Daily Times

The 42nd death anniversary of famous Urdu poet and prose writer Josh Malihabadi was observed on Thursday. He is remembered as a ‘Poet of Revolution’. His real name was Shabbir Hassan Khan. His father Bashir Ahmad Khan Bashir, grandfather Muhammad Ahmad Khan Ahmad, and great grandfather Faqir Muhammad Khan Goya were all well-known poets. Josh Malih Abadi started poetry at an early age. He started his practical life by working in Dar-ul-Tarjuma Usmania (Hyderabad State). He lost both his job and state citizenship due to a poem against the system of Hyderabad. He came to Delhi and published the magazine ‘Kaleem’. Josh Malihabadi also remained associated with All India Radio. He was also the editor of ‘Aaj Kal’, the official magazine of the Indian Government. He received the Padma Bhushan Award in 1954. After moving to Pakistan in 1955, he started to work along with the founder of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Maulvi Abdul Haque in the preparation of the Urdu dictionary. He was also Editor of the magazine ‘Urdu Nama’. Josh Malih Abadi also wrote songs for films. The song ‘Ae Watan Hum Hain Teri Shama Ke Parwanon Main, for the film ‘Aag Ka Darya’ became popular. He also wrote columns under the title of ‘Ilm wa Fikr’ in daily Jang.