Sahitya News Desk !!! Syed Akbar Hussain (English: Syed Akbar Hussain, born- 16 November, 1846; died- 9 September, 1921) was a very strong and courageous poet of Hindustani language and Hindustani culture. His poetry contains ample clues of all the mental and moral values, cultural feats, political movements and government actions of the people living in North India. His poetry is a mirror of the times and life. His style of expression is sometimes qalandarana, sometimes poetic, sometimes with carving, sometimes simple, sometimes traditional and sometimes modern and revolutionary. Akbar Allahabadi was a rebel despite being traditional and a reformist despite being a rebel. He was a poet, he did not make noise. Both the elite and the public considered him their poet. His poetry satisfies the taste of both. His poetry is the complete Urdu poetry. According to Shamsur Rahman Farooqui, after Mir Taqi Mir, Akbar Allahabadi has used the maximum number of words of Urdu language in his poetry.
Introduction
Syed Akbar Hussain Allahabadi was born on 16 November, 1846 in Kasba Barah of Allahabad district. Father Tafazzul Hussain was a deputy tehsildar. Akbar received his primary education at home. At the age of eight or nine, he read Persian and Arabic textbooks. Then he was admitted to a mission school. But due to poor financial condition of the family, he had to leave school and look for a job at the age of fifteen.[1]
Marriage
At the same young age, he got married to a village girl named Khadija Khatoon, but he did not like his wife. At the same age, he started visiting the brothels of Allahabad. There was hardly any beautiful and pleasant courtesan in Allahabad whom he did not visit. He also married a courtesan named Boota Jaan, but she died soon, which shocked Akbar Allahabadi.
Professional debut
Akbar Allahabadi worked for a few days with a railway contractor at a salary of Rs. 20 per month. Then after a few days, that job ended. During that time, he mastered English and passed the law examination in 1867. He practiced law for three years after which he became the Misil Khawan of the High Court. During that time, he understood the judges, lawyers and the court proceedings in depth. In 1873, he passed the High Court law examination and in a short time, he was appointed to the post of Munsif. During that time, he liked Fatima Sughra, a girl from a Shia family, whom he married and separated his first wife, but kept giving her a nominal allowance. He had two sons from his first wife, but he did not care about their education and he lived a life of great poverty. One son left this world with the desire to meet his father, but he did not go to see him.
Rest of life
In 1888, Akbar Allahabadi was promoted to the post of Subordinate Judge and then to the post of Judge of the Secret Court and he was transferred to various places including Aligarh. In 1905, he retired from the post of Session Judge and spent the rest of his life in Allahabad. After retirement, his second wife did not live long. Akbar was not able to recover from the shock that his young son born from his second wife, whom he loved very much, died. These sorrows completely broke him and he started falling ill continuously. He sent his second son Ishrat Hussain from Fatima Sogra to London for education. His first wife Khadija Khatoon lived till 1920 but she was never allowed to set foot in “Ishrat Manzil”. In 1907, the government gave Akbar Allahabadi the title of “Khan Bahadur” and also made him a Fellow of Allahabad University.[1]
Death
Akbar Allahabadi died on 9 September 1921.
