Josh Malihabadi

Josh Malihabadi 

Josh Malihabadi (Urdu: جوش ملیح آبادی‎) (born as Shabbir Hasan Khan; شبیر حسن خان) (December 5, 1894 – February 22, 1982) was a noted Urdu poet born in British India.^[1][2] He was an Indian citizen until 1958, when he emigrated to Pakistan and became a Pakistani citizen. He wrote ghazals, nazm and Marsias under the takhallus (Urdu for nom de plume) Josh (جوش) (literally, "Passion" or "Intensity").^[3]

 

Early life

Josh was born to an Afridi Pashtun family in Malihabad, 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.

  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 from the state for writing a nazm against the Nizam of Hyderabad, the then ruler of the state.

Soon thereafter, he founded the magazine, Kaleem (literally, "interlocutor" in Urdu), in which he openly wrote articles in favour of independence from the British Raj in India. As his reputation spread, he came to be called 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 British Raj in India (1947), Josh became the editor of the publication Aaj-Kal .

Josh Malihabadi's grand-daughter Tabassum Akhlaq has carried over the legacy of his poetry. Josh Memorial Committee was formed in 1986 by Tabassum Akhlaq and she is the current chairperson as well. The committee organizes seminars on the personality, history and literary work of Josh Malihabadi. These seminars are usually held on the birthday and death anniversary of Josh Malihabadi on 5th December and 22nd Februaury respectively.

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

  His poetry and publications

Josh is reputed to have had a masterful command over Urdu and was quite strict about respecting the grammar and rules of the language. This is the reason, he is also referred to as, the King of Urdu language. The first collection of his poetry was published in 1921.

• Shola-o-Shabnam
• Junoon-o-Hikmat
• Fikr-o-Nishaat
• Sunbal-o-Salaasal
• Harf-o-Hikaayat
• Sarod-o-Kharosh
• Irfaniyat-e-Josh
• Yaadon ki baraat (autobiography)

On the advice of film director W.Z. Ahmed, he also wrote songs for Shalimar Pictures. One of the pictures is Aag ka darya. During this time, he was staying in Pune.

Josh finally mentioned that his real believe is Humanism 

 

Awards

He was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1954. He will also be honored with Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan on 23rd March, 2013.