SHAMSUR Rahman Farooqi in his novel Kai Chaand Thai Sar-i-Aasmaan had described Saleem Jafer’s life, but it lacked authenticity and quite a few errors had crept in. Basheer Unvaan, a scholar from Mirpurkhas, Sindh, mentioned these errors in a letter published in an issue of Urdu magazine Dunyazad. Farooqi Sahib graciously acknowledged what Unvaan Sahib had written and amended his text.

Saleem Jafer was a critic, research scholar, lexicographer, linguist, translator, poet, grammarian and prosodist. His invaluable articles on grammar and linguistic issues were published in such esteemed magazines as Humayun, Zamana, Naya Daur, Nigar and Saqi.

In 1998, an article by Ilyas Ishqi (1922-2007), a broadcaster, poet and critic, appeared in issue 66 of Seep, a literary magazine. The article offered some information on Saleem Jafer’s works and some glimpses of his life. Another article on Saleem Jafer was penned recently by Basheer Unvaan. In this immensely valuable article, published in January 2025 issue of Qaumi Zaban, Karachi, Unvaan has mentioned Shamsur Rahman Farooqi’s lapses and has put the record straight.

Saleem Jafer was a penname and his real name was Muhammad Haseebullah Qureshi, but he also wrote with another pseudonym Arbudesh. Saleem Jafer was born in Kursi, district of Barabanki, UP, on June 9, 1884, writes Basheer Unvaan. Saleem Jafer’s father was employed in Jaipur State, therefore, Saleem received his early education in Jaipur but could not finish his B.A. owing to his immense interest in Sanskrit. He learned Sanskrit and Hindi from some pandits. In his later life, this knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindi came in handy and Saleem Jafer’s several articles on Urdu and Hindi grammar and orthography offer an insight based on that knowledge.

Saleem Jafer landed a job at the office of the Agent to Governor General. British officers were much impressed with his knowledge of several languages that included Persian, Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit and some of them asked Saleem to teach them these languages. In return, Saleem gained knowledge of some European languages from them, such as, Italian and French. Saleem Jafer had an obsession with learning languages and wanted to gain knowledge of Pahlavi, or the Middle Persian. So, in 1919, he got himself transferred to Iran and stayed there for about two years. In 1940, Saleem Jafer retired and got a job at a princely state but soon resigned due to intrigues that were rampant in princely states back then. Saleem Jafer had assisted Dya Narain Nigam for many years in editing his magazine Zamana.

In 1950, Saleem Jafer migrated to Pakistan and settled at Mirpurkhas. Here he worked as a typist at the office of Abdul Lateef Gandhi, a lawyer who had extended much help to Saleem when he was struggling in settling down after the migration. To return the favour, Saleem Jafer began working at his office to help him out. Soon everybody realised that Saleem was not a mere typist or assistant but a scholar. In 1958, Prof Karraar Husain assumed charge as principal of Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai College, Mirpurkhas. He would occasionally invite Saleem Jafer to the college to deliver lectures on literary and academic issues, an offer Saleem was glad to accept.

Not much has been written on Saleem Jafer and most students, even some professors, do not know much about him. One of the reasons for this anonymity is that Saleem Jafer did not have any lobby and did not believe in PR (public relations). Much of the scholarly work that Saleem Jafer penned has largely been forgotten. Scores of his articles are buried in literary magazines. His book Galzaar-i-Nazeer, a voluminous book on Nazeer Akberabadi and his poetry, was published in 1951 by Allahabad’s Hindustani Academy. According to Basheer Unvaan, recently Dr Shahid Ahmed Jamali has compiled four books comprising Saleem Jafer’s articles and Jaipur’s Rajputana Research Academy has published them. Dr Jamali has also written another book, evaluating Saleem Jafer’s prose. Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, had published some of Saleem Jafer’s articles in anthologies on language, grammar and literature in 1990s.

It is heartbreaking to know that in Pakistan none of Saleem Jafer’s books was ever published and, as mentioned by Jameel Jalibi in his editorial in Naya Daur, published just after Saleem Jafer’s death, Saleem Jafer would sometimes come to Karachi and visit publishers and literary organisations to get published his book Tehqeeq-ul-Lughaat, a dictionary of etymological origins, tracing the Sanskrit and Old Persian roots of Urdu words. But the dictionary still remains unpublished.

Saleem Jafer died in Mirpurkhas on July 3, 1960.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2026