کسی نے یہ بقراط سے جا کے پوچھا
مرض تیرے نزدیک مہلک ہیں کیا کیا
kisii ne ye buqraat se jaa ke puuchhaa
maraz tere nazdiik muhlik haiñ kyaa kyaa
Someone went and asked Hippocrates:
'In your view, which diseases are deadly?'
Altaf Hussain Hali
الطاف حسین حالی
1837–1914 · Reform movement (Aligarh)
A pupil of Ghalib and his first biographer (Yadgar-e-Ghalib), Hali also wrote the first work of Urdu literary criticism, Muqaddama-e-Sher-o-Shairi. His Musaddas (1879) called his community to self-renewal.
How to read Hali
Hali wants to be understood. Notice the plain syntax, the absence of ornament for its own sake, and the use of the six-line musaddas stanza for argument.
Couplets in the course (2)
ہے جستجو کہ خوب سے ہے خوب تر کہاں
اب ٹھہرتی ہے دیکھیے جا کر نظر کہاں
hai justujuu ki khuub se hai khuub-tar kahaañ
ab Thahrtii hai dekhiye jaa kar nazar kahaañ
The search goes on: beyond the good, where is the better?
Let us see where the gaze will finally come to rest.