A renowned hakim and poet lost in oblivion: Hakim Abdul Waheed Ashq Bijnauri

Bhaskar News Service

Dhampur. Late Hakeem Abdul Waheed Ashq Bijnouri, a true well-wisher of the poor and downtrodden, was born in a famous scholarly family in village Hussainpur Hameed Habibwala under Dhampur tehsil area on this day, 19 November 1917. Dr. Misbahuddin Azhar alias Guddu Aligarh in a special meeting told our District Incharge Sanjay Jain that Late Abdul Waheed had done 5 years Diploma in Unani Medicine from Tibbaya College of Aligarh Muslim University before independence. That’s why Hakim used to write before his name. Apart from Hikmat, he had also obtained the certificate of Adeeb – Adeeb Mahir and Kamil from Jamia Urdu, Aligarh. He told that Hakim Abdul Waheed used to live in Sarai Hakim when he was a student in Aligarh. Shakeel Badayoni, the uncrowned king of songs from the Hindi film world, also used to come to his neighborhood and in the evenings, both of them used to gather together a lot. Hakim Abdul Waheed also used to make corrections in the ghazals written by Shakeel Badayoni, that is why he became Shakeel’s master. He had excellent command over Urdu, Persian and Arabic. He put the voice of his heart into words in Ghazal, Geet, Najam, Masnavi, Naat and on various occasions and wrote many excellent poems. After getting education from Aligarh, he also worked in government job for some days. When the war for independence was raised, he also wrote patriotic songs and presented them in his own voice. Had gone to Allahabad on government work and was sitting in an inn. Some children in the street were singing patriotic songs inspired by independence. He came out and asked the children whose song this was. An intelligent child replied that it was Hakeem Abdul Waheed, it was published in the newspaper a few days ago. He used to say that he was very happy to hear that I have reached the people. There can be nothing greater for a poet than reaching out to the masses. His style of reading Ghazal was very unique, his voice was thunderous. In the gatherings, he used to impress the hearts and minds of the listeners with his compositions and style. There were many facets to his personality. On one side there were excellent doctors and hakims, on the other side there was an excellent poet and teacher, on one side there was the Imam of the mosque, on the other side there was an excellent politician, on one side there was the village judge and on the other side there was also the village head. There was no one as hospitable as him in the village or the surrounding areas. Big officials sitting in government offices wanted to meet him and join him as lovers and were satisfied after talking. He used to meet government officials with great respect and give them respect according to their position. Seeing this personality, even the government officials were happy with him and ordered him to do his work on priority basis. He listens to the victim very patiently and makes every effort to get his work done. He was a true well-wisher of the poor and the oppressed. He was always ready to help the villagers. If there was any problem in someone’s house, he considered every problem as his own problem. He treated every person in the village as his family members. Because of this quality of his, whoever met him remained his. His personality left an indelible impression on that person. He remained crazy about him for the rest of his life.