The Department of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, School of Economics and Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, organised a session titled ‘Muslim Devotional Poetry of South Asia’, on the main campus.
The event featured recitation of naats written in Urdu, Persian, Sindhi and Punjabi. The IBA faculty and students recited devotional verses of renowned Sindhi poet Maulvi Ahmad Mallah and famous Urdu and Persian poets, including Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.
The highlight of the event was a special guest appearance by naat-khwaan Zara Madani, who is well-known for her regular singing appearances in Coke Studio Pakistan and the film ‘Khuda Ke Liye’.
The audience was moved to hear Ms Madani’s qirat of Surah Rahman and appreciated her hauntingly beautiful original compositions and recitation of the famous Urdu devotional verses, ‘Lauh Bhi Tu Qalam Bhi Tu’ and ‘Taazim Se Leta Hai Khuda Naam-e-Muhammad’ by Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Khwaja Muhammad Akbar Warsi respectively, and Punjabi verses ‘Main Lajpaalaan De Lar Lagiyaan’ by Abd us-Sattar Niyazi.
Some other Urdu poets whose naatiyah verses were recited at the event include ‘Nushur’ Wahidi, Kunwar Mahendra Singh Bedi ‘Sahar’, and Najmunnisa Munawwar Ali Bukhari ‘Najm’.
IBA students Hamraj Singh, Muhammad Ahmad, and Syed Ghazi Haider Zaidi also recited naats in Sindhi, Arabic, Persian, Braj Bhasha and Urdu.
Keeping with the spirit of honouring original contributions to the field of devotional poetry in praise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), IBA SESS lecturer and poet Syed Muhammad Baqar Mehdi Rizvi, who teaches Urdu Literature and Psychology.
