Raam Deen / رام دین

by Mumtaz Mufti

رام دین ممتاز مفتی کا دوسرا مجموعہ مضامین ہے جو پہلی بار 1986 ء میں فیروز سنز، لاہور کے زیر اہتمام شائع ہوا۔
یہ مجموعہ سولہ مضامین اور ایک رپوتاژ پر مبنی ہے۔ ان سولہ مضامین میں سے ایک عورت اور جنسیات ، اس سے پہلے ان کے مجموعے غبارے میں شائع ہو چکا ہے۔
یہ مجموعہ اس حوالے سے بڑی اہمیت کے حامل ہیں کہ ممتاز مفتی کی فکر کے متنوع پہلوؤں کو منظم طور پر یکجا کر کے پیش کیا ہے۔ نیز یہ کہ ان کے ذریعے ممتاز مفتی نے اپنے خصوصی مسلک کی مکمل وضاحت پیش کی ہے۔ ان کا یہ خصوصی مسلک پاکستانیت ہے۔

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Mumtaz Mufti (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) is a Pakistani short story writer. He started writing Urdu short stories while working as a school teacher before partition. In the beginning he was considered among his contemporaries, a non-conformist writer having liberal views, who appeared influenced by Freud. His transformation from Liberalism to Sufism was due to his inspiration from Qudrat Ullah Shahab (Another well known Pakistani Author). At the same time, he did manage to retain his individual accent and wrote on subjects which were frowned upon by the conservative elements in society.

The two phases of his life are witnessed by his autobiographies, Ali Pur Ka Aeeli and Alakh Nagri. According to forewords mentioned in his later autobiography, Ali Pur Ka Aeeli is an account of a lover who challenged the social taboos of his times, and Alakh Nagri is an account of an acolyte who greatly influenced by the mysticism of Qudrat Ullah Shahab.

Talaash ("Quest") was the last book written by Mumtaz Mufti.

Reviews

[Komal Ehsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Raam Deen" is a remarkable collection of twenty-one short stories & essays by the pen of Sir Mumtaz Mufti. In these short stories and essays, the writer has shared some of his experiences which are both passionate and moralizing at the same time. At the start of the book, I thought that the name of the book was "Raam Deen" because the whole book emphasizes "Raam Deen" itself. And I was right because, at the end of the book, I realized that the whole book emphasizes in every story and character some effect of "Raam Deen"."Raam Deen" looks like a taunt to all Muslims. It's a mixture of both Hindu and Muslim names and these two names are not referring to two persons but a single person.. A Muslim, who with time has amalgamated his name with a Hindu name as a result of the cultural and religious consequences. Sir Mumtaz Mufti magically describes the decency & rectitude of "Raam Deen". In this book, every story is fabulous. You all must read it.. The story "Raam Deen" can truly play a wonderful role in changing thousands of people's views about the motive behind getting Pakistan. The story teaches us in a good way how important it was to get Pakistan politically, religiously, socially, and economically. I loved the writing style of Sir Mumtaz Mufti which is exceptionally straightforward and explicit. In one of the short stories of the book, tribute was paid to a folk singer, Sir Tufail Niazi. There are two short stories that I suppose to be worth reading. Their names are, "Pakistan" and "Jae Panah Se Jae Imtiaz Tak". These two stories have some heart-touching incidents & happenings that are surely going to mesmerize you all. The single book is a cocktail of diverse tastes. The whole book is philosophic, scarcely amusing, and moralistic as well at the identical stretch.

(Komal Ehsan..)

[Tariq Sheikh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book of Mamtaz Mufti, I liked reading it. It is a good collection of small stories.