ISLAMABAD: Linguistic experts and writers have expressed great concern over the wrongly attributed poetic verses to Allama Muhammad Iqbal and termed it unfair to share others’ work under the impression of Iqbal.
Talking to reporter, writer, poetess and lecturer at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) Dr Sanober Altaf said that Iqbal Day events and social media platforms are displaying wrongly attributed verses to Allama Iqbal which is unfortunate.
She said social media has played the wrong role in distributing wrongly attributed poetry and quotations. She said the youngsters do not refer to the original work and books and rely on the information available online.
She said messages are forwarded and shared without verification and sometimes the name of a famous writer or poet is attributed to writings with the purpose to make them popular and viral. “This has happened with Ahmad Faraz, Jaun Elia and now the same is happening with a national poet Allama Iqbal, ” she added.
She said those people distant from the literature consider any poetic work as ‘Kalam-e-Iqbal’ that has the word ‘Iqbal’ in it. She said poetry having mystic colour is also attributed to the Allama Iqbal without confirming from the original sources.
Talking to reporter Secretary Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq Islamabad Khaleeq ur Rehman said that due to over-prioritising the English youth has lost its connection with Urdu. He said the decline in book reading and less interest in literature is the reason that Allama Iqbal is being wrongly attributed.
He said if a student has an assignment on the poetry of Allama Iqbal, his first source should be Kuliyat-e-Iqbal but on the contrary online source will be used for the search without giving importance to citation.
He said the youth has started writing in roman Urdu and the words of day-to-day use are wrongly pronounced and written. He said teachers, parents and society have to play a role in reviving the book culture and to strengthen the bond between youngsters and Pakistani culture.