Faiz Ahmad Faiz's 31st death anniversary being marked today

Faiz obtained his initial religious education from Maulvi Mohommad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti. In 1921, he obtained admission in Scotch Mission School Sialkot and he gave his matriculation examinations successfully from Murray School Sialkot. Faiz also obtained his FA degree from the same institute. His teacher included Mir Maulvi Shams-ul-Haq (who was also the same teacher who taught Allama Iqbal). Learning Persian and Arabic, he secured his BA qualification from Government College Lahore and obtained an MA degree in 1932 from the same institute. He then went on to secure an MA degree in Oriental College Lahore as well.

In 1935, Faiz got employed as a lecturer at the MAO College in Amritsar. In 1941, he married Alys Faiz and got commissioned in Pakistan Army as a Captain. He served in the Public Relations Department in the army until his retirement in 1946, when he returned to Lahore. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947 till 1958, Faiz remained the editor for Imroze, Pakistan Times and the weekly Lail-o-Nihar.

In March 1951, Faiz was arrested by the then-government for his involvement in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy, for his role as a supporter. He spent four years in prison in Karachi, Sargodha, Sahiwal and Hyderabad. He wrote most of his poems from Zindan Nama during this time period.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz was the first poet of Asia who was honoured with the Lenin peace award. Before his demise, he was also nominated for the Nobel Prize and before he died, he won various national and international awards as well. Faiz Ahmed Faiz is that poet from Pakistan, who has till date thousands of fans across the globe. He expressed love, beauty, peace and political ideology through the skill of his words.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s contribution for the film industry is immense. His words have been captured through the melodious voices of artists of note such as Mehdi Hasan, Muhammad Rafi, Noor Jahan, Asha Bhonsle and Jagjit Singh.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz wrote dozens of ghazals, dialogues and songs for films. Faiz breathed his last on 20th November 1984 at the age of 73 years. He lies buried in Lahore’s Gulberg graveyard.