Hasan Askari (writer)

443:. After Partition, his essays become more ideological, and centred around the idea of Urdu as the Islamic cultural cement of the newly founded state of Pakistan. During this period, he also rejets Progressives' ideas about literature, that he embraced years ago. The 1200-odd pages collection of essays also show that during his last years he became disillusioned with Pakistan, thinking it didn't led to the cultural renaissance centred around Urdu he expected, even if he kept his strong opinions about religion, philosophy and politics. As some sort of conclusion to the lack of some Islamic national literature, he declared "the death of 252:. That's where he acquired a more cultural approach of Urdu literature, which would represent the Islamic identity of his new country, whereas his "idea of Pakistan was influenced by a European/French model of democracy, where social and economic justice would go hand in hand with the nurturing of cultural traditions in which the individuals, especially those of the intelligentsia such as poets and writers, could be loyal to the state and society, yet free of governmental pressure and perform the duties of informed, perceptive critics and citizens." 471:(Unity of Existence) found among Islamic philosophers, Askari sought a poetry which would be unveil the "being" of the individual, and was thus critical of the overtly romantic and emotional outbursts of many of his contemporaries and of classics. He blamed the absorption of 259:

to work as editor for a government journal, and even if it didn't last more than few months, he didn't return to Lahore considering he got a job as English teacher in the Islamia College. With friends as colleagues like

379:

would bring issues like religion and identity, which would push him to adopt a more cultural approach to literature, and more specifically, an Islamic vision. While more or less a-political, he'd specifically turn

336:

aiming to transform society through literature. His early "Westernization" is noticeable by the fact that, contrarily to the contemporary Urdu writers, his favourite authors were not

529:

Another literary figure under influence was Saleem Ahmed, whose "house in Karachi was the city`s biggest literary hub" in the 1970s and the early 1980s, as per literary critic

533:, who also summarizes Askari's legacy by saying that he "is rightly credited with giving a new literary theory to Urdu criticism and establishing a new school of thought." 475:

and thinking by Indian Muslims for downgrading poetry to sentimentalism, and wanted to go back to the Islamic sources and Sufi aesthetics, congratulating the works of the

139:

language. Initially "Westernized", he translated western literary, philosophical and metaphysical work into Urdu, notably classics of American, English, French and

395:, put together by Suhayl Umar and Naghma Umar, chronologically : in the Pre-Partition period, he treats mainly of literature and art, with figures such as 1192: 1177: 1152: 1117: 1147: 240:

For years, he struggled to find a permanent job in Delhi, and as per his brother that might have pushed him to move to the newly forme state of

1142: 1132: 1137: 1122: 1167: 725: 45: 204:. His grandfather, Maulvi Husamuddin, was a scholar, while his father, Muhammad Moinul Haq, worked as an accountant in the nearby 1127: 325: 1172: 502:, a "self-sufficient Pakistan where Muslims would lead a life enriched with principles of democracy", and was in favour of 1162: 1182: 16:

This article is about the Pakistani scholar and writer, Muhammad Hasan Askari. For the Pakistani defence analyst, see

244:

but the decisive factor was the civil strife and riots which followed the Partition, and in October 1947, he reached

1187: 1157: 556: 143:. But in his later years, through personal experiences, geopolitical changes and the influence of authors like 1112: 683: 464: 381: 205: 152: 188:, to a "traditional, middle-class" Muslim family, in a cultured milieu where youngsters used to read the 584: 755: 1107: 1102: 300: 293: 272:

He died on 18 January 1978, due to a "massive heart attack", at the age of 57, and was buried in the

217: 177: 86: 41: 921: 622: 507: 503: 472: 376: 337: 221: 193: 140: 17: 721: 678: 673: 588: 499: 480: 304: 148: 144: 598: 468: 440: 408: 404: 289: 644: 519: 444: 225: 156: 128: 97: 552: 285: 277: 261: 229: 1096: 602: 436: 424: 385: 369: 365: 349: 333: 201: 197: 185: 181: 114: 1061: