Page 22 - Pakistan Link - May 28, 2021

P22 – PAKISTAN LINK – MAY 28, 2021 COMMENTARY
Book & Author

Ahmad Faraz: The Wind Whistles in the Wilderness

n By Dr Ahmed S. Khan enter into and color even the most
Chicago, IL intimate subjective experience. And
this is the stuff that Faraz’s later po-

yed Ahmad Shah aka Ahmad etry is made of as represented in this
Faraz (January 12, 1931 – volume. He protests against injus-
SAugust 25, 2008) was one of tice as passionately as he professes
the great Urdu poets of the mod- his love, although the voice at times
ern era. He was born in Kohat, and becomes [a] little too strident, and
studied at Edward College, Pesha- the expression a little too rhetori-
war, and Peshawar University; and cal. Nevertheless, it is genuine po-
while pursuing his bachelor’s de- etry. The classical poetic idiom that

gree published Tanha Tanha, his Faraz employs, laden with symbols

first poetry collection. He started peculiar to our eastern feudal tradi-
his professional career as a script tion, and multi-layered meanings
writer for Radio Pakistan and later of apparently simple words, pecu-
served as Urdu lecturer at Pesha- liar to our poetic usage present the
war University. translator into another language

Ahmad Faraz was influenced with almost insuperable difficulties,

by the poetry of Mirza Ghalib, Faiz particularly if the language happens
Ahmed Faiz and Ali Sardar Jaf- to be as far removed from Oriental
fri. His literary journey had gone poetic tradition as English is. The

through a modulating sequence of translator of this volume has wres-
trials and tribulations - from his first tled bravely and assiduously with

poetic expression while in grade these problems and I hope it proves
nine (after getting disappointed at a useful addition to the library of

receiving a “Kashmira” for his Eid English translations from Urdu. ---
suit): Faiz Ahmed Faiz London, August
Jab kay sab kay waas’tay laa’eay 29, 1983”

haiN kap’ray sale say The following selected transla-
Laa’ey HaiN maray lee’ay tions show the high-fidelity rendi-

Qai’dee kaa Kam’bel jail say Shikwaa-e Zulmat-e Shab say too kha’hiaN bah’tar thaa / Aap’nay his’say key koi shama Jalaa’tay Jhaa’tay tion of Ahmad Faraz’s poetic expres-
Everyone got elegant clothes Much better, rather to complain about the darkness of the night/ To light up a lamp, do your part as you pass this way sions by the translator.
from the sale good life, and the vanity of leader- in the poem “I Am Alive”: ‘Word — contempt. This, however, is past his-

And what I got, a prisoner’s ship. He is direct and forthright in the beginning of the truth, A talking tory, and it is time that this commu- In praise of the Prophet
blanket from the jail his portrayals. His diction is con- flame of intuition, God of all.’ For nication gap is bridged. Firstly, Urdu O my prophet you are the illu-

to becoming a master of his temporary and does not employ Faraz, the poem is the word in the today is a fully developed language, mination
craft and producing his signature sugar-coated cliches of the bygone act of creating a new world. Speech and its literary idiom is familiar to I think of you as of the morning

ghazal: days. His poems make us conscious is [an] act. Word is movement. The millions in almost all parts of Paki- light;

Ranjish’he sa’he Dil he of our humanity and of its inherent true people’s poet “carries the sword, stan and India. What is more, its You do not need my eulogies

Dukhaa’Nay kay lee’ay Aa dignity.” and the flag and the horn” (from his contemporary literature, poetry Nor my praise can do justice to
Aa pher say muj’hay chorR kay Referring to the task of trans- poem “Word and Order”). He uses in particular, is also the favorite your exalted-self
Jaa’nay kay lee’ay Aa lating Ahmed Faraz’s work, the the sword to cut through the crap, and much loved reading of Indo- You are the messenger of light.

Even with sorrow, come, if to translator states: “In this transla- the flag to rally the people, the horn Pakistani communities settled in And our history is filled with the

break my heart again tion of Faraz’s poetry an attempt has to proclaim a new order. His vision many Western countries. Secondly, darkness of persecution.
Even to abandon, come, if to been made to preserve the spirit of goes beyond his own country to in- it has long outgrown the swaddling Your message was love

torment me again the original. No effort was made to clude “Beirut” (the massacre there), clothes of the more developed litera- But in my world, with hate

Ahmad Faraz’s poetry reso- interpret. The translation is a literal “Norman Mayer” (the ritual assas- tures that nurtured its growth and it minds and hearts are mazed.
nates well with the Urdu-speaking and faithful rendering, and it has sination of an American terrorist in has produced, in the last four or five This is your greatness, O’ high

world. Young and old can relate to avoided the temptation to use better Washington, DC), and “Black Wall” decades, a whole crop of very gift- stationed

his passionate, romantic and pro- and more lucid alternative expres- (a tribute to the victims of the war in ed writers in both prose and verse. That you conversed with us, the
gressive poetry. Fourteen of his col- sions especially where the original Vietnam). All people are united in Among them a highly celebrated earth’s inhabitants.
lections have been published; some images and metaphors were derived struggle against the oppressor, in the name these days is that of the poet But, these muftis, preachers, om-

of the well-known titles include Pas from the religion of Islam and from creation of a new world, and Faraz Faraz.” budsmen and priests

Andaaz Mausam, Sab Awazain Meri the Muslim tradition in the Indian is speaking it for us, through us, in Commenting on the traits of Who are known for their crafty

haiN, Khuwab Gul Pareshaan haiN, sub-continent. The rhythmic pat- us. Hear this voice and recognize it. Ahmad Faraz’s poetry, Faiz Ahmad moves
Janan and Ghazal Bahana KarooN. terns of the original have also not It is yours.” Faiz observes: “Faraz began his po- Will sell God’s name; but God

During the 1980s, faced with curbs been disturbed. The aim has been In the foreword, Faiz Ahmad etic career as a lyricist in the clas- forbid
on his freedom of expression, he not just to translate a poet’s ideas Faiz expounding on the growth of sical style and chose for his formal If they be moved by the cries of
spent six years of self-exile in the into English, but also to retain the Urdu language, states: “Unlike some medium the age-old and very elu- the world.

UK, Canada and USA. flavor of the original diction and other Oriental literatures, both clas- sive form, the ghazal, at once the I do not wear kohl nor are my
M.H.K. Qureshi has translated phrasing. I hope with these trans- sical and modern, Urdu language most facile and the most exacting. clothes fragrant

some of Ahmad Faraz’s poetry into lations a window will be opened to and literature are very little known The most facile because it provides As my heart joins with the des-
English under the title Th e Wind contemporary Urdu poetry…” to ‘Western readers. Perhaps the the poet with a lavish store of ready- titute.
Whistles in the Wilderness. Com- Capturing the essence of Ah- only major poet in this language made images, symbols, metaphors Hearing me the pulpiteer be-
menting on Ahmed Faraz’s poetry, mad Faraz’s poetry, American poet, known in the West, at least in the and other imaginative parapher- comes surly
Qureshi observes in Introduction: Mary McAnally, observes, “Ahmad learned circles, is the Pakistani poet, nalia perfected by the great mas- And my questions enrage the
“In his abhorrence of persecution, Faraz is the people’s poet. He speaks Muhammad lqbal, Allama (the great ters in Urdu and Persian to choose city’s evangelists.
misery and injustice, Ahmad Faraz in metaphors of prophecy and vision scholar) as his countrymen rever- from and to pass as his own. And it How could I make peace with
has shown himself to be a true de- that transcend rhetoric and narrow ently call him. But even lqbal first is most exacting for the same rea- killers

scendent of his literary ancestors. nationalism. He is truly an interna- attracted attention for his Persian son because it demands from the When my conscience never for-
Faraz started his poetic career as a tional poet, a pan-humanist of the rather than his Urdu verse, and for poet an unusual degree of intensity gave Cain?
romantic but soon began to concern rarest sort. Rare because his poems its ideological content rather than of feeling combined with ingenuity I am an ordinary poet but with
himself with the stark realities of the are all love poems, even when they aesthetic appeal. One reason for of expression to establish his own your grace
time. He was also influenced by the decry, denounce, lament, or accuse. this indifference is obvious enough. distinctive identity. Faraz’s ghazals I enjoy respect better than men

Progressive Writers’ Movement; this As he states in his poem “In praise Compared to Sanskrit, Arabic or and related love poems were, and of pomp.

influence showed itself in his liberal of the Prophet”, “Your message was Persian, Urdu is a much younger are, distinguished for both these
humanism and his rebellion against love”, and “my heart joins with the language. It matured only during qualities. This brought him almost The Same Uncertainty of the

political oppression and exploita- destitute.” He cannot tolerate vio- the last two or three centuries and it immediate popular acclaim, par- heart
tion. Physically, even today, he has lence against the people, in whatever cannot, therefore, boast of their op- ticularly among the youth who felt Since I was set to depart from
the look and bearing of a lean, tall form, under whatever political guise ulence of tradition. Another reason in this part of his writings the pulse your city
romantic, but there is a slight differ- or expediency. He wrestles with his is that by the time Urdu, particularly of their own heart-beat. However, Why then cast a longing glance

ence: now the expression of defiance own sin and guilt and transcends it its poetry, attained a fully developed Faraz was too sensitive a poet to at its walls?

on his face has acquired a pinkish by denouncing the first as well as the school of its own, its homeland was be oblivious to the demands of the

glow. He has set himself up against last crime against the people: “My over-run by factors of the British more urgent social realities around The moon was at the threshold
the usurpers of power. Faraz’s po- conscience never forgave Cain”, he East India Company. They sought to him, the heart-break and suffering, of the darkened evening

ems in this collection reveal that says. Faraz is also pan-humanist in assert their cultural over-lordship in the threats and blandishments, the Even at that fine hour, what was

he is preoccupied with the fight to another way — in addition to the the field of their subjects’ language anger and frustration, the hopes and your helpless traveler to do?
deliver humanity from bondage. He prophetic. He spans theological and literature by stamping these despairs, that a tyrannical social or- The heart did ask to stay on, but

portrays the invisible cruelty of our enterprise and speculation by his with their familiar Victorian pat- der inflicts on its victims. For a per- how could I?

time, the misery of the seemingly simple and all-inclusive formulation terns. And familiarity naturally bred ceptive mind these exterior factors When I first stepped into the un-
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