Left-wing intellectual, revolutionary poet, Marxist, Lenin Peace Prize, Internationalism.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz was born in Sialkot, British India (now in Pakistan). Faiz was the son of Sultan Mohammed Khan who had risen from a poor shepherd to become a barrister through his scholastic prowess. His father though passed away in 1913.
Like most Muslim children of the sub-continent Faiz began his education by learning to read and memorize the Quran in Arabic, at four years of age. He attained his primary education at Moulvi Ibrahim Sialkoti`s famous school and studied Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Later he joined the Scotch Mission High School. He passed his matriculation examination from there in 1927. During this time he was also learning Arabic and Persian from Moulvi Syed Meer Hasan. Faiz started writing poetry while at school but was not encouraged by his family and so he gave it up.
Faiz did his inter-mediate from Murray College, Sialkot, and B.A, in 1931, from Government College, Lahore. Two years later he did his Masters in English and followed it with an M.A. in Arabic as well. While at Murray College he started writing poetry once more. His poetry of this period though was conformist poetry and about the more common subjects like love.
In Faiz`s own words "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……………. 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."
After he graduated he took up a job as a lecturer in English at the M. A. O. College in Amritsar in 1935 and five years later he joined Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore.
Faiz had tremendous sympathy for the suffering of the people. While he was teaching at the M. A. O. College he became friendly with the Vice Principal Sahabzada Mehmood-uz-Zafar and his wife, Dr. Rasheeda Jahan. Both were committed socialists and lovers of literature as well. Under their influence Faiz`s poetry underwent a tremendous change. The other influence on him was The Progressive Writers` Movement.
In 1935 in London, some writers with socialist ideologies, set up The Progressive Writers` Movement. The Movement emphasized the writer`s responsibilties towards spreading and promoting positive, healthy and just values through his writings. Faiz found himself in total agreement with the movement`s views and goals and this started a new phase in his writing career. Faiz did not agree with the doctrine of art for art`s sake, or that artistic and social values are things apart. Beauty did not have mere artistic value, but it also had a social and moral value. According to Faiz poetry was a struggle in which, art and life demanded participation according to one`s abilities.
Once again his own words explain his feelings well " 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.
In his poetry, Faiz incorporated both the values of beauty and social responsibilities. His message was couched in beautiful words with an almost wistful quality. That is why Faiz`s poetry was unlike the writings of his contemporaries, with a style more mellifluous, his tone soft, his poems smooth and flowing, unlike the works of other poets which had a more stronger tone.
A revolutionary battle song by Faiz is a fine example of this almost lyrical quality of his work.
For the love of your flower-like lips,
We were sacrificed on the dry branches of the noose,
For the desire of the candles of your hands
We were killed on half-dark paths.
Faiz`s first collection, Naqsh-e-Faryaadi , was published in 1941.
In the same year Faiz married Ellis Catherine George, a British woman, in Srinagar, Kashmir. The marriage rites were performed by none other than Shaikh Abdullah, The Lion of Kashmir, a leader of the Kashmiri people.
As Faiz had already adopted socialist ideologies, due to his ideologies he was against Hitler and Nazism, also when Germany invaded the USSR he felt compelled to join the fight, he left this job and joined the British Indian Army as a Captain in 1942, he soon rose in the ranks and became Lieutenant Colonel in barely two years.
1947 was the year that changed the history of the sub-continent as well as the lives of many of its people. This was the year when India not only finally got its independence from Britain but it was also partitioned into mainly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. The much longed for independence brought in its wake turmoil and violent conflict. Hindus and Muslims who had fought for independence side by side suddenly were now fighting each other. Blood flowed on both sides. Punjab and Bengal were split into half. Lahore and Sialkot now both became a part of The Punjab which was given to Pakistan.
Faiz resigned from the army and returned to Lahore and took up a job as the editor of The Pakistan Times.
In 1951 Faiz was arrested, he was accused as being a co-conspirator in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. In truth though, Faiz was merely acquainted with the military officers who had been planning a coup to overthrow the civilian government. The chief conspirator Akbar Khan, was a friend of a poet friend of Faiz; Sajjad Zaheer, who was also a founder member of the Progressive Writer`s Movement and through this poet, Faiz had met the army officers planning the coup. Unfortunately for him it was an ill fated acquaintance, for Faiz too was arrested along with the army officers when the conspiracy came to light. He almost received the death sentence but later he was awarded a much lesser sentence of two and a half years. Along with the time he had spent in prison during his trial, Faiz spent four years in jail.
Faiz describes his time and experience in jail in these words
" 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."
The poems he wrote in jail were later compiled into the Dast-e-Saba, (1953) and Zinda-Nama (1956).
He worked in various jobs after his release, Though he had gone back to his job as editor of the Pakistan Times he lost it for his socialist sympathies, when a military coup succeeded in 1958. Later when civilian rule was once again re-established a year later he was appointed as The Secretary of the Pakistan Arts Council. After which he was appointed as the Principal of Abdullah Haroon College, Karachi. He also edited the monthly magazine Adabe-Latif from 1947 to 1958 as well as the Urdu newspaper Imroze and the weekly Lailo-Nihar. He also acted as editor of The Lotus Magazine.
Faiz continued to write and publish poetry. in 1956, his fourth collection, Dast Tah-e-Sang, was published, the fifth one was, Sar-e-Waadi-e-Sina in 1965, then Shaam-e-Shahr-e-Yaaraan in 1971, followed by Merey Dil Merey Musafir, and finally the last one, Kalaam-e-Faiz in 1981.
In 1962 he was awarded The Lenin Peace Prize by the former Soviet Union, a prize, which in the Socialist World had the same significance and esteem as the Nobel Peace Prize. While receiving the Lenin Peace Prize, Faiz recited a couplet of the Persian poet Hafez Shirazi, which perhaps in some ways embodies his thoughts;
"Every foundation you see is defective, except the foundation of love, which is faultless."
