A Postmodern Analysis of Iftikhār ʿĀrif’s Ghazal: In the Context of Decentralization and Maḥābayāniyya

Postmodernism signifies a profound epistemological shift an intellectual rupture that challenges the authority of centralized meanings, objective truths, and overarching maḥābayāniyyāt (grand narratives). As Jean-François Lyotard famously declared the "incredulity toward metanarratives," and Jacques Derrida introduced deconstruction as a strategy to expose internal contradictions within texts, the notion of fixed meaning began to collapse. Meaning, in the postmodern framework, is no longer a stable endpoint but a deferred, slippery construct shaped by language, context, and subjectivity. This theoretical landscape repositions the reader as an active agent navigating a text that resists interpretive finality. Within this context, the ġazal of Iftiḵẖār ʿĀrif emerges as a compelling site of postmodern inquiry. While formally rooted in classical Urdu poetics, his ġazals subvert traditional boundaries by engaging civilizational, religious, and national discourses not with resolution, but with profound ambiguity. Through layered symbolism, semantic openness, and deliberate linguistic complexity, ʿĀrif’s poetry disrupts narrative authority and invites multiple, often conflicting, interpretations. His use of intertextual references and metaphorical plurality dismantles the illusion of a singular, unchanging truth. Rather than reinforcing identity or ideology, ʿĀrif’s ġazal participates in their deconstruction, rendering meaning fluid and elusive. This decentering process aligns closely with postmodern sensibilities—where silence speaks, gaps signify, and absence becomes a form of presence. In this light, Iftiḵẖār ʿĀrif is not merely a modern poet but a postmodern voice, articulating a poetic ethos that unsettles every interpretive center and resists being confined to any maḥābayānī frame.