Mumtaz Hasan
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Mumtaz Hasan
Mumtaz Hasan — a multi-faceted diamond
By Rauf Parekh
Some personalities are so versatile and have so many different attributes that it is difficult to describe them. Mumtaz Hasan was one such person. He was a poet, critic, scholar, historian and civil servant but on top of that all he was a man whose love, care and respect for humanity knew no bounds.
Mumtaz Hasan was born in a small town of Gujranwala district, Punjab, on August 6, 1907. Lahore’s FC College was the place where he spent, in his own words, ‘the happiest years’ of his life. There, from 1922 to 1930, he not only obtained a BA and a master’s in English literature, but also had the company of some able and dedicated teachers and brilliant students. Having an innate interest in languages and being a brilliant student, during the course of his studies at the FC College he learned Arabic, Persian, German and French as well. The ‘FC College magazine’, whose maiden issue was published in November 1903, was the first college magazine to have been published in Punjab. It was renamed as ‘Folio’ in 1925 and later Mumtaz Hasan became first its assistant editor and then editor.
Though he had Arabic as an optional subject in BA, Mumtaz Sahib developed more interest in English literature rather than Urdu and wrote several critical essays on English literature. One of the reasons for this change of heart was Dr F.M. Wallet, who had formed a literary society and the first meeting of which was held in his drawing room on November 11, 1926. Since it had 15 members from the FC College, the society was named the ‘FC College Fifteen’. Mumtaz Hasan attended those meetings and read out his essays. He also contributed Urdu essays and poems to the Urdu section of ‘Folio’. In Urdu, his takhallus, or pen-name, was Ahsan.
In 1931, Mumtaz Hasan joined the Indian Civil Service and soon rose to prominence. In 1946, he worked as secretary to Liaquat Ali Khan, who later become Pakistan’s first prime minister. After independence, Mumtaz Hasan held important posts in the government of Pakistan, including governorship of the State Bank of Pakistan.
Aside from his worldly achievements, Mumtaz Sahib was a man of letters. Despite his responsibilities and busy schedule as a high-ranking government official (and that included being the federal finance secretary, director of the national bank of Pakistan and some other high-profile portfolios), he took time out to read and write. Although he wrote on an amazingly wide range of subjects, including history, culture, archaeology, poetry, criticism, religion and national affairs, he truly adored Allama Iqbal and his poetry. He was greatly impressed by Iqbal’s personality when he as a student had a chance to meet the great poet at his residence in Lahore. He then became a frequent visitor to Iqbal’s residence and was fortunate enough to enjoy Iqbal’s and his distinguished visitors’ company for about 12 years, as intellectuals thronged his residence in the evening. There are three aspects of Iqbal’s personality and poetry that are especially reflected in Mumtaz Hasan’s personality: optimism, love of knowledge and love for humanity.
In addition to several articles on Iqbal, both in Urdu and English, Mumtaz Hasan wrote a book ‘Iqbal and Abdul Haq’, published in 1973. This research work reproduced Iqbal’s eight letters addressed to Baba-i-Urdu Moulvi Abdul Haq. Mumtaz Hasan wrote extensive notes and annotations on these letters, and the book is a living testimony to his scholarship and academic acumen.
He was instrumental in establishing the Iqbal Academy and it was but a gesture of his love for Iqbal and his poetry. He also influenced German authorities to name a road in Heidelberg after Iqbal and to create Iqbal chair at the Heidelberg University.
Another poet that fascinated Mumtaz Hasan was Ghalib. During the Ghalib centenary celebrations in 1969, he arranged a series of English lectures on Ghalib at Karachi’s Pakistan American Cultural Centre and invited renowned Pakistani and foreign scholars, including Prof Ahmed Ali and American historian Prof Ansle T. Embree, to speak. He introduced the speakers at the event and the last lecture of the series was delivered by him. He later compiled the lectures into a book titled ‘The aspects of Ghalib’, which was published by the PACC in 1970. As he was a government employee, he did not deem it proper that his name appeared on the title of a book published by a foreign entity. But when the book was translated by Shah Mohi-ul-Haq Farooqi and published by Idara-i-Yadgar-i-Ghalib, Karachi, in 2000, titled ‘Jihat-i-Ghalib’, Mumtaz Hasan’s name was prominently printed on its title as compiler.
History and archaeology was another passion of Mumtaz Hasan. With a profound interest in Sindh’s history and by using his official clout, he rendered invaluable services for Sindh’s historical and archaeological sites. He got tourism facilities established at Moenjo Daro and at his behest began the preservation of historical tombs at Makli. Daibal was the first city of Sindh conquered by Mohammad Bin Qasim and its conquest ushered in the Islamic era in Sindh and, subsequently, in the rest of the subcontinent. Mumtaz Hasan was very keen about the remains of Daibal. His book ‘In quest of Daibal’ is but one sign of that interest. It was he by whose efforts excavations at Bhambhor, near Thatta, began in 1958 for the discovery of Daibal and, according to Peer Hussamuddin Rashdi, it was Mumtaz Hasan who had inaugurated the excavation, leading to the discovery of the Daibal Temple and the first mosque of the subcontinent built at Bhambhor.
He was a voracious reader and there was hardly any topic that did not interest him. He had built a sizeable library over the years and had donated some 14,000 books to the Punjab Public Library, Lahore. He had donated another portion of his personal collection to Karachi’s Goethe Institut. His services for the Urdu language and literary and academic institutions are simply beyond comparison.
Mumtaz Hasan was a precious gem, lustre of whose every facet dazzled everyone, leaving them wishing that they had more such government officials — humane, erudite, patriotic, devoted, far-sighted yet selfless.
The gem of a person known as Mumtaz Hasan, who loved everyone and was adored by all, died in Karachi on October 28, 1974. He was buried in Karachi’s Paposhnagar graveyard.
drraufparekh@yahoo.com
