Seemab Akbarabadi () born Aashiq Hussain Siddiqui (, 5 June 1882 – 31 January 1951) was an Urdu poet from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

.Profile of Seemab Akbarabadi on rekhta.org website
Retrieved 28 May 2019
Urdu Adab website, Published 18 August 2010, Retrieved 27 May 2019

Early life

Seemab Akbarabadi, (born Aashiq Hussain Siddiqui) a descendant of

Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...

, the first

Caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

of Islam, was born in Imliwale makaan of Kakoo Gali, Nai Mandi,

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

, as the eldest son of Mohammad Hussain Siddiqui, who was himself a Urdu poet, author of several books, a disciple of Hakim Amiruddin Attaar Akbarabadi, and an employee of the Times of India Press,

Ajmer Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...

. Seemab had said that his forefather had migrated from

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

sometime during the reign of the Mughal Emperor

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

and made

his home, however, according to Mohan Lal his great-grandfather had migrated from Bukhara during Aurangzeb's reign.

Literary career

Seemab began ghazal writing in 1892 and in 1898 became a disciple of Nawab Mirza Khan Daagh Dehlawi (1831–1905) to whom he was personally introduced by Munshi Nazar Hussain Sakhaa Dehlawi at the

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

Railway Station. After founding "Qasr-ul-adab" in 1923 with Saghar Nizami as its editor, he started publishing the Monthly "Paimana". In 1929, he started the Weekly "Taj" and in 1930 the Monthly Shair. The publication of "Paimana" ceased in 1932 when Saghar Nizami separated from Seemab and moved to

Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...

. Shair continued to be published long after Seemab’s death, managed and edited (since 1935) by his son, Aijaz Siddiqi, and "Wahi-e-manzoom" published by his son Mazhar Siddiqui from Karachi won a Hijra Award on 27 Ramzan by the President of Pakistan,

General Zia-Ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

. Seemab never enjoyed a comfortable financial position, yet he always appeared immaculately dressed in a neat sherwani and white wide pajama with a Turkish topi covering his head. He did not have a beard. Seemab wrote in all literary formats and on various social and political topics. In 1948, he went to

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

and then to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

in an unsuccessful search for a publisher for his monumental work, "Wahi-e-Manzoom", an Urdu translation in verse form of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

. Seemab did not return to Agra. In 1949 he suffered a massive paralytic

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

from which he never recovered and he died on 31 January 1951.

Works

Beginning with the publication of his first collection of poems," Naistaan" in 1923, Akbarabadi published seventy-five books throughout his life. These included twenty-two books of poetry, not including "Loh-e-mahfooz" (1979), "Wahi-e-manzoom" (1981) and "Saaz-e-hijaz" (1982), all published long after his death. He is best known for his ghazals particularly by those sung by Kundan Lal Saigal. He also wrote short stories, novels, dramas, biographies and critical appraisals in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, Persian and Arabic.

Scholarship

Works on Akbarabadi's life and literary contributions include: * "Dastan-e-chand" written by Raaz Chandpuri * "Islah-ul-islah" by Abr Ahasani Gunnauri * "Khumkhana-e-Javed " Vol 4 by Lala Sri Ram * "Zikr-e-Seemab" and "Seemab banaam Zia", both by Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi * "Seemab Akbarabadi " by Manohar Sahai Anwar * "Rooh-e-Mukatib" by Saghar Nizami * "Seemab Ki Nazmiya" Shayari by Zarina Sani * "Seemab aur Dabistan-e-Seemab " by Iftikhar Ahmed Fakhar Among the writers and poets that he influenced were Raaz Chandpuri, Saghar Nizami and Mohsin Bhopali.

Partial bibliography

He wrote "about 200 works of prose and poetry",R.G., "SEEMAB, ASHIQ HUSSAIN AKBARABADI (Urdu; b.1880, d.1951)", Mohan Lal (ed.), ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot'', Sahitya Akademi (1992), p. 3900 which include: * ''Naistan'' (1923) * ''Ilhaam-e-manzoom'' (1928) * ''Kaar-e-imroz'' (1934) * ''Kaleem-e-ajam'' (1936) * ''Dastur-ul-islah'' (1940) * ''Saaz-o-aahang'' (1941)Profile of Seemab Akbarabadi on urdupoetry.com website
Retrieved 28 May 2019 * ''Krishna Gita'' (1942) * ''Aalam Aashool'' (1943) * ''Sadrah almantaha'' (1946) * ''Sher-e-inqlaab'' ( 1947) * ''Loh-e-mahfooz'' (1979) * ''Wahi-e-manzoom'' (1981)

References

Sources

* http://www.urdupoetry.com/seemab.html

* http://www.kavitakosh.org/seemab
Seemab Akbarabadi at Jakhira
(Hindi) {{DEFAULTSORT:Akbarabadi, Seemab 1882 births 1951 deaths Urdu-language poets from Pakistan Muslim poets Writers from Agra 20th-century Pakistani poets Muhajir people Writers from Karachi