Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911 - 1984)

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Profile

Faiz Ahmed Faiz was born in 1911 at Sialkot and was educated at Lahore, where he studied English literature and philosophy. He began his career as a lecturer in English at Amritsar. After the second World War, he turned to journalism and distinguished himself as the editor of The Pakistan Times. He was charged with complicity in the Rawalpindi conspiracy case and was condemned to four years' imprisonment in 1951. The jail term gave him a first-hand experience of the harsh realities of life, and provided him with the much-needed leisure and solitude to think out his thoughts and transmute them into poetry. Two of his books, Dast-e-Saba and Zindan-Nama are the products of this period of imprisonment.

As a poet, Faiz began writing on the conventional themes of love and beauty, but soon these conventional themes get submerged in the larger social and political issues of the day. The traditional griefs of love get fused with the travails of the afflicted humanity, and Faiz uses his poetry to champion the cause of socialistic humanism. Consequently, the familiar imagery of a love-poet acquires new meanings in the hands of Faiz... This turning away from romance to realism, from Eros to Agape, is beautifully suggested in his poem (a nazm), "mujh se pehli si mohabbat meri mahboob na maang."

In the matter of diction and style, Faiz may be called the inheritor of the tradition of Ghalib. His admiration for Ghalib is also reflected in the title of his first published work, Naqsh-e-Faryadi, which comes straight from the opening line of the first ghazal of Diwan-e-Ghalib. Although he has written poems in a simple, conversational style, he has a marked preference for polished, Persianised diction, the diction of the elite rather than of the commoners. But because of the universality of his thought and sympathetic vision, and because of his perfect handling of the ghazal, his poetry is read and admired in both parts of the Indian sub-continent.

Faiz is a "committed" poet who regards poetry as a vehicle of serious thought, and not a mere pleasurable pastime. He does not accept the maxim of "art for art's sake". An admirer of Karl Marx and a poet of the people, Faiz was honoured by Soviet Russia with the prestigious Lenin Award for Peace and his poems have been translated into the Russian language. His poetical collections include Naqsh-e-Faryadi (1943), Dast-e-Saba (1952), Zindan-Nama (1956) and Dast-e-Tah-e-Sang (1965).

Faiz passed away in 1984. Here is a bit of my favourite poem sung by Ustad Mehdi Hassan.

Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-naubahaar chale
Chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka kaarobaar chale

Poems

List of some of his popular poems

• aaye kuchh abr kuchh sharaab aaye
• ab vahii harf-e-junuu.N sab kii zubaa.N Thaharii hai
• bahut milaa na milaa zi.ndagii se Gam kyaa hai
• Bol - bol ki lab aazaad hai.n tere
• Cha.nd Roz Aur
• chashm-e-mayaguu.N zaraa idhar kar de
• dil-e-man musaafir-e-man
• dil me.n ab yuu.N tere bhuule huye Gam aate hai.n
• dono jahaa.N terii mohabbat me.n haar ke
• Duaa - aaiiye haath uThaae ham bhii
• garmii-e-shauq-e-nazzaaraa kaa asar to dekho
• go sab ko baa-ham saaGar-o-baadaa to nahii.n thaa
• gulo.n me.n ra.ng bhare, baad-e-naubahaar chale
• ham ke Thahare ajanabii itane madaaraato.n ke baad
• ham par tumhaarii chaah kaa ilzaam hii to hai
• ham paravarish-e-lauh-o-qalam karate rahe.nge
• ham saadaa hii aise the, kii yuu.N hii paziiraa_ii
• Intesaab - aaj ke naam
• kab tak dil kii Khair manaaye.n, kab tak raah dikhaaoge
• kab yaad me.n teraa saath nahii.n kab haath me.n teraa haath nahii.n
• kabhii kabhii yaad me.n ubharate hai.n naqsh-e-maazii miTe miTe se
• kahii.n to kaaravaan-e-dard kii ma.nzil Thahar jaaye
• Khudaa vo vaqt na laaye
• Khurshiid-e-Mahashar Kii Lau
• Khvaab-baseraa
• kuchh ishq kiyaa kuchh kaam kiyaa
• kuchh muhatasibo.n kii Khilavat me.n kuchh vaa-iz ke ghar jaatii hai
• kuchh pahale in aa.Nkho.n aage kyaa kyaa na nazaaraa guzare thaa
• Kyaa Kare.n
• meraa dard naGmaa-e-besadaa
• mujh se pahalii sii mohabbat, mere mahabuub na maa.ng
• mujh ko shikwa hai meray bhai keh tum jaate hooay
• na ga.Nvaao navaak-e-niim-kash, dil-e-rezaa rezaa ga.Nvaa diyaa
• nasiib aazamaane ke din aa rahe hai.n
• Nauha - mujhako shikavaa hai mere bhaa_ii ki tum jaate huye
• nisaar mai.n terii galiyo.n pe
• Paas Raho - tum mere paas raho
• raaz-e-ulfat chhupaa ke dekh liyaa
• raushan kahii.n bahaar ke imkaa.N huye to hai.n
• sabhii kuchh hai teraa diyaa huaa sabhii raahate.n sabhii kalafate.n
• sach hai.n hamii.n ko aap ke shikave bajaa na the
• shaam-e-firaaq ab na puuchh aaii aur aake Tal gaii
• Soch - kyuu.N meraa dil shaad nahii.n hai
• Subh-e-aazadi - ye daaG daaG ujaalaa, ye shab gaziida sahar
• Tanahaaii - phir koii aayaa dil-e-zaar nahii.n koii nahii.n
• tere Gam ko jaa.N kii talaash thii tere jaa.N-nisaar chale gaye
• terii ummiid teraa i.ntazaar jab se hai
• tum aaye ho na shab-e-intazaar guzarii hai
• tum jo pal ko Thahar jaao to ye lamhe.n bhii
• tumhaarii yaad ke jab zaKhm bharane lagate hai.n
• vo buto.n ne Daale hai.n vasvase ki dilo.n se Khauf-e-Khudaa gayaa
• Yaad - dasht-e-tanahaaii me.n ae jaan-e-jahaa.N larazaa.N hai
• ye kis Khalish ne phir is dil me.n aashiyaanaa kiyaa
• yuu.N sajaa chaa.Nd ke jhalakaa tere a.ndaaz kaa ra.ng

Links

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Nita's Lyrics Page