A new addition to writings on Hamd-o-Naat

The book titled Mutaleaat-e-Hamd-o-Naat written by Naseem-e-Sahar is a collection of articles on Hamd-o-Naat writing poets. These articles, elaborating the topic of Hamd-o-Naat, its nature and development in Urdu, open up new perspectives for those who want to study and research poetry and its different genres.

Hamd-o-Naat are two rich genres of poetry in which a poet praises Allah Almighty and Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) respectively. According to the author, the poets who compose Naat try to express their love and admiration for the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). However, they should make sure that the verses they write in Naat have literary standards.

The history of Urdu Naat poetry is as old as Urdu poetry itself; however, it was not until the first half of the 19th century that Naat in Urdu poetry became a distinct poetical genre all by itself. After 1947, a new epoch of Naat in Urdu poetry began, particularly in our country. A very large number of poets are now writing Naat. The Arabic language first created the genre of Naat. The Persian language borrowed it from Arabic. Later, Urdu acquired Naat from Persian.

Any poet who writes a Naat has to channelize his entire soul to complete the mission. Naat is a much-honoured form of poetry. In order to write a Naat, a poet should be exceedingly well informed. Naat is one of the most challenging poems to write. The tradition of Naat in Persian, according to the author of the book, has had a profound effect on Urdu Naat.

Hamd-o-Naat is both poetic genres that praise Allah and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) correspondingly. More or less every Urdu poet has composed at least a few couplets in praise of Allah and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Just like other poetic genres, this book reviews and discusses Hamd-o-Naat along the same lines. The author has appraised, evaluated, and assessed articles on Hamd-o-Naat with a purely literary perspective. While discussing these genres, he did not show a patronizing attitude and did not shy away from discussing these genres from a critical point of view.

Some of the writers incorporated in the book are, Qamar Raeeni, Shahida Latif, Colonel Maqbool Hussain, Fakhra Batool Naqvi, Saima Batool Naqvi, Noreen Talaat Arooba, Khawar Ejaz, Qamar Warsi, Sheikh Saddique Zafar, Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah, Sharfuddin Shami, Hafeez Taib, Noor Muhammad Jaral, Engineer Aizaz Masroor, Awais Khalid, and Tahir Sultani. Half of them belong to the Potohar region.

The book does not review articles on Hamd-o-Naat only but also analyze articles on Seerat of Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and Haj pilgrim’s travelogue. Writings on Hamd-o-Naat are comparatively scarce. Naseem-e-Sahar’s book is a new addition to writings on Hamd-o-Naat. The book has a balanced comment on everyone included therein.