Originally published 1 January 1996 | ||
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Similar India Wins Freedom, Raja Gidh, La Hasil, Pir‑e‑Kamil, Diwan‑e‑Ghalib | ||
Ghubar-e-Khatir (Sallies of Mind), (Urdu: غبار خاطر) is one of the most important works of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, written primarily during 1942 to 1946 when he was imprisoned in Ahmednagar Fort in Maharashtra by British Raj while he was in Bombay (now Mumbai) to preside over the meeting of All India Congress Working Committee.[14] The book is basically a collection of 24 letters he wrote addressing his close friend Maulana Habibur Rahman Khan Sherwani. These letters were never sent to him because there was no permission for that during the imprisonment and after the release in 1946, he gave all these letters to his friend Hakim Ajmal Khan who let it published for the first time in 1946.
Contents of the book
Although the book is a collection of letters but except one or two letters, all other letters are unique and most of the letters deal with complex issues such as existence of God,[14] the origin of religions, the origin of music and its place in religion, etc. The book is primarily an Urdu language book however there are over five hundreds of couplets, mostly in Persian and Arabic languages. It is because Maulana was born in a family where Arabic and Persian were used more frequently than Urdu. He was born in Mekkah, given formal education in Persian and Arabic languages but he was never taught Urdu. It is often said that his book India wins Freedom is about his political life and Ghubar-e-Khatir deals with his social and spiritual life.