Ismail Merathi
Ismail Merathi was an Indian Urdu poet, schoolteacher, and educationist from the Mughal–British era. His poems for children like Nasihat, Barsaat, Humaari Gaye, Subah Ki Aamad, Sach Kaho, Baarish Ka Pehla Qatra, Pan Chakki, Shafaq, and several others are part of the primary school curriculum in Pakistan. He wrote many Urdu and Persian text books for school-going children.
Early life and education
Merathi was born as Muhammad Ismail on 12 November 1844, in Meerath, Mughal India. He was home-schooled by his father Sheikh Piir Bakhsh. Later, he attended a formal school. He received higher education in Persian from Mirza Rahim Baig, a contemporary of Mirza Ghalib.In 1868, he was appointed as a Persian teacher in a public school in Saharanpur district. Later, he was transferred to Agra in 1888. In 1899, he retired from the teaching job and returned to his home town Meerath.
Literary career
Merathi started poetry when the Persian language was dominating both literature and culture in the Indian subcontinent. He initially wrote some Persian ghazals but later shifted to Urdu poetry. Influenced by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's reforming movement and after reading an Urdu translation of some moral poems in English, he was motivated to write inspiring Urdu poems for kids. His first collection of poems Reza-e-Jawahar was published in 1885, which also included some translations from English poems. He also wrote several school textbooks for 1st to 5th-grade students.In 1909, he founded a primary school Madrasa tul Banat for girls in Meerath which has been upgraded since then and now exists as Ismail National Mahila (PG) College Meerut.