Josh Malihabadi

Early life

Josh was born to an Urdu-speaking Muslim family of Afridi Pashtun origin in Malihabad (13 miles from Lucknow), United Provinces, British India. He studied at St Peter's College, Agra and passed his Senior Cambridge examination in 1914. Subsequently, he studied Arabic and Persian and, in 1918, spent six months at Tagore's university at Shantiniketan. The death of his father, Bashir Ahmed Khan, in 1916, prevented him from undertaking a college education.

His family had a long tradition of producing men of letters. His great-grandfather, Nawab Faqeer Muhammad Khan ‘Goya’; his grandfather, Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan; his paternal uncle, Ameer Ahmad Khan; and his father, Basheer Ahmad Khan, were all poets with numerous works, including poetry collections, translations, and essays. Another of his relative was the journalist, scholar and Abul Kalam Azad's confidant, Abdur Razzaq Malihabadi.

Career

In 1925, Josh started to supervise translation work at Osmania University in the princely state of Hyderabad. However, his stay there ended when he found himself exiled for writing a nazm against the Nizam of Hyderabad, the then ruler of the state.

Soon thereafter, he founded the magazine Kaleem (literally, "speaker" in Urdu), in which he wrote articles in favour of independence from the British Raj in India. His poem Hussain aur Inquilab (Hussain and Revolution) won him the title of Shaair-e-Inquilaab (Poet of the Revolution). Subsequently, he became more actively involved in the freedom struggle (albeit, in an intellectual capacity) and became close to some of the political leaders of that era, especially Jawaharlal Nehru (later to be the first Prime Minister of independent India).

After the end of the British Raj in India in 1947, Josh became the editor of the publication Aaj-Kal.

Josh in Pakistan

Josh migrated to Pakistan in 1956 – despite Jawaharlal Nehru's insistence against it – over what is generally believed to be his concern regarding the future of Josh and Urdu language in India,

Death and legacy

Josh remained in Pakistan until he died on 22 February 1982 in Islamabad. Poet Faiz, who coincidentally landed in Pakistan on 22 February 1982 after a long self-imposed exile to meet General Zia Ul-Haq, the then military ruler of Pakistan, and complained to him for not attending Joautobiographyuneral.'

Professor Ehtesham Hussain was the first eminent figure who started working on Josh's biography, with his implied consent. He was in the early stages of his work, when suddenly Josh migrated to Pakistan. It's evident that the scholar Ehtesham lost his passion and never completed the work. Professor Mohammad Hassan, a promi ent scholar of Ehtesham's lineage, then wrote a nearly 100 page epilogue on Josh in 1987, that will soon be published by JLSC, Calgary. Hilal Naqvi, eminent poet and researcher almost devoted his entire life in gathering and publishing Josh's work. The list of Josh's admirers are so long and over a span of nearly 100 years, but the most prominent contributors and writers amongst them include, professor Ehtesham Hussain, Rais Amrohvi, Mustafa Zaidi, Sehba Luckhnavi, Professor Qamar Raes, Ali Sardar, Professor Mumtaz Hussain, Ali Ahmed Fatmi, Shahid Mahuli of Ghalib Institute, Delhi, India, Professor Sahar Ansari, Rahat Saeed, Jaun Elia, Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, Professor Hasan Abid, Jaffar Ahmed, Parvin Shakir, Iqbal Haider, Shaista Rizvi.

Moreover, Josh's maternal grandson Farrukh Jamal Malihabadi, Josh Malihabadi's granddaughter Tabassum Akhlaq has also carried over the legacy of his poetry. Presently, artist Fahim Hamid Ali is working on a unique and contemporary presentation of Josh.

Josh Literary Society of Canada (JLSC) was formed by Iqbal Haider, Arshad Vasti, Shaista Rizvi, Naheed Kazmi, Nighat Haider, Hasan Zaheer, Aqeel Athar, Alim Ghaznavi, Abdul Qavi Zia and others in February 1983 in Calgary, Canada.

JLSC convened its first literary conference in Calgary in February 1986 under the title of Josh – The Poet of the Century, with a keynote article by the eminent scholar Professor Mumtaz Hussain.

Then Josh Society and Irteqa Foundation of Karachi together commemorated Josh Centennial a 3-day, mega literary event in Karachi, followed up by other one day programs in Delhi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Lahore, Hyderabad and Dubai. Josh Literary Society has published and reprinted 14 books on Josh. JLSC has also convened and celebrated many other Centennials or seminars like Firaq Gorakhpuri, Majaz Lucknawi, Mustafa Zaidi, Juan Elia, Saadat Hasan Manto, Rashid, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Ismat Chughtai.

The Josh Memorial Committee was formed in 1986 by Tabassum Akhlaq and she is the current chairperson. The committee organises seminars on Josh Malihabadi's personality, history and literary work. These seminars are usually held on his birthday and death anniversary (on 5 December and 22 February respectively).

In August 2012, the Government of Pakistan announced Hilal-i-Imtiaz for Josh Malihabadi. This award was presented to his granddaughter and founding chairperson of Josh Memorial Committee, Tabassum Akhlaq by the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari in a ceremony held in the Presidency on Pakistan Day 23 March 2013.

The lifelong mission of Josh can be summed up in his own words:

Mera naara: inquilab-o-inquilab-o-inquilab}}

My slogan: revolution, revolution and revolution!}}

A noted scholar and literary critic of Pakistan Pervez Hoodbhoy is quoted as saying about his poetry, "Poetry flowed from Josh's pen like water from a bubbling spring."

Works

These include:

• Aawaz-e-Haq (1921)
• Shola-o-Shabnam
• Junoon-o-Hikmat
• Fikr-o-Nishaat (1937) and (1969)
• Sunbal-o-Salaasal
• Harf-o-Hikaayat
• Sarod-o-Kharosh
• Rooh-e-Adab
• Aayat-o-Naghmaat (1941)
• Arsh-o-Farsh (1944) and (1973)
• Saif-o-Subu
• Sumoom-o-Saba
• Tulu-e-fikr
• Qatra-o-Qulzum
• Nujoom-o-Jawahar
• Mauja-e-Fikr
• Auraaq-e-Sahar
• Ilhaam-o-Maqalaat-e-zarreen
• Nawaredaat-e-Josh
• Irfaniyat-e-Josh
• Yaadon Ki Baraat (autobiography)

On the advice of film director W. Z. Ahmed, Malihabadi also wrote songs for Shalimar Pictures. One of the films is Aag Ka Darya (1966) with music by Ghulam Nabi and Abdul Latif.

Honours and awards

• Padma Bhushan Award, India's third highest civilian honour in 1954.
• The Title of "The Poet of the Century" was given by the "QAFLA-PERA'O" Lahore, announced by the QAFLA_SALAR Syed Fakhruddin Balley, Jawaid Ahmad Qureshi, Wazir Agha, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi and Ashfaq Ahmad, in 1992.
• Kamal-e-Sukhan Award was announced for Hazrat Josh Mallihabadi by The Old Boys Association EMERSON College, Multan in 1999.
• Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) Pakistan's second highest civilian honor on 23 March 2013.
• Ali Sardar Jafri captured Josh's biography in a serial named Kahkashan aired on DD National

References

References

1. Hari Desai. (13 February 2017). "Josh Malihabadi's defection to Pakistan". Asian Voice (weekly newspaper).
2. Iftikhar Alam. (22 February 2017). "Remembering the revolutionary poet Josh Malihabadi". The Nation (newspaper).
3. (27 May 2002). "Josh in Old Delhi...". The Hindu (newspaper).
4. Diwan Singh Bajeli. (18 July 2019). "The life and times of Josh Malihabadi". The Hindu.
5. [http://malihabad.blogspot.com/2008/05/malihabad-oasis-of-poets.html "Malihabad: An Oasis of Poets"] by Dr. Navras Jaat Aafreedi, ''Azad Academy Journal'', XIX, 3
6. Ghulam Akbar, ''He was not hanged'', Midas (1989), p. 109
7. [https://allpoetry.com/Josh-Malihabadi Biography of Josh Malihabadi on allpoetry.com website] Retrieved 19 January 2021
8. (18 January 2021). "Partition's unresolved business". The Hindu newspaper.
9. where he thought the [[Hindu]] majority would encourage the use of [[Hindi]] rather than [[Urdu language
10. [[Faiz Ahmad Faiz
11. [https://www.dawn.com/news/1088874 Tributes paid to Josh Malihabadi] Dawn newspaper, Published 23 Feb 2014, Retrieved 18 January 2021
12. [https://rekhta.org/poets/josh-malihabadi/ Books by Josh Malihabadi on Rekhta.org website] Retrieved 18 January 2021
13. (26 May 2020). "{{Nq". BBC Urdu News website.
14. Raza Naeem. (23 February 2022). "Pearls Raining From The Air: Songs Josh Malihabadi Wrote".
15. (2015). "Padma Awards". Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
16. (24 March 2013). "President decorates civil and military awards on Pakistan Day (Josh's Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award info)". The Nation newspaper.