The poetry symposium organised by Shaiqee Ne Fun saw a large
participation of litterateurs from the region. By Umer Nangiana
Sehrayon main umr humari rait huyi, ghar walon ne tajmahal ta’ameer kiya (It was us who expended in the sands of desert; while the loved ones built palaces). This was Yaqoob Tasawur, a well-known poet from United Arab Emirates, who was chairing the recent sitting of Shaiqee Ne Fun, Doha.
This year’s mushaira (poetry) session by Shaiqee Ne Fun, one of the top literary forums operational under the umbrella organisation Majlis-e-Farogh-e-Urdu Adab (Organisation for Promotion of Urdu Language), witnessed a galaxy of poets from the region gathering at the auditorium of Pakistan embassy.
The Inter-Gulf mushaira was continuation of the Shaiqee’s tradition of celebrating diversity. Coming from countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and others, the poets engrossed the Doha audience into a trance.
“We have been organising multi-lingual poetry sessions through the platform of Shaiqee Ne Fun Doha. Poets presented poetry in different regional languages of Pakistan including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi and even Memon language,” Mohammad Atiq, the chairman of Shaiqee Ne Fun, told Community.
“This time our members decided that we should have an inter-Gulf mushaira. It would give a chance to many poets from different Gulf states to get together. Our members who themselves are poets are in touch with poets from these states. They suggest their names and we invite them,” he added.
Atiq said in the bigger mushaira from Majlis-e-Farogh-e-Urdu-Adab, which will again be held later this year, they do proper research on the poets before inviting them. This year they will decide the names in May.  “We have many members who are so good in poetry, they are known across the region and some of them are even known in India and Pakistan for their poetry,” said Atiq. And the local poets from Qatar indeed proved they were equally competitive.
Iqbal Tariq, Bahrain, drew applause for his style and his poetry from the audience with couplets like Apni janib safar main kaise karun, hosla paye-shal hai he nahin (How may I travel towards myself, my wounded feet have given up).
Riaz Shahid, a prominent Urdu poet who has participated in poetry sessions across the world, presented some of his new work. Ahmed Adil from Bahrain, spelled a new life into the session with his crisp couplets like Khara tha main pasehman phir waheen par, jahan se laghzishon ka silsila tha (Embarrased, I was standing once again at the same spot, from where I had started making mistakes).
A number of local poets recited poems and ghazals in Pakistan’s national and provincial languages such as Punjabi at the mushaira that was held in connection with Pakistan Day. Rashid Nizam, the Community Welfare Attache at the embassy of Pakistan was the chief guest at the occasion. Shaiqee Ne Fun, a leading socio-cultural organisation of Pakistani expatriates, in connection with the Pakistan National Day celebrations.
The forum was founded by Malik Museeb-ur-Rehman in 1993, who passed away in April 2006. Since inception, Shaiqee Ne Fun had been organising high-profile concerts by inviting top classical, pop and ghazal singers from Pakistan.
Among the artistes who have been invited so far by the forum include Iqbal Bano, Ustad Hamid Ali Khan, Abida Perveen, Ghulam Ali, Humaira Arshad, Rustam Fateh Ali Khan, Rifaqat Ali Khan, Shamaila Khan, Saira Naseem, Rabi Peerzada,Shahid Hussain, Iram Hussain, Nisar Butt, Ali Sher and Wazir Afzal.
After Rehman’s death, Shaiqee Ne Fun started holding ‘Memorial Lectures’ in his memory. The first Memorial Lecture was given by Peshawar Public Service Commission NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhawa) Chairman Abdullah on August 25, 2006, while the second lecture was given by Professor Fateh Mohammad Malik, Pakistan’s eminent scholar and Rector of International Islamic University, Islamabad, on April 24, 2009.
Since 2009, Shaiqee Ne Fun has been holding multi-lingual mushairas. Local Pakistani poets have participated in the mushairas held in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Among others the poets who participated were Rashid Niaz, Fartash Syed, Mohammad Shafiq Akhter, Shaukat Ali Naz, Farzana Safdar, and many others from Doha. The session was attended by a large number of Urdu poetry lovers who sat till late in the night. Dinner was served to the guests at the conclusion of the session.