Death anniversary of Josh Malihabadi on Friday

ISLAMABAD: Shabbir Hassan Khan, popularly known as Josh Malihabadi, an Urdu poet, will be remembered on his 31st death anniversary on Friday across the country as literary circles held sessions and TV channels aired documentaries on the life of the renowned poet, highlighting and lauding his art.

Remembered as a Shair-e-Inqilab and Shair-e-Shabab (poet of revolution and youth), Josh is also reputed to have had a masterful command over the language and it is also stated that he was very strict about respecting the grammar and rules of the language.

According to his autobiography 'Yadon Ki Barat, he did not come to poetry but the Goddess of poetry approached him when he was a child. His first collection of poetic work Roh-e-Adab was published in 1921 when he was 23.

He was not only a poet but also an intellectual and prolific writer as he wrote about religion, history and politics as well.

He fought for the independence of the Indian subcontinent with his pen. A number of his poems were written against the British rule.

He is remembered by many as the greatest revolutionary poets of the pre-independence period. Some of his poems were even broadcast by German Radio during the Second World War.

Josh was born on December 5, 1898 in Malihabad, UP India. He belonged to a literary family. He acquired his early education in Lucknow and passed the Senior Cambridge exams from ST Peters College, Agra in 1924.

He was fluent in Urdu, Persian, Hindi and English but he chose Urdu to express his feelings and ideas.

He wrote a large number of poems and ghazals and also wrote some books of prose.

Poets remember him as a 'man who has institution in himself. They said, You can talk him on any topic and you will realise that there is probably no one of his stature among his contemporaries.

He was also a noted journalist and commentator and edited several literary journals including distinguished Aaj Kal and monthly Kaleem.

He was awarded with the greatest Indian award Padma Bhoshan in 1954 in acknowledge of his literary work. Josh Malihabadi died in 1982 at Islamabad and buried there.