Shabbir Hassan Khan Josh
Malihabadi was born on 05th December 1898 in Malihabad (a sub-division of
Lucknow about 13 miles from it on the main Lucknow - Sandela Road). His great
grand father Nawab Faqir Mohammad Khan Boya was from the Ali Khel sub-branch of
Adam Khel clan of Afridi tribe.
On migration to Oudh he was
appointed commander-in-chief of its forces and settled in Malihabad. Malihabad
is a purely Pathan town about which a British Deputy Commissioner had said that
‘Malihabad is that part of Khyber Pass which has still not been amalgamated
with India.’
After preliminary education at
home, during which he was tutored in Arabic by Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa, in
Urdu and Farsi by Maulana Qudratulla Beg, Moulvi Niaz Ali and Maulana Tahir and
English by Master Gommti Parshad, he took further education at Sitapur, then
again at Lucknow in 1908.
Here, at the young age about ten
years he commenced going to mushairaas. The first mushaira in which he recited
his verses was hosted by Maulana Raza Farangi Mahli in 1910 or 1911 in which
his following verse was greatly appreciated.
After Hussain abad High School
Lucknow, he joined the school section of M.A.O. College Aligarh in 1912 but
could not continue there for long. He then came back to Lucknow and joined, in
succession, Jubilee Mission School, the Church Mission School and Red Christian
Collegiate School.
He then joined St. Peters College
at Agra in 1914 from where he passed Senior Cambridge. After that he went to
‘SHANTINUKAITUN’ near Calcutta and spent six months there.
He went to Hyderabad in 1924
where he rendered valuable services in ‘DARUL TARJUMA’ until the left Hyderabad
in 1934. It was there that the developed friendship, amongst others, with
Maulana Abul Ala Maudoodi. Could not stay long in Hyderabad because he wrote a
very severally critical poem about the Nizam and did not apologize when
suggested to do so by his well-wishers.
From Hyderabad he moved to Delhi
and brought out a magazine and named it ‘KALEEM’ at the suggestion of Mr Z.A.
Bukhari. This enterprise ended in 1939.
The next year he commenced
editing ‘NAYA ABAD’ for about a year and in 1943 he joined the film world at
the instance of Mr W.Z. Ahmad, the owner of SHALIMAR PICTURES and moved to
Poona and engaged himself in writing songs for the films. Krishan Chandar, Sham
Tevari and Bharat Bhoshan were his contemporaries and colleagues at Poona. ‘Mun
Ki Jeet’ and ‘Ghulami’ were two of the most outstanding pictures of this era
whose songs were written by Josh.
This experiment in life ended in
1948 when Mr Ahmad moved to Pakistan after partition. Josh then moved to Bombay
but could not adjust himself there.
In 1948 he commenced editing at
Delhi a government publication of the Ministry of Information, titled ‘AAJ KAL’
.He was acknowledged as a great poet quite early in life.
Besides, he was also a versatile
prose writer. He was the greatest revolutionary poet of pre-independence period
and as early as 1930 he had earned the title of ‘SHA-IR-E-INQIL.AB’,
‘SHAKIST-E-ZANDAAN KA KHAWAB’, ‘EAST INDIA KAI FARZANDON SAl KHITAAB’ and
‘TALAASHI’ were some of his most popular revolutionary poems. Some of these
poems were even broadcast from German Radio during Second World War both in
original as well as in German translation. He was also known as
‘SHA-IR-E-SHABAAB’ and ‘MUSAWWAR-E-SHABMB’.
He was greatly respected in
public, Literary as well as in official circles after independence the Indian
government, in recognition of his literary merit and his services towards the
freedom struggle, conferred upon him the highly respected literary award of
‘PADMA BHOSHAH’.
Disgusted at the Sanskritisation
of the simple language Josh migrated to Pakistan in January 1956 and initially
made Karachi his home. He was welcomed by the literary circles and the
government circles with open hands. ‘TARAQQIYE URDU BOARD’ had been recently
constituted with headquarters at Karachi with the aim of promoting the Urdu
language (the Board has since been re-designated as ‘URDU DICTIONARY BOARD’).
The main work of the Board was to
compile an Urdu dictionary but it was also publishing a literary monthly
magazine ‘URDU NAAMA’, Josh joined the Board as ‘literary adviser’ ‘editor’ of
the dictionary and ‘editor-in-chief of the magazine.
His association with the Board
continued until 1959. Josh did not associate with the ‘PAKISTAN WRITERS GUILD’
when it was formed in 1959, mainly because it was formed under official
patronage and was not an independent body.
He moved to Islamabad in or about
1973 and stayed there until his death on 22nd February 1982. There he was
associated with the Ministry of Information which was headed by Maulana Kausar
Niazi who was himself a poet of high calibre and an admirer of Josh.
This association continued until
the Martial Law of General Ziaul Haq in 1977. Since then he passed a retired,
and rather a melancholy life until his death. During his period he often signed
his name as ‘JOSH MARHOOM’ . The
following is the list of his literary works.
BOOK DATE OF PUBLISHING
1- Rooh-e-adab
1921
2- Maqalaat-e-zareen(Prose)
1921
3- Auraq-e-sahar
(Prose) 1921
4- Shaa-ir-ki-raatain
1933
5- Naqsh-o-nigar
(Prose) 1936
6- Shola-o-shabnam
1936
7- Fikr-o-nishaat
1937
8- Junoon-o-hikmat
1937
9- Harf-o-hikayat
1938
10- Aayaat-o-naghmaat
1941
11- lsharaat
(Prose) 1942
12- Arsh-o-farsh
1944
13- Raamish-o-rung
1945
14- Sumbul-o-salasul
1947
15- Saif-o-suboo
1947
16- Surood-o-kharosh
1953
17- Sumoom-o-saba
1953
18- Moojid-oo-fikr
1953
19- Tuloo-e-fikr
1957
20- Sabr
kai moti 1965
21- Illhaam-o-afkaar
1966
22- Najoom-o-jawahar
1967
23- Yadon
ki baaraat(Prose: Authobiogrpahy) 1972
24- Joah
kaai marsee aei 1980
25- Mehraab-o-mizraab
1993
NOTE: There is enough
un-published material in poetry for yet another voluminous majmooa-e-kalaam and
three un-published books in Process.
To commemorate the renowned poet Pakistan Post Office is issuing a commemorative postage stamp of Rs 5 on December 5, 1999.
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