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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Ishtiaq Ahmad; A great figure of Urdu Jasusi Adab!

Ishtiaq Ahmad (or Ishtiaq Ahmed or اﺸﺘﻴﺎﻖ اﺤﻤﺩ in Urdu), is primarily a fiction writer from Lahore, Pakistan, (originally from Jhang, Pakistan) famous for his spy, detective novels in Urdu language, and is the author of the highest number of novels (700) by any author in any language throughout the world. He was popular in the 70s to 80s and 90s and started, Inspector Jamshed series, Inspector Kamran Mirza series, and Shoki series. He is currently an editor of the magazine, "[Bachon ka islam]", which is published by the Islamic newspaper “ROZNAMA ISLAM” from several cities of Pakistan.

Ishtiaq Ahmed has authored hundreds of suspense thriller novels in Urdu for kids during the 1970s, '80s and into the 1990s. His books were published at a very fast rate. His detective teams included Inspector Jamshed, Inspector Kamran as well as the Shoki brothers. It was the Inspector Jamshed team (and the series built around their escapades to protect Pakistan in general and the Muslim Nation in particular) that captured the imagination of several generations in Pakistan. The series featured a detective, Inspector Jamshed Ahmed, who solved crimes with the help of his three children, Mehmood, Farooq & Farzana. Inspector Jamshed was married, with his wife referred to as the children's mother or simply Mrs. Jamshed (Begum in Urdu). In his detective work, he had not only his children to help, but also a retired army officer, Khan Rehman (who was very rich), Professor Dawood, a brilliant scientist and his subordinate sub-inspector Ikraam .

Ishtiaq Ahmed is a master of writing suspense thrillers aimed at adult readers. The novel always started with a Hadith, followed by "Doo Batain" (Two Words), although the order was reversed in the beginning. Depending on the size of the novel, there could be more than one Hadith, with a short comment for clarification.

The "Doo Batain" section started as a way to address the reader. It often contained news about the author, his interpretation of world events, possibly a preview regarding the story, or at times, a completely off the topic narrative. The ultimate purpose of this was to inform and entertain. Notable ones began with: "Doo Batain: Batain to shoro ker chuka, ab aagay kiya khaak likhoon ga?" ("My Two Cents Worth: worth what?"). Besides in "Doo Batain" section Ishtiaq Ahmed used to complaint of the ever increasing burden he had to bear due to increasing price of paper.

During 1990s when his name was at the peak as the only writer for children, many copycats ishtiaq Ahmeds came into being, several publishers mainly from Lahore and Karachi tried to publish novels using his names. You can guess the fame of name of Ishtiaq Ahmed at those times. Ishtiaq Ahmed became a brand name.
He is currently the editor of an online children's magazine BACHOON KA ISLAM, which also has some of his novels online.

He has written novels at a very fast rate due to which he has written lots of books, but he use to write a couple of novels in a year which were called Khas Numbers or Special Numbers. In these novels most of the times all three detective parties use to solve the case together. List of his some Khas Numbers are as follows (J stands for Jamshed Series, K stands for Kamran Series & S stands for Shoki Series)

1. Jeral Ka Mansooba (J K)
2. Malasha Ka Zalzala (J K)
3. Wadi-e-Dehshat (J K)
4. Kala Shetan + Shetan Ke Pujari (J K)
5. Aghwa Series (J K)
6. Jheel Ki Moat (J K)
7. Slaughter Ki Wapsi (J K)
8. Insani Dhuwan (S)
9. Duniya Ke qaidi (J K S)
10. Jazeray Ka Samunder (J K S)

He has written many Mini Khaas Numbers and Medium Khaas Numbers. May Allah empower his writing skills and he will entertain us by his novels.

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