A young Muslim from Uttar Pradesh has translated the Hanuman Chalisa into Urdu. Abid Alvi, who worked on the translation said, “I have translated Hanuman Chalisa in musaddas style which comprises six lines. Like a chaupai has four lines, musaddas has three shers and six lines.”
Planning on similar works in the future, including translation of Shiva Chalisa, Alvi believes it will help people from both the communities understand each other's culture. “I always wanted both communities to know each other's culture. Therefore, I want that Urdu books are translated into Hindi and vice versa. It is because people should know each other. This will strengthen brotherhood, unity and love. Therefore, I did this work. The idea to do the translation came to my mind during Varanasi visit, where some foreigners asked people to recite Hanuman Chalisa,” he said.
A student of Hindi, it took him three months to complete the translation, without committing any mistake, and giving full justice to thee work. He said he came across people who opposed his decision. “When I asked several persons whether there would be any problem in doing it they said Quran preaches to maintain communal harmony at any cost. My father used to make me understand the meaning of each and every word of the holy Quran.”
“I intend to translate Urdu books into Hindi so that Hindi-speaking people can understand them,” Alvi said, adding he has support of his family and friends in his mission. “People are happy that I have done something good,” Alvi said.
This isn't the first time someone translated Hindu religious text into Urdu, last year Urdu poet Anwar Jalalpuri released a rendition of Shrimad Bhagwad Gita. He translated the 700 verses into over 1700 Urdu couplets. He described the Gita as the biggest literature on worldly education. 'Urdu Shayari Mein Gita' was released by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. “The book is an effort to present the message of worldly education of Lord Krishna in its spirit through simple Urdu couplets,” the author-poet said.
Jalalpuri said while some verses were completed in a single couplet, others were spread in more couplets keeping in mind the 'nazakat' and 'nafasat' of Urdu poetry.