Faiz Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Feb 13 1911

Location: 

India and Pakista

Faiz | Hum Dekhenge | BolFaiz Ahmed
Faiz, born 13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984, 
was an influential left-wing intellectual, revolutionary poet, and one of the most regarded poets of the Urdu language,
being considered four times for the 
Nobel Prize in
poetry. A notable member of the 
Progressive Writers' Movement (PWM),
Faiz was an avowed 
Marxist, for which he received the Lenin Peace Prize by
the 
Soviet Union in
1962. He was repeatedly accused of 
atheism by the Pakistani political and military establishment.During his lifetime, Faiz
published eight books and received accolades for his works. He was a humanist, a lyrical poet, whose popularity reached neighbouring India
and Soviet Union. Throughout his life, his revolutionary poetry addressed the
tyranny of military dictatorships, tyranny, and oppressions. Faiz himself never
compromised on his principles despite being threatened by the 
right-wing parties in Pakistan. Faiz's writings are comparatively new
verse form in Urdu poetry based on 
Western models. Faiz was influenced by the works of Allama Iqbal and Mirza Ghalib, assimilating the modern Urdu with the classical. Faiz used more and more demands for
the development of socialism in the country, finding socialism the only
solution of country's problems. During his life, Faiz was concerned with
broader socialist ideas, using Urdu poetry for the cause and expansion of
socialism in the country. The
Urdu poetry and Ghazals influenced Faiz to continue his
political themes as non-violent and peaceful, opposing the 
far left politics in Pakistan. Two of his poems have almost
become the anthem of the Left in India and can be heard in almost all protests.

Hum Dekhenge (We Shall Witness) was written in 1979. It is considered Faiz’s response to General
Zia ul Haq’s repressive dictatorship and a critical commentary of Zia’s brand
of authoritarian Islam. Here is a translation by Mustnasir Dalvi:Inevitably,
we shall also see the day
that was promised to us, decreed
on the tablet of eternity.When dark peaks of torment and tyranny
will be blown away like cotton fluff;When the earth’s beating, beating  heart
will pulsate beneath our broken feet;When crackling, crashing lightning
will smite the heads of our tormentors;When, from the seat of the Almighty
every pedestal will lie displaced;Then, the dispossessed we; we,
who kept the faith will be installed
to our inalienable legacy.Every crown will be flung.
Each throne brought down.Only His name will remain; He,
who is both unseen, and ubiquitous; He,
who is both the vision and the beholder.When the clarion call of ‘I am Truth’
(the truth that is me and the truth that is you)
will ring out, all God’s creatures will rule,
those like me and those like you.In 1985, as
part of Zia's programme of forced Islamicization, the sari, part of the
traditional attire for women on the subcontinent was banned. That year, Iqbal
Bano, one of Pakistan's best loved singers and artists, sang Hum Dekhenge to an
audience of 50,000 people in a Lahore stadium wearing a black sari. The
recording was smuggled out and distributed on bootleg cassette tapes across the
country. Cries of "Inqilab Zindabad" ("Long Live
Revolution") and thunderous applause from the audience can be heard on the recording 
on YouTube. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxtgsq5oVy4) Faiz
was in prison at the time.The second poem: Bol. Translation by Mustnasir DavliBol (Speak Out)

Speak out!
Your words are free.
Speak up!
Your tongue is still your own.
Your body remains yours
ramrod, erect.
Speak out!
Your life is still your own.
Look!
How in your smithy’s forge
flames soar;
iron glows red.
How the locks
have opened yaws
and every chain
spreads out, unlinked.The short time left to you
is still enough. Speak up!
Before the body
and its tongue give out.
Speak out!
For truth still survives
Speak out!
Say whatever you have to say!

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