akbar allahabadi:barqe kaleesa اکبر الٰہ آبادی: برقِ کلیسا

Syed Akbar Hussain Rizvi سید اکبر حسین رضوی (takhallus Akbar اکبر), commonly known as Akbar Allahabadi اکبر الٰہ آبادی was born in in Village Bara بارہ, about 25 kilometers southwest of Allahabad الٰہ آباد (across the River Jamuna), the Kingdom of Oudh اودھ, Northern India, on 16 November 1846. His ancestors had moved to Bara several generation before his birth. His was a middle class and conservative family. He got his early education from his father, Syed Tafazzal Hussain سید تفضّل حسین . Then his father got him enrolled at a Mission School for English education. He had just started when the War of Independence of 1857 broke out. At age 17, Akbar started working as a Clerk for a contractor doing construction on a bridge over Jamuna River. During this job he learned English with his efforts and was able to pass the Law Exam for the District Courts in 1867. In 1969 he was appointed as a Naib Tahsildar نائب تحصیلدار. In 1970 he was appointed as a Reader in the high Court. In 1873 he passed the Law Exam for the High Court and started practicing as a lawyer for the Allahabad High Court. In 1880 he was appointed as a Munsif منصف (Judge). He was appointed to Aligarh at the request of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who sought Akbar's help in his educational work in Aligarh. Akbar did not like the way Sir Syed was impressed by the West. He thought In 1894 he was promoted as a Sessions Judge. In 1898 he was given the title of Khan Bahadur by the British Government. After retiring in 1903, he lived comfortably in his spacious residence "Ishrat Manzil" (named after his son) in Allahabad. He lived through a turbulent time, from the unsuccessful War of Independence (1857) to the First World War (1914-1918). He passed away in Allahabad in 1921.

His Urdu poetry is known for its humor and sarcasm. He is known as the greatest humorist poet of Urdu. He had seen the rapid Westernization of the Indian society and he criticizes the West effectively in his poetry. He used his poetry for reforming the society. There are parallels between his poetry and that of Allama Iqbal علّامہ اقبال (Akbar preceding Iqbal by about three decades), although Akbar's style is different. Like Iqbal, Akbar was deeply concerned about the conditions of Indians, especially Muslims, and advised them against blindly following the West and to preserve their religion and culture.

There are few interesting anecdotes from his life. He had sent his son Ishrati عشرتی to London, UK, for higher education. When he did not send a letter to his father for some time, Akbar mailed him this qat'a قطعہ:

عشرتی، گھر کی محبّت کا مزہ بھُول گئے
کھا کے لندن کی ہوا عہدِ وفا بھُل گئے
بھُولے اغیار کے کُوچے میں محبّت گھر کی
کیک کو چکھ کے سویّوں کا مزہ بھُول گئے

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