Syed Ahmed Shah, who is popularly known as Ahmed Faraz, the poet, was born in the year of 1931 at Nav Shahra. The ancestral place of the poet is Kohat. Ahmed Faraz belongs to a noble and reputed family of Syeds. He was the descendant of Haji Bahahdar, a famous saint of Kohat. His father’s name was Syed Muhammad Shah Barq. His brother, Syed Masood Kausar was a famous politician and occupied many senior government posts such as Minister for Communications, speaker of the Assembly, Governor KPK and Chairman of standing committee. He was one of the founding members of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the second largest political party of Pakistan. He played a major role in the development of the party.
Early Life and Biography
The family of Ahmed Faraz moved to Peshawar, where he went to the famous Edwards College. He obtained his masters degree in Urdu and Persian from the Peshawer University where he taught as well later on. Recalling his childhood, Faraz once remarked on how weak he was with numbers due to which his parents once asked him to learn mathematics from a class mate in summer holidays. He jokingly once said in an interview that he wrote his first couplet in childhood when his father brought eid clothes for him and his brother and he liked his brother’s clothes instead of those broght for him. The couplet goes like: –
“Laye hein kaprey sale se
Laye hein hamarey liey kambal jail se”
Ahmed Faraz derived his inspiration to become a poet from his friends, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Ali Sardar Jafri during his college days. He also served as a producer in Radio Pakistan.
Ahmed Faraz had three sons, Saadi Faraz, Shibli Faraz and Sarmad Faraz. Shibli Faraz is a banker by profession. He has served in the Pakistan Air Force as a pilot. Then he became a civil servant. He is also a politician serving as the member of Senate of Pakistan from KPK. He is a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf . Sarmad Faraz is a musician and a member of the music band, “Corduroy”.
Political life
Ahmed Faraz was a visionary person and never hesitated in expressing his views and opinions. This outspoken nature of Faraz caused him quite of troubles in life. He admired Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto very much as a politician. He was very much active during the student and labor movement held during the 1960s. He was not much fond of military rule. He felt heartbroken for the atrocities that the people of East Pakistan faced at the hands of Pakistani military. He dared to call the Pakistan Army as “professional killers” due to their brutalities in East Pakistan. Even in his poems and writings he severely criticized military regime for this reason, during a mushaira held while Zia-ul-Haq was in power. As a result, Ahmed Faraz was arrested. After this incident he left Pakistan and moved to Europe and Canada. After six years he returned to Pakistan. Even during the regime of General Parvez Musharraf he issued statements regarding the former dictator’s policies in Baluchistan that made the dictator cross. As a result the government drove out the poet and his family from their home in the capital city of Islamabad. Their belongings were thrown onto the road. In the year of 2007, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz removed the poet from the post that he occupied as the chairman of the National Book Council. In 2006 he even returned his Hilal-e-Imtiaz which was awarded to him in 2004, upon which he remarked:
“My conscious will not forgive me if I remained a silent spectator of the sad happenings around us. The least I can do is to let the dictatorship know where it stands in the eyes of the concerned citizens whose fundamental rights have been usurped. I am doing this by returning the Hilal-e-Imtiaz (civil) forthwith and refuse to associate myself in any way with the regime…”
His compassion for humanity was not limited to the people of Pakistan but he felt the pain of those in distress around the globe. It would be more appropriate to say that he represented the humanist trademark of Urdu poetry being part of the Progressive Writers Movement. Be it African revolutionist, Nelson Mandela, deteriorating situation in Palestine, Beirut or on the loss of lives of American soldiers serving irrational causes of American government, Ahmed Faraz wrote some of the most moving and stirring poems. As an illustration of a politically sensitive poem, Ahmed Faraz wrote a poem titled as “Kaali Deewar” in which he empathized with the common man of America, who was misused for political purpose by the government. Ahmed Faraz also made his stance regarding intolerance for terrorism clear in his poetry. He was admired for his concern by humanity by everyone around the world. Once he was invited by a Pakistani businessman, settled in Glasgow, Zia-ul-Haq Qureshi as he was very much inspired by Ahmed Faraz’s poetry.
He also actively participated in the resolution of Judicial Crisis that took place in 2007. He enthusiastically fought for the rights of lawyers in spite of his worsening health conditions. He joined the lawyers’ movement and encouraged his fellows as well to support the cause.
The poet often attracted controversies due to his notorious statements which angered a section of people severely every now and then. He once commented on the subject of marriage as it is a “sort of prostitution through a contract of paper”. This created quite a stir in public. He also commented about Urdu language as a “dying language”. This caused a lot of bitterness and resentment amongst Urdu speaking community of Pakistan.
Literary Career
While in self imposed exile, the poet wrote some of his best prose and poetry just as his mentor and source of inspiration Faiz Ahmed Faiz. His one of most popular works during this time was the poetry of resistance, titled as “Mahasara”. He also wrote a poem titled as “Dekhtey Hein” during this period which gained a lot of popularity. He remembered this phase as one of the worst periods for writers and poets with so much of embargos and prohibitions. Yet it was a time which gave a chance for writers to ponder and contemplate over the surroundings and whatever was going around in the world.
Apart from his revolutionary side, Ahmed Faraz had an incurable romantic side. His romantic poems are a reason why he is so popular aming the younger generation. He is remembered as the finest poet after Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz due to his dreamy and passionate ghazals. He wrote a total of 13 books. His first work of poetry titled as “Tanha Tanha” was published while he was doing his MA. While he was working as a lecturer at the university where he obtained his education from, his second work of literary was published titled as, “Dard-e-Ashob”. Some of his most famous ghazals are Ranjish hi Sahi, Nayaft, Shab-e-Khoon, Pas Andaz Mausam, Bahana Karo, Khuab-e-Goil Pareshan hai, Mere Khuab Reza Reza, Sheahr Mein Aaina,and Beawaz Gali Koochon mei. As an illustration some of his couplets are as follows: –
“Sunaa hai rabt hai us ko kharaab haalon sai
So apnay aap ko barbaad kar kai dekhate hain
Sunaa hai dard kee gaahak hai chasm-e-naazuk uss kee
So hum bhee uss kee gali sai guzar kai dekhate hain
Sunaa hai uss ko bhee hai shair-o-shaayari sai shagaf
So hum bhee mojaze apnay hunar kai dekhate hain”
His romantic poems were popular across the border as well. Many of his ghazals were used by Indian producers in Bollywood movies. Many producers even insisted the great poet to write for them. The poet made it a point that he did not object to the fact that his poems were used in movies. However he did not believe in writing songs for movies. For his idea of writing poems pertains to writing from heart and not on the instructions of a film director or a producer. Big names from the Bollywood such as showmaker, Raj Kapoor and singer Lata Mangeshkar tried too hard to persuade the poet to write songs for movies. But the legendary poet politely refused to comply with their request. As an alternative he offered them to pick any of his ghazals for their movies that they liked. His poems were sung by many legendary voices including Mehdi Hassan, Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali and Runa Laila.
Awards and Achievements
Ahmed Faraz had many awards to his name. He was awarded the “Adamjee Adbi Award” by the Pakistan writers Guild only when his second work of literary was published. And then there were many awards yet to come. He had also occupied the post of director of Pakistan National Centre in Peshawar. In the year of 1976 he led the forum of Akadmi Adbiyat Pakistan. He also maintained the position of the head of the National Book Foundation till the year of 2006.
The awards that were awarded to him include Firaq Gorakh Pori Award and Adamjee Adbi Award in 1988, Abasin Award in 1990. While in 1991 when he was in Canada, he was honored with Urdu Literature Award and across the border; in India he received TATA Award in 1992. This shows how immensely popular he was around the globe. As evidence, his poetry is translated into various other languages including French, Russian, Hindi, German and Punjabi. Not only that, his literary work is also studied at higher education level in universities including Aligarh University and Peshawar University. He was also awarded with Hilal-e-Imtiaz in 2004 which he returned two years later due to his conflict with ruling government’s policies. He is considered as one of the finest poets world has ever witnessed after Iqbal and Faiz. He was honored by the rank of “Qubool-e-Aam”.
Death Of The Legendary Poet
Faraz’s health was deteriorating day by day during his last years. It was rumored in 2008 that he died in a hospital in Chicago. But his physician was quick enough to deny the rumor. Ahmed Faraz was under care and vigilance of his son Shibli Faraz’s childhood friend and doctor Tahir Rohail. Ahmed Faraz was suffering from kidney failure. He died in Islamabad in a hospital on the 25th of August in 2008 at the age of 77 years. He was buried in Islamabad the next day. Many people including government officials, famous personalities and common people who admired Ahmed Faraz came to attend his funeral at H-8 Graveyard in Islamabad.
People expressed their grief and sorrow over the loss of such an asset of Pakistan. The serving Information minister at that time, Sherry Rehman said his death was “truly a national tragedy”. She continued, “Faraz was not only a literary figure of our times. He was also the voice of conscience of the nation. His valiant stand against dictatorship and persistent struggle for democracy has been a source of inspiration for political forces.” Iftikhar Ahmed, another poet and close friend of Ahmed Faraz called him as “a very courageous and principled poet”. “His poetry started off very romantic. He used the plainest and simplest of words to create beautiful poetry. His popularity spread so fast that he became an icon in Pakistan. Then his poetry turned to the poetry of protest,” Ahmad said. Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani also expressed his anguish at the demise of the poet.
On the fourth death anniversary of the poet, he was paid tribute by his son, Sarmad Faraz who is a singer by profession. The singer released a music video which was named as “Shayar” which was taken from poet’s first published book, Tanha Tanha. Sarmad Faraz explained regarding the poem,“This poem discusses the role of a poet and his transformation from being an entertainer for royalty to becoming a loud, determined and powerful voice for the common man. It’s about motivation, bringing about a change and challenging ones fears,”
Eight years have been passed since the poet died and even today he is remembered as one of the greatest poets of our country.
