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Dhanak / دھنک

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سائنس اور مذہب کی کشمکش پر ایک طویل افسانہ۔ غلام عباس کے روایتی انداز میں۔

54 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1969

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30 people want to read

About the author

Ghulam Abbas

52 books35 followers
Ghulam Abbas (Urdu: غلام عباس ‎) was an Urdu short story writer. His influence has been both long and deep. In his short stories he often exposes shortcomings, weaknesses and hypocrisy in human beings. But his tone is never sarcastic or venomous.

He was a great admirer of the Russian short story tradition.

His love for poetry, specially Urdu poetry was abiding and profound, but he never ventured into it himself seriously.

Abbas’ fame is purely because of his literary genius, as he became popular without associating himself or depending on any of the literary movement or group.

His short stories Anandi and Overcoat earned him international fame. Jaaday ki Chandni and Kan ras are his famous books containing remarkable short stories.

He died in 1982 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.

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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for W.
1,185 reviews4 followers
March 10, 2020
Bleak and potentially controversial,dystopian fiction set in Pakistan,at the end of the twentieth century.

Ghulam Abbas foresaw the potential for lots of extremist violence in Pakistan. He wrote this book in 1969,and it is so eerily similar to what started happening in Pakistan from 2007 onwards.

A lot of terrorist attacks and sectarian massacres in Pakistan did take place. It was as if rivers of blood were flowing,just as depicted in the book.

Dark,disturbing and eventually all too realistic.
Profile Image for Salman Khalid.
106 reviews86 followers
February 18, 2018
بڑا ہی افسوسناک بلکہ پریشان کُن حد تک ڈیپریسنگ ناولٹ ہے۔ اداسی کی وجہ کسی رومانوی داستان کا نہایت المناک انجام ہونا نہیں تھا بلکہ وطن عزیز کے مستقبل کا ایسا بھیانک نقشہ غلام عباس نے 1969ء میں لکھے اس ناولٹ میں کھینچا ہے جس کی بہت ساری جہات آج کے دور حاضر میں کسی حد تک سچ ثابت ہوئی ہیں۔

کہانی کا مرکزی خیال یہ ہے کہ پاکستان کا ایک خلا پیما دنیا میں پہلی مرتبہ چاند پر جا پہنچتا ہے جس کے نتیجے میں وطن عزیز میں مذہبی تنظیمیں اجرام فلکی میں در اندازی کے ’گناہ‘ پر اور کفریہ نظام و نظریات کی بیخ کنی و نفاذ اسلام کے لئے انقلاب برپا کر دیتیں ہیں اور حکومت سنبھال کر تمام مغربی و غیر اسلامی طریقے، تعلیم، رواج منسوخ کر کے اسلامی قوانین و عربی انداز نافذ کر دیے جاتے ہیں۔ ۔ ۔ شاید یہاں تک بات رہتی تو کسی حد تک قابل قبول بھی تھی مگر اس سے آگے اس ’سبز انقلاب‘ کا جو حشر غلام عباس نے لکھا ہے وہ واقعتاََ حقیقت حال پر مبنی ہے۔
اگرچہ کہانی کی بہت سی باتوں سے اختلاف ممکن ہے۔ کہیں کہیں مذہب کے خلاف بغض بھی محسوس ہوتا ہے۔ مگر باوجود اس سب کے اُس انجام سے انکار ممکن نہیں جو غلام عباس نے مذہبی جماعتوں کے ہاتھوں وطن عزیز کا لکھ دیا ہے۔ یہی تلخ مگر سچی حقیقت اس کتاب کو پسند کرنے کی وجہ بنی ہے۔
شاید یہ کتاب اب عام نہ ملے۔ مگر ریختہ پر موجود اس مختصر افسانے ناولٹ کی ای بُک کو سبھی دردمند ہم وطنوں کو پڑھنا چاہیئے۔
Profile Image for Hifza.
115 reviews
July 19, 2020
This targets religion, the biases and conformity it propagates and admires, unapologetically.

I learned about its existence today after reading an incredibly insighful article in dawn news by Mushtaq Bilal. I liked his article so much I sent him words of support via email 😂.

I encourage everyone to read this along with angaarey of course. I feel like I'm a very niche kind of masochist when it's comes to stories like this lol.
Profile Image for Interdimensionalpupper.
5 reviews8 followers
January 21, 2026
(Read translated into English)

An interesting short story showcasing the author's technique for imagery. The first sequence, up until the astronaut's great proclamation, stirred a great deal of enthusiasm in me. Unfortunately, the story fell apart when it attempted to declare the world of mullahs and amirs. I'm not sure if this was because that imagined world is already too familiar to me (and thus too coherent, too obsolete), or because it was delivered with such bland voice. Reading it in Urdu might do me good next time.
1 review
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September 5, 2020
Dhanak is a classic one. Ghulam Abbas predicted the future of motherland before time and it happen same as true in the last three decades of last century. A good writer. He even not mentioned the name of Mullahs, just highlighted their sectarian symbolic recognition and predicted the would be future situation of the country. Ghulam Abas has mastery on using symbolic technique. Dhanak is good novel.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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