Mir Babbar Ali Anees

INTRODUCTION

Mir Babbar Ali Anees (Urdu: میر ببر علی انیس) was a renowned Urdu poet. He was born in Faizabad in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in 1803 and died in 1874.
The famous marsia writers who inherited the tradition of Mir Anis among his successive generations are Mir Nawab Ali 'Munis', Dulaha Sahab 'Uruj', Mustafa Meerza urf Piyare Sahab 'Rasheed', Syed Muhammad Mirza Uns, Ali Nawab 'Qadeem', Syed Sajjad Hussain 'Shadeed', Syed Sajjad Hussain "Shadeed" Lucknavi.
The Majlis of 25 Rajab, is historically important Majlis of Marsiya in Lucknow, in this majlis Mir Anis used to recite Marsiya. After Mir Anis well known marsiya writers of Mir Anis's family as Dulaha Sahab 'Uruj', Mustafa Meerza urf Piyare Sahab 'Rasheed', Ali Nawab (Qadeem) and Syed Sajjad Hussain 'Shadeed', inherited the legacy of reciting marsiya.

Mir Anis composed salāms, elegies, nauhas, quatrains. While the length of elegy initially had no more than forty or fifty stanzas, it now was beyond one hundred fifty or even longer than two hundred stanzas or bunds, as each unit of marsia in musaddas format is known. According to Muhammad Hussain Azad "The late Mīr Sahib must certainly have composed at least ten thousand elegies, and salāms beyond count. He composed as easily and casually as he spoke.

ALI IBNE ABU TALIB a.s says:
“A man can be judged by his words.”
And that is what this section is all about… It judges Mir Babar Ali Anees the man who awarded the title of KHUDA-E-SUKHAN, the Creator of words.

Indeed, some readers will reckon that Mir Anees can be judged as the best poet in the Urdu language only, however that is a shortsighted view of this great man’s phenomenal and unparalleled feat with words.
Poetry is not only about language, its about the perfect balance between each and every line that is composed. Thorough poetry is the beauty that originates in the flow of the words when they are read out… the rhythmic sounds that enter the heart through the ears.

A passionate fan of Mir Anees said about his poetry, “It seems as though my heart has tasted honey, a heavenly drink, through my ears.” Sometimes people do not understand the rare words used by Mir Anees in his poem, but satisfy the thirst of eloquence and elocution by just listening to the rhythm of his flowing words.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (First Prime Minister of India) had once said that Mir Anees was his essential reading on the day of Ashura only to let him shed more of his insularity.

According to Shibli Nomani no other poet has used as many words in their poetry as Mir Anees. And this doesn’t apply to urdu poets only. It applies to poets of all languages. Shibli Nomani also says that the poetic qualities and merits of Anees are not matched by any other poet.

Josh Maliahabadi has paid a rich tribute to Meer Anees in poetry. He says:

Teri har mouj-e-nafas rooh-ul-amee’n ki jaa’n hai
tu meri urdu zubaa’n ka bolta Qura’n hai
Translated
Every breath of yours is the life of Gabrielle
You are the speakin Quran of the urdu language

Even though most of the non-Urdu speaking nations will not understand his speech. For the beauty of his melodic poems will be like the pleasant sound of a flowing rivulet, that relaxes the body and soul of the listener.