Ameer Minai or Amir Meenai ( ur, ; 1829 — 13 October 1900) was a 19th-century Indian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. He was respected by several contemporary poets including

Ghalib ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy , death_date = , death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India , occupation = Poet , language ...

and Daagh Dehalvi and by

Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...

.Amir Meenai, an Eminent Urdu Poet on urduadab.com website
Published 8 August 2011, Retrieved 18 May 2018 He wrote in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Early life

The Minai family had lived in Lucknow for centuries in the area around Shah Mina's tomb, known as "Mina Bazaar" or "Mohalla-e Minaian" (The Quarter of the Minais). Ameer was educated at Farangi Mahal, Lucknow's primary educational institute.

Work

In the British attack on Lucknow in 1856 and the subsequent First war of independence in 1857, the family's homes were all destroyed and Meenai was forced to flee with his family, first to the nearby town of

Kakori Kakori is a town and a nagar panchayat in Lucknow district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 14 km north of Lucknow. Kakori was a centre Urdu poetry, literature and the Qadiriya Qalandari Sufi order. On 9 August 1925 Indian revolution ...

where he found refuge with the poet Mohsin Kakorvi, and eventually to the state of Rampur, where he found favor at the court of the ruler,

Nawab of Rampur Rampur State was a 15 gun-salute princely state of British India. It came into existence on 7 October 1774 as a result of a treaty with Oudh. Following independence in 1947, Rampur State and other princely states of the area, such as Bena ...

Yusef Ali Khan Bahadur. He served in the judiciary, was appointed head of Rampur's magnificent library, and became the official poetic mentor (ustad) of the ruler, succeeding the great Urdu poet,

, in this position. Meenai lived in Rampur until 1900 when he decided to go to

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

Deccan to seek financial support for the publication of his Urdu dictionary, "Ameer-ul-Lughaat" – but that was not to be, and he died there on 13 October 1900, barely a month after his arrival. He is buried in Hyderabad, India.

Poetry

In poetry, Meenai is best known for his ghazals, and for the na`at genre—poems in praise of the Prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

, which he helped popularize in

Urdu poetry Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghali ...

Legacy

''Mutaala'-e Ameer'' by Abu Muhammad Sahar, published in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in 1963, analyses Meenai's life and literary work.

Popular naat poetry

Meenai was considered a pioneer of naat poetry. *, Sung by

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi devotional music. Sometimes ...

, naat lyrics by Amir Meenai *' Naat qawwali by Amir Meenai, sung by Qawwal Bahauddin Khan *' Naat lyrics by Amir Meenai, sung by Umme Habiba *' Naat qawwali written by Amir Meenai, sung by

Popular ghazal songs

* '' Lyrics by Amir Meenai, sung and popularised by ghazal maestro

Jagjit Singh Jagjit Singh (born Jagmohan Singh Dhiman; 8 February 1941 – 10 October 2011) was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian cl ...

and later also featured in a film starring

Rishi Kapoor Rishi Raj Kapoor (4 September 1952 — 30 April 2020) was an Indian actor, film director and producer who worked in Hindi films. He was the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards and a National Film Award. Born into t ...

and

Tina Munim Tina Ambani (née Munim) is a former Indian actress. She is married to Anil Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Group. She is actively involved in many foundations and charities. Many of these were established in the memory of her in-laws, Dhirubhai a ...

. *'', sung by

K.L. Saigal Kundan Lal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), was an Indian singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, which was centred in Kolkata during Saigal's time, but is ...

, Ghulam Ali, M. Kalim and othersPoetry of Amir Meenai on rekhta.org website
Retrieved 19 May 2018 *'', sung by Ustad Barkat Ali Khan *'', sung by

Farida Khanum Farida Khanum (Urdu: ) is a Pakistani classical singer from the city of Kolkata West Bengal. She is also known by her honorific title ''Malika-e-Ghazal'' (The Queen of Ghazal) in both Pakistan and India. Early life She was born in the fall of ...

* , sung by

Kavita Seth Kavita Seth (born 14 September 1970) is an Indian singer, who is most known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema, as well as a performer of Ghazals and Sufi music, and leads a Sufi musical group, ''Karwaan Group''.A Suitable Boy ''A Suitable Boy'' is a novel by Vikram Seth, published in 1993. With 1,349 pages (1,488 pages in paperback), the English-language book is one of the longest novels published in a single volume. ''A Suitable Boy'' is set in a newly post-inde ...

Bibliography

Amir Meenai wrote over 40 books in his lifetime, some of which are unpublished. * ''Subah-e-Azal'' * ''Shaam-e-Awadh'' * ''Divan-e-Farsi'' (Persian poetry), edited by Tehseen Firaqi, published in 2016 * ''Miraat-ul-ghaib'' * ''Sanam khana-i-ishq'' * ''Khayaban-i-Aafrinish'' (Prophet Muhammad's life in easy prose)

References

External links

*
Poetry of Amir Meenai on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amir Meenai Urdu-language poets from India 1829 births 1900 deaths 19th-century Indian Muslims Writers from Lucknow Muslim poets 19th-century Indian poets Poets from Uttar Pradesh Urdu-language writers Linguists from India