ISLAMABAD: Notable Pakistani Urdu-language poet, philosopher, biographer, and scholar Jaun Elia was remembered on the occasion of his 81st birth anniversary on Saturday.
Born on December 14, 1931 in Amroha,Uttar Pradesh, Jaun Elia was the brother of journalist and psychoanalyst Rais Amrohvi and journalist and philosopher Syed Muhammad Taqi, and husband of columnist Zahida Hina. He was fluent in Arabic, English, Persian, Sanskrit and Hebrew.
His father, Shafiq Hasan Elia, was involved in art and literature and also an astrologer and a poet. This literary environment modeled him along the same lines, and he wrote his first Urdu couplet when he was just 8.
During his youth, Pakistan gained independence and he migrated to Pakistan in 1957, and made Karachi his home. His poetry won him both acclaim and approbation in the local literary circle.
His synthesis of this knowledge into his poetry differentiates him from his modern contemporaries.
The poet briefly worked as an editor with Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
His translation of various Mautazalite treatises, a book on 12th century Fatimid revolutionary Hassan Bin Sabbah, and also various texts about the Ismaili sect in Islam are a major contribution to the Urdu language and literature.
His first poetry collection Shayad (an Urdu word which means "Maybe") was published in 1991, when he was 60. His preface in this collection provided deep insights into his works and the culture within which he was expressing his ideas.
The second collection of his poetry Ya'ani was published posthumously in 2003. Later his companion, Khalid Ansari, compiled and published his three consecutive collections, Gumaan (an Urdu word which means"Illusion") in 2004, Lekin in 2006 and Goya in 2008.
He died after a protracted illness on 8 November 2002 in Karachi.
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