The Repentance of Nussooh - The Tale of a Muslim Family a Hundred Years Ago

Author: Nazir Ahmad
Editor(s): C M Naim
Publisher: Permanent Black
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 140
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8178240769

Description

The Repentance of Nussooh (1884) is a translation of Taubat-al-Nasuh (1874) by Nazir Ahmad, one of the stalwarts of the Aligarh Movement and a younger contemporary of Syed Ahmad Khan. Inspired by Daniel Defoe's The Family Instructor, the Urdu novel far surpasses its English model in bringing alive, through incident and dialogue, a crisis of values among members of an elite Muslim family in Delhi soon after the Great Rebellion of 1857.

Though didactic in purpose, the novel's many literary qualities justify its general recognition as the first major novel in Urduj. Like its predecessor, Mirat-ul-Arus (The Bride's Mirror), Taubat-al-Nasuh receivred an award from the colonial government and was immediately made a part of the Urdu syllabus in Indian schools; it thus became integral to the formal education of all Urdu-speaking generations in North India.

This novel is among India's most important literary texts emphasizing the role of religion in inclucating ideals and virtues for proper conduct.

Contents

Editor's Note

Transcription System

Original Title page, Notes and Preface

Translation

Author's Preface

Four Excerpts

Muir and Kempson

Afterword