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Shanul Haq Haqqi

A Luminary of Urdu Literature

By Taha Kehar | November 2021

On October 11, 2005, noted Urdu writer Shanul Haq Haqqi passed away in Ontario, Canada. His death created an intellectual vacuum that was increasingly difficult to fill. In his long, illustrious career, Haqqi took on many avatars and proved his mettle as a multifaceted literary figure. He was a poet, critic, broadcaster, translator, linguist and lexicographer - a formidable feat that few writers can accomplish in a lifetime. An esteemed Urdu writer once declared that Haqqi left behind a substantial body of work that would keep his memory alive for centuries.

Unfortunately, memory often has a fickle, fiendish quality and usually fades away. Sixteen years after Haqqi’s demise, his tremendous contributions to Urdu aren’t widely known or celebrated. In an age when even the most trivial tweets by celebrities regularly grab headlines, the media seldom spotlights the achievements of those whom we owe a debt of gratitude. At this critical juncture, a concerted effort needs to be made to remind the public about such notable figures. If this isn’t done on a war footing, their names would be forever lost in the annals of history.

Born in Delhi on September 15, 1919, Haqqi was the son of a distinguished man of letters. His father’s claim to literary fame stemmed from a valuable collection of short stories, a comprehensive study of Persian poet Hafiz Shirazi and a translation of Diwan-i-Hafiz in verse. Haqqee’s father also helped Maulvi Abdul Haq in compiling Lughat-i-Kabeer, an exhaustive Urdu dictionary.

It is only befitting that a child who was raised in this milieu would develop a fondness for literature. However, Haqqi’s university days exerted a much stronger influence on him in steering him towards literary pursuits. Haqqi pursued a BA degree at Aligarh Muslim University and obtained a Master’s in English Literature from St Stephen’s College. As per an obituary published at the time of his death, he recited his first ghazal at an annual poetic gathering of St. Stephen’s College. This is a glaring testament to his profound fascination in Delhi’s mushairas. Fuelled by his abiding interest in poetry, Haqqi went on to publish two anthologies of verse - Tar-i-Pairahan (1957) and Harf-i-Dilras (1979) - and later released a collection of his selected ghazals.


A quick glance at Haqqi’s oeuvre reveals that he wasn’t a prisoner to a particular genre. In a literary career that spanned several decades, he served the Urdu language through multiple avenues. Throughout his career, Haqqi also dabbled in a series of fairly little known genres of poetry, such as Paheliyan, Qitat-i-Tareekhi and Kehmukarnian. A vast majority of these works appeared in a collection titled Nazr-i-Khusru. In addition, he wrote poems for children that were released by the Hamdard Foundation.

Moving beyond the realm of poetry, Haqqi wrote short stories. He also ventured into literary criticism and wrote Naqd-o-Nigarish, which is billed as a formidable academic text. His research articles on Urdu poetry are considered a valuable resource, and have also been compiled into books.

As a translator, Haqqi demonstrated his command over English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian. Through the power of his pen, he traversed the boundaries of language and made a range of foreign texts available for an Urdu readership. Haqqi has the distinction of rendering the Bhagavad Gita into Urdu. The Urdu writer also translated the poems of Bengali poet Qazi Nazrul Islam and American writer Jack Schaefer’s novel Shane. William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and Chanakya Kautilya’s Arthashastra were also among the titles that he translated into Urdu.

Apart from his persistent literary efforts, Haqqi was associated with the department of films and publications at PTV’s marketing department. In the early 1950s, he wrote countless musicals for Radio Pakistan. Between 1958 and 1975, Haqqi was associated with the Urdu Lughat Board and worked arduously to prepare a dictionary with over twenty volumes. He also compiled Farhang-e-Talaffuz, a dictionary on Urdu pronunciation that was issued by the National Language Authority. Years before his death, Haqqi translated the eighth edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, which was originally published in 1911.

A strong testimony of the Urdu writer’s proficiency as a memoirist can be found in his forty-one part autobiography that was serialized in the literary magazine Afkaar.

Haqqi also received accolades for his enormous contributions to Urdu literature. In February 1991, Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu Pakistan awarded him the Tamgha-e-Nishan-e-Sipaas. In 1968, the Government of Pakistan conferred on him the Quaid-e-Azam Award. Seventeen years later, Haqqi was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz.

At a time when there isn’t a voracious appetite for Urdu literature in Pakistan, the significant contributions of luminaries such as Haqqi seem to have been swept under the carpet. There is a pressing need to revive interest in the work of this notable writer, translator and critic. In 2018, the Oxford University Press compiled Haqqi’s literary essays in the form of a book. This has encouraged a resurgence of interest in the late writer’s work. Even so, Pakistan’s government and its literary community should do more to build awareness about Haqqi’s vital services to Urdu.

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