Nassakh
Khan Bahadur Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdul Ghafūr (1833-1889), better known by his pen name Nassakh (Urdu: نساخ), was a British Indian officer, writer, literary critic and collector.[1] He is best known for his magnum opus Sukhan-e-Shuara (Urdu: سخن شعرا Speech of Poets) which was a biography of prominent Urdu and Persian poets.[2] He organised mushaira in places where he worked; inspiring young Urdu poets in Bengal.[1]
Nassakh | |
---|---|
Born | Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdul Ghafūr 1833 Faridpur, Bengal Presidency, Company Raj |
Died | 1889 55–56) | (aged
Pen name | Nassakh |
Occupation | Government officer |
Language | Urdu, Persian |
Citizenship | British India |
Genre | Poetry |
Notable works | Sukhan-e-Shuara, Daftar-e-Bemisal, Tazkiratul Muasirin |
Relatives | Nawab Abdul Latif (brother) |
Life
Abdul Ghafur was born in 1833 into a Bengali Muslim household, best known as the Qadi family of Faridpur. His father, Faqir Muhammad, was a lawyer at the Calcutta civil court. Reformer Nawab Abdul Latif was his elder brother.[1]
Abdul Ghafur joined as deputy magistrate in the British Indian government. He served as deputy collector in many places in the Bengal Presidency. In particular, he worked as deputy collector of Dacca from 1860 to 1888.[1]
Literary career
Abdul Ghafur mainly wrote poetry in Urdu, but he also wrote in Persian. Apart from Bengali, Urdu and Persian, he also knew English, Arabic and Hindi.[1]
Among his Urdu poetry are Daftar-e-Bemisal (1869), Armugan (1875), Armugani (1884). Daftar-e-Bemisal was praised by Ghalib. In Sukhan-e-Shuara (1874) and Tazkiratul Muasirin he introduced Urdu and Persian poets. He translated Persian poet Fariduddin Attar's Pand Name into Urdu under the title of Chashma-e-Faez in 1874. Ganj-e-Tawarikh (1873) and Kanz-e-Tawarikh (1877) were pieces of poetry which contained biographies of great Islamic personalities. Ashar-e-Nassakh (1866) is also one of his works on poetry. His Intikhab-e-Nakam (1879) was a critique on the marsiya poetry of Mir Anees and Mirza Dabeer. Nassakh also wrote Mazhab-e-Muamma (1888) which contained his own works of Persian poetry.[1]
References
- Kaniz-e-Butool (2012). "Nassakh, Khan Bahadur Abdul Ghafur". In Islam, Sirajul; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- "Abdul Ghafoor Nassakh". Rekhta Foundation.