For the longest time, I had written off the Urdu language. But then Allah brought me back. And I started to study Ghalib and Iqbal -- and others -- all over.
I realized there are no poets in any language I know that can touch either one of these two great masters: Ghalib and Iqbal.
And I have defended that position everywhere since. And would love to do that for as long as I live.
It is understandable why people will lose interest in Urdu. Especially Muslims. But it is possible to bring the Urdu language back.
Hindus are picking it up. Many of them for their own reasons, as people generally do. But it is not impossible to get Muslims interested. It is going to be hard, maybe, but quite possible.
I have been privileged to talk to broad-based White non-Muslim audiences in US about Urdu poetry, and in particular about Ghalib and Iqbal, and, quite frankly, they were fascinated.
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