Men of Letters Series Mumtaz Mufti (1905 – 1995) Commemorative Postage Stamp June 12, 2013:- Mumtaz Mufti – September 11, 1905 – October 27, 1995 – was unique in style and in diction, happened to be a trend setter in Urdu fiction; “short stories, novels, travelogue, persona writings and Radio drama”. He was born in batala, British East Punjab earned his early education from there and got graduation from Lahore. He started his career in British Rule as an English teacher in southern Punjab and after Partition of India, Initially lived at Lahore for some years and later settled for good at Islamabad.
Mumtaz Mufti started writing Urdu short stories much earlier, before partition. His first book was published in 1936. Initially his stories portrayed him a non conformist writer having liberal views, apparently influenced by Freud. Most of his initial short story books and his iconic novel “Alipur ka Aily” were the exhibits of that era. His transformation from Liberatlism to Sufism was marked in his most remarkable book “Lab-baik” and later by his voluminous autobiography “Alakh-Nagri” influenced by the closeness of Allah and the association of his friend Qudrat Ullah Shahab (A Sufi writer and senior civil servant). In his book “Alakh-Nagri” he mainly expressed his closed relations to Qudrat Ullah Shahab and tried to explain with his personal experience pertaining to Shahab, especially for the last chapter of his book “Shahab Nama”, “Chhota Mou Bari Baat”. He told every secret without which that chapter of “Shahab Nama” could not be comprehended. He supported his point of view with his first hand knowledge and as an eye witness to the mystic behavior of Qudrat Ullah Shahab. In the same book he narrated his associations with his contemporary close friends from Ahmed Bashir, Ishfaq Ahmed, Bano Qudsia to Abdaal Bela. He is the only writer in literary world for whom the biggest Anthology of about 1600 pages “Mufti Ge” has been published, compiled by his disciple Abdaal Bela. Mumtaz Mufti has about twenty highly acclaimed valuable books to his credit from “Un Kahi” to “Kahi na Jaye”. He was a famous travelogue of India “Hind Yatra” and many persona writing books in addition to his books of Radio drama. His last book “Talash” (Quest) was a summary of this total sum of search for God and men of God. This book is treated as a textbook of Sufism in circles of readers.
Mumtaz Mufti has a big group of his followers throughout the Urdu reading woric and happens to be a legend for many notable writers of all time. His writings are unique in diction, Formation, Style and appeal. In recognition of his notable extra ordinary devotion and achievements in Urdu literature, he was conferred with Sitara-e-Imtiaz (1986) Pakistan and Munshi Prem Chand Award (1989) of India. He died at the age of 90 on 27 October 1995 at Islamabad and was buried at H-8 Graveyard of Islamabad, close to his life time friend Qudrat Ullah Shahab.
On Men of Letters Series Mumtaz Mufti, a Commemorative Postage Stamp of Rs.8/- denomination is being issued by Pakistan Post on June 12, 2013.
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