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Faiz, Faiz Ahmad: The Communist Poet

 Faiz Ahmad Faiz:

(1911-1984)

He was among the most celebrated and popular shayars and authors in Punjabi and Urdu. He faced political repression for his revolutionary views. He was born in 13 Feb 1911, in Sialkot, Punjab. He was the son of wealthy Punjabi landowners Sultan Fatima and sultan Muhammad Khan, who passed away in 1913, just after his birth. His father was a well known lawyer and a member of a noble literary class including Allama Iqbal.

He did his basic education from his hometown Church Mission School. Later, he received his bachelors  degree in Arabic then he did his Masters in English and Arabic from Government College, Lahore. During his college days, he continued to pursue his poetic aspirations. In 1936, he took up the post of an English lecturer at M.A.O. College, Amritsar. When the Progressive Movement in India gathered momentum in 1936, he was one of the protagonists. Faiz beautifully blended the grief of love with sorrows of life in his poetry which struck a chord with youth. 

In 1939, when his first collection ‘Naqsh-e-Faryadi’ was published, the literary world was rocked with the echo. During that time, he also assumed the responsibility of editorship of ‘Adab-e-Lateef’.In 1940, Faiz was appointed lecturer at the Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore. This was the period when World War II was at its peak and nations were uniting against fascism, consequently Faiz also left teaching and joined army in 1942 for which he received British Empire Medal for his services in World War II.

In 1947, Faiz took up a position in the Pakistan Times. After that he became editor of “Imroz” and received accolades in journalism too. After Pakistan came into existence, he began working for the rights of labor and was appointed Vice President of Trade Union Federation. He participated in the I.L.O. Geneva Conference as a spokesperson for labor.

On March 9, 1951, Faiz was arrested under the Pakistan Safety Order Act for Rawalpindi case for which he was imprisoned. His second collection ‘Dast-e-Saba’ commemorates his confinement in Hyderabad jail. Faiz began his poetry with ghazals and steadily shifted his attention to nazm and is acknowledged a renowned poet of both forms among progressive poets. 

He is equally admired in India, Pakistan as in the western countries. His ghazals have been translated into several languages. He was felicitated with a large number of scholarly awards, after his release Faiz was appointed to the National Council of Pakistan by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and his poems which had been translated in Russian earned him the Lenin Peace prize in 1963. His Gazals are sung by almost every popular singer. Compositions of poetry: Naqsh-e-faryadi, Dast-e-saba, Zindaan Naama, Dast-e- Tah-e-Sang, Sar-e-Wadi-e-Seena, Sham-e-Sheher-e-Yaaran, Mere Dil Mere Musafir. His complete poetry has been published as ‘Nuskhahaae Wafa’. 

When Zia-Ul-Haq deposed Bhutto in Faiz chose to go into self-imposed exile to Beirut,Lebanon.he remained exile till 1982. Faiz passed away on 20th Nov 1984 in Lahore just after he heard he was nominated for the noble prize for literature.

Faiz in 1982 in Pakistan
Throughout his thunderous life, Faiz continuously wrote and published, and became one of the best-selling modern Urdu poet in both India and Pakistan. While his work is written in commonly strict diction, his poems maintain a casual, conversational tone, creating strain between the establishment and the common, up to a point in the tradition of Ghalib, the prominent 19th century Urdu poet. Faiz is especially celebrated for his poems in traditional Urdu forms, such as the ghazals, and his exceptional ability to expand the conventional thematic expectations to include political and social issues.


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