Ishaque Saqib

Professor Ishaque Saqib (Full name: Mohammed Ishaque Ansari): Born in Paliganj (1941) in the district of Patna in Bihar. He uses Saqib as his pen name. Professor Ishaque is an eminent scholar of economics. He completed his B.A. (Hons.) and Masters degrees in economics from Patna University. He continued his educational pursuits in Canada receiving his second Masters degree and his Ph.D. in economics. After teaching in North America for over 30 years, he retired in 2011. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Professor Ishaque has published over 60 scholarly articles in many journals around the world. His works are cited by scholars all over the world. He has received many awards for his scholarly achievements. Recently he was awarded Professor Emeritus status for his teaching and research accomplishments by his university.

Professor Ishaque always had a keen interest in Urdu literature, especially Urdu poetry. He showed his talent for writing couplets when he was in his teens. He entered his first couplet in a prize contest in an Urdu magazine sometime in the early1950s (he cannot remember the name of the magazine) and won a prize for it. In the magazine there was a picture of a beautiful girl.You might say that it was a perfect example of `husn aur uspe husne zan’. There was untold degree of tamkanat and raunat in it and the task was to write a couplet capturing the mood in the picture. The winning couplet was as follows:

Wayez khuda samajh ke na sajda kia mujhe

Ae waye barhaman kia main tera sanam na tha?

Professor Ishaqe has been writing couplets in spare time throughout his teaching career. After his retirement he has gone back to writing poetry full time and hopes that someday he may be able to publish his works in some form. Noticing his talent, late Dr. Kalim Ajiz took him under his guidance, something that Dr. Kalim has mentioned many times in his letters and which Professor Ishaque considers as one of the highlights of his life. ln a very short period of time the two developed  a great deal of mutual respect and admiration for each other. His mentor’s imprint is to be found in many places in his poetry.

Here are some of his favorite couplets:

Thi tamanna deed ki par uf rey unka soz e husn

Uth saki na ek nazar jaise ho koi aftaab

Naam hi  tak  tai  kia  hai  unka  ehsas  e  hijaab

Dard  e dil  kuch  aur  karde  beqarari  aap  ki

Sun ke mere paaon ki ahat situmgar ne kaha

Haan wahi aazzar e jaan hai, haan wahi khana kharaab

Bharam unki enayet ka nahin hai be sabab Saqib

Nazar khabon mein mumkin hai phisal kar pad gai hogi

Lagi dil ki Saqib na nikli ghazal mein     

 Go taqleed ahl-e-hunar kar rahe hain  

Uf re us nazuk badan ki mastian! 

 Har qadam par saikdon bal khae hai 

Tees uthi hai jigar mein aaj bhi 

Zikr tera jab kabhi ajaye hai 

Samajh kar bazm mein hote hain pursan haal wo Saqib

Kisi ki pyaas bujh jai magar chhalke na paymana

Saqib agar ye such hai ke wo mehraban nahain   

Keon hogeya udaas wo tujhlo rola ke raat?

Teri talaash mein Saqib falak ke paar mila 

Jahan mila teri yadon mein askkbaar mila 

Meri daastan-e-gham mein wo moqaam aagya hai

Ke zuban pe rukte rukte tera naam aagya hai

Mujhko nahin azeez hai bebakiy-e-dohal 

Mujh se mere kalaam ki shohrat na puchiye

Teri wafa ka mujhe etbaar hai to sahi

Abhi se kia hai, abhi sang-o-sar ki baat karo

Saqib tujhe zamana bhi samjhe ga bulhawas

Sun kar gila-e-yaar tere baar baar ke

Barson se jiski yaad mein tad pa kia Kalim

Ro dho ke uski god mein chup ho gya Kalim

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