FAIZ AHMAD FAIZ (1911-1984)

The most worthy Pakistani poet of the twentieth century after Iqbal, Faiz Ahmad Faiz was born on February 13, 1911, in Sialkot to barrister Sultan Mohammed Khan. From a comfortable Muslim middle class family, he was raised according to the teachings of Islam and memorized the Holy Quran. After that he was educated at Scotch Mission High School, Sialkot. He did his BA (Hon’s.) in Arabic (1931) and an MA (English, 1933) from Government College Lahore. In 1934, he obtained a master's degree in Arabic from Oriental College Lahore, and the following year worked as a lecturer in English for a short time in M.A.O. College, Amritsar. He published his first collection of poems, Naqsh-e-Faryadi, in 1941. From June 1942 to December 1946, he joined the Indian Army and served in the information service and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After resigning from the army, Faiz worked as the editor of English daily The Pakistan Times.

He served as vice president of the Trade Union Congress and twice represented Pakistan at I.L.O. He was also the secretary of the Pakistan Peace Committee. In March 1951, Faiz was charged with conspiring against the government in the Rawalpindi conspiracy case, for which he spent four years in jail, including several months in solitary confinement. The charges against him were never proved. While he was in jail in 1952, his second volume of poetry, “Dast-e-Saba”, was published. After his release, he published his third book, “Zindan Nama” in 1956. He again took up journalism and was one of the founders of the Afro-Asian Writers Association in 1958. In December 1958, he was again arrested. The duration of this second imprisonment was short, and he was released in April 1959.

Faiz was awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize in 1962. He lived in England from 1962 to 1964. After his return to Pakistan, he served as principal of Haji Abdullah Haroon College in Karachi and as vice-president of the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi. Faiz published his fourth volume of poetry, “Dast-e-Tah-e-Sang”, in 1965, followed by “Sar-e-waadii-e-Sina” (1971). In 1971 he accepted the post of cultural adviser to the government of Pakistan. He was appointed as the chairman of the Pakistan National Council of Arts in 1972.

In 1976, he was awarded the Lotus Prize of the Afro-Asian Writers Association. His “Shaam-e-Shar-e-yaran” was published in 1978. Faiz lived in Beirut from 1978 until 1982, editing the quarterly Lotus, published by the Afro-Asian Writers Association. His seventh volume of poetry, “Mere Dil Mere Musafir”, was published in 1981. The collection of his poems entitled “Saarey Sukhan Hamare”, was published in London in 1982, and a different edition of his collected poems, “Nuskha Haaye Wafa”, was published in Lahore in 1984. Love and revolution are the principle themes of Faiz's writing in prose and verse. He has blended classical modes of verse with modern techniques.

Besides, Urdu poetry, Faiz also published three volumes of writings dealing with literary and cultural issues. An Urdu translation of letters written from jail to his wife, Alys Faiz, was published in 1971. He also wrote in Punjabi. His poetry has been translated into many languages including Arabic, French, Russian, Persian, Hindi, Japanese, Hungarian and English. Faiz returned to Lahore in November 1983 and died on November 20, 1984.