Musharraf Ali Farooqi is a Toronto-based author, novelist and translator whose translation of the Islamic epic The Adventures of Amir Hamza by Ghalib Lakhnavi and Abdullah Bilgrami was acclaimed in 2008. On the eve of the release of his next major translated work, Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism, a fantasy epic about a magical land of fairies, dragons and talismans, Farooqi tells Lounge about his favourite books in Urdu. “I have chosen these books for the beauty of their language, their intense storytelling, and their breathtaking scope. They include novels, short stories and dastans,” Farooqi says.

Photo: Courtesy Random House India

by Syed Muhammad Ashraf

This is a novel about a village administrator who creates an instrument of terror that ultimately turns on him. Its narrative is uniquely constructed, almost like a mathematical equation.

Simia

by Naiyer Masud

This novel, a cosmic fable, is important because it’s penned by Urdu’s greatest contemporary master of the short story.

Kai Chand Thay Sar-e Aasman

by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi

It is one of world literature’s greatest masterpieces. Faruqi brings his scholarship of Indo-Islamic society to recreate that lost world through the tale of, as the publisher says, “Wazir Khanam, mother of the famous poet, Dagh Dehlavi, who takes a series of lovers and husbands, including Metcalfe and a Mughal prince, Mirza Mughal.”

Savar aur Doosray Afsanay

by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi

This is a collection of short historical fiction about the literary figures and culture in 19th and 20th century India.

Mitti ki Kaan

by Afzal Ahmed Syed

Syed commands both the nazm and ghazal genres. This collection is representative of the finest Urdu poetry in modern times.

Sanjukta Sharma