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 nag̲h̲mah 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
5. Āj bāzār men̲ pā bah jaulān̲ calo / Today Go Fettered into the Bazaar
6. Āj tanhāʼī / Today Loneliness
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
12. Ḍhaltī hai mauj-i mai / Night Flows Like a Wave of Wine
.
15-16. Do mars̲iye / Two Elegies:
15. Mulaqāt merī / My Meeting/Visitor
16. K̲h̲atam hūʼī bārish-i sang / The Rain of Stones Has Ended
.
17-18. Do naz̤men 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)
.
21. Ek nag̲h̲mah karbalā-i bairūt ke liye / A Threnody for the Karbala of Beirut
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
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
38. Lauḥ o qalam / Slate and Pen
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
46. Nis̲ār main̲ terī galiyon̲ pih / Sacrifice in Your Lanes
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
.
54-55-56. Safarnāmah / Travelogue
.
56. Ghazal: Bisāt̤-i raqṣ / Ghazal: Dance Carpet
57. Sar-i maqtal / Place of Execution
59. Sarod-i shabānah / Nocturnal Melody
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
65. T̤auq o dār kā mausam / Time of Neck Chain and Gibbet
66. . . . Tumhāre ḥusn ke nām / . . . To Your Beauty
68. Yih faṣl umīdon̲ kī hamdam / This Crop of Hopes, O Friends
Dast-i ṣabā (Hand of the Wind). Dihlī: Senṭral Buk Ḍipo, 1952.
Dast-i tah-yi sang (Hand Beneath the Stone). Dihlī: ʻAlīgaṛh: Ejūkeshanal Buk Hāʼūs, 1979.
Faiẓ aḥmad faiẓ kā ḥarf (Complete Works of Faiz Ahmed Faiz). Rāmpūr: Kitāb Kār Pablīkeshanz, 1965.
Mere dil mere musāfir (My Heart, My Traveller). Karāci: Maktabah-yi Dāniyāl. 1981.
Naqsh-i faryādī (Image of the Supplicant). Dihlī: Urdū Ghar, 1941.
Nusk̲h̲a hā-yi vafā (Complete Edition). Dihlī: Ejūkeshnal Pablishing Hāʼūs, 1999.
Sar-i vadī-yi sīnā (Sinai Valley). Lakhnaʼū: Kitābī Duniyā, 1962
rekhta.org/ebooks/sar-e-vaadi-e-seena-faiz-ahmad-faiz-ebooks
Shām-i shahr-i yārān̲ (Evening of the Friends’ City). Naʼī Dihlī: Maktabah-yi Jāmiʻah. 1978.
rekhta.org/ebooks/sham-e-shahr-e-yaran-faiz-ahmad-faiz-ebooks-3/
Zindān̲ nāmah (Prison Narrative). Dihlī: Kabīr Buk Ḍipo. 1955.
rekhta.org/ebooks/zindan-nama-faiz-ahmad-faiz-ebooks-1/
Ghubār-i ayyām (Dust of Passing Days). Not available on rekhta.org