Remembering
Habib Jalib
By Dr Afzal Mirza
Sparks, MD
In one of his
rare articles famous intellectual Dr Eqbal Ahmad
highlighted the common greatness of Faiz and Jalib.
He wrote, “Faiz and Jalib shall live in our
collective memory and shape our consciousness long
after the dictators have been forgotten. Their talents
were not unique. Critically judged, Jalib was not
a great poet. Several of his contemporaries had
greater talent. Yet he shall be remembered more
than most of them for his universal affirmations
of life, and his uncompromising opposition to oppression
and injustice. Faiz was the greater poet, no doubt,
but he too had competitors, among them Rashid and
Meeraji. Yet he has touched us as no modern Urdu
poet has. If I were to explain his extraordinary
power as poet l would offer first his qualities
of humanity. These attributes Jalib shared with
Faiz; and in this lay their common greatness.”
In his article Dr Eqbal has found genuine common
ground between the two celebrated poets of the country
who made a great contribution towards the awakening
of masses in their own individual styles. The good
poetry is always characterized by its appeal to
the sensibility of its readers and listeners. Jalib
was different from his contemporaries as his simple
and emotional poetry directly appealed to the hearts
of his audiences who would experience a unique emotional
surge in their collective psyche. Those who would
listen to his poems in public meetings were subjected
to a strange emotive experience that would either
charge them into high frenzy or move them to spontaneous
tears.
Jalib was born in Hoshiarpur (East Punjab) in 1928
but spent his younger years in Delhi where he studied
at the Anglo-Arabic School. Smitten by muse at an
early age he adopted Jalib as his pseudonym ameliorating
a classical Delhi poet called Jalib Dehlvi. Like
all other poets, Jalib’s earlier poetry was
characterized by romantic feelings. In 1947, when
he was 19 years old, India was partitioned and like
all other Indian Muslims he migrated to Pakistan.
Initially he landed in Karachi and found a job as
a proof reader in Daily Imroze Karachi at a very
nominal salary.
In Karachi soon he got recognition as a budding
poet with a beautiful voice who was invited to functions
more to recite other poet’s verses than his
own. In his book Gumshuda Loag Agha Nasir remembers
of a function held at his College where Jalib was
invited to recite Faiz’s poetry. May be at
that stage he was shy of reciting his own poetry
before the general public. But it was at a Mushaira
held in Lahore in 1949 that Jalib recited his own
poetry and stole the show. In his memoirs Chiraghon
ka Dhuan Intizar Husain has mentioned of those times
when many poets migrated to Lahore and Mushairas
used to take place on almost every other day. The
Mushaira I am mentioning was the Indo-Pak Mushaira
in which Jigar Muradabadi and Jagan Nath Azad had
come from India and Jalib and Zahra Nigah came from
Karachi. It was actually a maiden appearance of
these two budding poets in Lahore and both of them
stole the show in the presence of well known Indian
and Pakistani poets. In that Mushaira Jalib recited
his famous ghazal:
Dil ki baat labon par la kar ab tak ham dukh sehte
hein
Ham ne suna tha iss basti mein dil wale bhi rehte
haein
Jalib so much impressed the audience with his rendering
that he was asked to recite his poetry several times.
May be it was this ovation that prompted him to
shift to Lahore permanently. But Lahore of that
period was full of literati and literary movements.
Those who think Jalib underwent a sudden transformation
in his poetic diction after Ayub’s martial
law forget that in his early days in Lahore Jalib
used to regularly participate in the meetings of
the Progressive Writers Association till the time
it was banned by our pro-American government. Though
the major content of his poetry was amorous and
romantic but in lesser aggressive manner he would
write verses with progressive content:
Kaliyan royein ghunche royein ro ro apni ankhein
khoein
Lambi taan ke chaen se soyein iss phulwari ke rakhwale
However his style and content underwent a drastic
change in 1959 when after Ayub’s martial law
civil liberties were curtailed and the government
came with a heavy hand on the progressive writers.
While on one hand Qudratullah Shahab, Jamiluddin
Aali, Ashfaq Ahmad and others tried to woo the writers
to support the regime by joining the Writers’
Guild and arranging free trips for them within and
outside the country, the government took over Pakistan’s
independent newspapers and brought them under the
umbrella of National Press Trust. The freedom of
expression was curbed with a heavy hand of censorship.
Jalib was a man of the street. He hated dictatorship
in all its manifestations.
I remember that in a Mushaira held in Abbottabad
in 1959 where Faiz was also present Jalib recited
a purely romantic poem.
Rah e subhe ashqi mein kahin shaam a na jaye
Tujhe bewafa kahoon mein woh maqam a na jaye
But soon after that in a radio Mushaira held in
Rawalpindi Jalib startled the organizers with his
verses:
Kahin gas ka dhuan hae kahin golion ki barish
Shab-e-ahd-e-kamnigahi tujhe kis trah sarahein
The Mushaira which was being aired alive was switched
off and the poor station director Syed Ataullah
Kalim was penalized for this boldness of a harmless
poet. After this he gave no respite to the regime
as he started his tirade with full force. When the
Ayub regime enforced their tailor-made constitution
Jalib wrote his most popular poem:
Deep jis ka mahallaat hee mein jaley/Chand logon
kee khushion ko lay kar chaley/ Voh jo sayay mein
har muslehat kay paley/Aisey dastoor ko subh-e-beynoor
ko/ Main nahin maanta, main nahin jaanta
(A lamp only in palaces lit/Shed light for a chosen
few/Shade in which one has to fit/Such rites and
lightless dawns/I will not accept; I refuse to know.)Translated
by Khushwant Singh
The poem catapulted Jalib to national fame and then
there was no looking back. The poem became very
popular throughout the country as it represented
the true feelings of the majority of Pakistanis.
Around that time, in a mushaira at Jauharabad, the
audience demanded from Jalib to recite this poem.
He had just started off when he was stopped by Justice
S.A. Rahman who was presiding over the function.
Undeterred, Jalib shouted back, “You cannot
stand between me and my audience,” and continued
with his poem to the chagrin of the chief guest.
In another incident it is said that West Pakistan
Governor, none other than the dreaded Nawab of Kalabagh,
invited film star Neelo to dance in front of a foreign
dignitary. As she refused, the police was sent to
bring her forcibly to dance, which led to a suicide
attempt on her part. This incident inspired a poem
by Jalib, which was later included by Neelo’s
husband Riaz Shahid in his movie Zarqa. The song
was:
Tu keh nawaqif-e-aadab-e-ghulami hae abhi
Raqs zanjeer pehan kar bhikiya jata hai
(You are not aware of the protocol of a king’s
court. Sometimes one has to dance with the fetters
on).
The song has since then become a classic of poetry
of resistance.
The contribution of Jalib towards political awakening
during the Ayub period was best expressed by Syed
Sibte Hasan the noted leftist intellectual in these
words, “The dictatorship of Ayub Khan will
always be remembered for the fact that this dark
period brought forth people like Justice Kayani
and Habib Jalib. When the true history of this nation
is written, then the world will know that these
were the people who put life in the fading pulse
of the nation at that time of fear and terror, when
one was afraid even to breathe. What is this power
that makes this gentle person fight against evil
and insist on truth? In fact this power is due to
the love of the people which lends bravery and enthusiasm
to Jalib. Habib Jalib has sacrificed his self and
his poetry for the common good of the people.”
Due to his daring revolt against the order of the
day, Jalib was banned from official media but he
remained undeterred. He rather started a tirade
against the tyranny with more resolution. It reached
its climax when Fatima Jinnah decided to contest
elections against Ayub Khan. All democratic forces
rallied round her and at her election meetings,
Jalib used to recite his fiery poems in front of
an emotionally-charged crowd. His most popular poem
at that time was:
Maan kay paon talay jannat hai idhar aa jao
(The paradise is under the feet of the mother. So
come into her fold).
Jalib became a celebrity and every opposition party
tried to woo him into its fold. Jalib had friends
among the top politicians of Pakistan ranging from
Suharwardy to Bhutto. They say about Suhrawardy
that whenever he would be in Lahore often he would
invite Jalib and ask him to recite his poems, especially
the verse he liked most:
Koi to parcham le kar nikle apne gariban ka Jalib
Charon janib sannatta hae weerane yad aate haen
In 1970 there was a wave of support for socialism
and the rightist parties all got together to defeat
the leftists. Jalib then wrote beautiful poems giving
new secular meaning to their slogans. In his poem
‘Pakistan ka matlab kiya’, he wrote:
Roti, kapra aur dawa/Ghar rehne ko chhota sa/Muft
mujhe talim dila
Mein bhi Musalmaan hoon wallah
Pakistan ka matlab kya/La Ilaha Illalah.
Amrika se mang na bhik/Mat kar logon ki tazhik
Rok na jamhoori tehrik/Chhorr na azadi ki rah/
Pakistan ka matlab kya/La Ilaha Illalah.
Khet waderon se le lo/Milen luteron se le lo
Mulk andheron se le lo/Rahe na koi alijah
Pakistan ka matlab kya/La Ilaha Illalah.
In the 1970 elections Jalib was offered a provincial
assembly ticket by Bhutto provided he joined PPP,
but Jalib declined the offer, fought the election
on an NAP ticket and lost. Jalib had to face the
wrath of all governments — no matter whether
they were martial law regimes or quasi-democratic
in nature. He, in fact, was not the compromising
type and therefore Ziaul Haq’s dictatorship
became a favorite topic of his poetry when the latter
toppled Bhutto’s government and seized control
of the country. One can’t forget his poetry
that was circulated by word of mouth or by photocopies
during Pakistan’s worst period of dictatorship.
Zulmat ko Zia, sarsar ko saba, bande ko khuda kya
likhna
In a country where dictatorships are a norm the
presence of a brave poet like Jalib is always needed
to raise the morale of the people in the times of
depression and despair.
Jalib died on 12th March 1993.
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