Four Tragedies Daryabadi Witnessed

Daryabadi’s forte at expressing in a few charming words complex and subtle ideas is second to none in the Urdu literature. He deals with four tragic incidents he witnessed in his Sidk-e-Jadeed (1972). The first tragedy occurred in 1924. The Khilafat Movement was progressing in unitedly against for the freedom of India at a rapid pace. The British were being dispirited by the gifts of gabs of the leaders such as Moulana Muhammad Ali, Moulana Shawkat Ali and Moulana Bari. Then the shockwaves spread across the region in the form of destruction of the 13-century old Islamic Caliphate? Who demolished it? Not a Muslim, definitely. But Mustafa Kamal Pasha, a Muslim by name.

The second tragic incident that Daryabadi recalls was the disintegration in 1948 of the Asafiya Muslim regime in Hyderabad. He recalls that under the Asafiya regime, many religious, intellectual and literary institutions of the Muslims were nurtured and preserved. In three days the regime shed the skin of its religious identity and transformed into a secular body.

Daryabadi counts as the third most tragic incident in his life the establishment by the Zionists in 1949 of the Israeli state in Palestine by violent means. His dejection was exacerbated by the capture of Jerusalem by Israel in the war in 1967.

The fourth tragic incident was the birth of Bangladesh. He was less concerned about the formation of a new state than by the division and schism it generated among the Bengalis and Biharis in Bengladesh itself. After narrating the events one by one, Daryabadi concludes: The four incidents underline the corruption, crime and arrogance of the Muslim community. None doubts the patience and compromise held out by the God. But to preserve patience in order to maintain a disciplined, just polity in the world accords well with the interest of the god. None should be suprised if the Divine Rationale of justice, which opened the eye of God’s dear community in Badr, Uhd and Hunayn, is activated against us criminals. This is not the time of anger, frustration and disappointment, but of remorse, repentance and renovation of our actions.