Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Life and Ghazals


Faiz Ahmed Faiz was born in 1911 at Sialkot and was educated at Lahore, where he studied English literature and philosophy.  He began his career as a lecturer in English at Amritsar.  After the second World War, he turned to journalism and distinguished himself as the editor of The Pakistan Times.  He was charged with complicity in the Rawalpindi conspiracy case and was condemned to four years' imprisonment in 1951.  The jail term gave him a first-hand experience of the harsh realities of life, and provided him with the much-needed leisure and solitude to think out his thoughts and transmute them into poetry.  Two of his books, Dast-e-Saba and Zindan-Nama are the products of this period of imprisonment.

As a poet, Faiz began writing on the conventional themes of love and beauty, but soon these conventional themes get submerged in the larger social and political issues of the day.  The traditional griefs of love get fused with the travails of the afflicted humanity, and Faiz uses his poetry to champion the cause of socialistic humanism.  Consequently, the familiar imagery of a love-poet acquires new meanings in the hands of Faiz...  This turning away from romance to realism, from Eros to Agape, is beautifully suggested in his poem (a nazm), "mujh se pehli si mohabbat meri mahboob na maang."

In the matter of diction and style, Faiz may be called the inheritor of the tradition of Ghalib.  His admiration for Ghalib is also reflected in the title of his first published work, Naqsh-e-Faryadi, which comes straight from the opening line of the first ghazal of Diwan-e-Ghalib.   Although he has written poems in a simple, conversational style, he has a marked preference for polished, Persianised diction, the diction of the elite rather than of the commoners.  But because of the universality of his thought and sympathetic vision, and because of his perfect handling of the ghazal, his poetry is read and admired in both parts of the Indian sub-continent.

Faiz is a "committed" poet who regards poetry as a vehicle of serious thought, and not a mere pleasurable pastime.  He does not accept the maxim of "art for art's sake".  An admirer of Karl Marx and a poet of the people, Faiz was honoured by Soviet Russia with the prestigious Lenin Award for Peace and his poems have been translated into the Russian language.  His poetical collections include Naqsh-e-Faryadi (1943), Dast-e-Saba (1952), Zindan-Nama (1956) and Dast-e-Tah-e-Sang (1965). 

Faiz passed away in 1984.

Some of Faiz's ghazals


Donon jahaan teri mohabbat mein haar ke
Woh jaa raha hai koi shab-e-gham guzaar ke

Viraan hai maikada khum-o-saaghar udaas hain
Tum kya gaye ke ruth gaye din bahaar ke

Ek fursat-e-gunah mili woh bhi chaar din
Dekhe hain hum ne hausle parwardigaar ke

Duniya ne teri yaad se begaana kar diya
Tujh se bhi dilfreb hain gham rozgaar ke

Bhule se muskra ke diye woh aaj Faiz
Mat puchh walwale dil-e-nakarda kaar ke

Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-naubahaar chale
Chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka kaarobaar chale

Qafas udaas hai yaaro saba se kuchh to kaho
Kahin to bahr-e-Khuda aaj zikar-e-yaar chale

Kabhi to subah tere kunj-e-lab se ho aaghaz
Kabhi to shab sar-e-kaakul se mushakbaar chale

Bara hai dard ka rishta yeh dil gharib sahi
Tumhare naam pe aaenge ghamgusaar chale

Jo hum pe guzri so guzri magar shab-e-hijraan
Hamaare ashk teri aaqbat sanwaar chale

Maqaam Faiz koi raah mein jacha hi nahin
Jo kue yaar se nikle to sue daar chale

Hum parwarash-e-loh-o-qalam karte rahenge
Jo dil pe guzarti hai raqam karte rahenge

Asbaab-e-gham-e-ishq baham karte rahenge
Viraani-e-dauraan pe karam karte rahenge

Haan talkhi-e-ayyaam abhi aur barhe gi
Haan ahl-e-sitam mashq-e-sitam karte rahenge

Manzur yeh talkhi yeh sitam hum ko gawaara
Dam hai to madaawa-e-alam karte rahenge

Maikhana salaamat hai to hum surkhi-e-mai se
Tazzain-e-dar-o-baam-e-haram karte rahenge

Baqi hai lahu dil mein to har ashk se paida
Rang-e-lab-o-rukhsar-e-sanam karte rahenge

Ek tarz-e-taghaaful hai so woh unko mubaarak
Ek arz-e-tamanna hai so hum karte rahenge


Du'aa (Prayer) -- A nazm for Pakistan's Independence Day, 1967

aayeh hath uthein hum bhi
hum jinhein rusm-e du'aa yaad nahin
hum jinhein soz-e muhabat ke siwa
koi buth, koi khuda yaad nahin

aayeh urz guzarein keh nigar-e hustee
zehar-e imroz mein shirenya furda bhar de
wo jinhein taab-e garaan bary-a iyaam nahin
un ki pulkoon peh shaub-e roz ko hulka ker de

jin ki aankhoon ko roz-e subh ka yaara bhi nahin
un ki raatoon mein koi shuma munawar ker de
jin ke kadumoon ko kisi reh ka sahara bhi nahin
un nazroon peh koi raah ujagar ker de

jin ka deeN pariw-e kizb-o riya hai un ko
himet-e kufr mile, jurat-e tehqiq mile
jin ke sir muntazar-e tegh-e jafa hein un ko
dust-e qatil ko jatuk deenay ki taufiq mile

ishq ka sir-e nihaaN jaan tapaaN hai jis se
aaj iqrar karein aur tapish mit jaa'e
hurf-e haq dil mein khatakta hai jo kante ki turhaaN
aaj izhar karein aur khalish mit jaa'e

mujh ko shikwa hai meray bhai keh tum jaate hooay
le gaye sath meri umr-e ghuzishta ki kitaab
is mein tau meri bohut kimati tusweerien thein
is mein buchpun tha mera, aur mera aihd-e shabab

is ke badle mujhe tum de gaye jaate jaate
apnay ghum ka yeh dumakta hua khoon rung golaab
kya karoon bhai, yeh aizaz mein kyoon ker pehnoon
mujh se le lo meri sub chaak qamizoon ka hisaab

aakhri baar hai, lo maan lo ik yeh bhi sawaal
aaj tuk tum se mein lota nahin mayoos-e jawaab
aa ke le ja'o tum apna yeh damukta hua phool
mujh ko lota do meri umr-e ghazishta ki kitaab

(Faiz had written this upon the death of his brother.)

Return to Uma's Ghazal Page