Courtesy: The Wire and PTI
Top poets and writers including Javed Akhtar, Rahat Indori and Vishal Bhardwaj have described attempts to paint Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s revolutionary “Hum Dekhenge” as anti-Hindu and pro-Islam a “ridiculous” and “narrow-minded” attempt.
They were responding to IIT-Kanpur forming a committee to inquire into a complaint against the recitation of “Hum Dekhenge” on campus by students to express solidarity with their peers at Jamia Millia Islamia in their protest against the amended Citizenship Act.
Faculty members and some students filed a complaint against a student for reciting the poem, which they claimed provoked “anti-Hindu” sentiments.
“This poem was written against a fundamentalist called Zia-ul-Haq, a dictator. It is interesting that fundamentalists, all kinds of, don’t like this poem,” Akhtar told India Today TV.
Explaining the context of the poem, which was written in 1979 to criticise the dictatorship and fundamentalism of former Pakistani general-turned president Zia-ul-Haq, the veteran poet-screenwriter said if Faiz’s poem is anti-Hindu, then one would have to believe that Zia was secular, which does not make sense.
“It seems we are negotiating with people who have no sense of history, have no idea who this great poet was, who have no idea what poetry is, who don’t know the language in which it was written, they don’t know anything. This is written against a fundamentalist, regressive, almost Talibani mentality holding dictator. This poem was banned under his regime,” Akhtar said.
Filmmaker-composer Vishal Bhardwaj, who had used Faiz’s ‘Gulon Mein Rang Bhare…‘ in his critically-acclaimed, Kashmir-set 2014 film “Haider”, said those interpreting it as pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu lack “emotional intelligence”.
“It sounds totally ridiculous. To understand poetry, you need to feel it first. You need a certain standard of emotional intelligence, which seems to be completely lacking in those who are interpreting it as pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu,” Bhardwaj told PTI.
Faiz’s daughter Saleema Hashmi, in an exclusive interview with PTI, said she found the whole controversy “funny” and hoped that ultimately her father’s words will win over the hate.
“Let’s look at in another way, they may end up getting interested in Urdu poetry and its metaphors. Never underestimate the power of Faiz,” Hashmi said.
“I suppose poets and their words are claimed wherever and by whomever, they are needed. They provide the words that people cannot find for themselves,” she added.
Indori, whose ‘nazms’ “Sarhadon par bahut tanav hai kya” (There is a lot of tension on the borders, find out if an election is nearby) and ‘kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thode hi hai‘ (Hindustan is no one’s property) have also emerged as popular anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest anthems, said calling Faiz anti or pro any religion is laughable.
“People first need to understand who has written this poem before understanding what the poem means. He was a communist and had no connection with religion. He did not believe in any God, Ishwar or Allah.
“This poem was originally written against Zia, who was a fanatic and a military dictator. Faiz’s poetry never died, it was alive even before this controversy erupted but then politics will ensure that he reaches to even those who have never heard about him,” said Indori.
The poet said he was also sad that people were giving religious colour to his poem even when he has written that everyone’s blood is mixed in the soil of this country.
“How can you brand it or attach it to any religion,” Indori asked.
“Article 15” co-writer and poet Gaurav Solanki took to social media to put things in perspective about how the phrase “Anal-Haq” in “Hum Dekhenge” is an equivalent of “Aham Brahmasmi”.
“Can someone tell those calling Faiz’s ‘Hum Dekhenge‘ anti-Hindu and the IIT professor and the panel investigating it, that in the very same poem he talks about raising the slogan of ‘Anal-Haq’. The word means ‘I am the truth’, ‘I’m God’, which is the equivalent of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ in Hindu culture, which talks about every person, every soul being God. Is there a bigger protest and spirituality than this?
“You should be a little ashamed that the poem that you are calling anti-Hindu and accusing it of being Islamic is actually anti-Islam for Muslim fanatics, so much so that Sufi saint Mansoor-al-Hallaj, who first gave the slogan of ‘Anal-Haq’ was hanged,” Solanki wrote in a Facebook post.
Below is the original poem and its English translation.
Hum Dekhenge
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Laazim hai ki hum bhi dekhenge
Woh din jiskaa ke waada hai,
Jo lau-e-azl mein likha hai
Jab zulm-o-sitam ke koh-e-garaan
Rooi ki tarah udd jaayenge,
Hum mehkoomon ke paaon tale
jab dharti dhad dhad dhadkegi,
Aur ahl-e-hukam ke sar oopar
Jab bijli kad kad kadkegi,
Jab arz-e-khudaa ke kaabe se
Sab but uthwaaey jaayenge,
Hum ahl-e-safaa mardood-e-haram
Masnad pe bithaaey jaayenge.
Sab taaj uchaaley jaayenge.
Sab takht giraaey jayyenge.
Bas naam rahega Allah kaa,
Jo ghaayab bhi hai, haazir bhi,
Jo manzar bhi hai, naazir bhi.
Utthegaa ‘An-al-haq’ kaa naara
Jo main bhi hoon, aur tum bhi ho,
Aur raaj karegi Khalq-e-Khuda
Jo mai bhi hoon, aur tum bhi ho.
We Shall See
Translation: Mustansir Dalvi
Inevitably, we shall also see the day
that was promised to us, decreed
on the tablet of eternity.
When dark peaks of torment and tyranny
will be blown away like cotton fluff;
When the earth’s beating, beating heart
will pulsate beneath our broken feet;
When crackling, crashing lightning
will smite the heads of our tormentors;
When, from the seat of the Almighty
every pedestal will lie displaced;
Then, the dispossessed we; we,
who kept the faith will be installed
to our inalienable legacy.
Every crown will be flung,
each throne brought down.
Only His name will remain; He,
who is both unseen, and ubiquitous; He,
who is both the vision and the beholder.
When the clarion call of ‘I am Truth’
(the truth that is me and the truth that is you)
will ring out, all God’s creatures will rule,
those like me and those like you.
