‘Pakistan has lost one of its shining stars, its pride’

LAHORE: The ‘literary era’ that was Muhammad Khan, known to most as Abdullah Hussain, left “the weary generations” (Udas Naslain) even wearer with his departure on Saturday, after bravely fighting a protracted ailment at the age of 84.
“I don’t fear death, but the only fear I have about my departure from this world is that my daughter would not be able to bear life without me,” wrote Abdullah Hussain on a post, shared by a friend this year on ‘Father’s Day’.
Acclaimed globally, the novelist/writer was a source of inspiration and education for almost every Pakistani who set their foot in the domain of Urdu prose writing. The ability to blend fiction and social commentary in a unique and absorbing fashion was his trademark.
Abdullah Hussain was the only other novelist with the exception of Shaukat Siddiqi, whose novel characters were not just a work of fiction. He believed in research oriented prose writing where he always sought to dig deep into the character psychology and behaviourism before setting out to represent it through his writing, shared distinguished journalist and writer Sohail Warraich.
“I remember him calling me once about a news story that I had filed. He asked me about the details, never revealing his identity. However, he later told me at a meeting that he was researching on the said issue,” Warraich said. Abdullah was a person with great social and political acumen, a gem of a person who one would always want to share time with, said HRCP Director I A Rehman. His novel ‘Udas Naslain’ is not just a novel but a ‘historic document’. Rehman said he spent a lot of time with Abdullah Hussain at various conferences and “I find his unique ability of being a person who loved solitude, yet was a great team player with amazing convincing power and rationale”.
Institute for Language and Culture Punjab Director Dr Sughra Sadaf said Abdullah Hussain and she hailed from the same city of Gujrat. She mentioned how Abdullah’s academic background of philosophy created masterpieces that were shining stars of Urdu literature, the most intriguing social commentary and historic perspective all at the same time.
“We are proud to own him as a legend, yet not a lot of people know that he was a person woven intricately into socio-cultural and socio-political affairs, who expressed himself keenly on social media,” she said.
She also shared what he wrote about departing this world on her post this Father’s Day. His love for his daughter was unusual and it grew even stronger as he got older, she said.
Pakistan Academy of Letters Chairman Fakhar Zaman, also a neighbour of Abdullah Hussain in Gujrat, saw him as “decidedly the best Urdu prose writer”.He was one of them who got more and more humble while climbing up the ladder of success and fame. “He would always change the topic, whenever anyone started talking about him. He was never a fan of flattery yet always responded with humility to compliments,” Fakhar added.
His simple lifestyle and an approach laden with reason and rationale was truly inspirational and would attract people towards him, wanting to be his friends, he said.Abdullah moved to Canada where he pursued learning in the domain of Industrial Chemistry and returned to Pakistan and worked in the Gujarat Cement Factory for a while, Fakhar revealed.
When UNESCO evinced keen interest in ‘Udas Naslain’, Abdullah Hussain translated it into English, and it was published under the title of ‘The Weary Generations’. He spent eight months at the Academy of Letters, writing his amazing collection of short stories published under the title of ‘Faraib’.
Abdullah Hussain shared with Fakhar Zaman in their last meeting that he always felt that he had done little justice to his native language Punjabi, because his entire literary work was in Urdu.
“I really want to write something in Punjabi, I guess I will start soon; it is something that I’ve been planning to do for a while,” he said. However, life had other plans for this great writer, and we were not lucky enough to be bestowed with a Punjabi masterpiece by this literary genius.