Seemab Akbarabadi ( ur, ) born Aashiq Hussain Siddiqui ( ur, , 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 on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

.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 Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...

, the first

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

of Islam, 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 Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...

. Seemab had said that his forefather had migrated from Bukhara sometime during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir and made Agra 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 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 (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

. Shair continued to be published long after Seemab’s death, managed and edited (since 1935) by his son,

Aijaz Siddiqi Aijaz ( ur, ) Siddiqi (1911–1978) was an Urdu writer and poet. He was the son of the famous Urdu poet, Seemab Akbarabadi. He was born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. After having founded ''Qasr-ul-Adab'' in 1923, Seemab Akbarabadi had in the year 1 ...

, 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. 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 ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

and then to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

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 (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

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

. He also wrote short stories, novels, dramas, biographies and critical appraisals 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.

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 Pakistani poets People from Agra 20th-century poets Muhajir people Writers from Karachi