Gehma Gehmi'', 1949, 256 p. * ''Asmarain'', 1952, 327 p. * ''Ghubare'', 1954, 220 p. * ''Ghurya ghar'', 1965, 312 p. * ''Raughani putle'', 1984, 244 p. * ''Muftiyane'', 1989, 1526 p. (collected short stories) * ''Kahi na jae'', 1992, 178 p. * ''Chup'', 1993, 269 p. * ''Samai ka bandhan'', 1993, 192 p. * ''Talash'', 1996, 278 p. (last book, the theme being Islam)

Play

* ''Nizam saqqah'', 1953, 169 p.

Autobiographical novels

* ''Alipur ka Eli'', 1961, 1188 p. (first part of the autobiography) * ''Alakh nagri'', 1992, 996 p. (second part of the autobiography)

Travelogues

* ''Hind Yatra'', 1982, 359 p. (travel to India) * ''Labbaik'', 1993, 320 p. (account of a Hajj pilgrimage undertaken in 1968)

Essays

* ''Piyaz ke chilke'', 1968, 184 p. (literary criticism and views on Pakistani nationalism) * ''Aukhe log'', 1986, 311 p. (impressions of famous Pakistani writers) * ''Aukhe avalre'', 1995, 258 p. (biographical sketches of famed Pakistani authors)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mufti, Mumtaz 1905 births 1995 deaths Pakistani autobiographers Pakistani novelists Pakistani male short story writers Urdu-language short story writers Pakistani dramatists and playwrights Scholars of Sufism Urdu-language novelists Pakistani literary critics Writers from Lahore Punjabi people 20th-century novelists Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz 20th-century Pakistani short story writers 20th-century Pakistani male writers Converts to Islam from atheism or agnosticism