Seemab Akbarabadi | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Aashiq Hussain Siddiqui |
| Born | 5 June 1882 (1882-06-05) Agra,North-Western Provinces,British India |
| Died | 31 January 1951 (1951-02-01) (aged 68) Karachi,Federal Capital Territory,Pakistan |
| Genres | Qat'aa,Rubai,Ghazal,Nazm,Noha,Salaam,essays.short stories,novels,biographies andtranslations. |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, writer, publisher |
Seemab Akbarabadi (Urdu:سیماب اکبرآبادی) bornAashiq Hussain Siddiqui (Urdu:عاشق حسین صدیقی, 5 June 1882 – 31 January 1951) was an Urdu poet fromBritish India andPakistan.[1][2]
Seemab Akbarabadi, (born Aashiq Hussain Siddiqui)[3][4] a descendant ofAbu Bakr, the firstCaliph of Islam,[5] was born in Imliwale makaan of Kakoo Gali, Nai Mandi,Agra, 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. Seemab had said that his forefather had migrated fromBukhara sometime during the reign of the Mughal EmperorJahangir and madeAgra his home, however, according to Mohan Lal[6] his great-grandfather had migrated from Bukhara during Aurangzeb's reign.
Seemab began ghazal writing in 1892 and in 1898 became a disciple of Nawab Mirza KhanDaagh Dehlawi (1831–1905) to whom he was personally introduced by Munshi Nazar Hussain Sakhaa Dehlawi at theKanpur Railway Station.[4]
After founding "Qasr-ul-adab" in 1923 withSaghar Nizami as its editor, he started publishing the Monthly "Paimana". In 1929, he started the Weekly "Taj" and in 1930 the MonthlyShair. The publication of "Paimana" ceased in 1932 when Saghar Nizami separated from Seemab and moved toMeerut.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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] He did not have a beard. Seemab wrote in all literary formats and on various social and political topics. In 1948, he went toLahore and then toKarachi in an unsuccessful search for a publisher for his monumental work, "Wahi-e-Manzoom", an Urdu translation in verse form of theQuran. Seemab did not return to Agra. In 1949 he suffered a massive paralyticstroke from which he never recovered and he died on 31 January 1951.[4]
Beginning with the publication of his first collection of poems," Naistaan" in 1923, Akbarabadi published seventy-five books throughout his life.[citation needed] 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 byKundan Lal Saigal.[7] He also wrote short stories, novels, dramas, biographies and critical appraisals inUrdu,Persian and Arabic.[2][8]
Works on Akbarabadi's life and literary contributions include:
Among the writers and poets that he influenced wereRaaz Chandpuri,Saghar Nizami andMohsin Bhopali.[1]
He wrote "about 200 works of prose and poetry",[9] which include:
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