A Concise Encyclopaedic Study of Meer Anees
By Taha Turabi
Paramount Books (Pvt) Limited
ISBN: 978-627-94680-0-0
250pp.

On a bus ride from Manchester to Stratford-upon-Avon — home to Shakespeare’s memorials — a British woman overheard a group of Pakistanis and Indians, including myself, praising Shakespeare. Curious, she turned and asked, “Why are Indians and Pakistanis so awed by Shakespeare? We only see him as a dramatist.” I replied, “True, if one knows only English and only Shakespeare, he appears solely as a dramatist. But we place him alongside Rumi, Anees and other epic poets — thus recognising his universal greatness.”

That exchange offers a fitting prelude to Taha Turabi’s new book. A Concise Encyclopaedic Study of Meer Anees does not merely explore the 19th century poet’s Urdu verses; it re-imagines his stature by placing him among the world’s epic masters. Turabi invites readers to view Anees not as a regional poet of lamentation but as a member of a global constellation of literary greatness.

Turabi brings to this undertaking both pedigree and passion. He is heir to an extraordinary intellectual lineage. His father, Allama Rashid Turabi, was a revered scholar and orator across the Indo-Pak Subcontinent and his uncle, Dr Mazhar Ali Khan, served as Professor of English Literature at Peshawar University, shaping generations of students. To grow under the mentorship of such figures is a rare advantage — one that deeply informs this study.

At just 250 pages, the book seeks to position Meer Anees among the world’s literary giants. Turabi situates his output within the epic tradition that includes Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and even Shakespeare’s history plays — works often seen as the Bard’s attempt at epic form. Other connections with the Persian masters Hafiz........

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