At 8.30PM on the sixth of May 2021, Shamim sahab’s family received a call from MD City Hospital, New Delhi, “We are going to give CPR to the patient as his heart is not responding. We have to incubate him. Could you please come soon?” Just an hour back doctors were hopeful about his condition.
With prayers in our heart, we rushed from Jasola to Model Town. That 40-minute drive was the longest I ever took. We reached hospital at 9.20PM and dashed towards the ICU ward, only to be stopped by the doctor outside the ward, “We tried our best but could not succeed, he is no more.“ Shamim Hanfi had left for his heavenly abode at 8.50 PM, to be united with his parents, brothers, his illustrious friends like Intezar Hussain, Balraj Menra, Zahid Dar, Shamsur Rahman Farooqui, Asif Farrukhi, Zubair Rizvi, Manglesh Dabral, Mohammad Alvi, Mohd Shahid and many others. He left behind a grieving wife and two daughters.
Shamim Hanfi was born in Sultanpur on November 17th, 1938. Son of a renowned advocate, Mohd.Yaseen Siddiqui and Begum Zaibunnisa, he was the eldest of the six siblings. His father was an Aligarian and a literary enthusiast who completed his education from AMU in 1932-33. Shamim Hanafi recalled that his father used to prepare a list of literary classics, which he had to read every month. He was introduced to Tagore, Doestovosky, Dickens and others quite early in his life. Being a voracious reader, during his school days itself, he read the likes of Zafar Umar, Tirath Nath Firozpuri, Krishna Gopal Abid, Rashid Akhtar Nadwi, Shibli Nomani, Hali, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Nazir Ahmad.
During his college days he was inclined towards fiction and read Krishnachander, Saadat Hasan Manto, Bedi, Ismat Chugtai, Willayatullah Ansari, Ghulam Abbas, Mumtaaz Mufti, Munshi Premchand and others.
He did his schooling from Sultanpur and learnt Persian from Maulvi Mugheesuddin. His interest in Urdu literature was the result of his father’s perseverance and close proximity to his Urdu, History and English Teacher Syed Moinuddin Qadri (translator of many noted English literary works). While in Intermediate he translated in Urdu, the Persian play “Aakhiri Yaadgaar-e-Nadir Shah” of renowned Persian playwright Saeed Nafisi.
He shifted to Allahabad to pursue his college studies. At Allahabad University he came in contact with Firaq Gorukhpuri, Dr. Aijaz Hussain, Prof. Ehtesham Hussain and Prof. S.C. Deb, who left an indelible impact upon his sensibilities. They were not just teachers, but also intellectual guides for him. He completed his D. Phil from Allahabad University in the year 1966, his subjects were English Literature, History and Urdu. He was the first regular student of D. Lit in Aligarh Muslim University, which he completed in 1976.
Shamim Hanfi was not an individual but an institution. His contribution to the Urdu language is unparalleled. He had a memory of an elephant, if he heard something once, he will remember it forever. He could recite hundreds of couplets of any poet, whom he had read. In a book launch ceremony at Rekhta few years back, Javed Akhtar requested Shamim Sb to launch his grandfather, Muztar Khairabadi’s, collection of poetry. The launch was scheduled an hour later, Shamim Sb asked Javed Akhtar to give him the book as he had not read Muztar’s poetry that much. An hour later, he was eloquently reading one couplet after the other of Muztar Khairabadi, relating them with various themes and the audience was spell bound to his oratory skills.
Shamim Hanfi was a distinguished Urdu critic, dramatist & one of the leading voices of Modernist movement in Urdu Literature. His books on Modernism like, “Jadeediyat ke Falsafana Ahsaas”, “Jadeediyat aur Nai Shairi” and “ Nai Sheri Riwayat” are considered as path-breaking and profound works. He was one of the most sought-after keynote speakers on Urdu language and personalities who have contributed to the development of Urdu. His addresses were engrossing, touching the sensibilities of audience. He was a man of wit and humour. His clear and in-depth narrative and interesting anecdotes keep the audience glued to their chairs.
His interviews on leading personalities of Urdu world had brought many unknown facts to the fore and also helped in understanding their contributions. His books on Manto, Meraji, Iqbal and others are a delight to Urdu lovers and provide them with engaging facts and rich material. Shamim Hanafi was of the opinion that the spirit of twentieth century couldn’t be understood without acknowledging the work of Faiz, Rashid and Miraji. He pointed out that unlike Faiz and Rashid, Miraji existed in many spheres at a time. He remarked that Miraji achieved many things including altering the geography of Urdu poetry, since the “jungle” played a key role in his poetry.
Shamim Hanafi held certain values close to his heart, as he believed that literature or the arts is not based on any one single ideology or a certain line of efficient thinking. That the ingenious effort is only to be an aside, an addition or an elucidation of what one holds to be of importance. Therefore, arts and literature cannot be custom-built.
Hanafi also valued immensely the quest of intellect and art for its own sake, and not for the purpose of either public acclaim or reward. He seemed to be disgusted with those who in their honest pursuit somehow fall prey to an endorsement from influential circles and then compromise their positions and hence taint their intellectual integrity. Khawaja Ahmed Abbas and Devandarnath Sidharti were chosen as two examples that he personally knew and they both worked not for personal profit but for the discovery of what were right.
Shamim Hanfi was one of the greatest advocate of bonhomie between Hindi and Urdu and for that reason he traveled worldwide to express his views and his articles on this subject were published across the globe and he had participated in talk shows, discussions and also participated in events like Hindi Urdu Flagship programme of University of Texas (USA).
Shamim Hanfi maintained that Hindi and Urdu are historically close to each other but politics has created a rift between them. He was of the opinion that a curriculum should be designed where both Hindi and Urdu should be taught together as this will bridge the gap between the two languages and also revive the mutual tradition of both the languages. He emphasized that there is a need to protect both the languages from religious extremism and politics. He was of the view that if both Hindi and Urdu respect each other’s space and don’t intrude then both the languages will flourish and complement each other in the best possible way.
Shamim Hanfi noted that we have seen the world being split into blocs with new boundaries coming up every now and then but as far as literature is concerned , there are no boundaries, “Literature is the common heritage of all societies regardless of caste, colour, creed or race”. He further said, “Books respect our solitude.”
Shamim Hanfi was conferred with the first Jnangarima Manad Alankaran Award, by the Bharatiya Jnanpith in 2015. He received the “International award for promotion of Urdu literature” in January 2021 from the Majlis-e-Farogh-e-Urdu Adab, a Qatar-based literary organization. He also received the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Award, Pervaiz Shahidi Award, Delhi’s Urdu Academy Award and the Ghalib Award.
An obscure fact about Shamim Hanfi was that he was an artist as well. His sense of aesthetics was unique and rich and was evident in his passion for performing arts, painting, pottery, etc. This is the reason that some of his close friends were from the artist community such as Gogi Sarojpal, Ved Nayyar, Ramachandran Nayar, Arpita Singh, Rajiv Lochan, Paramjit Singh, and Jatin Das.
He also served as the member of AMU court in 2010 and as a patron to many literary societies and organisations like Rekhta and Jashan-E-Adab.
Shamim Hanafi authored and edited more than 40 books (on culture, criticism, drama & literary history) and about half a dozen collection of stories for children. Recently Rekhta published his first poetry collection by the name of “Aakhri Pehar ki Dastak”
“They don’t make them like you anymore,
That’s for sure,
And when they made you,
They made sure they threw away the mold”
Khudahafiz Shamim sahab. You will always remain as the guiding light for millions of Urdu lovers and literary enthusiast like me.