Dīvan-i-Amīr (Collection of Amīr Mīnaī's Urdu Poetry)

Amīr Ahmad Mīnaī (1829-1900), a master poet of Urdu language, came from a religious and literary family of Lucknow. After getting trained in languages (Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit), philosophy, logic, religion, jurisprudence, history, geography, astrology, and other subjects, he gained a position among scholars of Lucknow at a young age. Amir who composed in the classical style was a prolific poet and writer known for his romantic and devotional poetry. Amir was an immaculate stylist and his epistles, masterpieces of Urdu prose, have been published several times and are often included in Urdu textbooks. However, Amir’s most crucial contribution to Urdu is Amīr-ul Lughāt, the first lexicon of Urdu. Amir composed in the classical style developing a unique voice of his own. His poetry is marked by a delicate sensibility, keen insight, an impression of his times, and vast knowledge acquired through wide learning. According to Dr. Iqbal, Amir’s poetry is uniquely lyrical and has an air of gloom which haunts the listener. This enlarged edition of Amir’s Urdu poetical works, first printed in 1863, was published in 2005 by his grandson Israeel Ahmad Minai from Karachi.