Mulla Hakim Habib-al Lah

Mulla Hakim Habib-al Lah (1851–1904 CE ) was a Kashmiri poet who wrote in Kashmiri, Persian, and occasionally Urdu. A poet and teacher, he was deeply inclined towards mysticism and spent the last years of his life as a recluse, traditionally associated with qalandars. In the genre of Kashmiri muqam-bandh marsiya, he is considered one of the last major masters. Amongst his marsiya, Karbala, Shahadat, Hamesha Bahar, Kar and Yusuf are well known and recited across Kashmir. Habib-al Lah composed his poetry under the pen-name of Habib. In Kashmiri, he composed a shahr-i ashoub, Sehlab Nama which describes the devastation that took place in Kashmir during the great flood of 1903–4, and became quite popular. His other Kashmiri masnavi which satires rural life, Greist Nama, mirrors a similar work written earlier by Pir Maqbool Shah Kralwari. During his student days in Lahore, Habib also participated in poetical gatherings (mushairas) held in the city. It reflects the nostalgic persistence of a literary tradition in a language that had largely ceased to be creatively vibrant.

On his death, Habib was buried at his ancestral graveyard, Mulla Maqbara, in Hassanabad, Srinagar.

Life

Early life and education Habib was born in 1851, into a prominent Mulla family, which traces its lineage from Mulla Muhammad Said-al Din Hamdani also known as Mulla Said, the first mutawali (custodian) of Khanqah-i Maulla at Srinagar. In one of his Persian chronograms Habib himself records the year of his birth as 1268 AH (1851CE). The chronogram also highlights Habib's livelong devotion to Imam Ali who was also styled as Abu Turab (Father of Dust): Mustafa Ali was the Head Persian teacher at the State School Srinagar and one of the leading marsiya writers and calligraphers of nineteenth century Kashmir. After completing his education in Srinagar, Habib left for Lahore for further studies and lived in the city for some time. Habib began his journey as a poet composing in Persian, during his stay in Lahore and participated in many mushairas held in the city, including those presided by Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali. This was followed by a compilation of all surviving works of Habib in Kashmiri and Persian undertaken by Anees Kazami and M Y Manzar for the Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages which was published in 1981 as Kuliyat-i Hakim Habibullah.