Mumtaz Mufti

{{Short description|Pakistani writer}} {{Use Pakistani English|date=September 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Mumtaz Mufti<br>{{lang|ur|{{nq|ممتاز مفتی}}}} | image = Mumtaz-mufti.jpg | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = 11 September 1905<ref name=Dawn/> | birth_place = Batala, Punjab, British India | death_date = 27 October 1995 (aged 90)<ref name=Dawn/> | death_place = Islamabad, Pakistan | occupation = Writer | nationality = Pakistani | genre = Fiction writer | subject = Literature, philosophy, psychology, socialism | notableworks = Ali Pur Ka Aeeli, Alakh Nagri, Labbaik, Un Kahi, Talash, Muftianey | awards = Sitara-e-Imtiaz, 1986 <br/> Munshi Premchand Award, 1989 | signature = | website = {{URL|www.mumtazmuftee.com}} | influences = | influenced = }}

'''Mumtaz Husain''', better known as '''Mumtaz Mufti''' ({{langx|ur|{{nq|ممتاز مفتی}}}}; September 11, 1905 – October 27, 1995), was a writer from Pakistan.<ref name=Dawn>[https://www.dawn.com/news/1062273/dawn-features-november-10-2001 Recalling Mumtaz Mufti: LAHORE LITERARY SCENE], Dawn (newspaper), Published 10 November 2001, Retrieved 4 September 2017</ref>

Initially a religious skeptic influenced by authors like Freud, Havelock Ellis, Alfred Adler and Fyodor Dostoevsky, he would eventually come back to Islam through Sufism.<ref>[https://www.dawn.com/news/669846/non-fiction-a-pilgrims-progress-from-scepticism-to-mysticism NON-FICTION: A pilgrim’s progress: From scepticism to mysticism], Dawn (newspaper), Published 29 October 2011, Retrieved 8 January 2021</ref>

Critic Nasir Abbas Nayyar described his writing style as psychological realist.<ref>[https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/amp/610329-the-problem-of-popular-literature The problem of popular literature], The News on Sunday, Published 9 February 2020, Retrieved 8 January 2021</ref>

==Early life and education== Mumtaz Mufti was born Mumtaz Husain in Batala, Punjab in British India. He was the son of Mufti Muhammad Hussain and his first wife Sughra Khanum. He belonged to a Punjabi family that provided religious clerics and jurists (mufti) during the Mughal Empire, but lost their title under the Sikh Empire.<ref name=":0">Aroge, S., & Anjum, T. (2022). "A Journey Within: The Sufi Transformation in Mumtaz Mufti’s Writings." ''Journal Of The Punjab University Historical Society,'' 35 (01). </ref>

After getting his early education in different cities of Punjab such as Mianwali, Amritsar and Dera Ghazi Khan, he graduated in Philosophy and Economics from the Islamia College, Lahore in 1929, during his college days participating in activities such as singing and acting and also being politicized, having been active in the Khilafat Movement.<ref name=":0" />

== Professional career == Before partition, he was employed as a civil servant under British rule, having earlier started his career as a school teacher. He then joined the All India Radio as staff artist but resigned when he got an offer from the Bombay film industry.<ref name=":0" />

Soon after the partition in 1947, he migrated to Pakistan with his family.<ref name="urduadab">[https://urduadab4u.blogspot.com/search?q=Mumtaz+Mufti, Biography of Mumtaz Mufti on urduadab4u.com website], Retrieved 4 September 2017</ref> In Pakistan, he would work as a sub-editor for the ''Istaqlal'' magazine before becoming a psychanalyst for the Pakistan Air Force in 1949 and joining Radio Azad Kashmir in 1950, which would influence him to become more religious.<ref name=":0" />

==Writing career== Mumtaz Mufti started writing Urdu short stories while working as a schoolteacher before 1947.

His first writing was an essay on psychology titled ''Uljhao'' while his first published fiction was titled ''Jhuki Jhuki Ankhen'', released in 1932 in ''Adbi Duniya'', a famous literary magazine at the time.<ref name=":0" />

At the beginning of his literary career, he was considered, by other literary critics, a non-conformist writer having liberal views, who appeared influenced by the psychologist Freud.<ref name="Dawn" /> Pakistan's famous writer Ashfaq Ahmed was one of his close friends. According to Ashfaq Ahmed, Mufti used to read unpopular literature by a Swedish writer before 1947. Mufti initially did not like the 1947 partition plan of British India, but changed his views later to become a patriotic Pakistani. In his later life, he used to defend Islam and its principles.<ref name="Dawn" />

His transformation from liberalism to Sufism was due to his inspiration from a fellow writer Qudrat Ullah Shahab. Despite all the changes in his viewpoints, he did manage to retain his individual point of view and wrote on subjects which were frowned upon by the conservative elements in the society.<ref name="Dawn" />

The two phases of his life are witnessed by his autobiographies, ''Ali Pur Ka Aeeli'' (1961) and ''Alakh Nagri''. According to forewords mentioned in his later autobiography, ''Ali Pur Ka Aeeli'': علی پور کا ایلی is an account of a lover who challenged the social taboos of his times, and ''Alakh Nagri'' is an account of a devotee who is greatly influenced by the mysticism of Qudrat Ullah Shahab.<ref name=goodreads>[https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6560993.Mumtaz_Mufti, Biography of Mumtaz Mufti on goodreads.com website], Retrieved 4 September 2017</ref>

The book ''Talaash'' ("Quest") was the last book written by Mumtaz Mufti. It reportedly highlights the true spirit of Quranic teachings.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG-1xLyBhNw, Mumtaz Mufti interviewing folk singer Tufail Niazi at Lok Virsa, Islamabad event on YouTube], Published 5 April 2013, Retrieved 4 September 2017</ref><ref name=Dawn/>

==Awards and recognition== * 1986: Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan<ref name=urduadab/><ref name=samaa>[https://www.samaa.tv/pakistan/2011/10/literary-great-mumtaz-mufti-being-remembered-today/ Profile of Mumtaz Mufti on samaa.tv website], Published 27 October 2011, Retrieved 4 September 2017</ref> * 1989: Munshi Premchand Award (a literary award from India)<ref name=samaa/>

==Legacy== [[File:Mumtaz Mufti (3823034553).jpg|thumb|Mufti's grave at H-8 graveyard Islamabad]] His son, Uxi Mufti, a literary critic himself, created a ''Mumtaz Mufti Trust'' after his death in October 1995. This trust has been observing Mumtaz Mufti's death anniversary events in different cities of Pakistan. His friends and admirers, including Ashfaq Ahmed, Bano Qudsia and Ahmad Bashir have appeared as speakers at these events.<ref name=Dawn/> Another famous writer Kishwar Naheed comments in one of her book review that Mumtaz Mufti had plenty of human weaknesses but also appreciated him as a learned critic.<ref name=Dawn/> There is a road named after him in the city of Multan, Pakistan.<ref name=Dawn/>

==Books== ===Short stories=== * ''Gehma Gehmi'', 1949, 256 p. * ''Asmarain'', 1952, 327 p. * ''Ghubare'', 1954, 220 p. * ''Ghurya Ghar'', 1965, 312 p. * ''Raughani Putle'', 1984, 244 p. * ''Muftiyane'', 1989, 1526 p. (collected short stories) * ''Kahi Na Jae'', 1992, 178 p. * ''Chup'', 1993, 269 p. * ''Samai Ka Bandhan'', 1993, 192 p. * ''Talash'', 1996, 278 p. (last book, the theme being Islam)

===Play=== * ''Nizam Saqqah'', 1953, 169 p.

===Autobiographical novels=== * ''Alipur Ka Eli'', 1961, 1188 p. (first part of the autobiography) * ''Alakh Nagri'', 1992, 996 p. (second part of the autobiography)

===Travelogues=== * ''Hind Yatra'', 1982, 359 p. (travel to India) * ''Labbaik'', 1993, 320 p. (account of a Hajj pilgrimage undertaken in 1968)

===Essays=== * ''Piyaz Ke Chilke'', 1968, 184 p. (literary criticism and views on Pakistani nationalism) * ''Aukhe Log'', 1986, 311 p. (impressions of famous Pakistani writers) * ''Aukhe Avalre'', 1995, 258 p. (biographical sketches of famed Pakistani authors)

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mufti, Mumtaz}} Category:1905 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Pakistani autobiographers Category:Pakistani male novelists Category:Pakistani male short story writers Category:Urdu-language short story writers Category:Pakistani male dramatists and playwrights Category:Scholars of Sufism Category:Urdu-language novelists Category:Pakistani literary critics Category:Writers from Lahore Category:20th-century Pakistani novelists Category:Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Category:20th-century Pakistani short story writers Category:20th-century Pakistani male writers Category:Converts to Islam from atheism or agnosticism Category:Pakistani Sufis Category:People from Gurdaspur district Category:Islamia College University alumni