FAIZ

What makes Faiz a great poet?

Born in 1911, a few years before the communists took over in Russia, Faiz imbibed the socialist values of the time and, being incline to poetry, absorbed the great traditions of Ghalib and Iqbal along with sufi concepts from his native environment. Other poets like Hafeez also influenced him by enhancing his lyrical talent. To these he added his own genius of inventing new metaphors and diction.

The first expression of his muse came in the form of naqsh faryadi a term borrowed from Ghalib’s first ghazal. I have marked the poems with fay, ghain and alif to depict Faiz, Ghalib and Iqbal’s distinct style, metaphor, diction or content as it is visible in the poems of the nuskhaha-I-wafa. The other distinct characteristics that appeared in the naqsh faryadi have been marked as 1-5. Faiz obviously seems more at home with the nazm as his medium of expression. From Iqbal he is inclined to absorb the haqiqi influence and the concept of the supremacy of Ishq. At this time the social and political issues are less important for him. However, his masterpiece of mujh say pehli si muhabbat merey mehboob na mang, sets the stage for a more persistent socio-political bias in later years and expresses his socialistic stance.

Had he merely continued in this vein, he would probably have been very popular but not set up as the great [perhaps greatest] poet of his age. It was what followed that put him a cut above the others. The five distinctive qualities that emerge from the naqsh faryadi are:

1. The use of distinctive metaphors
2. An understanding of some of the mysteries and paradoxes of life [somewhat in the style of Ghalib].
3. The ability to be at peace when life has been unfair and hopeful in conditions of hopelessness and, without being masochistic, finding something to enjoy in conditions which ordinary mortals would find intolerable.
4. An awareness of the miseries of humanity and
5. A tendency to address complaints to God in the forms to be found in people who possess a great spirit, again like Ghalib and Iqbal.

Thus, from the beginning Faiz had insight, a range of sensitivity and experience, a great spirit and tenacity to go with his unique poetic idiom. These ingredients were enough to make him a remarkable man and a great poet but there was very little originality beyond the idiom. No doubt he was supporting the underdogs and propagating the anti-establishment ideology which would put him among the heroes of the “progressive” movement but he would still have competitors. What made him the uncrowned king of this school of poetry was his part in the Rawalpindi conspiracy case and his humble yet passionate and dogged persistence in the days that followed. The dignity and humility of his poetic response depicted an indomitable spirit and, in the books that followed his unique idiom and the uses of the more common subjects of Urdu poetry along with the revolutionary and progressive poems placed him above the other “progressive” writers of his time.

The dast-I-saba, brought out these character traits in bold relief. They manifested themselves as:

1. Defiance, in the form of dogged resilience, a cold anger, which occasionally betrayed a streak of egotism, but generally was not violent. Relying more on the power of his words than on the sentiments they expressed.
2. His hero were the peasants and laborers and his antagonists were the ombudsman and the religious doctor. One may remember here that the orthodox doctor of religion had been Iqbal’s target as well and the object of ridicule for the Sufis for centuries before this in the poetry of the unorthodox Muslims. The hope of awakening his heroes as Iqbal had tried to awaken the Muslims and the unending optimism regarding the ultimate victory of the downtrodden was the hallmark of Faiz, ever inducing, inciting and idealizing revolution and nationalism.
3. The continued medium of the majazi Ishq remained as he had put it an afsurda mehak in his poetry.
4. In his call for revolt he was now occasionally violent and aggressive, as may be expected from a man approaching middle age, the traces of aggression which had been left under utilized in youth sought expression at this stage.
5. The romantic idiom in full bloom too returns to the foreground from time to time.
6. The spirit of Nationalism too is expressed in a more virulent form, sometimes muting the revolutionary spirit. This in particular gave Faiz an edge over some of the more committed socialist and communist thinkers and poets of his time.
7. The nasih, and zahid had long been condemned by the qalandar and Faiz was able to integrate in his message the local tradition with the communist philosophy. It was this ability that gave him an unassailable hold over various groups [comprising an important portion of the Pakistani polity] who sympathized with the downtrodden.

These trends continue to be manifest in the dast-I-tah-I-sang and the zindan nama but the zindan nama shows how his great spirit impressed all those he came in contact with although the strain on his personality becomes apparent in [replace the numerals given under with Urdu numerals 1-4]

1. The lack of the unusual idiom that had become the sine qua non of Faiz’s verse.
   1. An element of justifying his own part in the conspiracy and a tendency to complain about the attitude of those in a position of authority is apparent.
   1. There is also a hint of hopelessness and the desire to be pardoned as is visible in sheeshon ka masiha.
   1. Occasionally the old spirited response returns.

Faiz has given his own interpretation of the nature of his mental progress at the beginning of the dasht-I-tah-I-sang which may be compared with my comments. This book was compiled by Faiz when he was between 45 to 55 years of age. He had, by now experienced many moods of life from the most un-cared for to the most acclaimed. The experience of incarceration eliminated, perhaps, the last vestige of fear of consequences but had not given him the habit of complaining about the dealings of fate. At the same time the fame he got had not been able to materially tarnish his humility and humanity. His humanism began to be manifested in tasawwuf and his unhappy experiences in pragmatism. While he did not become hopeless, he no longer fell victim to the juvenile hopefulness that relies on false friends. Thus those who approached him as the great man he now was neither received rebuff nor undue encouragement but encountered a humility which was as much a defensive shield as a genuine character trait. The new and old elements found in the dast-I-tah-I-sang have been marked as:

Hay] haqeeqat pasandi

Khay] khud agahi

Tay] tasawwuf

Alif] insan dosti

Alif/noon] inqilab

Wao] watan dosti

Noon] na ummeedi ki jhalak

The aspects of romance and the inclination towards the poetic genius of Ghalib and Iqbal begin to reappear. On the other hand his greatness as a person and his position as a martyr in the cause of the downtrodden and the brave voice which could challenge the establishment continued to maintain his popularity.

In conclusion it may be said that the greatness of Faiz is not in the originality of his message, nor even in his being the most vocal propagandist of that cause but in the personality of the man. He encompassed the modern and the traditional forms of humanism, brought a unique idiom to bear on it and exhibited the cultural and social sensitivity which best suited the age and society in which he lived and, to top it all had a personality that was both attractive and admirable.