Parveen Shakir

Parveen Shakir was born on 24th November, 1952 in Karachi, Pakistan. She was highly educated with two masters degrees, one in English literature and one in linguistics. She also held a Ph.D and another masters degree in Bank Administration.
She was a teacher for nine years before she joined the Civil Service and worked in the Customs department. In 1986 she was appointed the second secretary, CBR in Islamabad.
A number of books of her poetry have been published. In chronological order, they are Khushboo (1976), Sad-barg (1980), Khud-kalaami (1990), Inkaar (1990) and Maah-e-Tamaam (1994). Her first book, Khushboo, won the Adamjee award. Later she was awarded the Pride of Performance award, which is the highest award given by the Pakistan government.
On 26th December, 1994, on her way to work, her car collided with a truck and the world of modern Urdu poetry lost one of its brightest stars.
Parveen Shakir initially wrote under the pen-name of 'Beena'. She considered Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi her 'ustad' and used to called him 'Ammujaan'. She was married to Dr. Nasir Ahmed but got divorced from him sometime before her untimely demise in 1994. They had one son - Murad Ali.

mushkil hai ab shahar me.n nikale ko_ii ghar se


mushkil hai ab shahar me.n nikale ko_ii ghar se

dastaar pe baat aa ga_ii hai hotii hu_ii sar se

barasaa bhii to kis dasht ke be-faiz badan par

ik umr mere khet the jis abr ko tarase

is baar jo indhan ke liye kaT ke giraa hai

chi.Diyo.n ko ba.Daa pyaar thaa us buu.Dhe shajar se

mehanat merii aa.Ndhii se to manasuub nahii.n thii

rahanaa thaa ko_ii rabt shajar kaa bhii samar se

Khud apane se milane kaa to yaaraa na thaa mujh me.n

mai.n bhii.D me.n gum ho ga_ii tanhaa_ii ke Dar se

benaam musaafat hii muqaddar hai to kyaa Gam

manzil kaa ta'yyun kabhii hotaa hai safar se

pattharaayaa hai dil yuu.N ki ko_ii ism pa.Dhaa jaaye

ye shahar nikalataa nahii.n jaaduu ke asar se

nikale hai.n to raste me.n kahii.n shaam bhii hogii

suuraj bhii magar aayegaa is raah-guzar se



terii Khushbuu kaa pataa karatii hai


terii Khushbuu kaa pataa karatii hai

mujh pe ehasaan havaa karatii hai

shab kii tanhaa_ii me.n ab to aksar

guftaguu tujh se rahaa karatii hai

dil ko us raah pe chalanaa hii nahii.n

jo mujhe tujh se judaa karatii hai

zindagii merii thii lekin ab to

tere kahane me.n rahaa karatii hai

us ne dekhaa hii nahii.n varnaa ye aa.Nkh

dil kaa ehavaal kahaa karatii hai

beniyaaz-e-kaaf-e-dariyaa angusht

ret par naam likhaa karatii hai

shaam pa.Date hii kisii shaKhs kii yaad

kuuchaa-e-jaa.N me.n sadaa karatii hai

mujh se bhii us kaa hai vaisaa hii suluuk

haal jo teraa ana??? karatii hai

dukh huaa karataa hai kuchh aur bayaa.N

baat kuchh aur huaa karatii hai

abr barase to inaayat us kii

shaaKh to sirf duaa karatii hai

masalaa jab bhii uThaa chiraaGo.n kaa

faisalaa sirf havaa karatii hai




Translated by Asad Khan

1.Woh jaa chukaa hai

Magar judaai se qabl kaa

Ek narm lamhaThehar gayaa hai

Miri hatheli ki pusht per

Zindagi meinPehli kaa chand bun ker


He is gone.

But a tender moment,

from when he was hereis stuck;

On the back of my hand(and)

in my lifelike a crescent.

2.Raks karte hue

Jis ke shaano.n pe

tu ne abhi sir rakha hai

Kabhi me bhee is ki panaaho.n me thee

Faraq yeh hai ke me

Raat se qabl tanha hui

Aur tu subha tak

Is fareb-e-tahaffuz me khoyee rahe gee


while dancing,

the one upon whose shoulders

you rest your head

i too was once in his safeguard.

the difference is that

iwas abandoned before dark,

and you shall remain

consumed in this false sense of security till dawn.
Parveen Shakir

Sir Mohammed Iqbal

BIOGRAPHY
Iqbal was an heir to a very rich literary, mystic, philosophical and religious tradition. He imbibed and assimilated all that was best in the past and present Islamic and Oriental thought and culture. His range of interests covered Religion, Philosophy, Art, Politics, Economics, the revival of Muslim life and universal brotherhood of man. His prose, not only in his national language but also in English, was powerful. His two books in English demonstrate his mastery of English. But poetry was his medium par excellence of expression. Everything he thought and felt, almost involuntarily shaped itself into verse.
Iqbal's Works His first book Ilm ul Iqtisad/The knowledge of Economics was written in Urdu in 1903 . His first poetic work Asrar-i Khudi (1915) was followed by Rumuz-I Bekhudi (1917). Payam-i Mashriq appeared in 1923, Zabur-i Ajam in 1927, Javid Nama in 1932, Pas cheh bayed kard ai Aqwam-i Sharq in 1936, and Armughan-i Hijaz in 1938. All these books were in Persian. The last one, published posthumously is mainly in Persian: only a small portion comprises Urdu poems and ghazals.
His first book of poetry in Urdu, Bang-i Dara (1924) was followed by Bal-i Jibril in 1935 and Zarb-i Kalim in 1936.
Bang-i Dara consist of selected poems belonging to the three preliminary phases of Iqbal's poetic career. Bal-i Jibril is the peak of Iqbal's Urdu poetry. It consists of ghazals, poems, quatrains, epigrams and displays the vision and intellect necessary to foster sincerity and firm belief in the heart of the ummah and turn its members into true believers. Zarb-i Kalim was described by the poet himself "as a declaration of war against the present era". The main subjects of the book are Islam and the Muslims, education and upbringing, woman, literature and fine arts, politics of the East and the West. In Asrar-i Khudi, Iqbal has explained his philosohy of "Self". He proves by various means that the whole universe obeys the will of the "Self". Iqbal condemns self-destruction. For him the aim of life is self-relization and self-knowledge. He charts the stages through which the "Self" has to pass before finally arriving at its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the "Self" to become the viceregent of Allah on earth/Khalifat ullah fi'l ard. In Rumuz-i Bekhudi, Iqbal proves that Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's viability. A person must keep his individual characteristics intact but once this is achieved he should sacrifice his personal ambitions for the needs of the nation. Man cannot realize the "Self" out of society. Payam-i Mashriq is an answer to West-Istlicher Divan by Goethe, the famous German peot. Goethe bemoaned that the West had become too materialistic in outlook and expected that the East would provide a message of hope that would resuscitate spiritual values. A hundred years went by and then Iqbal reminded the West of the importance of morality, religion and civilization by underlining the need for cultivating feeling, ardour and dynamism. He explained that life could, never aspire for higher dimensions unless it learnt of the nature of spirituality.
Zabur-i Ajam includes the Mathnavi Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid and Bandagi Nama. In Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid, he follows the famous Mathnavi Gulshan-i Raz by Sayyid Mahmud Shabistri. Here like Shabistri, Iqbal first poses questions, then answers them with the help of ancient and modern insight and shows how it effects and concerns the world of action. Bandagi Nama is in fact a vigorous campaign against slavery and subjugation. He explains the spirit behind the fine arts of enslaved societies. In Zabur-i Ajam, Iqbal's Persian ghazal is at its best as his Urdu ghazal is in Bal-i Jibril. Here as in other books, Iqbal insists on remembering the past, doing well in the present and preparing for the future. His lesson is that one should be dynamic, full of zest for action and full of love and life. Implicitly, he proves that there is no form of poetry which can equal the ghazal in vigour and liveliness. In Javid Nama, Iqbal follows Ibn-Arabi, Marri and Dante. Iqbal depicts himself as Zinda Rud (a stream, full of life) guided by Rumi the master, through various heavens and spheres and has the honour of approaching Divinity and coming in contact with divine illuminations. Several problems of life are discussed and answers are provided to them. It is an exceedingly enlivening study. His hand falls heavily on the traitors to their nation like Mir Jafar from Bengal and Mir Sadiq from the Deccan, who were instrumental in the defeat and death of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal and Sultan Tipu of Mysore respectively by betraying them for the benefit of the British. Thus, they delivered their country to the shackles of slavery. At the end, by addressing his son Javid, he speaks to the young people at large and provides guidance to the "new generation".
Pas Cheh Bay ed Kard ai Aqwam-i Sharq includes the mathnavi Musafir. Iqbal's Rumi, the master, utters this glad tiding "East awakes from its slumbers" "Khwab-i ghaflat". Inspiring detailed commentary on voluntary poverty and free man, followed by an exposition of the mysteries of Islamic laws and sufic perceptions is given. He laments the dissention among the Indian as well as Muslim nations. Mathnavi Musafir, is an account of a journey to Afghanistan. In the mathnavi the people of the Frontier (Pathans) are counseled to learn the "secret of Islam" and to "build up the self" within themselves.
Armughan-i Hijaz consists of two parts. The first contains quatrains in Persian; the second contains some poems and epigrams in Urdu. The Persian quatrains convey the impression as though the poet is travelling through Hijaz in his imaginatin. Profundity of ideas and intensity of passion are the salient features of these short poems. The Urdu portion of the book contains some categorical criticism of the intellectual movements and social and political revolutions of the modern age.

Iqbal's English Works


Iqbal wrote two books in English. The first being The Development of Metaphysics in Persia in which continuity of Persian thought is discussed and sufism is dealt with in detail. In Iqbal's view true Islamic Sufism awakens the slumbering soul to a higher idea of life.
The second book, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, is the collection of Iqbal's six lectures which he delivered at Madras, Hyderabad and Aligarh. These were first published from Lahore in 1930 and then by Oxford University Press in 1934. Some of the main subjects are "Knowledge and Religious Experience," "The Conception of God and the Meaning of Prayer," "The Human Ego," "Predestination and Free Will," "The Spirit of Muslim Culture," "The Principle of Movement in Islam (Ijtihad)." These issues are discussed pithily in a thought provoking manner in the light of Islam and the modern age. These lectures were translated into Urdu by Sayyid Nazir Niazi.


Letters

In addition to these books he wrote hundreds of letters in Urdu and English. Urdu letters have been published in ten different books. He issued statements pertaining to the burning topics of the day relating to various aspects of social, religious, cultural and political problems of India, Europe and the world of Islam. For a few years he served as a Professor of Philosophy and Oriental Learning at the government College, Lahore and the Punjab University Oriental College. Many of his speeches and statements have been compiled and published in book form. Except for the last four years of his life he practised at the Lahore High Court Bar. All his life he was easily accessible to all and sundry and evening sessions at his home were a common feature.
In Spite of his heavy political and social commitments he had time for poetry, a poetry which made philosophy sing. A.K Brohi says:
Dr. Iqbal is undoubtedly a renowned poet-philosopher of Islam and may have in his writings a never failing source of inspiration, delight and aesthetic wonder. He has made signal contribution to our understanding of the Holy Writ of Islam and offered his evaluation of the remarkable example of which the life of the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) has presented to the world at large and the high water-mark of excellence, it provides of how best our earthly lives can be lived here below.


Iqbal The Visionary


Iqbal joined the London branch of the All India Muslim League while he was studying Law and Philosophy in England. It was in London when he had a mystical experience. The ghazal containing those divinations is the only one whose year and month of composition is expressly mentioned. It is March 1907. No other ghazal, before or after it has been given such importance. Some verses of that ghazal are:
At last the silent tongue of Hijaz hasannounced to the ardent ear the tidingThat the covenant which had been given to thedesert-dwelles is going to be renewedvigorously:
The lion who had emerged from the desert andhad toppled the Roman Empire isAs I am told by the angels, about to get upagain (from his slumbers.)
You the dwelles of the West, should know thatthe world of God is not a shop (of yours).Your imagined pure gold is about to lose itstandard value (as fixed by you).
Your civilization will commit suicide with itsown daggers.A nest built on a frail bough cannot bedurable.
The caravan of feeble ants will take the rosepetal for a boatAnd inspite of all blasts of waves, it shall crossthe river.
I will take out may worn-out caravan in thepitch darkness of night.My sighs will emit sparks and my breath willproduce flames.
For Iqbal it was a divinely inspired insight. He disclosed this to his listeners in December 1931, when he was invited to Cambridge to address the students. Iqbal was in London, participating in the Second Round Table Conference in 1931. At Cambridge, he referred to what he had proclaimed in 1906:
I would like to offer a few pieces of advice to the youngmen who are at present studying at Cambridge ...... I advise you to guard against atheism and materialism. The biggest blunder made by Europe was the separation of Church and State. This deprived their culture of moral soul and diverted it to the atheistic materialism. I had twenty-five years ago seen through the drawbacks of this civilization and therefore had made some prophecies. They had been delivered by my tongue although I did not quite understand them. This happened in 1907..... After six or seven years, my prophecies came true, word by word. The European war of 1914 was an outcome of the aforesaid mistakes made by the European nations in the separation of the Church and the State.
It should be stressed that Iqbal felt he had received a spiritual message in 1907 which even to him was, at that juncture, not clear. Its full import dawned on him later. The verses quoted above show that Iqbal had taken a bold decision about himself as well. Keeping in view that contemporary circumstances, he had decided to give a lead to the Muslim ummah and bring it out of the dark dungeon of slavery to the shining vasts of Independence. This theme was repeated later in poems such as "Abdul Qadir Ke Nam," "Sham-o-Sha'ir," "Javab-i Shikwa," "Khizr-i Rah," "Tulu-e Islam" etc. He never lost heart. His first and foremost concern, naturally, were the Indian Muslims. He was certain that the day of Islamic resurgence was about to dawn and the Muslims of the South Asian subcontinent were destined to play a prominent role in it.
Iqbal, confident in Allah's grand scheme and His aid, created a new world and imparted a new life to our being. Building upon Sir Sayyid Ahmed's two-nation theory, absorbing the teaching of Shibli, Ameer Ali, Hasrat Mohani and other great Indian Muslim thinkers and politicians, listening to Hindu and British voices, and watching the fermenting Indian scene closely for approximately 60 years, he knew and ultimately convinced his people and their leaders, particularly Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah that:
"We both are exiles in this land. Both longing forour dear home's sight!"
"That dear home is Pakistan, on which he harpened like a flute-player, but whose birth he did not witness."
Many verses in Iqbal's poetry are prompted by a similar impulse. A random example, a ghazal from Zabur-i Ajam published in 1927 illustrates his deepseated belief:
The Guide of the Era is about to appear from acorner of the desert of Hijaz.The carvan is about to move out from this farflung valley.
I have observed the kingly majesty on thefaces of the slaves.Mahmud's splendour is visible in the dust ofAyaz.
Life laments for ages both in the Ka'bah andthe idol-house.So that a person who knows the secret mayappear.
The laments that burst forth from the breastsof the earnestly devoted people. Are goingto initiate a new principle in the conscience ofthe world.
Take this harp from my hand. I am done for.My laments have turned into blood and thatblood is going to trickle from the strings of theharp.
The five couplets quoted above are prophetic. In the first couplet Allama Iqbal indicates that the appearance of the Guide of the Era was just round the corner and the Caravan is about to start and emerge from "this" valley. Iqbal does not say that the awaited Guide has to emerge from the centre of Hijaz. He says he is going to appear from a far flung valley. For the poet the desert of Hijaz, at times, serves as a symbol for the Muslim ummah. This means that Muslims of the Indian sub-continent are about to have a man who is destined to guide them to the goal of victory and that victory is to initiate the resurgence of Islam.
In the second couplet, he breaks the news of the dawn which is at hand. the slaves are turning into magnificent masters. In the third couplet he stresses the point that the Seers come to the world of man after centuries. He himself was one of those Seers. In the fourth couplet he refers to some ideology or principle quite new to the world which would effect the conscience of all humanity. And what else could it be, if it were not the right of self-determination for which the Muslims of the sub-continent were about to struggle. After the emergence of Pakistan this right became a powerful reference. It served as the advent of a new principle and continues to provide impetus to Muslims in minority in other parts of the world such as in the Philippines, Thailand and North America.
In the fifth couplet Iqbal indicates that he would die before the advent of freedom. He was sure that his verses which epitomized his most earnest sentiments would stand in good stead in exhorting the Muslims of the sub-continent to the goal of freedom.
Iqbal and Politics These thoughts crystallised at Allahabad Session (December, 1930) of the All India Muslim League, when Iqbal in the Presidential Address, forwarded the idea of a Muslim State in India:
I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Provinces, Sind and Baluchistan into a single State. Self-Government within the British Empire or without the British Empire. The formation of the consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of the North-West India.
The seed sown, the idea began to evolve and take root. It soon assumed the shape of Muslim state or states in the western and eastern Muslim majority zones as is obvious from the following lines of Iqbal's letter, of June 21, 1937, to the Quaid-i Azam, only ten months before the former's death:
A separate federation of Muslim Provinces, reformed on the lines I have suggested above, is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of Non-Muslims. Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside India are.
There are some critics of Allama Iqbal who assume that after delivering the Allahbad Address he had slept over the idea of a Muslim State. Nothing is farther from the truth. The idea remained always alive in his mind. It had naturally to mature and hence, had to take time. He was sure that the Muslims of sub-continent were going to achieve an independent homeland for themselves. On 21st March, 1932, Allama Iqbal delivered the Presidential address at Lahore at the annual session of the All-India Muslim Conference. In that address too he stressed his view regarding nationalism in India and commented on the plight of the Muslims under the circumstances prevailing in the sub-continent. Having attended the Second Round Table Conference in September, 1931 in London, he was keenly aware of the deep-seated Hindu and Sikh prejudice and unaccommodating attitude. He had observed the mind of the British Government. Hence he reiterated his apprehensions and suggested safeguards in respect of the Indian Muslims:
In so far then as the fundamentals of our policy are concerned, I have got nothing fresh to offer. Regarding these I have already expressed my views in my address to the All India Muslim League. In the present address I propose, among other things, to help you, in the first place, in arriving at a correct view of the situation as it emerged from a rather hesitating behavior of our delegation the final stages of the Round-Table Conference. In the second place, I shall try, according to my lights to show how far it is desirable to construct a fresh policy now that the Premier's announcement at the last London Conference has again necessitated a careful survey of the whole situation.
It must be kept in mind that since Maulana Muhammad Ali had died in Jan. 1931 and Quaid-i Azam had stayed behind in London, the responsibility of providing a proper lead to the Indian Muslims had fallen on him alone. He had to assume the role of a jealous guardian of his nation till Quaid-i Azam returned to the sub-continent in 1935.
The League and the Muslim Conference had become the play-thing of petty leaders, who would not resign office, even after a vote of non-confidence! And, of course, they had no organization in the provinces and no influence with the masses.
During the Third Round-Table Conference, Iqbal was invited by the London National League where he addressed an audience which included among others, foreign diplomats, members of the House of Commons, Members of the House of Lords and Muslim members of the R.T.C. delegation. In that gathering he dilated upon the situation of the Indian Muslims. He explained why he wanted the communal settlement first and then the constitutional reforms. He stressed the need for provincial autonomy because autonomy gave the Muslim majority provinces some power to safeguard their rights, cultural traditions and religion. Under the central Government the Muslims were bound to lose their cultural and religious entity at the hands of the overwhelming Hindu majority. He referred to what he had said at Allahabad in 1930 and reiterated his belief that before long people were bound to come round to his viewpoint based on cogent reason.
In his dialogue with Dr. Ambedkar Allama Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of the British Government and with no central Indian Government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim Provinces in India. Under one Indian union he feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially with regard to their existentially separate entity as Muslims.
Allama Iqbal's statement explaining the attitude of Muslim delegates to the Round-Table Conference issued in December, 1933 was a rejoinder to Jawahar Lal Nehru's statement. Nehru had said that the attitude of the Muslim delegation was based on "reactionarism." Iqbal concluded his rejoinder with:
In conclusion I must put a straight question to punadi Jawhar Lal, how is India's problem to be solved if the majority community will neither concede the minimum safeguards necessary for the protection of a minority of 80 million people, nor accept the award of a third party; but continue to talk of a kind of nationalism which works out only to its own benefit? This position can admit of only two alternatives. Either the Indian majority community will have to accept for itself the permanent position of an agent of British imperialism in the East, or the country will have to be redistributed on a basis of religious, historical and cultural affinities so as to do away with the question of electorates and the communal problem in its present form.
Allama Iqbal's apprehensions were borne out by the Hindu Congress ministries established in Hindu majority province under the Act of 1935. Muslims in those provinces were given dastardly treatment. This deplorable phenomenon added to Allama Iqbal's misgivings regarding the future of Indian Muslims in case India remained united. In his letters to the Quaid-i Azam written in 1936 and in 1937 he referred to an independent Muslim State comprising North-Western and Eastern Muslim majority zones. Now it was not only the North-Western zones alluded to in the Allahabad Address.
There are some within Pakistan and without, who insist that Allama Iqbal never meant a sovereign Muslim country outside India. Rather he desired a Muslim State within the Indian Union. A State within a State. This is absolutely wrong. What he meant was understood very vividly by his Muslim compatriots as well as the non-Muslims. Why Nehru and others had then tried to show that the idea of Muslim nationalism had no basis at all. Nehru stated:
This idea of a Muslim nation is the figment of a few imaginations only, and, but for the publicity given to it by the Press few people would have heard of it. And even if many people believed in it, it would still vanish at the touch of reality.
Iqbal and the Quaid-i AzamWho could understand Allama Iqbal better than the Quaid-i Azam himself, who was his awaited "Guide of the Era"? The Quaid-i Azam in the Introduction to Allama Iqbal's lettes addressed to him, admitted that he had agreed with Allama Iqbal regarding a State for Indian Muslims before the latters death in April, 1938. The Quaid stated:
His views were substantially in consonance with my own and had finally led me to the same conclusions as a result of careful examination and study of the constitutional problems facing India and found expression in due course in the united will of Muslim India as adumbrated in the Lahore Resolution of the All-India Muslim League popularly known as the "Pakistan Resolution" passed on 23rd March, 1940.
Furthermore, it was Allama Iqbal who called upon Quaid-i Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to lead the Muslims of India to their cherished goal. He preferred the Quaid to other more experienced Muslim leaders such as Sir Aga Khan, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Nawab Muhammad Isma il Khan, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Nawab Hamid Ullah Khan of Bhopal, Sir Ali Imam, Maulvi Tameez ud-Din Khan, Maulana Abul Kalam, Allama al-Mashriqi and others. But Allama Iqbal had his own reasons. He had found his "Khizr-i Rah", the veiled guide in Quaid-i Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who was destined to lead the Indian branch of the Muslim Ummah to their goal of freedom. Allama Iqbal stated:
I know you are a busy man but I do hope you won't mind my writing to you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North-West India, and perhaps to the whole of India.
Similar sentiments were expressed by him about three months before his death. Sayyid Nazir Niazi in his book Iqbal Ke Huzur, has stated that the future of the Indian Muslims was being discussed and a tenor of pessimism was visible from what his friends said. At this Allama Iqbal observed:
There is only one way out. Muslim should strengthen Jinnah's hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both the Hindus and the English. Without it our demands are not going to be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism. This is sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defence of our national existence.
He continued:
The united front can be formed under the leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading the Muslims.
Matlub ul-Hasan Sayyid stated that after the Lahore Resolution was passed on March 23, 1940, the Quaid-i Azam said to him:
Iqbal is no more amongst us, but had he been alive he would have been happy to know that we did exactly what he wanted us to do.
But the matter does not end here. Allama Iqbal in his letter of March 29, 1937 to the Quaid-i Azam had said:
While we are ready to cooperate with other progressive parties in the country, we must not ignore the fact that the whole future of Islam as a moral and political force in Asia rests very largely on a complete organization of Indian Muslims.
According to Allama Iqbal the future of Islam as a moral and political force not only in India but in the whole of Asia rested on the organization of the Muslims of India led by the Quaid-i Azam.
The "Guide of the Era" Iqbal had envisaged in 1926, was found in the person of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The "Guide" organized the Muslims of India under the banner of the Muslim League and offered determined resistance to both the Hindu and the English designs for a united Hindu-dominated India. Through their united efforts under the able guidance of Quaid-I Azam Muslims succeeded in dividing India into Pakistan and Bharat and achieving their independent homeland. As observed above, in Allama Iqbal's view, the organization of Indian Muslims which achieved Pakistan would also have to defend other Muslim societies in Asia. The carvan of the resurgence of Islam has to start and come out of this Valley, far off from the centre of the ummah. Let us see how and when, Pakistan prepares itself to shoulder this august responsibility. It is Allama Iqbal's prevision.


The Holy Prophet has said:


of the foresight of the believer Beware for he sees with Divine Light.
Lab Pe aati hai dua banke tamanna merii
lab pe aatii hai duaa banake tamannaa merii
zindagii shammaa kii surat ho Khudaayaa merii
duur duniyaa kaa mere dam a.Ndheraa no jaaye
har jagah mere chamakane se ujaalaa ho jaaye
ho mere dam se yuu.N hii mere watan kii ziinat
jis tarah phuul se hotii hai chaman kii ziinat
zindagii ho merii parawaane kii surat yaa rab
ilm kii shammaa se ho mujhako mohabbat yaa rab
ho meraa kaam Gariibo.n kii himaayat karanaa
dard-ma.ndo.n se zaiifo.n se mohabbat karanaa
mere Allah buraaii se bachaanaa mujhako
nek jo raah ho us raah pe chalaanaa mujhako
Allama Iqbal
Shivala
sach kah duu.N ai brahman gar tuu buraa na maane
tere sanam kado.n ke but ho gaye puraane
apano.n se bair rakhanaa tuu ne buto.n se siikhaa
jang-o-jadal sikhaayaa vaa_iz ko bhii Khudaa ne
tang aake aaKhir mai.n ne dair-o-haram ko chho.D
aavaa_iz kaa vaaz chho.Daa, chho.De tere fasaane
patthar kii muurato.n me.n samajhaa hai tuu Khudaa hai
Khaak-e-vatan kaa mujh ko har zarraa devataa hai
aa Gairat ke parde ik baar phir uThaa de.n
bichha.Do.n ko phir milaa de.n naqsh-e-du_ii miTaa de.n
suunii pa.Dii hu_ii hai muddat se dil kii
bastiiaa ik nayaa shivaalaa is des me.n banaa de.n
duniyaa ke tiiratho.n se uu.Nchaa ho apanaa tiirath
daamaan-e-aasmaa.N se is kaa kalas milaa de.n
har subah mil ke gaaye.n mantar vo miiThe miiThe
saare pujaariyo.n ko mai piit kii pilaa de.n
shaktii bhii shaantii bhii bhakto.n ke giit me.n hai
dharatii ke baasiyo.n kii muktii priit me.n hai
Allama Iqbal
Sitaaro.N se aage jahaa.N aur bhii hai.N
sitaaro.n se aage jahaa.N aur bhii hai.n
abhii ishq ke imtihaa.N aur bhii hai.n
taahii zindagii se nahii.n ye fazaaye.n
yahaa.N saika.Do.n kaaravaa.N aur bhii hai.n
kanaa'at na kar aalam-e-rang-o-bu par
chaman aur bhii, aashiyaa.N aur bhii hai.n
agar kho gayaa ek nasheman to kyaa
Gam maqaamaat-e-aah-o-fugaa.N aur bhii hai.n
tuu shahii.n hai parwaaz hai kaam teraa
tere saamane aasmaa.N aur bhii hai.n
isii roz-o-shab me.n ulajh kar na rah jaa
ke tere zamiin-o-makaa.N aur bhii hai.n
gae din kii tanhaa thaa mai.n a.njuman me.n
yahaa.N ab mere raazadaa.N aur bhii hai.n
Allama Iqbal
Mohabbat ka junuu.N baaqii nahii.N hai
mohabbat ka junuu.N baaqii nahii.n hai
musalamaano.n me.n Khuun baaqii nahii.n hai
safe.n kaj, dil pareshan, sajdaa bezuuk
ke jazabaa-e-a.ndruun baaqii nahii.n hai
rago.n me.n lahuu baaqii nahii.n hai wo dil,
wo aawaaz baaqii nahii.n hai
namaaz-o-rozaa-o-qurbaanii-o-haj
ye sab baaqii hai tuu baaqii nahii.n hai
Allama Iqbal
Taraana-E-Hind
saare jahaa.N se achchhaa hindustaan hamaaraa
ham bul_bule.n hai.n is kii ye gulistaa.N hamaaraa
Gurbat me.n ho.n agar ham rahataa hai dil vatan me.n
samajho vahii.n hame.n bhii dil ho jahaa.N hamaaraa
[Gurbat = exile/in an alien land]
parvat vo sab se uu.Nchaa ham_saayaa aasmaa.N kaa
vo santarii hamaaraa vo paasabaa.N hamaaraa
[ham_saayaa = neighbour][santri = sentry; paasabaa.N = guardian/watchdog]
godii me.n khelatii hai.n is kii hazaaro.n nadiyaa.N
gulshan hai jin ke dam se rashk-e-janaa.N hamaaraa
[rashk-e-janaa.N = envy of Paradise]
ai aab-e-ruud-e-gangaa vo din hai yaad tujh ko
utaraa tere kinaare jab kaaravaa.N hamaaraa
mazhab nahii.n sikhaataa aapas me.n bair rakhanaa
hindii hai.n ham vatan hai hindustaa.N hamaaraa
[mazhab = religion]
yuunaan -o-mishr-o-romaa sab miT gaye jahaa.N se
ab tak magar hai baaqii naam-o-nishaa.N hamaaraa
[yuunaan = Greece; misr = Egypt; romaa = Rome]
kuchh baat hai ki hastii miTatii nahii.n hamaarii
sadiyo rahaa hai duhman daur-e-zamaa.N hamaaraa
'Iqbal' ko_ii maharam apanaa nahii.n jahaa.N me.n
maaluum kyaa kisii ko dard-e-nihaa.N hamaaraa
[maharam = confidant; dard-e-nihaa.N = hidden pain]
Allama Iqbal

Bahadur Shah Zafar

The last Mughal king, Bahadur Shah, better known as Bahadur Shah Zafar, was born in 1775 at Delhi. He was the son of Akbar Shah from his Hindu wife Lalbai. Bahadur Shah, after the death of his father, was placed on the throne in 1837 when he was little over 60 years of age. He was last in the lineage of Mughal emperors who ruled over India for about 300 years. Bahadur Shah Zafar, like his predecessors, was a weak ruler who came to throne when the British domination over India was strengthening and the Mughal rule was nearing its end. The British had curtailed the power and privileges of the Mughal rulers to such an extent that by the time of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Mughal rule was confined to the Red Fort. Bahadur Shah Zafar was obliged to live on British pension, while the reins of real power lay in the hands of the East India Company.
During the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar, Urdu poetry flourished and reached its zenith. He himself was a prolific poet and an accomplished calligrapher. He had acquired his poetic taste from his grandfather and father who were also poets. He passed most of his time in the company of poets and writers and was the author of four diwans. Love and mysticism were his favorite subjects that found expression in his poetry. Most of his poetry is full of pain and sorrow owing to the distress and degradation he had to face at the hands of the British. He was a great patron of poetry and literary work and some of the most eminent and famous Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib, Zauk, Momin and Daagh were of his time.
A plaque proclaiming the end of the Mughal DynastyIt was at the time of Bahadur Shah that the War of Independence in 1857 started. In Bahadur Shah Zafar the freedom fighters found the symbol of freedom and therefore nominated him as their Commander-in-Chief. In the initial stages, the freedom fighters were successful, but later on the strong and organized British forces defeated them. Bahadur Shah, who had been proclaimed as an emperor of whole of India, was overthrown. He was arrested from Humayun's tomb, in Delhi, where he was hiding with his three sons and a grandson. Captain Hodson killed his sons and grandson and their severed heads were brought before him. Bahadur Shah Zafar himself was tried for treachery. He was exiled to Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma (now Myanmar), in 1858 where he lived his last five years and died in 1862 at the age of 87.


Yaar tha gul_zar tha.................................


yaar thaa gul_zaar thaa baad-e-sabaa thii mai.n na thaa

laayaq-e-paa-bos-e-jaa.N kyaa hinaa thii mai.n na thaa

haath kyo.n baa.Ndhe mere chhallaa agar chorii huaa

ha.Ns ke bolaa vo sanam shaan-e-Khudaa thii mai.n na thaa

mai.n ne puuchhaa kyaa huaa vo aap kaa husn-o-shabaab

.Ns ke bolaa vo sanam shaan-e-Khudaa thii mai.n na thaa

mai.n sisakataa rah gayaa aur mar gaye farahaad-o-qais

kyaa unhii.n dono.n ke hisse me.n qazaa thii mai.n na thaa




Ja kahion un se nasiim-e-sahar mera chain gayaa meri niind ga_ii


ja kahiyo un se nasiim-e-sahar meraa chain gayaa merii niind ga_ii

tumhe.n merii na mujh ko tumhaarii Khabar meraa chain gayaa merii niind ga_ii

na haram me.n tumhaare yaar pataa na suraaG dair me.n hai milataa kahaa.N

jaa ke dekhuu.N mai.n jaa_uu.N kidhar meraa chain gayaa merii niind ga_ii ai

baadashaah-e-Khubaa.N-e-jahaa.N terii mohinii surat pe qurbaa.N kii

mai.n ne jo terii jabii.n pe nazar meraa chain gayaa merii niind ga_ii

huii bad-e-bahaarii chaman me.n ayaa.N gul buTii me.n baaqii rahii na fizaa

merii shaaKh-e-ummiid na laa_ii sa.Nvar meraa chain gayaa merii niind ga_ii

ai barq-e-tajalli bahar-e-Khudaa na jalaa mujhe hijr me.n shammaa saa

merii ziist hai misl-e-chiraaG-e-sahar meraa chain gayaa merii niind ga_ii

kahataa hai yahii ro ro ke "Zafar" merii aah-e-rasaa kaa huaa na asar

terii hijr me.n maut na aa_ii abhii meraa chain gayaa merii niind ga_ii

yahii kahanaa thaa shero ke aaj "Zafar" merii aah-e-rasaa me.n huaa na asar

tere hijr me.n maut na aaii magar meraa chain gayaa merii nii.nd gaii


Lagtaa nahii.n hai jii meraa uja.De dayaar me.N
lagataa nahii.n hai jii meraa uja.De dayaar me.n
kis kii banii hai aalam-e-naa-paayedaar me.n
bulabul ko baaGabaa.n se na saiyyaad se gilaa
qismat me.n qaid thii likhii fasal-e-bahaar me.n
umr-e-daraaz maa.ng ke laaye the chaar din
do aarazU me.n kaT gaye, do i.ntazaar me.n
kah do in hasarato.n se kahii.n aur jaa base.n
itanii jagah kahaa.n hai dil-e-daaGadaar me.n
hai kitana badanasiib zafar dafn ke liye
do gaz zamiin bhii na milii kU-e-yaar me.
Bahadur Shah Zafar

Nazeer Baquari


Mir Nazeer Baquari
Born on 27th October 1948, in Naimatpur Ikrotia Saadat, Distt. Moradadabad U.P, Nazeer Baquari is the eldest grandson of Syed Mehdi Hasan, a land lord and also a jurist during the Brutish regime in India.Initially wrote few poems with the name, "Mir Nazeer". Due to a few incidents started using Nazeer Abbas Baqri and then Nazeer Baqri. Presently a poet of high repute, both literarily and on stage too.




Dhuaa.N banaake fizaa me.n


dhuaa.N banaake fizaa me.n u.Daa diyaa mujhako

mai.n jal rahaa thaa kisii ne bujhaa diyaa mujhako


taraqqiyo.n kaa fasaanaa sunaa diyaa mujhako

abhii ha.Nsaa bhii na thaa aur rulaa diyaa mujhako


mai.n ek zarraa bula.ndii ko chhuune nikalaa thaa

havaa ne tham ke zamii.n par giraa diyaa mujhako


safed saa.ng kii chaadar lapeT kar mujh par

fasiil-e-shahar pe kisane sajaa diyaa mujhako


kha.Daa huu.N aaj bhii roTii ke chaar harf liye

savaal ye hai kitaabo.n ne kyaa diyaa mujahko




Yaad nahii.n kyaa kyaa dekhaa thaa



yaad nahii.n kyaa kyaa dekhaa thaa saare manzar bhuul gaye

us kii galiyo.n se jab lauTe apanaa bhii ghar bhuul gaye

Khuub gaye pardes ki apane diivaar-o-dar bhuul gaye

shiish-mahal ne aisaa gheraa miTTii ke ghar bhuul gaye


tujh ko bhii jab apanii qasame.n apane vaade yaad nahii.n

ham bhii apane Khwab terii aa.Nkho.n me.n rakh kar bhuul gaye

mujh ko ji.nho.ne qatl kiyaa hai ko_ii u.nhe.n batalaaye "Nazeer"

merii laash ke pahaluu me.n vo apanaa Khanjar bhuul gaye


Apanii aa.Nkho.n ke samu.ndar me.n utar jaane de

apanii aa.Nkho.n ke samu.ndar me.n utar jaane de
teraa mujarim huu.N mujhe Duub ke mar jaane de

ai naye dost mai.n samajhuu.Ngaa tujhe bhii apanaa
pahale maazii kaa koii zaKhm to bhar jaane de

aag duniyaa kii lagaii huii bhuj jaayegii
koii aa.Nsuu mere daaman pe bikhar jaane de

zaKhm kitane terii chaahat se mile hai.n mujhako
sochataa huu.N ki kahuu.N tujhase magar jaane de



Husn...........


Husn ka raaz khula awwale maqlooq ke saath

Jo khazaana tha niha khul gaya sandooq ke saath.


Rizq bhi kar diya Razzaq ne marzooq ke saath

Maarifat ho gayi Ashiq ki bhi Mashooq ke saath.

Husn ki awwalo aakhir yeh rakhi hadd Usne

Apne paykaar ka rakha naam Mohammed Usne.





Chand Ash'ar


Gham ka suraj arash-e-mimbar se nikalta hi rahe

moom ban kar zulm ka pathar pigaltha hi rahe

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Jab kabhi taza mazaroun par chiraghan karna

Ek tuti hui turbat pe bhi Ehsan karna

Ghamon se kehdo ab kabhi bhi

aan ke mujhko na pareshan karna.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nazeer Baquari

Dr. Naseem Uz Zafar Baquari

Very few poets have left the impression on the the audience as Dr. Naseem has in a very short span of time. we can call him an allrounder or it would not be hypothetical to call him Modern Leonardo Da Vinci. He is a practicing Docter, philosopher, writer, lyricist, script writer, dramatist, journalst and over all a good poet.
Born in a family of high repute he is youngest of six brothers. His father Maulvi Murtaza Hussain was highly regarded for his literary and academic taste.
He was born in Syed Nagli ( Hasanpur) Moradabad ( now J P Nagar) in Uttar Pradesh on 12 August 1952. He passed his higher secondary from Sukhdevi Inter College Hasanpur, Intermediate from Aggrawal Inter College (Now Maharaja Agrasen Inter College)- Moradabad, B.Sc Frm K G K college Moradabad, BUMMS from AMU Aligarh and M.D From Jaipur (Rajasthan Univ).
His literary works include "Musawwir Sabzwari- Fun or Shairi, Translation of Dr. Gurudas Das Gupta's drama from Bengali to Urdu as 'Naya Chand', Drama- "Mai Abhi Wahan Se Aa Raha HuN',
Lyrics for Doordarshan's "Jung Abhi Jari Hai" and the compilation of "Nazir e Karbala" of late Maujiz Sambhali.
Many of his dramas and short stories are published in magzines and journals of high repute.Asmat Chughtai once said about him that , " Naseem is the Premchand of Urdu Afsana Nigari". Maujiz Sambhali acknowledged him as 'The Poet who dont need any master'. Although he is rarely found on stages as he consider it as a 'Job of disaster and self ruin", but his poetry has a class of its own. Presently he resides in Sambhal (Moradabad) busy with his successful practice and medical business.
His days at AMU, according to him were the days of his mentor and he regard the time as his golden era. He was sectretary, Literary and cultural society Aftab Hall 1973, Secretary AK Tibbia College Adabi Society. Member Drama Club, Member Literary Club and was active in different socio-political movements in the campus.






Tamaam Kasa-e-darveshgi ke paale hue.......
Tamaam Kasa-e-darveshgi ke paale hue
Hamare shahar me ab unchii naak waale hue
Zamana uske lie royega wo saaya hai
Chalii ye dhoop kidhar barchhiyan nikale hue
Shikaar aaj ki saazish ka hue jaate hain
Hum apni ankhon me kal ka yaqin paale hue
Andhere zehanon se hargiz naa dosti karna
Ke un me reh ke kai aaftaab kaale hue
Khushii ko dhundhne nikle to hum ko iilm hua
Khushi bhi hath gale me hai gham ke daale hue
Gunaah khulne ki sharmindagi kisi ko nahiin
Charagh khud hi pashemaan hai kyon ujaale hue
Ameer e shahar bahut muztarib sa rehta hai
Baras guzar gaye nezon pe sar uchhale hue

Ilm (Knowledge).......
Andaz e baqA hai shaoor e fanA hai Ilm
meraj e marfat e sifat Ambiaa hai Ilm
Adam ko wazA o wazA faziilat hua hai Ilm
sajde malayakA ke batayenge kya hai Ilm

Kaun o makaN me yuN bhii isii ka zahoor hai
Allah ek naam hai Ilm iskA noor hai
Anko.N ka noor dil kii haraarat bhi Ilm haiIimaN Ka soz Ishq Ki Lazzt bhi Ilm hai
Hai Ilm hii Imam-e-hidayat bhi Ilm hai
Paighambarii bhi Ilm Ri.isalat bhii Ilm hai

Lauho Qalam ke zikr se khud ashkar hai
Parwardigar Ilm ka Parwardigar hai

Adam ko jab mila to faqat iltajA thA Ilm
Aag me Khaliil ke lab ki dua thaA Ilm
Moosa ko jab milA to tajalli numA tha Ilm
Bayani e Muhammed me Noor e Khuda tha Ilm

Ye Ilm hi wahii kabhii ilhaam ho gaya
KaAbe tak aate aate Ali naam ho gayA



An'aa ( Ego)......................Khud hi me dooba hua ek viqaar ka lehjaA
Ek Aitmaad ka, ek Aitbaar ka lehjaA
Ek Iftekhar bharA ikhtiar ka lehjaA
AnaA ka lehjaA hai ParwardiaAr ka lehjaA

KahiN ye lafz na paiida fareb zaat kare
Bashar anaA ko samajh le tab iski baat kare

Anaa hai wasf-e-Khuda Seerat-e-Nabi hai Anaa
Anaa Umar hai, abu Bakr hai Ghani hai Anaa
Anaa shaur hai aijaz aa gaii hai Anaa
Agarche fitna-e-shaitan kabhii kabhii hai Anaa

Anaa hai dar se Iisa ko jo bulati hai
Anaa Khalil bhi Namrood bhi banati hai

Nihabato.N ke badan ki hain qabaA hai Anaa
Sadaqato.N ke lie taaj khialti hai Anaa
Magar kamiino ko mil jae to sazaa hai Anaa
Jo be-adab haiN inhe kya khabar vke kya hai Anaa

Jawa.N hai karbobala toor ab bhii zinda hai
Anaa se jazba-e-Mansoor ab bhi zinda hai

Magar nigah-e-haqeeqat se dekhie ek baar
Yahi Anaa hai Abu Jahal-o-Abu lahab ka shumaar
Isi Anaa ne kia Rab ke Hukm se Inkaar
Isi Anaa ne sajae haiN zulm ke darbaar

Yahi Anaa kabhi Baiit ka roop dharti hai
Yahi Anaa kabhi Kam taqatiise haarti hai

Yahi Anaa hai kabhi haq kabhi yahi baatil
Yahi Anaa hai Saiirab or yahii Anaa manzil
Yahi hai mauja-e-toofaN kabhi kabhi sahil
Kabhi basar ko jagaae kabhi kare ghafil

Jamaal ka hai ne Aina-e-jamaal ka hai
Jo farq hai to faqat Ahatdaal ka hai


Chand AshaAr
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
mere hath.oN me to rukti hi nahi koi lakiir
laa tere hatho.N meN maiN apna muqaddar dekhuN
dooriaN ghati haiN ke badh jaati haiN
aazmaish ko sahii laa tujh se bichhadD ker dekuN

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
.merei tasveer me ankheN nahi khwab aaye haiN
camerE ko meri aadat ka pata kaise lagaA

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

zakhm e ahsaas na hijrat na safar maaNgegA
ye musaafir to sarai nahi ghar maaNgegA
shahzada abhi kamsin hai to phooloN pe hain paoN

kal jawaaN hogA to insanO ke sir maaNgegA

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

hamara sabr hamari ana hamara zameer
chhuri ke niche bhi lehja kahan badalta hai

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

agar charaagh ki lau sir samete baithi hai
hawa bhi toote hue par samete baithi hai

havelion ki faseelon ko ye bhi ranj raha
gharibi lutaa hua ghar samete baithi hai

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bus akhri wajd or aii dil ke nazar bujhne lagi
wo jo aa jaeN to phir akhri dhammal hai

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Log samjhe the ke main jal bhi chuka bujh bhi chuka
rakh ke dher ko chheda.A to shuaAle nikle.E


Dr. Naseem Uz Zafar Baquari


Ali Sardar Jafri

Ali Sardar Jafri was born in Balrampur (India) in 1913. He was one of the founders of Progressive Writers Movement. He graduated from the Anglo-Arabic College, Delhi and became a communist sympathiser during his student life. He went to jail many times in support of the freedom movement. He founded and edited Naya Adab (Lucknow) and Guftugu (Bombay). He has won numerous awards during his life including the pretigious Jnanpith Award. Jafri has nined poetry collections and several prose works in Urdu, Hindi and English to his credit. He died on 1st Aug 2000 in Mumbai.

Ek Khwab Aur, Introduction

apnii kitaab ‘ek khwaab aur’ meN harf-e-awwal mein Ali Sardar Jafri likhte hain,
khwaab aur shikast-e-khwaab is daur ka muqaddar hai’. aur naye khawaab dekhnaa insaaN kaa ek aisaa haq hai jise ko’ii taaqat, ko’ii iqtidaar use marHuum nahiiN kar saktaa. aur shaayed yahii insaaN aur insaaniyat ke mustaqbil kii zamaanat hai

ek khwaab aur

khwaab ab Husn-e-tasavvur ke ufaq se haiN pare
dil ke ek jazbaa-e-ma’suum ne dekhe the jo khawaab
aur ta’beeroN ke tapte hue sehraaoN meN
tashnagii aabla-paa, sh’ola-bakaf mauj-e-saraab
ye tau mumkin nahiin bachpan ka ko’ii din mil jaaye
yaa palat aaye ko’ii sa’aat-e-naayaab-e-shabaab
phuuT nikle kisii afsurdah tabassum se kiran
yaa damak uTThe kisii dast-e-buriidah meN gulaab
aah ! patthar kii lakiireN haiN ke yaadoN ke nuquush
kaun likh saktaa hai phir umr-e-guzishtaa kii kitaab
beete lamHaat ke soye hue tuufaanoN meN
tairte phirte haiN phuuTii huii aaNkhoN ke Habaab
taabish rang-e-shafaq, aatish ruu-e-Khurshiid
mal ke cHehre pe saHar aayii hai KhuuN aHbaab
jaane kis moR pe, kis raaH meN kyaa beetii hai
kis se mumkin hai tamannaoN ke zakhmoN ka Hisaab
aastiinoN ko pukaareNge kahaaN tak aaNsuuN
ab tau daaman ko pakaRte haiN lahuu ke gardaab
dekhtii phirtii hai ek ek ka munh khaamoshii
jaane kyaa baat hai sharmindah hai andaaz-e-Khitaab
dar-ba-dar thokareN khaate huve phirte haiN savaal
aur mujrim ki tarah unse gurezaaN haiN javaab
sarkashii, phir maiN tujhe aaj sadaa detaa huN
maiN teraa shaa’iir-e-aawaaraa-o-be-baak-o-Kharaab
pheNk phir jazbaa-e-betaab ki aalam pe kamand
ek khwaab aur ai himmat-e-dushwaar pasand

Ali Sardar Jafri
niind

raat Khuubsurat hai niind kyuN nahiiN aatii
din kii Khashmagi nazrein kho gayii siyaahii me
Naahnii kaRoN kaa shor, beRioN kii jhankaare
NqaidioN kii saaNsoN kii tund-tez aavaaze
NjailaroN kii badkaari, gaalioN ki bauchhaareN
bebasii kii Khaamoshii, Khaamoshi kii faryaadeN, tahnashiin andhere meN

shab ki shoKh doshiizaa Khaardaar taaron ko
aahniiN hisaaroN ko paar kar ke aayii hai
bhar ke apne daaman meN jangaloN kii Khush-buueN
ThandakeN pahaaRoN kii mere paas laayii hai

raat Khuubsurat hai niind kyuN nahiiN aatii

neelguuN jawaaN seena, neelguuN jawaaN baaheN
kahkashaaN kii peshaanii, neem chaaNd ka juuRaa
maKhmalii andhere kaa, pairahan laraztaa hai
waqt ki siyaah zulfeN Khaamoshi ke shaanoN per
Kham-ba-Kham mahaktii haiN aur zamiiN ke hontoN per
narm shabnamii bosay, motioN ke daantoN se KhilKhilaa ke haNste haiN

raat Khuubsurat hai niind kyuN nahiiN aatii

raat peing letii hai, chaaNdnii ke jhuule meN
aasmaan par taare nanhe-nanhe haathoN se
bun rahe hain jaaduu saajhingaron ki aavaazeN,
kah rahi hain afsaanaduur jail ke baahar baj rahii hai shehnaaii
rail apne pahioN se loriaaN sunaatii hai

raat Khuubsurat hai niind kyuN nahiiN aatii

roz raat ko yuNhii niind meri aankhon se
bewafaaii kartii hai
mujhko chhoR kar tanhaa jail se nikaltii hai
Bambayii kii bastii meN mere ghar ka darvaaza jaa kar KhatKhataati hai
ek nanhe bacche kii ankhRioN ke bachpan meN
miithe miithe KhwaboN ka shahed Ghol detii haii
k hansiiN parii ban kar paalnaa hilaati hai loriaaN sunaatii hai

Ali Sardar Jafri

Faiz Ahmed 'Faiz'


Date of Birth: February 13th, 1911Place: Sialkot (Punjab), Pakistan
Faiz's mother was Sultan Fatima. Faiz's father died in Sialkot in 1913. Faiz's father was a learned man and enjoyed the company of well-known literary persons. Wrote the biography of Amir Abdur Rehman. Faiz was therefore, born in a respectable and literary environment and was a very promising student with a religious background.
Primary Education: Started memorizing the Holy Quran at the age of four and in 1916 started his formal education in the famous school of Moulvi Ibrahim Sialkoti, and learnt Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Was admitted to the Scotch Mission High School in 1921 in Class IV. Passed his Matriculation Examination in the 1st Division from Murray College, Sialkot and during this period learnt Persian and Arabic from Allama Iqbal's teacher, Shamsul Ullama Moulvi Syed Meer Hasan.
College Education: Passed his B.A. (Honours) in Arabic from the Government College, Lahore and then M.A. in English from the same College in 1932. Passed his M.A. in Arabic in the 1st Division, from Oriental College, Lahore.
Employment: Lecturer in English at M. A. O. College, Amritsar in 1935 and then at Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore. Joined the Army as Captain in 1942 and worked in the department of Public Relations in Delhi. Was promoted to the rank of Major in 1943, and Lieut. Colonel in 1944. Resigned from The Army in 1947 and returned to Lahore, where, in 1959 appointed as Secretary, Pakistan Arts Council and worked in that capacity till 1962. Returning from London in 1964 he settled down in Karachi and was appointed as Principal, Abdullah Haroon College , Karachi. Editorship of the monthly magazine Adabe-Latif from 1947 to 1958. Worked as Editor under the Progressive Papers Ltd, of the Pakistan Times, the Urdu newspaper Imroze and the weekly Lailo-Nihar. In the 1965 war between India & Pakistan he worked in an honorary capacity in the Department of Information. Acted as Editor of the magazine Lotus in Moscow, London and Beirut.
Marriage & Children: In March 9th, arrested under Safety Act and charged in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case, and having borne the hardships of imprisonment for four years and one month in the jails of Sargodha, Montgomery (now Sahiwal) Hyderabad and Karachi, was released on April 2nd, 1955.

Faiz on 'Faiz"

Before going on to a consideration of other poems, it would be appropriate to insert here Faiz's brief and characteristic comments on himself.
I hate to talk about myself. This is so because it is the habit of all bores.
This is so because the period between 1920 and 1930 constituted a state of carelessness, prosperity and exuberance, in which along with important national and political movements, in prose and poetry, there was an element of light heartedness, along with serious thinking and observation. Poetry was dominated by Hasrat Mohani, then Josh, Hafiz Jallendhari and Akhtar Shirani.
The early poems of Naqshe Faryadi such as Khuda Wo Waqt Na Lae Ke Sogwar Ho Tum, Merijan Ab Bhi Apna Husn Wapas Pher De Muj Ko, Tare Nagme Kahin Chandani Ke Daman Mein and some others were composed in this kind of prevailing atmosphere. In this atmosphere there was also the wonder of the beginning of love but we had just a glimpse of this period, when we reached the end of love's companionship.
YAAS (HOPELESSNESS)
In 1934 we left college and in 1935 got employment in M.A.O. College, Amritsar. It is from here that a new mental and emotional phase begins for me and for several of my contemporaries. In this period we met the late Sahibzada Mahmuduz Zafar and his wife Rashida Jehan, and the Progressive Writers Movement began, and continued with the labour movements. It seemed that several schools had opened in the garden. In this school the first lesson we learnt was that to think of separating oneself from the world is, in the first place, useless. This is so because the experiences around us necessarily affected us. The self of a human being, despite all its loves, troubles, joys and pains, is a tiny, limited and humble thing. The measure of the vastness of life is the whole universe. Thus the agony of love and the agony of time are two aspects of one experience. The beginning of this new feeling is the first poem of the second phase. Its title is: Don't ask me, my beloved, for the previous kind of love After this came the stage of 'espousing the misery of the whole world'. Then, after spending some time in the Army, journalism, and trade-unionism I (we) were in prison for four years. The two subsequent books Daste-Saba and Zindan Nama are records of jail life'. Prison life, like love, is itself a fundamental experience which opens up a new vista of thoughts and insight. The first thing is that, like the dawn of love, all the sensations are again aroused and the mistiness of the early morning and evening, the blue of the sky, the gentleness of the breeze return with the same sense of wonder. And the second thing that happens is that the time and distances of the outside world are negated; the sense of distance and nearness is obliterated in such a way that a single moment weighs on the mind like the day of judgement and sometime the occurrences of a century seem to be like the happenings of yesterday. The third thing is that in the vastness of separation, one gets more time for reading and thinking and for decorating the bride of creativity.
(Faiz did not like to talk about himself and left this account incomplete).

Ham Parwarish e Lauh-o-Qalam Karte Rahenge

ham paravarish-e-lauh-o-qalam karate rahe.nge

jo dil pe guzaratii hai raqam karate rahe.nge


[paravarish=nurture; lauh-o-qalam=writing implements; raqam=keep count/record of]


asbaab-e-Gam-e-ishq baham karate rahe.nge

viiraanii-e-dauraa.N pe karam karate rahe.nge


[asbaab=cause/means; baham=gather; dauraa.N=time/age/period]


haa.N talKhii-e-ayyaam abhii aur ba.Degii haa.N

ahal-e-sitam mashq-e-sitam karate rahe.nge


[talKhii=bitter; ayyaam=days; ahal-e-sitam=people who oppress/tyrants] [mashq karanaa=to practise]


ma.nzuur ye talKhii ye sitam ham ko gavaaraa

dam hai to madaavaa-e-alam karate rahe.nge


[madaavaa=cure]


maiKhaanaa salaamat hai to ham surKhii-e-may se

tazziin-e-dar-o-baam-e-haram karate rahe.nge


[surKhii=redness; tazziin=decoration; dar=door] [baam=roof/terrace; haram=sacred place]


baaqii hai lahuu dil me.n to har ashk se paidaa

rang-e-lab-o-ruKhsaar-e-sanam karate rahe.nge


[lab=lips; ruKhsaar=cheek]
ek tarz-e-taGaaful hai so vo un ko mubaarak

ek arz-e-tamannaa hai so ham karate rahe.nge


[tarz=style; taGaaful=neglect; arz karanaa=to express; tamannaa=desire]

Aaj Ke Naam

aaj ke naam

aur

aaj ke Gam ke naam

aaj kaa Gam ki hai zindagii ke bhare gulasitaa.N se Khafaa

zard patto.n kaa ban

zard patto.n kaa ban jo meraa des hai

dard kaa a.njuman jo meraa des hai kilarko.n kii afasurdaa jaano.n ke naam

kirm_Khurdaa dilo.n aur zabaano.n ke naam

posT-mai.no.n ke naam

Ta.ngewaalo.n ke naam rel_baano.n ke naam

kaaraKhaano.n ke bhole jiyaalo.n ke naam

baadashaah-e-jahaa.N, waali-e-maasivaa, nae_bullaah-e-fil-arz, dahakaa.N ke naam

jis ke Dhoro.n ko zaalim ha.Nkaa le gaye

jis kii beTii ko Daakuu uThaa le gaye

haath bhar Khet se ek a.ngusht paTavaar ne kaaT lii hai

duusarii maaliye ke bahaane se sarakaar ne kaaT lii hai

jis ke pag zor waalo.n ke paa.Nvo.n tale

dhajjiyaa.N ho gayi hai

un duKhii maao.n ke naam

raat me.n jin ke bachche bilaKhate hai.n

aur nii.nd kii maar khaaye hue baazuuo.n se sa.Nbhalate nahii.n

dukh bataate nahii.n

minnato.n zaariyo.n se bahalate nahii.n

un hasiinaao.n ke naam

jinakii aa.Nkho.n ke gul

chilamano.n aur daricho.n kii belo.n pe bekaar khil khil ke

murjhaa gaye hai.n

un byaahataao.n ke naam

jinake badan be_mohabbat riyaakaar sejo.n pe saj saj ke ukataa gaye hai.n

bewaao.n ke naam

kata.Diyo.n aur galiyo.n, muhallo.n ke naam

jinakii naapaak Khaashaak se chaa.Nd raato.n ko

aa aa ke karataa hai aksar wazuu jinakii saayo.n me.n karatii hai aaho-bukaa

aa.Nchalo.n kii hinaa

chuu.Diyo.n kii khanak

kaakulo.n kii mahak

aarazuuma.nd siino.n kii apane pasiine me.n jalane kii buu

pa.Danewaalo.n ke naam

wo jo asahaab-e- tablo-alam ke daro.n par

kitaab aur qalam kaa takaazaa liye,

haath phailaaye pahu.Nche,

magar lauT kar ghar na aaye

vo maasuum jo bholepan me.n

wahaa.N apane na.nhe chiraaGo.n me.n lau kii lagan le k

pahu.Nche jahaa.N ba.NT rahe the ghaTaaTop,

be-a.nt raato.n ke saaye un asiiro.n ke naam

jin ke siino.n me.n fardaa ke shabataab gauhar

jel_Khaano.n kii shoriidaa raato.n kii sar-sar me.n

jal-jal ke a.njum-numaa.N ho gaye hai.n

aanewaale dino.n ke safiiro.n ke naam

vo jo Khushbuu-e-gul kii tarah

apane paiGaam par Khud fidaa ho gaye hai.n


**Left incomplete by Faiz**
[kirm_Khurdaa=moth-eaten; waali-e-maasivaa=master;] [nae_bullaah-e-fil-arz=God's representative on Earth; dahakaa.N=peasant] [a.ngusht=small (u.ngalii bhar); maaliye=levy, tax; zaariyo.n=weeping;] [riyaakaar=insincere; kata.Diyo.n=group of houses; Khaashaak=trash;] [kaakulo.n=tresses; asahaab-e- tablo-alam=owner of flag and drums (leaders);] [asiir=prisoner; fardaa=future; gauhar=pearl; shoriidaa=anxious, worried;] [a.njum-numaa.N=star-like; safiiro.n=ambassador]

Jaun Elia


Jaun Eliya was born on 14th September, 1930 in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh in India. Her he received his education in Syedul Madaris a muslim seminary school and later found himself in Imamul Madaris Higher secondary, Amroha. He migrated to Pakistan in 1957. He lived his last days in Karachi, Pakistan. He had a master's degree in Urdu, Persian and Arabic.
He was considered a unique poet of his era. he was a scholar of Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Urdu. He has, to his credit, a large number of translated works. His first poetry collection was published in 1990 under the name "Shaayad". The second one, titled "Yaani" was also a great success.


Haalat e Haal ke Sabab

haalat-e-haal ke sabab, haalat-e-haal hii gayii
shauq meN kuch nahiiN gayaa, shauq kii zindagii gayii

ek hii haadisaa to hai aur vo ye ke aaj tak
baat nahiiN kahii gayii, baat nahiiN sunii gayii

baad bhii tere jaan-e-jaaN dil meN rahaa ajab samaaN
yaad rahii terii yahaaN, phir terii yaad bhii gayii

uske badan ko dii namuud hamne suKhan meN aur phir
uske badan ke vaaste ek qabaa bhii sii gayii

(namuud : appearance; qabaa : gown)

uskii ummiid-e-naaz kaa hamse ye maan thaa ke aap
umr guzaar deejiye, umr guzaar dii gayii

uske visaal ke liye, apne kamaal ke liye
haalat-e-di,l ke thii Kharaab, aur Kharaab kii gayii

teraa firaaq jaan-e-jaaN aish thaa kyaa mere liye
yaanii tere firaaq meN Khuub sharaab pii gayii

uskii galii se uTh ke maiN aan paRaa thaa apne ghar
ek galii kii baat thii aur galii galii gayii

Jaun Elia

-->
Hum to Jaise Yahan Ke The hi Naii N

ham to jaise yahaa.N ke the hii nahii.n
dhuup the saayabaa.N ke the hii nahii.n

[saayabaa.N = cornice]

raaste kaaravaa.N ke saath rahe
marhale kaaravaa.N ke the hii nahii.n

[marhale = obstacles/difficulties]

ab hamaaraa makaan kis kaa hai
ham to apane makaa.N ke the hii nahii.n

in ko aa.Ndhi me.n hii bikharanaa thaa
baal-o-par yahaa.N ke the hii nahii.n

[baal-o-par = arms and wings]

us galii ne ye sun ke sabr kiyaa
jaane vaale yahaa.N ke the hii nahii.n

[sabr karanaa = to be patient]

ho terii Khaak-e-aastaa.N pe salaam
ham tere aastaa.N ke the hii nahii.n

[Khaak = dust; aastaa.N = threshold]

Jaun Elia


Wo Apne Aap Se Juda Chaahiye mujhe

vo apne aap se bhii judaa chaahiye mujhe
us kaa jamaal us ke sivaa chaahiye mujhe

har lamhaa jii rahe haiN davaa ke baGhair ham
chaaraagaroN tumhaarii du’aa chaahiye hameN

phir dekhiye jo harf bhii nikle zabaan seek din
jo puuch baithe ke kyaa chaahiye hameN

jaanaa nahiiN hai ghar se nikal kar kahiiN magar
har maah-ruu ke ghar kaa pataa chaahiye hameN

muddat se ham kisii ko nahiiN de sake fareb
ai shah’r-e-iltifaat wafaa chaahiye hameN

har aan aakhrii hai magar us ke baa-vajuud
is aan bhii yaqiin-e-fanaa chaahiye hameN

Jaun Elia

Sazaa

sazaa har baar mere saamane aatii rahii ho tum
har baar tum se mil ke bichha.Dataa rahaa huu.N mai.n
tum kaun ho ye Khud bhii nahii.n jaanatii ho tum
mai.n kaun huu.N ye Khud bhii nahii.n jaanataa huu.N mai.n
tum mujh ko jaan kar hii pa.Dii ho aazaab me.n
aur is tarah Khud apanii sazaa ban gayaa huu.N mai.n

[azaab = curse/difficulty]

tum jis zamiin par ho mai.n us kaa Khudaa nahii.n
bas sar basar aziiyat-o-aazaar hii raho
bezaar ho ga_ii ho bahut zindagii se tum
jab bas me.n kuchh nahii.n hai to bezaar hii raho
tum ko yahaa.N ke saayaa-e-paratau se kyaa Garaz
tum apane haq me.n biich kii diivaar hii raho

[aziiyat = difficulty; aazaar = harm/woe; paratau = reflection]

mai.n ibtadaa-e-ishq me.n bemahar hii rahaa
tum intahaa-e-ishq kaa miyaar hii raho
tum Khuun thuukatii ho ye sun kar Khushii hu_ii
is rang is adaa me.n bhii pur_kaar hii raho

[ibtadaa = beginning; bemahar = without favour]
[intahaa = limit; purakaar = skilled]

mai.n ne ye kab kahaa thaa ke muhabbat me.n hai najaat
mai.n ne ye kab kahaa thaa ke vafadaar hii raho
apanii mataa-e-naaz luTaa kar mere liye
baazaar-e-iltafaat me.n naadaar hii raho

[najaat = salvation; mataa = goods/things; iltafaat = regard/kindness]
[naadaar = poor/pauper]

jab mai.n tumhe.n nishaat-e-muhabbat na de sakaa
Gam me.n kabhii sukuun-e-rafaaqat na de sakaa
jab mere saare charaaG-e-tamannaa havaa ke hai.n
jab mere saare Khvaab kisii bevafaa ke hai.n
phir mujhe chaahane kaa tumhe.n ko_ii haq nahii.n
tanhaa karaahaane kaa tumhe.n ko_ii haq nahii.n

[nishaat = joy; sukuun = peace; rafaaqat = companionship]
[karaahanaa = to cry out in pain]

zaKhm-e-ummiid bhar gayaa kab kaa
zaKhm-e-ummiid bhar gayaa kab kaa
Qais to apne ghar gayaa kab kaa

(zaKhm-e-ummiid : the wound of hope)

aap ik aur niind le liijiye
qaafilaa kuuch kar gayaa kab kaa

dukh ka lamhaa azal abad lamhaa
vaqt ke paar utar gayaa kab kaa

(azal : beginning of time; abad : end of time)

apna muuNh ab to mat dikhaoa mujhe
naasiho, maiN sudhar gayaa kab kaa

nasshaa hone kaa be-tarah thaa kabhi
par vo zaalim utar gayaa kab kaa

aap ab puuchney ko aaye haiN?
dil merii jaan, mar gayaa kab kaa

Jaun Elia