Faiz Ahmed Faiz

(Faiẓ Aḥmad Faiẓ) 

1911-84

Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Faiẓ Aḥmad Faiẓ; 1911-84; also Faiz Ahmad Faiz) was born Faiz Ahmed (Faiẓ Aḥmad) in Sialkot, Punjab, now in Pakistan, into a family headed by a father who was born a shepherd but became a Cambridge-educated lawyer and a minister to Amir Abdur Rahman (c. 1840-1901), king of Afghanistan. Faiz earned M.A. degrees in both English and Arabic, and in 1935 started to teach at the newly established Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College, Amritsar, where he came in contact with Progressive writers, notably Dr. M. D. Tasir (1902-50), principal of the college, one of the signers of the London 1934 manifesto of the Progressive Writers’ Association, Dr. Rashid Jahan (1905-52) and her husband, Mahmuduzzafar (1908-54), vice-principal of the college and lecturer in history, both contributors to the highly controversial 1932 anthology Angāre (Burning Embers). He published his first of eight collections of poems, Naqsh-i faryādī (Image of the Supplicant) in 1942 (or possibly 1943) with an introduction by friend and poet N. M. Rashid (1910-75), which established his reputation as a poet who infused his works, notably his love poems, with tropes of modernity and concern for social justice.

He was implicated in the contentious Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, for which he was imprisoned for five years (1951-55) and later exonerated, during which time he wrote some of his finest poetry in his collections Dast-i sabā (Hand of the Wind; 1953) and Zindān nāmah (Prison Narrative; 1956). He published Sar-i vadī-yi sīnā (Sinai Valley) in 1962, which contains his famous “Duʻā(Prayer),* followed by his fourth collection, Dast-i tah-yi sang (Hand Beneath the Stone) in 1965. After the 1977 coup d’état that brought General Ziaul Haq (1924-88) and right-wing Islamic groups to power, Faiz went into voluntary exile, living in Beirut, where he continued publishing poetry—notably Shām-i shahr-i yārān̲ (Evening of the City of Friend; 1978) and Mere dil mere musāfir (My Heart, My Traveler; 1980)—and editing the trilingual Lotus: Journal of the Afro-Asian Writers’ Association. Due to the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon during which he was nearly killed, and to his declining health, he reluctantly returned to Lahore in November, with a pledge by General Zia that he would not be hassled by the government. Shortly before his death on 20 November 1984, he received word of his nomination for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

He is especially known for writing poems which recast many of the traditional images of Urdu poetry into new light, making them contemporary and relevant to the current political-historical situation. Among his most famous poems are, to mention a few: “Mujh se pahlī si muḥabbat merī maḥbūb nah māng” (Do Not Beg Me for My Former Kind of Love, Beloved),* “Mauz̤ūʻ-i suk̲h̲an” (Subject of Poetry),* “Bol” (Speak),* “Raqīb se” (To the Rival),* and “Tanhāʼī” (Solitude).* The Palestinian poems “Falast̤īnī bacce ke liye lorī” (For a Palestinian Child: A Lullaby)* and “Ek nah̲mah karbalā-yi bairūt ke liye” (A Threnody for the Karbala of Beirut)* are especially affective.

See Carlo Coppola, interview with Faiz, Journal of South Asian Literature,10:1 (Fall 1974) 141-44; with A. Jones; “Faiz Ahmed Faiz: “The Progressive Poet as Aesthete,” Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970: The Progressive Episode (2017) 504-35.

1. Ā jāʼo, afrīqah!/ Come Back, Africa 

2. Ae dil-i betāb, ṭahar / O Restless Heart, Wait 

3. Ae roshniyon̲ ke shahr / O City of Lights

4. Agast 1952 / August 1952

5. Āj bāzār men̲ pā bah jaulān̲ calo / Today Go Fettered into the Bazaar

6. Āj tanhāʼī / Today Loneliness

7. Bol . . . / Speak . . .

8. Bunyād kuch to ho / There May Be Some Basis 

9. Cand roz aur merī jān / A Few Days More, My Love

10. Dard āʼegā dabe pāʼon̲ / Pain Will Come on Quiet Feet 

11. Darīcā / Window 

12. Ḍhaltī hai mauj-i mai / Night Flows Like a Wave of Wine

13. Do āvāzen̲ / Two Voices 

14. Do ʻishq / Two Loves

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15-16. Do mars̲iye / Two Elegies: 

15. Mulaqāt merī / My Meeting/Visitor 

16. K̲h̲atam hūʼī bārish-i sang / The Rain of Stones Has Ended

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17-18. Do namen falast̤īn ke liye / Two Poems for Palestine

17. Falast̤īnī shuhadā’ jo pardes men kām ā’e / Palestinian Martyrs Who Were Slain in Foreign Lands

18. Falast̤īnī bacce ke liye lorī / For a Palestinian Child (lullaby)

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19. Duʻā / Prayer

20. Ek manẓar / A Scene 

21. Ek nag̲h̲mah karbalā-i bairūt ke liye / A Threnody for the Karbala of Beirut

22. Kabhı̄ kabhı̄ / Sometimes

23. Kaʼī bār / Several times

24. Rang pairahan kā / Colour is your garment

25. Vāsok̲h̲t: Sac hai hamīn̲ ko / Vasokht: True, it is we

26. Tum āʼe ho nah / You haven’t come

27. Vafā se vaʻdah nahīn̲ / No keeping of promises

28. Ham jo tārīk rāhon̲ men̲ māre gaʼe / We Who Were Killed in Half-Lit Streets  

29. Ham log / We People 

30. Ḥamd / Praise

31. Iqbāl / Iqbal

32. Īrānī t̤ulabā ke nām / To the Iranian Students; revision: Un t̤ulabā ke nām / To Those Students 

33. Jab terī samandar ānkhon̲ men̲ / When, in Your Ocean-Eyes 

34. Kahān̲ jāʼoge / Where Will You Go

35. K̲h̲udā voh vaqt nah lāʼe / May God Never Send That Time

36. Koʻī ʻāshiq kisī maḥbūb se / A Lover to a Beloved

37. Kutte / Dogs 

38. Lauḥ o qalam / Slate and Pen

39. Manẓar / Scene 

40. Marg-i soz-i muḥabbat / Death of Love’s Passion

41. Mauz̤ūʻ-i suk̲h̲an / Subject of Poetry

42. Mere hamdam mere dost / My Companions, My Friends

43. Mujh se pahlī si muḥabbat merī maḥbūb nah māng / Do Not Beg Me for My Former Kind of Love, Beloved

44. Mulaqāt / Meeting 

45. Nauḥah / Lamentation

46. Nis̲ār main̲ terī galiyon̲ pih / Sacrifice in Your Lanes 

47. Pās raho / Stay Near 

48. Qaid-i tanhāʼī / Solitary Confinement 

49. Qit̤aʻ: Dāman-i-yūsuf / Fragment: Joseph’s Hem

50. Qit̤aʻ: Matāʻ-i lauḥ o qalam / Fragment: If my wealth of tablet and pen

51. Qit̤aʻ: Phir ḥashr ke sāmān / Fragment: Again, in the chamber of passion

52. Rang hai dil kā mire / Colour of My Heart 

53. Raqīb se! / To the Rival! 

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54-55-56. Safarnāmah / Travelogue

54. Pīking / Beijing

55. Sankyang / Xinjiang

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56. Ghazal: Bisāt̤-i raqṣ / Ghazal: Dance Carpet 

57. Sar-i maqtal / Place of Execution 

58. Sarod / Melody

59. Sarod-i shabānah / Nocturnal Melody

60. Shām / Evening 

61. Shīshon̲ kā masīḥā koʼī nahīn̲ / There Is No Saviour of Crystals 

62. Siyāsī līḍar ke nām / To the Political Leader

63. Ṣubḥ-i āzādī / Dawn of Freedom

64. Tanhāʼī / Solitude 

65. T̤auq o dār kā mausam / Time of Neck Chain and Gibbet 

66.  . . . Tumhāre ḥusn ke nām / . . . To Your Beauty 

67. Yād / Memory 

68. Yih faṣl umīdon̲ kī hamdam / This Crop of Hopes, O Friends 

69. Zindān̲ kī ek shām / Prison Evening 

70. Zindān̲ kī ek subḥ / Prison Morning