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New book
- GenresPoetry
396 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1987
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About the author
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
59 books284 followersFaiz Ahmad Faiz [فيض ١حمد فيض] was born on February 13, 1911, in Sialkot, British India, which is now part of Pakistan. He had a privileged childhood as the son of wealthy landowners Sultan Fatima and Sultan Muhammad Khan, who passed away in 1913, shortly after his birth. His father was a prominent lawyer and a member of an elite literary circle which included Allama Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan.
In 1916, Faiz entered Moulvi Ibrahim Sialkoti, a famous regional school, and was later admitted to the Skotch Mission High School where he studied Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. He received a Bachelor's degree in Arabic, followed by a master's degree in English, from the Government College in Lahore in 1932, and later received a second master's degree in Arabic from the Oriental College in Lahore.After graduating in 1935, Faiz began a teaching career at M.A.O. College in Amritsar and then at Hailey College of Commerce in Lahore.
Faiz's early poems had been conventional, light-hearted treatises on love and beauty, but while in Lahore he began to expand into politics, community, and the thematic interconnectedness he felt was fundamental in both life and poetry. It was also during this period that he married Alys George, a British expatriate, with whom he had two daughters. In 1942, he left teaching to join the British Indian Army, for which he received a British Empire Medal for his service during World War II. After the partition of India in 1947, Faiz resigned from the army and became the editor of The Pakistan Times, a socialist English-language newspaper.
On March 9, 1951, Faiz was arrested with a group of army officers under the Safety Act, and charged with the failed coup attempt that became known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. He was sentenced to death and spent four years in prison before being released. Two of his poetry collections, Dast-e Saba and Zindan Namah, focus on life in prison, which he considered an opportunity to see the world in a new way. While living in Pakistan after his release, Faiz was appointed to the National Council of the Arts by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government, and his poems, which had previously been translated into Russian, earned him the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963.
In 1964, Faiz settled in Karachi and was appointed principal of Abdullah Haroon College, while also working as an editor and writer for several distinguished magazines and newspapers. He worked in an honorary capacity for the Department of Information during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, and wrote stark poems of outrage over the bloodshed between Pakistan, India, and what later became Bangladesh. However, when Bhutto was overthrown by Zia Ul-Haq, Faiz was forced into exile in Beirut, Lebanon. There he edited the magazine Lotus, and continued to write poems in Urdu. He remained in exile until 1982. He died in Lahore in 1984, shortly after receiving a nomination for the Nobel Prize.
Throughout his tumultuous life, Faiz continually wrote and published, becoming the best-selling modern Urdu poet in both India and Pakistan. While his work is written in fairly strict diction, his poems maintain a casual, conversational tone, creating tension between the elite and the common, somewhat in the tradition of Ghalib, the reknowned 19th century Urdu poet. Faiz is especially celebrated for his poems in traditional Urdu forms, such as the ghazal, and his remarkable ability to expand the conventional thematic expectations to include political and social issues.
In 1916, Faiz entered Moulvi Ibrahim Sialkoti, a famous regional school, and was later admitted to the Skotch Mission High School where he studied Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. He received a Bachelor's degree in Arabic, followed by a master's degree in English, from the Government College in Lahore in 1932, and later received a second master's degree in Arabic from the Oriental College in Lahore.After graduating in 1935, Faiz began a teaching career at M.A.O. College in Amritsar and then at Hailey College of Commerce in Lahore.
Faiz's early poems had been conventional, light-hearted treatises on love and beauty, but while in Lahore he began to expand into politics, community, and the thematic interconnectedness he felt was fundamental in both life and poetry. It was also during this period that he married Alys George, a British expatriate, with whom he had two daughters. In 1942, he left teaching to join the British Indian Army, for which he received a British Empire Medal for his service during World War II. After the partition of India in 1947, Faiz resigned from the army and became the editor of The Pakistan Times, a socialist English-language newspaper.
On March 9, 1951, Faiz was arrested with a group of army officers under the Safety Act, and charged with the failed coup attempt that became known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. He was sentenced to death and spent four years in prison before being released. Two of his poetry collections, Dast-e Saba and Zindan Namah, focus on life in prison, which he considered an opportunity to see the world in a new way. While living in Pakistan after his release, Faiz was appointed to the National Council of the Arts by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government, and his poems, which had previously been translated into Russian, earned him the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963.
In 1964, Faiz settled in Karachi and was appointed principal of Abdullah Haroon College, while also working as an editor and writer for several distinguished magazines and newspapers. He worked in an honorary capacity for the Department of Information during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, and wrote stark poems of outrage over the bloodshed between Pakistan, India, and what later became Bangladesh. However, when Bhutto was overthrown by Zia Ul-Haq, Faiz was forced into exile in Beirut, Lebanon. There he edited the magazine Lotus, and continued to write poems in Urdu. He remained in exile until 1982. He died in Lahore in 1984, shortly after receiving a nomination for the Nobel Prize.
Throughout his tumultuous life, Faiz continually wrote and published, becoming the best-selling modern Urdu poet in both India and Pakistan. While his work is written in fairly strict diction, his poems maintain a casual, conversational tone, creating tension between the elite and the common, somewhat in the tradition of Ghalib, the reknowned 19th century Urdu poet. Faiz is especially celebrated for his poems in traditional Urdu forms, such as the ghazal, and his remarkable ability to expand the conventional thematic expectations to include political and social issues.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 23, 2020
“Poetry is but the loss of Beloved”- Faiz
It has been an honor to be able to interact with the verse that is numinous is form and still manages to descend down to the understanding of the most primal human needs. By strongly aligning his writing to the archaic tradition of Sufi poetry, Faiz manages to evoke the meta-theme of Sufi mysticism which presents faith as an amorous relationship between God and the devotee. Hence, the loss of love in Faiz transcends into the outcry of a society lamenting the loss of faith amidst tumultuous movements of the 20th century. Faiz extends deeper than these post-modern sensibilities to emerge as a cultural icon by his rich use of metaphor derived from the subcontinental experience. His use of colors to paint our world like a whirlwind of peregrinating colors while masterfully extracting a punctum from the hive of sound he has engendered, truly captivated my imagination. The sketches he presents in “Zindanama” suffuses the ray of hope amidst the collective feeling of entrapment as surreptitiously as light would have entered through the narrow windows of the cell where the verse was put together. Moreover, the flawlessness of the verse that adheres to the traditional norms of writing to the syllable while having an unimaginable fluidity to permeate through the living roots of cultural identity simply absorbs the reader. The repetition of key tropes such as the blood-stained cloth, deserted streets, spring wind, Sun, Moon and the crumpled rose to capture the collective stain of red-highlighting his political leanings, love, angst, and desire in one color stroke. I cannot recommend this work more strongly to anyone who wants to learn what literature actually is.
It has been an honor to be able to interact with the verse that is numinous is form and still manages to descend down to the understanding of the most primal human needs. By strongly aligning his writing to the archaic tradition of Sufi poetry, Faiz manages to evoke the meta-theme of Sufi mysticism which presents faith as an amorous relationship between God and the devotee. Hence, the loss of love in Faiz transcends into the outcry of a society lamenting the loss of faith amidst tumultuous movements of the 20th century. Faiz extends deeper than these post-modern sensibilities to emerge as a cultural icon by his rich use of metaphor derived from the subcontinental experience. His use of colors to paint our world like a whirlwind of peregrinating colors while masterfully extracting a punctum from the hive of sound he has engendered, truly captivated my imagination. The sketches he presents in “Zindanama” suffuses the ray of hope amidst the collective feeling of entrapment as surreptitiously as light would have entered through the narrow windows of the cell where the verse was put together. Moreover, the flawlessness of the verse that adheres to the traditional norms of writing to the syllable while having an unimaginable fluidity to permeate through the living roots of cultural identity simply absorbs the reader. The repetition of key tropes such as the blood-stained cloth, deserted streets, spring wind, Sun, Moon and the crumpled rose to capture the collective stain of red-highlighting his political leanings, love, angst, and desire in one color stroke. I cannot recommend this work more strongly to anyone who wants to learn what literature actually is.
July 10, 2025
Well It's faiz and his collection of poetry, verses, melancholy, ghazal, and
It has been an honor to be able to interact with the verse that is numinous is form and still manages to descend down to the understanding of the most primal human needs.
From Sufi poetry, romantic poetry, poetry about childhood, partition, early stages of life and journey from youngsters to adulthood, Faiz manages to evoke the Sufi mysticism and cultural impulse and non-ignorant which presents faith as relationship between God and the devotee, and society outcry about the issues that he saw around his surroundings and that make him one of the greatest poet of 20th century.
Faiz extends emerge as a cultural icon by his rich use of metaphor, rhyming scheme, similes and sublime that derived from the subcontinental experience. His giving colors to imagination and beautiful experience to readers . The poetry power he presents in “Zindanama” built the ray of hope amidst the collective feeling of entrapment. Moreover, the flawless writing of the verses that adheres to the traditional norms of writing and permeate through the living roots of cultural identity simply absorbs the reader. The repetition of tropes such as the blood-stained cloth, deserted streets, spring wind, Sun, Moon and the crumpled rose to capture the collective stain and his political leanings, love, and desire in one color stroke.
It has been an honor to be able to interact with the verse that is numinous is form and still manages to descend down to the understanding of the most primal human needs.
From Sufi poetry, romantic poetry, poetry about childhood, partition, early stages of life and journey from youngsters to adulthood, Faiz manages to evoke the Sufi mysticism and cultural impulse and non-ignorant which presents faith as relationship between God and the devotee, and society outcry about the issues that he saw around his surroundings and that make him one of the greatest poet of 20th century.
Faiz extends emerge as a cultural icon by his rich use of metaphor, rhyming scheme, similes and sublime that derived from the subcontinental experience. His giving colors to imagination and beautiful experience to readers . The poetry power he presents in “Zindanama” built the ray of hope amidst the collective feeling of entrapment. Moreover, the flawless writing of the verses that adheres to the traditional norms of writing and permeate through the living roots of cultural identity simply absorbs the reader. The repetition of tropes such as the blood-stained cloth, deserted streets, spring wind, Sun, Moon and the crumpled rose to capture the collective stain and his political leanings, love, and desire in one color stroke.
April 12, 2022
They say Faiz Saab is like a school in himself and I just can't argue at all.
🖤🖤
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews