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Zouk
was the pen-name of Sheikh Ibrahim (1789-1854), one of the brightest
stars in the galaxy of Urdu poets. He was a poor youth, with only
ordinary education, who went on to acquire quite some learning in history,
tradition and astrology in his later years. Even though much of his work
was lost awt the time of the First War of Independence 1857, he left behind
a legacy of ghazal, qasida, and mukhummus. The qasida
was his special forte. Zouk’s idioms were homely, but
none has a greater number of signal phrases memorable for thought or music.
His language was polished and his diction elegant. He used several styles
successfully and though not as great a thinker as Ghalib, had a more melodious flow of language. |
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